Board 8 > Epyo's Top 100 Games of All Time (with write-ups)

(+) Yeah! (+)

PAGE 4 RECAP!!!!

100-Winigolf
99-Fall Guys
98-Desktop Tower Defense
97-Desert Golfing
96-Riven
95-Minesweeper
94-Unpacking
93-Doom 3
92-Golf Peaks
91-Hydro Thunder
90-Zelda: A Link to the Past
89-Dusk
88-Trials Evolution
87-Yoku's Island Express
86-Darwinia
85-Wii Sports Resort (Mostly Table Tennis)
84-Sonic Adventure 2
83-Day of the Tentacle
82-Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
81-Pac-Man Arrangement (Arcade Version)
80-Ristar (Genesis Version)
79-Stardew Valley
78-Forager
77-Splatoon
76-Duck Game
75-Super Mario Maker
74-San Francisco Rush 2049 (Dreamcast)
73-F-Zero GX
72-Trackmania (2020 Version)
71-Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
70-Resident Evil: VIIIage
69-World of Goo
68-Metroid Zero Mission
67-Metroid Fusion
66-Halo
65-Defense Grid: The Awakening
64-A Short Hike
63-Minecraft
62-Metroid Prime
61-Doom Eternal
60-Lords of Thunder (Turbografx CD Version)
59-Pokemon Snap
58-Diablo 3
57-Graceful Explosion Machine
56-WarioWare, Inc: Mega Microgame$
55-Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand
54-Hearthstone
53-What Remains of Edith Finch
52-Super Mario World
51-Metal Gear Solid V
50-New Super Mario Bros. U
49-Mario Kart 8: Deluxe
48-Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
47-Golf Story
46-Sonic Mania
45-Into the Breach
44-Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
43-Resident Evil 4
42-Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
41-Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
40-Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
39-Overcooked!
38-Bubble Bobble (NES Version)
37-Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

* 1 Mario game remains.
* 4 games with 5 letter names, remain.
* 4 games with Castlevania in the title, remain.
* Only 1 game remains with the disclaimer of "Take this with a grain of salt, I played this with friends, blah blah." And it's next!

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#36 Jackbox Party Pack (all of them)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/8/AABIPnAADljs.jpg

I'm so so grateful this exists. I love party games and board games perhaps even more than video games, and this is a beautiful combination of both--the convenience and ability to play online, but the creativity and friendly interaction of board games. It's amazing.

I even love watching it on streams and such, literally just as much as playing it.

Here are my top 5 favorite Jackbox minigames:

5. Wheel of Enormous Proportions (Constantly switching the question/answer format, puts this above the other jackbox trivia games, which are also good.)
4. Job Job (Magnetic poetry has always been fun, but now they made a brilliant game out of it!)
3. Blather Round (I love rapid-fire typing guess answers as fast as I can, I love it even more when someone guesses the answer instantly with only like 2 stupid clues.)
2. Poll Mine (They finally nailed the idea of guessing what your friends think about some extremely silly question. Just a very well-designed board game. The prompts they wrote are OUTSTANDING.)
1. Quiplash (I love reading and writing jokes, finally someone made a game out of it!)

(Warning: Take this ranking with a grain of salt, because I played this game with friends and family, which is always a blast, even with a bad game.)

Oh Captain Toad too! Appealing to me so much here lol

Captain Toad was 39th on my top 100 list
Bubble Bobble was 10th

Hell yeah jackbox is so good

Epyo posted...

(Warning: Take this ranking with a grain of salt, because I played this game with friends and family, which is always a blast, even with a bad game.)

You could have put Jackbox top 10 and nobody would have batted an eye.

He does that with all the multiplayer games! But yes Jackbox is amazing and needs no such caveat.

Captain Toad is the first on this list I disagree with. Not that I hated it but it was definitely pretty middling imo. To each their own of course! Looked amazing and was charming as hell but I found it too simple and easy for a puzzler

Yeah I guess my approach to the multiplayer-with-friends stuff has actually been pretty complicated:

1. Start by ranking it according to how much fun I had with it. (Probably ranking it really high!)
2. Lower its rank a bunch, because a lot of that credit belongs to the people I played with, not the game itself.
3. Raise its rank back upward somewhat, because it still deserves decent credit, but add the little disclaimer text.

