Every February on whatever message board I'm hanging out on, I try to have a little stupid fun and do a theme month. Didn't pull it off last month, but usually it works out. Anyway this year, I'd like to present my Top 28 games of all time. This is a list I've been thinking about during a lot of down time at work for the past week, and I'm actually pretty proud of it. It's just my list of favorites, so there will be several games you've never heard of or at least never played. And there will likely be some that you'll go, "seriously? you like that turd?" Well, fuck you in advance. It's my list and I love it.
Anyway, I'll be posting one game a day with a blurb about why I love it so until the month is over, with my number 1 game being presented on Feb 28. Before we begin here is a semi-sorta sneak preview. Just a quick list of the honorable mentions. The ones that came so close and yet..... not good enough.
- Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess
- Fortune Street
- NiGHTS Into Dreams
- Final Fantasy Legend II
- Lemmings
The top 28:
28. Super Mario Bros. 2
27. Dig-Dug
26. Hero's Quest/Quest for Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero
25. Scorched Earth
24. The Saboteur
23. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
22. Azure Dreams
21. Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant
20. Legend of Mana
19. Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
18. EverQuest
17. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
16. Rune Factory Frontier
15. Street Fighter Alpha 2
14. The World Ends With You
13. Pokemon Snap
12. Mother 3
11. Heroes of Might and Magic III
10. SimCity
9. Super Mario World
8. Chrono Trigger
7. Tetris
6. Red Dead Redemption
5. Persona 3
4. Resident Evil 4
3. Final Fantasy Tactics:
2. Valkyria Chronicles
1. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
#22. Azure Dreams
It's funny how sometimes just the name of a game can catch your eye, get into your head, and not leave until you play it. That was Azure Dreams for me, and this was a big game for me on a lot of levels. This game was my introduction to the rogue dungeon crawler which has come to be one of my favorite genres, and it went something like this. "Play this game, get addicted to it, enjoy it, and then throw your controller at a wall and punch your Playstation as hard as you can." It was more than just that though. It was a dating sim, monster trainer, and city sim as well. And because of the art style it even was sort of my introduction into anime....which may or may not have been a good thing.
This game was my first introduction the rogue genre as well. A friend and I used to play this all the time and neither of us could finish it hahaha, such as awesome game. Azure Dreams is one of those games you don't hear people talk about much. You're alright Robio.......you're alright *shifty eyes*
#21. Wizardy VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant
For one brief summer, Crusaders of the Dark Savant was my reason for waking up. This sci-fi epic was my introduction to western RPGs and dungeon crawlers, and pretty much heroin. I would actually sit for hours on the character creation page rerolling dice to get the best character possible in search for that perfect team. Once I finally got serious and really played it (god know I restarted a good dozen times trying to find that "perfect team") I was treated to an epic story of planetary invadasion, civil wars, race wars, and the creation of the universe. Pretty heavy stuff for the time. It was awesome.
Thanks Mr. Pewterschmidt.
It took me almost 10 years of off and on gameplay to beat the game. All it took was fnding the right monster combo ultimately and then I breezed through the game like it was nothng.
Dig Dug at # 27? WTF? Dig Dug is at least a Top 10 game, man! TOP 10! This whole list is a sham! SHAM, I say!
"If a top games list doesn't piss off everyone who reads it, it's not a good list." - the editor at every video game magazine and website that ever existed
#20. Legend of Mana
My favorite games are often the ones that allow you to do whatever you want to do. Just present me with options and let me figure out what I want to do with them. Legend of Mana was one of the first games to do that. There was no major overarching plot, but as you explored the world you’d meet new people and take part in their own little stories. You could raise monsters. Build robots, weapons, instruments... hell you built the very world you’d explore. On top of all that there were so many hidden secrets that most people never knew existed. Depending on how you laid out your world and what days of the week you visited each level you’d find entirely new things. Secrets upon secrets. That makes a great game even better.
Following in the footsteps of Vader and including Journey somewhere to piss yourself off?
#19. Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
Come on... you knew there would be a Harvest Moon game somewhere on here. Really to me, the only question was which one would it be. When I really thought about it though, Magical Melody was the game (though HM64 makes a strong case for itself as well). Magical Melody takes the standard HM gameplay that was used in all of the classic games, and adds characters, jobs, and animals from all of the previous games before it. Combine that with new levels of customization to your character and home, and an accomplishment list to keep you going with small goals that you're never too far away from attaining, and you've got something that feels familiar and new at the same time. Simply put this is Harvest Moon's greatest hits.