Your top ___ games of all time
Nov 25, 2020 16:49:36 GMT -5
Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Nov 25, 2020 16:49:36 GMT -5
This was on my mind a couple days back and it made me think - I don't believe we ever had a thread where people just post a straightforward list of their very favorites of all time. If there was one on here, it was before my time.
I don't really want to make rules, but I think restricting yourself to a meaningful number of games would be nice (a top 100 kind of makes each game not very special, and no runner-ups please). Also, I'd like to see people rank their games. It doesn't really matter if it's kind of arbitrary at times, it's just fun to see what you'd come up with if you're pressed to pick your very favorite no. 1 game. Oh and write a little bit about why it's in your list and perhaps why it made the cut over similar games, will you?
As for my list, I decided to go with 30, and with no multiple games from the same series since otherwise I'd just be listing a bunch of Marios and Zeldas and that'd be boring. Feel free to do whatever you want, though.
30 - Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver: Pokémon was at its peak on the GBA and DS. Hard to pick a fav, but I guess this one.
29 - Splinter Cell: I thought it had some flaws when I played it two years ago, but it has stayed on my mind quite a bit. It strikes a great balance between cinematic and video-game-y, though it fails to really work when it pretends it's an action game.
28 - Gradius III SNES: This is probably blasphemous, but my favorite shmup is a slowdown ridden SNES game. You can't beat the Gradius power-up system.
27 - Rollercoaster Tycoon: I played it a ton as a kid, but never really seriously attempted to play the scenarios until I was an adult. It's both fun now and back when I just messed around. I love isometric prerendered stuff.
26 - The Sims: Kind of like Rollercoaster Tycoon, only as an adult I really started to play while setting goals to myself. The later Sims games have too many options, I think. This game fits my playstyle the best, and the graphics are still the most charming, by far.
25 - Kid Icarus: Uprising: Underrated game that needs a sequel. Very replayable and has a cool weapon combining system. One of the standouts on the 3DS.
24 - Sonic 3 & Knuckles: The best Sonic game. Still not perfect, but pretty much the best the formula can get, 2D or 3D. Graphics and music about the best the MD has to offer.
23 - Mega Man 3: I don't know if I really have a favorite Mega Man game but I had to put something here. MM4, MM9 or MM&B are all about as good, so it's kind of interchangable. Never cared for the X series, I think the original formula just works too well.
22 - Minecraft: It's easy to forget how great this game is because it's so ubiquitous. But it IS great, and I played it tons of hours.
21 - Rayman: I grew up with Raymans 1, 2 and 3, so this is nostalgia-biased I'm sure. As a kid I liked the other two better, but in retrospect this one is the best (and most special to me). I don't think there's a better-looking 2D platformer.
20 - Earthbound: It's really something special, funny and charming, but it's also backed by a very good traditional RPG system and an interesting rolling-meter mechanic. The OST is too good, and the nods to the Beach Boys, Beatles and Zappa are still very original.
19 - Rhythm Heaven: A rhythm game that has completely original music and gameplay tailor made for each song. A brilliant idea, and so is the finger-flicking control scheme that works a lot more precise to me than buttons.
18 - Banjo-Kazooie: A game that outdoes Mario at its own game (at least Mario 64).
17 - Quake: The only FPS besides DOOM that I managed to really get into. And it was made by the same guys. Coincidence? I don't think so.
16 - Worms Armageddon: A game so good that I have no interest in checking out any sequels no matter how many they make.
15 - Puyo Puyo Tetris: I don't like the mode that has one field with both Puyo and Tetris, but the alternating one is brilliant. It's both Puyo and Tetris in one game, so it's almost kind of cheating. Both are brilliant on their own too.
14 - Tetris Attack: The best puzzle game ever made. Completely hypnothyzing when you get in the groove.
13 - WarioWare, Inc.: Such a simple but brilliant idea wrapped in a really unique mix of artsyles and sound design.
12 - Dragon Quest III: I love well-made basic RPG battle systems like this, and add to that the steady difficulty, fun exploration and great monster designs and I'm satisfied.
11 - Ace Attourney: Trials and Tribulations: Only game I've ever played that completely engrosses with story alone. Gameplay still very fun, though.
10 - Donkey Kong Country Returns: Perhaps Tropical Freeze is better, but this is the one that I played a billion times when it came out, so it's the most important to me.