If it was just about how much fun I'm having with the games, I bet Jackbox would be in the top 5...but the players I've played with deserve it a lot of that credit.

BUT I don't wanna punish it too much, because it really is impressively effective at generating a good time. So this was my compromise! (Same with all the other games with that disclaimer.)

All the games on the list feel really right to me, where they're placed...by some complicated personal metric about how much credit the game deserves, lol.

Whiskey_Nick posted...

Oh Captain Toad too! Appealing to me so much here lol

Captain Toad was 39th on my top 100 list
Bubble Bobble was 10th

Oooh those are genius picks. Bubble Bobble at 10 is galaxy brain.

Suprak_the_Stud posted...

Captain Toad is the first on this list I disagree with. Not that I hated it but it was definitely pretty middling imo. To each their own of course! Looked amazing and was charming as hell but I found it too simple and easy for a puzzler

Well, I wouldn't think of it as puzzler at all... just a regular platformer, just one where you can't solve everything by jumping on it, you instead have to solve things based on your environment, not your moveset. Which is an idea I love, but yeah admittedly, it's extremely easy. So some disappointment makes sense.

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#35 Resident Evil 2 (2019 remake)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/4/AABIPnAADloK.jpg

It's hard to briefly write why this game is so good, because so much about it is dripping with quality.

The engine just really feels excellent, visually. The lighting is incredible. It's like Doom 3 where studying the lighting is half the fun of the game.

And similar to Resident Evil 4, they reallllly force you to shoot very slowly, one bullet at a time, and make you REALLY watch and savor each headshot.

The exploration mechanics are so much fun making rooms on the map turn blue as you find everything, finding which password goes with which safe, puzzling out what each key you have can do for you, finding new rooms you didn't expect to exist, finding new terrifying hallways to board up with planks...

I think the reason it fundamentally rocks, is this: there are rooms/hallways that are extremely scary or threatening, and you really don't want to walk through them again...BUT ALSO, you extremely DO want to go through them, because the game is just so cool and satisfying to explore! So it's two opposite feelings simultaneously.

BEST PART: Leon's campaign, jail area. Scariest part IMO.

#34 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/2/1/AABIPnAADlqx.jpg

I've never played this game, but I've watched people play it probably around 8 times. However, I think this is valid for this list, because in the last 10 years, I've watched video games waaay more than played them. I'm more of a game watcher than player, these days. Playing is so tiring.

BUT I think it's my favorite story in any game, movie, or book. Sometimes I just sit and think about how rad it is, mainly:

1. How well it predicts the future of the internet and media, and how hard it is to know what's true and what's not, and how scary that is.

2. The characters' motives are mysterious, which makes them cooler. As cool as it is to BE snake, it's even cooler to meet him in the game, and not really be sure if he's on your side.

3. How funny and wild with twists, the final act of the game is.

BEST MOMENT: Snake and Otacon's best friend secret handshake scene.

Kojima is such a wonderful troll.

#33 Contradiction: Spot the Liar!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/8/AABIPnAADl1M.jpg

I've never played this game either, but it's an FMV game so who cares. And I've watched the Giant Bomb East playthrough of the game probably 10+ times, and I also bought it for my mom and sister, who both loved it, and they never like games, so it must be good.

Contradiction takes an ingenious approach to interactive storytelling: you have to listen to suspects talk about each piece of evidence you've found so far, and find contradictions in what they say. When you highlight the contradiction in your big UI notebook, you advance the story, and get new pieces of evidence, and so on.

This is so much better than typical interactive storytelling: I don't have to "guess" at what the best dialogue option is, I don't have to play an RPG in between cutscenes, AND I'm 100% rewarded for thinking ABOUT the story.

Please somebody make more games like this, it's so good.

Also there's a hint system, and IMO every puzzley video game should have a hint system.

BEST PIECE OF EVIDENCE: See screenshot.

I've never heard of that but it reminds me of Her Story, which is incredible

I feel like I missed the boat on Her Story, but I'm extremely looking for the Her Story team's next game, coming out soon, which is getting some super high reviews!

Epyo posted...

I feel like I missed the boat on Her Story, but I'm extremely looking for the Her Story team's next game, coming out soon, which is getting some super high reviews!

Her Story was excellent, and Telling Lies was pretty good if it didn't hit quite the same highs as Her Story did. I am really looking forward to Immortality though

#32 Steep

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/3/9/AABIPnAADl3j.jpg

The snowboarding and skiing in Steep, feel awesome. I love carving the trails in the snow, and I love going fast and hearing the wind blast past the camera. I love the touches like, how the music gets louder and fuller, the longer you ride without crashing.

My favorite aspect is the open world, because: after each failed attempt at some challenge, I just continue down the mountains *anyway*, because it feels too good, and I don't want to stop. I black out, and find myself at the bottom of the alps, after like 10 minutes of riding, completely not remembering what I was even doing. Total flow state.

The speed challenges are super good: difficult well-designed paths down the mountains, where you wanna go fast to get the gold medal, but going fast makes the controls very sensitive and dangerous, almost like F-Zero sensitivity. Almost impossible to weave through a group of trees at full speed, but fun to try!

There are "points challenges" using a trick system, which is pretty good. It does not have the depth of a Tony Hawk, but it FEELS really juicy to perfectly land some cool flips.

BEST LEVEL: In the Alaska DLC there's a time trial through a sloped cliffside town, that has a LOT of routes through it, and it's fascinating to try to figure out the best route, sometimes over the top of buildings.

Breathe a sigh of relief, because I do have this on the list:

#31 Rollercoaster Tycoon

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/9/AABIPnAADl4p.jpg

This one's hard to write about, because I love everything about the game. But I'll pick 3 things:

1. It's a technological marvel. I can't believe it was programmed by ~1 person, with basically no programming language. The complexity of the game design, of the people being simulated, of the rendering, it all fills me with awe. I still can't quite figure out how the roller coasters are drawn to the screen, my brain just breaks.

2. It's one of my favorite looking games ever. Everything you make looks neat and perfect. It's because of the strict adherence to the grid, that you don't have to waste energy aligning things in your park, they just all fit. I love just scrolling around a park, just staring at it. I LOVE GRIDS.

3. All the little hidden mechanics and tools that took me years to find and play with. My favorite example is polling all the people in your park to see what they're thinking--it creates a histogram for you of the most common thoughts, e.g. "This path is disgusting", or "I want to get off Mr. Bones' Wild Ride". And then you can click on that to get a heat map of WHERE people are saying that. Super cool, and useful as hell.

BEST LEVEL: Arid Heights: infinite money, BUT if your park rating goes below 800 you lose. One of the most unique missions, and also super fun. Half my time spent in RCT, was probably in this level (from an expansion I think right?).

Epyo posted...

I love just scrolling around a park, just staring at it. I LOVE GRIDS.

Wonder if we'll see any (other) city builders on here.

Actually yes...but probably not one you'd expect! No further spoilers.

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#30 Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/5/AABIPnAADmC5.jpg

It's astounding to me that other games haven't copied Klonoa and Klonoa 2's unique 2.5d platforming style. The only reason I can think of is: they *do* try...but then, they compare their level designs to Klonoa 2's, and they GIVE UP.

Because who has the money, to make these giant 3d intricate environments, but then, weave simple 2d platforming levels into them? It's kinda stupidly wasteful!!

It's the SCALE of these Klonoa 2 levels that is unmatched. They've constantly got these springs and cannons that shoot you a MILE into the sky, and you get a beautiful birdseye view of the level's surrounding environment...for pretty much no reason but to impress you.

The music is fantastic, and the characters have gorgeous cel-shading, well before Wind Waker. The story is not as good as Klonoa 1, but the levels and puzzles are much better.

BEST LEVEL: "Maze of Memories". When I played the 2.5d gravity flippy levels in Super Mario Galaxy 2, I was like, eh yeah this is good, but Maze of Memories did this better like a decade ago.

#29 Team Fortress 2

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/8/4/AABIPnAADmGU.jpg

Team Fortress 2 amazingly straddled this line of being high-skill competitive, but also extremely chill and carefree, simultaneously.

It was magic. In the 2008-2012 period, I spent thousands of hours relaxing on a handful of TF2 servers, having a blast screwing around with nice people. Everyone was trying to win, and yet nobody cared whatsoever if they lost. There was no toxicity. I've never experienced this in any other skillful online game (maybe Trackmania).

Overwatch, while being a better game on paper, does not have this magic it all. It's mega toxic. It's "maybe I don't like video games anymore" toxic.