9 - Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door: Such a unique game. Manages to be pretty deep gameplay-wise even though it takes a while to get going, and all the scenarios you find yourself in are totally interesting. It's sad that this game is stuck on the GCN and is pretty expensive second-hand.
8 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: Kind of a tossup between this and MK8, so I'll let the nostlgia take over here. Still by far the most skill-based Mario Kart.
7 - Spelunky: Random enough to be interesting each playthrough, but predictable enough to be totally fair. Very impressive balancing, in other words.
6 - Etrian Odyssey IV: Only played it this year, and still have a good amount of EO games to go, but I'm willing to call it the best RPG I've played yet. I've always felt it's silly that RPGs have the tendency to be ashamed of what they are and tend to put a bunch of other shit in to distract from the battles. As long as there's a good battle system I can play on for hours.
5 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Toss-up between this and BotW, honestly, but what the heck. BotW will potentially be surpassed with the next Zelda, while OoT will remain king of its kind for a while, I suspect. Overworld is a bit weak, but the dungeons make up for it.
4 - The Ultimate DOOM: Not just for what it is, but also the long line of fan-made mods that I've enjoyed over the past years. The weapons and enemies from DOOM and DOOM II are so perfectly in balance that I'm always just dissapointed when I try another FPS and it's not as good as DOOM. But it simply doesn't get any better than DOOM. I like DOOM II for what it brought to the formula, but DOOM 1 is a better game as far as levels design goes. Every once in a while I have to play some DOOM, it just never gets old.
3 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The most ambitious crossover game that will ever exist, I'm sure. Both accessible and deep, with distinct characters that are nonetheless all easy to pick up and play. That alone makes it hands down the best fighter ever.
2 - Super Mario Bros. 3: Do I even have to say anything about this one? Perfect balance between slipperiness and control.
1 - Splatoon 2: It's not a topic that comes up too much around here, but this is probably the game nearest and dearest to my heart. I was there when the first demo of Splatoon 1 released, and I've been hooked ever since. I love too much about this game to describe here. The main gameplay loop is brilliant. The music, graphics, typography, stage design, weapon variety, updates, Splatfests...it's all just so good. The only downside is that it keeps taking up time I want to spend on playing new games.
Yes, I own mostly Nintendo consoles.
I don't really want to make rules, but I think restricting yourself to a meaningful number of games would be nice (a top 100 kind of makes each game not very special, and no runner-ups please). Also, I'd like to see people rank their games. It doesn't really matter if it's kind of arbitrary at times, it's just fun to see what you'd come up with if you're pressed to pick your very favorite no. 1 game. Oh and write a little bit about why it's in your list and perhaps why it made the cut over similar games, will you?
As for my list, I decided to go with 30, and with no multiple games from the same series since otherwise I'd just be listing a bunch of Marios and Zeldas and that'd be boring. Feel free to do whatever you want, though.
30 - Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver: Pokémon was at its peak on the GBA and DS. Hard to pick a fav, but I guess this one.
29 - Splinter Cell: I thought it had some flaws when I played it two years ago, but it has stayed on my mind quite a bit. It strikes a great balance between cinematic and video-game-y, though it fails to really work when it pretends it's an action game.
28 - Gradius III SNES: This is probably blasphemous, but my favorite shmup is a slowdown ridden SNES game. You can't beat the Gradius power-up system.
27 - Rollercoaster Tycoon: I played it a ton as a kid, but never really seriously attempted to play the scenarios until I was an adult. It's both fun now and back when I just messed around. I love isometric prerendered stuff.
26 - The Sims: Kind of like Rollercoaster Tycoon, only as an adult I really started to play while setting goals to myself. The later Sims games have too many options, I think. This game fits my playstyle the best, and the graphics are still the most charming, by far.
25 - Kid Icarus: Uprising: Underrated game that needs a sequel. Very replayable and has a cool weapon combining system. One of the standouts on the 3DS.
24 - Sonic 3 & Knuckles: The best Sonic game. Still not perfect, but pretty much the best the formula can get, 2D or 3D. Graphics and music about the best the MD has to offer.
23 - Mega Man 3: I don't know if I really have a favorite Mega Man game but I had to put something here. MM4, MM9 or MM&B are all about as good, so it's kind of interchangable. Never cared for the X series, I think the original formula just works too well.