I LOVE how experimental Valve got with TF2 in the first few years--they treated it as a science lab more than a product. It was so hard to get sick of the game, when it was constantly changing so much. This probably helped players take it less seriously too--we all felt like consumers, of an amazing show, not toxic competitors in a zero sum game.

BEST LEVEL: TF2 had a lot of all-time best shooter maps, but I will go with KOTH_HARVEST_EVENT (screenshot above), a koth map so simple and perfect I'm MAD I didn't make it. Also it's halloween themed. (Runner up: PL_UPWARD)

4 Castlevania games left...including THIS ONE:

#28 Castlevania III

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/1/8/AABIPnAADmIa.jpg

Hey you haven't lived until you've...listened to the Japanese version soundtrack for Castlevania 3. The cart had a special chip to make the music better. This is a soundtrack I'll often just sit down and listen all the way through, eyes closed, thinking about how cool the songs are.

Castlevania gameplay is always great, but this game's branching paths make it feel fun to give up and start the game over, when you get frustrated. And finding new characters and swapping between them anytime is great--every game ever, should have this feature (slight exaggeration).

The difficulty, is something everyone should experience once. If you asked me for the hardest game I can think of, while still being fair, I'd probably choose this.

There are harder games out there, but those tend to be unfairly punishing. But Castlevania 3 is very fair: infinite continues, levels are short, and there is no late game 8-Boss-Rush or anything. And yet, it *still* manages to be outrageously difficult. I'm not sure I will ever beat it again without save states.

BEST LEVEL: The second-last level, where the song "Riddle" plays. It's a "best of" compilation, that re-uses mechanics+visuals from the hardest rooms from the rest of the game. It's so hard. Love the opening fleaman gauntlet!

3 Castlevania games left... NOT including this one:

#27 Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/4/3/AABIPnAADmTv.jpg

This is basically a "tribute" to Castlevania III...and I have to admit it: it's a little bit *better* than Castlevania III.

Making character swapping *instant* instead of taking 5 seconds, is a huge improvement that is satisfying AND adds depth--especially because now you always have 4 characters to choose from at any moment. This system is just *better*.

The music and theming of the levels are really good. They kick off with a moving train level, there's a good library level, and the last level's locust gimmick is friggin' rad. The bosses are cool too, and I usually hate bosses. I do wish they had a health meter.

And turns out, removing the difficulty just makes it way easier to appreciate all of the above goodness. I play through this game once or twice a year, in one sitting, and it's just a great time, all the way through. Castlevania III, I kinda dread playing it.

BEST LEVEL: The pyramid level with the cash money boss. What a great boss. It's so cash money.

Whoops I haven't checked this topic in a while. Some awesome games, some I've never had an interest in before but now kinda want to pick up, and lots of Castlevania! RE2make is so damn good. Into the Breach added a pretty major free content update recently, have you tried it? Buncha new teams, enemies, missions and the like, it's good stuff.

SeabassDebeste posted...

first person feels like a no-go for me!

Just a heads up for this @SeabassDebeste , Village is adding a third person mode later this year.

Ohh I heard there was a big Into the Breach update, I didn't know much about it though. That's so awesome and unexpected. I didn't even get around to trying a lot of the existing squads!

I do empathize with those who don't wanna play first person RE games, 'cause there are way fewer butts.

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#26 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/0/0/AABIPnAADmWM.jpg

When I pick up any controller, any time, what my fingers WANT to do, is jump and perform a kickflip, into a rail grind.

Other action games have memorable satisfying intricate controls as well, but Tony Hawk controls are more like improvising on an instrument, it's more freeform, free of the pressures of enemies, prompts, direction. The level environments are the song, you are playing the jazz solo.

4 introduced some really good buttons that I miss when I play the earlier games: the Spine Transfer adds new ways to interact with the level design, and new cool Gap opportunities. And I like being able to switch grinds while on a rail by tapping face buttons, I love tapping face buttons.

This one also got rid of the 2 minute timers. Those were fine, but now levels can be bigger, and have more content. And there's nothing like blacking out and realizing you failed a challenge 30 minutes ago, and have been mindlessly skating and having a blast!

BEST LEVEL: Alcatraz, maybe the best level in the series. Exciting concept, fun to explore. I think the level design peaked in 4, the levels were bigger, but the "combo lines" weren't too obvious yet, so it was still very freeform.

listening to the CV3 soundtrack and it is def rad

andylt posted...

Just a heads up for this @SeabassDebeste , Village is adding a third person mode later this year.

seems relevant if they ever port it to switch :P

Epyo posted...

When I pick up any controller, any time, what my fingers WANT to do, is jump and perform a kickflip, into a rail grind.

any game that doesn't let you kickflip is worse for it

ANY game

that's why Playstation All-Stars is better than Smash Bros. Because you can kickflip.

SeabassDebeste posted...

listening to the CV3 soundtrack and it is def rad

seems relevant if they ever port it to switch :P

Below is a cool version that mixes together the simpler US version and the fancy Japanese version of the OSTs, laying them on top of each other, trying to capture the best aspects of both!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwIQ3nBZ4Dw

#25 Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/5/8/AABIPnAADmYq.jpg

There is a scene in Klonoa's story, that is the saddest thing I've ever experienced in any media. I can randomly watch this scene on youtube 20 years later, and still break down in tears, even if I was in a very happy mood moments before!

And it's not just relying on traditional tropes that make you cry. This is a profound heartbreak. We're talking "The Notebook" levels.

That's the only thing that's putting Klonoa 1 above Klonoa 2 on this list though, because other than that, Klonoa 2 is SLIGHTLY better in every way. The SCALE of the level design just isn't here, like it is in Klonoa 2, and the puzzles aren't as good. Klonoa 1 is shorter though, which is nice!

I normally despise bosses, but I really enjoy this game's bosses. Good sound effects, fun things to dodge. The Joka boss fight is one of my favorite boss fights ever.

Also fantastic music, that's a big trend with all the games high on this list though.

BEST LEVEL: 5-1, the gateway to the Sun kingdom (see screenshot). It's a weird non-linear mildly puzzley level, where you have to pay attention to the signage to figure out where you're going.

3 more castlevanias, including this one:

#24 Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (PS2)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/1/8/AABIPnAADmi-.jpg

My #1 favorite game soundtrack, I've listened to it thousands of times. (Well, just the main tracks, not the filler ones.)

Honestly, the game would probably still be right here on the list, no matter what the gameplay was. It's all about the soundtrack.

However, the gameplay does come VERY CLOSE to reaching my Holy Grail of video games, the game I've always wanted: a Diablo-like Action RPG but with actually good controls. That IS technically what this game is. They just zoomed in and let you control the camera.

And it's a pretty good action game! It's a melee spammer, with very forgiving blocking and dodge rolling...

...But the twist is, you have a bunch of Familiars, and you use them to cast spells! And, you get to evolve them, and choose what spells they gain and lose, and such. It's very neat, and a fun way to make each playthrough a little different, in addition to all the little weapons to try out, as usual for Castlevania.

BEST LEVEL: Baljhet Mountains, just a great song, and the outdoor mountainous hallways are less tedious than the game's indoor hallways.

#23 Shadowhand

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/7/7/AABIPnAADmld.jpg

Maybe the most obscure game on the list? It's a casual solitaire card game, with a story campaign and good atmosphere. (Also NOT run-based, thank god.)

It has RPG mechanics like upgrading skill points, and you CANNOT upgrade all of your stats fully, so you do feel like you have your own playstyle. There's also like 10 slots for stat-buffing equipment (which appear on your character! yesss) and consumable items, so it's got surprisingly decent RPG-like depth!

The solitaire fun is all about big combos for extra rewards: how many cards can you clear, without having to draw a new one from the deck? As you improve your character through the RPG mechanics, by the end of the game you're getting combos way longer than when you started the game, and it feels awesome, like you're a solitaire god.

I think the magic of a good Casual game like this, for me, is that you instantly start playing 90% optimally, which means you instantly can start pondering that last 10% of micro-optimization--and I think that last 10% is actually the most fun to theorycraft about...but in most games it takes 5-500 hours of learning the basics, to get there!

BEST LEVEL: There's a chapter where you're in jail, and you lose all your stuff, and the inmates teach you the gameplay techniques of fist weapons. It's cool.

Huh that sounds really interesting. What is it on?

PC steam! It's the successor to the more popular Regency Solitaire.

Sounds pretty similar to Faerie Solitaire which I played a bit of years and years ago.

absolutely thought that was about to be Inscryption just from the first offhand glance at the picture

Denji posted...