22 - Minecraft: It's easy to forget how great this game is because it's so ubiquitous. But it IS great, and I played it tons of hours.
21 - Rayman: I grew up with Raymans 1, 2 and 3, so this is nostalgia-biased I'm sure. As a kid I liked the other two better, but in retrospect this one is the best (and most special to me). I don't think there's a better-looking 2D platformer.
20 - Earthbound: It's really something special, funny and charming, but it's also backed by a very good traditional RPG system and an interesting rolling-meter mechanic. The OST is too good, and the nods to the Beach Boys, Beatles and Zappa are still very original.
19 - Rhythm Heaven: A rhythm game that has completely original music and gameplay tailor made for each song. A brilliant idea, and so is the finger-flicking control scheme that works a lot more precise to me than buttons.
18 - Banjo-Kazooie: A game that outdoes Mario at its own game (at least Mario 64).
17 - Quake: The only FPS besides DOOM that I managed to really get into. And it was made by the same guys. Coincidence? I don't think so.
16 - Worms Armageddon: A game so good that I have no interest in checking out any sequels no matter how many they make.
15 - Puyo Puyo Tetris: I don't like the mode that has one field with both Puyo and Tetris, but the alternating one is brilliant. It's both Puyo and Tetris in one game, so it's almost kind of cheating. Both are brilliant on their own too.
14 - Tetris Attack: The best puzzle game ever made. Completely hypnothyzing when you get in the groove.
13 - WarioWare, Inc.: Such a simple but brilliant idea wrapped in a really unique mix of artsyles and sound design.
12 - Dragon Quest III: I love well-made basic RPG battle systems like this, and add to that the steady difficulty, fun exploration and great monster designs and I'm satisfied.
11 - Ace Attourney: Trials and Tribulations: Only game I've ever played that completely engrosses with story alone. Gameplay still very fun, though.
10 - Donkey Kong Country Returns: Perhaps Tropical Freeze is better, but this is the one that I played a billion times when it came out, so it's the most important to me.
9 - Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door: Such a unique game. Manages to be pretty deep gameplay-wise even though it takes a while to get going, and all the scenarios you find yourself in are totally interesting. It's sad that this game is stuck on the GCN and is pretty expensive second-hand.
8 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: Kind of a tossup between this and MK8, so I'll let the nostlgia take over here. Still by far the most skill-based Mario Kart.
7 - Spelunky: Random enough to be interesting each playthrough, but predictable enough to be totally fair. Very impressive balancing, in other words.
6 - Etrian Odyssey IV: Only played it this year, and still have a good amount of EO games to go, but I'm willing to call it the best RPG I've played yet. I've always felt it's silly that RPGs have the tendency to be ashamed of what they are and tend to put a bunch of other shit in to distract from the battles. As long as there's a good battle system I can play on for hours.
5 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Toss-up between this and BotW, honestly, but what the heck. BotW will potentially be surpassed with the next Zelda, while OoT will remain king of its kind for a while, I suspect. Overworld is a bit weak, but the dungeons make up for it.
4 - The Ultimate DOOM: Not just for what it is, but also the long line of fan-made mods that I've enjoyed over the past years. The weapons and enemies from DOOM and DOOM II are so perfectly in balance that I'm always just dissapointed when I try another FPS and it's not as good as DOOM. But it simply doesn't get any better than DOOM. I like DOOM II for what it brought to the formula, but DOOM 1 is a better game as far as levels design goes. Every once in a while I have to play some DOOM, it just never gets old.
3 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The most ambitious crossover game that will ever exist, I'm sure. Both accessible and deep, with distinct characters that are nonetheless all easy to pick up and play. That alone makes it hands down the best fighter ever.
2 - Super Mario Bros. 3: Do I even have to say anything about this one? Perfect balance between slipperiness and control.
1 - Splatoon 2: It's not a topic that comes up too much around here, but this is probably the game nearest and dearest to my heart. I was there when the first demo of Splatoon 1 released, and I've been hooked ever since. I love too much about this game to describe here. The main gameplay loop is brilliant. The music, graphics, typography, stage design, weapon variety, updates, Splatfests...it's all just so good. The only downside is that it keeps taking up time I want to spend on playing new games.
Yes, I own mostly Nintendo consoles.