Sounds pretty similar to Faerie Solitaire which I played a bit of years and years ago.

Yeah this particular solitaire mechanic was kind of a fad for a while!

I haven't played Faerie Solitaire, but I have played Regency Solitaire (pretty good), and Solitairca (pretty good), Pocket Card Jockey (extremely good), but Shadowhand happens to be my favorite.

My mom prefers Regency though.

Solitarica was really cool, it was a roguelike version of this solitaire mechanic... BUT ultimately the combos were just not long enough for my taste.

#22 Hades

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/4/AABIPnAADmnc.jpg

I was 100% done with the roguelike genre (or roguelite or whatever), and had 0 faith that Hades would change that, but somehow it did!

I'm pretty sure the true secret of why it's so good, is how pretty everything is. MAINLY the special effects on your attacks. Swings, gunshots, and explosions are all sparkly and colorful and eye-catching, and they've got a unique dynamic shader-y look, preventing them from getting stale.

Honestly...the special effects make the combat hard to follow. BUT it's worth it.

The main way they fixed the genre: it's easy! It's one of the easiest roguelikes ever made, since world 1 is super easy, and entire runs are very short (like 25-55 mins?), and when you die they give you unmistakably strong permanent upgrades, making you feel confident enough to try again right away.

Plus, when you finish a run, you have fun talking to all the characters at home again, and then woops, you ended up in the upgrades room, might as well do upgrades, and then woops, now you're in the weapon-selection room, looks like you're starting a new run!

BEST SOMETHING: I'm all about charon's hourglass. It's really hard for me to stand playing without it.

The game with the non-letter non-digit non-punctuation symbol in the name:

#21 We <3 Katamari

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/2/6/AABIPnAADmxK.jpg

If someone told me they didn't like Katamari, I wouldn't be surprised by that.

...I would be downright disturbed.

I believe the joys of Katamari to be universal, an innate part of humanity. Rolling up cute little everyday objects. Demolishing houses. Scaring families. Dismantling cities like they're made of toy building blocks...

...Seeing an object so big that it is a blurry part of the background, and then you get big, and now five minutes later, that object is downright puny, it's a pinprick. If that isn't the definition of satisfying video game entertainment, I don't know what is.

And also, music, a vital form of entertainment in all known human cultures. And Katamari soundtracks are some of the greatest in video games.

Why is "We <3 Katamari" so much better than the first game? The levels are more creative (e.g. the snow level, underwater level), and the challenges feel more inviting--it is totally feasible to collect every single Paper Crane in the paper crane level, and it's fun to keep trying to do so.

BEST LEVEL: The one where you make a snowman. I'm a sucker for making a snowman in video games.

Any Katamari is excellent

Johnbobb posted...

Any Katamari is excellent

The Katamari Vita game is pretty bad, sadly.

True, lotta good Katamari out there. Ooh picking a favorite song is especially hard, I might go with Beautiful Katamari's song "Unity", actually. First time I heard it it was the WORST song I ever heard in my life, but it grew on me. That was my "get home from work song" for a while this year.

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#20 TUNIC

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/7/5/AABIPnAADmzf.jpg

Every criticism against Tunic is valid. But c'mon, the instruction manual ROCKS.

You keep finding pages of the game's manual, over the course of the entire game, and the manual is an outrageously cute throwback to early 90s game manuals, with full artistic maps of sections of the game, hints and story, etc. It's probably my favorite innovation I've ever seen in this action/adventure genre.

AND the manual synergizes well with the excellent mysterious nature of the game: there is no exposition (thank GOD), you're simply dropped in the LTTP-style overworld and you play. You don't know the story, what objects and items do, etc. But slowly, the manual fills in these blanks, and your sense of wonder is replaced with Aha satisfaction!

If you are vulnerable to video game nostalgia (as I extremely am), Tunic will absolutely make you feel like a kid again.

The game could be higher on the list, but I think some of the endgame puzzling feels a little unfair, and, many aspects of the endgame are a little unsatisfying/disappointing (e.g. the endings).

BEST LEVEL: Weird flex but I liked the Frog's Domain a lot. Just a cute little dungeon, love the frogs, and their mysterious culture.

Hmm I'm gonna say the Quarry was my favorite area in Tunic. Going down that elevator, total whoa moment

Game is brilliant, yeah

E: Ooh I'm actually talking about Rooted Ziggurat. That's the name for the short little area after the elevator. So cool though.

Ohh yes, rooted ziggurat, very good. Love the boss actually. I'd wear t-shirt with that boss on it.

Although I actually like the Quarry a lot too now that I think about it, I love how noticeably hard it is.

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#19 Mini Motorways

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/9/2/AABIPnAADm1U.jpg

This was a holy grail game for me: I always wanted to get really into Transport Tycoon or Cities Skylines etc., but I have a terrible attention span for learning to play them. I just wanted the geometric optimization puzzle, without working through a tutorial.

Mini Motorways manages to have ZERO TUTORIALIZING. You start the game, you're playing in a few seconds. Everything you learn after the first 10 seconds, is strategy. I've shown the game to others, and they too, get it immediately, and within minutes, are coming up with great strategic tips and observations I hadn't thought of.

Like Rollercoaster Tycoon, the presentation is perfection, maybe even more. The graphic design, and the adherence to a grid, means every time you play, you are guaranteed to make something beautiful, without even trying.

And it solves a main problem with Rollercoaster Tycoon: there's actually a great puzzle here, with infinite mastery, that I enjoy thinking about while falling asleep; while RCT was probably a little too easy and sandboxy.

BEST LEVEL: I really enjoy the levels with mountains, and Rio De Janeiro has the most!

How does it compare to mini metro? I found that game to be...okay, but overrated. Meanwhile I played a ton of Cities: Skylines this year.

I loooved Mini Metro, but once I played Mini Motorways I was like, I will never play Mini Metro ever again for the rest of my life.

BUT yeah it's very similar. It's pretty much the same thing but with more geometry, and you have limited concrete to build with, whereas Mini Metro didn't really have either of those variables.

So I think if you didn't like Mini Metro and you're already playing an actual full fledged city builder, you probably wouldn't care about Mini Motorways. Not 100% sure, but probably.

#18 Final Fantasy 7

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/9/8/AABIPnAADm9O.jpg

First of all, the soundtrack. #2 favorite soundtrack (#1 was earlier in the list).

I think the Materia system is very underrated. The gameplay of FF7 *is* Materia, basically. It seeps into every aspect of the game.

You find yourself caring more about your materias' xp levels, than your characters' levels!

And you find yourself using bad weapons because they have a materia levelling up multiplier, or because they have more materia slots, or junction slots. You find yourself exploring for secrets much harder, because you don't want to miss some strategy-upending unique materia.

...Then you find yourself following a 10 hour side-quest, in a 40 hour game, just to get ONE really fancy materia!

The story *as a whole*, is good, but not great. But Midgar is really good, and, there are some very impressive plot twists in the late game (not including the most famous two-word twist, which I think is actually kinda meh).

BEST PART: Midgar is one of the best openings to any game I can think of--I love how quickly you start playing, and committing terrorism!! But that whole first 5 hours rocks. I usually bounce off RPGs because of slow openings, but definitely not here.

#17 Portal 2

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/6/0/AABIPnAADm_w.jpg

"Secrets" are probably the most underrated aspect of video games. If games didn't have secrets, they would be far less fun. Every game should have secrets, this is my new theory.

Portal 2 is at its best, during the parts where every single step you take, *feels* like a secret. Especially the game's early levels, and in the "testing spheres" sections: it always feels like you're "not supposed to be here" and it's a miracle that you're making progress at all, thanks to clever portal use and observation.

The game's best puzzles also often feel like "finding secrets" of the mechanics. This is probably true of all physical-world puzzle games. I suppose that's why people often refer to the "aha" moment as the good part of games like this--the "aha" is the secret unfolding!

Of course, the game is also hilarious, the funniest game I can think of off the top of my head, although I bet a lot of modern indie games are pretty funny.

Gotta give props for having a separate cooperative campaign too.

BEST PUZZLE: The one where the white goo is introduced.

Epyo posted...

BEST PUZZLE: The one where the white goo is introduced.

sounds about right

Secrets are one of the most satisfying things in gaming when they are done well - but mass produced collectable secrets kill games for me, or when I feel like the game has a bunch of secrets that I need to take the gameplay to a screeching halt so I can look in any nook and cranny for them, or when a secret is too good so you never find it

It's a big problem - they are so good but so hard to get right design wise

Those are all very good points. Required secrets can be a dealbreaker, especially, IMO.

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#16 Plants vs. Zombies

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/3/3/AABIPnAADnCd.jpg

Real Time Strategy is perhaps my most-despised genre of video game. It's because of the extremely slow onboarding these games tend to have: lots of tutorializing, reading walls of text, memorizing interfaces, memorizing controls and keybinds...

AND worse: they're terrible at quickly showing you what's fun about it. The first level of Warcraft 3 makes you guide Thrall through a maze!!

Plants vs. Zombies is the polar opposite. Within about 30 seconds, you're playing the real game--but it's only ONE lane instead of FIVE lanes, so it's literally a vertical slice!

Within 30 more seconds, you've planted your second plant, and now you see what's fun: you've DOUBLED your DPS. The next zombie that comes, dies TWICE AS FAST. Now you understand you're playing the most satisfying game genre: engine building.

Each level is like FIVE MINUTES LONG. And then the next level resets the board and YOU GET TO DO IT AGAIN! Now that is engine building!

If I had to pick one game that I wish I designed, it would be PvZ. It's a little too easy though.

FAVORITE PLANT: The Chomper. It's cute when it eats a zombie and the legs are hanging out its mouth for a while.

Man, I'm kinda upset that I wasn't already following this thread. Riven, Desert Golfing, Hydro Thunder, Pac-Man Arrangement, Mini Motorways--you got colorful taste!

A few thoughts as I was reading through. First, you mentioned offhand that the WarioWare games are too expensive on aftermarket. If you haven't already, be sure to pick up Twisted before the price climbs any higher. It's one of my all-timers; a deeply formative experience that is so unlike anything else you'll ever play. It's also the only WarioWare that really addresses the length issue by stuffing the postgame with a ton of extra content. You could play for years and still not have seen everything.

Second, I wanted to echo your appreciation of golf games. Too many great browser titles to count, but the standout for me will always be Wonderputt. It's a visual delight with a similar appeal to the Grow series, in the way that it keeps building on itself to construct the course. Veering a bit, mobile may be a nigh-infinite landscape to navigate, but the cream does have a way of rising to the top. Super Stickman Golf, its sequels, and Flappy Golf are brilliantly designed, and I've poured hours into optimizing the trickier courses. I've always thought the Noodlecake guys were super talented and it's so cool to see their work recognized with the Alto series.

I guess I just really love this thread and wanted to do some gushing of my own. Excited to see what comes next.

Plants vs. Zombies is so addicting that I got all the achievements/trophies in it.

Three times. And the Vita list was ridiculous as it really made you do everything.

Arti posted...

Plants vs. Zombies is so addicting that I got all the achievements/trophies in it.

Three times. And the Vita list was ridiculous as it really made you do everything.

OMG that's awesome. I think I've only 100%ed one file. I think my mom has 100%ed it a few times though.

Place posted...

Man, I'm kinda upset that I wasn't already following this thread. Riven, Desert Golfing, Hydro Thunder, Pac-Man Arrangement, Mini Motorways--you got colorful taste!

A few thoughts as I was reading through. First, you mentioned offhand that the WarioWare games are too expensive on aftermarket. If you haven't already, be sure to pick up Twisted before the price climbs any higher. It's one of my all-timers; a deeply formative experience that is so unlike anything else you'll ever play. It's also the only WarioWare that really addresses the length issue by stuffing the postgame with a ton of extra content. You could play for years and still not have seen everything.

Second, I wanted to echo your appreciation of golf games. Too many great browser titles to count, but the standout for me will always be Wonderputt. It's a visual delight with a similar appeal to the Grow series, in the way that it keeps building on itself to construct the course. Veering a bit, mobile may be a nigh-infinite landscape to navigate, but the cream does have a way of rising to the top. Super Stickman Golf, its sequels, and Flappy Golf are brilliantly designed, and I've poured hours into optimizing the trickier courses. I've always thought the Noodlecake guys were super talented and it's so cool to see their work recognized with the Alto series.

Thanks for the comment!! Yeah I'm stupid for never playing Twisted, I should really do that, everyone says it rules.

Thanks for the mobile recommendations I'll definitely check those out, I'm surprised I hadn't heard about any good minigolf mobile games, on podcasts or whatever, since it's kinda the perfect platform for minigolf, isn't it...