To celebrate our 10 year anniversary I think it's only fair that we do the exact same thing every video game magazine did whenever they reached a milestone... create a top 100 list. So that's what I'm going to do. I've spent the last couple weeks thinking this over and I have a list in front of me that I'm pretty happy with. No one else on earth will be happy with it, but as I always say, "fuck off it's my list and I don't give two shits what you think you little pissant." At least I think I say that.
Also, if you recall I did do a top 28 list a while back. However, that was 5 years ago and many great games have come out since, so even that top 28 has some changes in it. There's a few new games, a few games my opinions have changed on, and there was one really great one that I completely overlooked somehow when I made the list the first time. So rest assured there will be some very noticeable changes.
And it's going to go by fast. Since I've got that new job starting in just over a week, my free time may be reduced, so I'm going to try to get all 100 games posted within the next two weeks. I need to sharpen up my writing since this is a PR job so it's good practice. Writing about insurance benefits and filing medical claims is just like video games right?
100Sonic Adventure
99Kaboom
98Conquests of the Longbow
97Streets of Rage 2
96Lollipop Chainsaw
95Bloodborne
94 Crazy Taxi
93Bit.Trip.Beat
92Wii Ski & Snowboard
91RiverCity Ransom
90Dragon Quest Monsters
89Jones in the Fastlane
88Dark Cloud 2
87Professor Layton and the Curious Village
86MadWorld
85Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
84Torneko the Last Hope
83Crystal Castles
82Space Harrier
81Retro Game Challenge
80Final Fantasy VII
79Bulletstorm
78Rayman Legends
77Super Dodge Ball
76World of Goo
75The Magic of Scherazade
74Minecraft
73Fantasy Zone 2
72Golden Axe: Revege of Death Adder
71Final Fantasy Legend II
70Hotel Dusk
69Splatoon
68Pitfall
67Dragon Quest V
66SteamWorld Dig
65Street Fighter 3: Third Strike
64Order Up
63Hearthstone
62Monkey Island II: LeChuck's Revenge
61Bayonetta
60Galaga
59 Earthbound
58Super Mario Bros.
57Wii Sports Resort
56Pac-Man CE: DX
55Trauma Team
Thank you Foolz, that's very comforting.
#81. Retro Game Challenge
Even if Retro Game Challenge utterly sucked and was no fun whatsoever, you'd still have to give it credit for how creative the idea behind it is. You're sent back in time to the 1980's by a video game demon king who has become bitter that he sucks at modern day multiplayer gamest. There, alongside his human younger self in the, he gives you goals to complete on a variety of 8-bit games that kind of look familiar. Shooters, RPGs, racing games, and platformers... games that almost seem familiar. If you can complete all the challenges he throws at you, you get to return home.
If that doesn't make a lot of sense, don't worry about it. All you need to know is you're going to play a bunch of old NES games that never existed but probably should have. You don't have to actually beat them, just reach the goal that was set (getting a high score, reaching a level, collecting extra lives, etc.). Funny thing is, the games are actually pretty damn good, and you might just want to go ahead and keep playing until you win all the same. To round out the retro experience, you even have access to game manuals (ahhh now that does bring me back), and video game magazines that will have "tips and tricks" like old issues of Nintendo Power. When I got this, I really didn't understand what I was getting into, and wrongly assumed it was some kind retro game collection. It was possibly the best misconception I've ever had.
The "classic" games of Retro Gaming Challenge are shockingly good. Most basically feel like clones of games that existed back then like Galaga, Final Fantasy, RC Pro AM all come to mind, but you could easily see other games that influenced them. The games are really good, and they keep you grounded while an absolutely bizarre scenario plays out around you. It's a hell of an experience, and was definitely one of those games that could only have been made on the DS. Tough game to find, but totally a classic.
#80. Final Fantasy VII
The Squaresoft RPG revolution may not have begun with Final Fantasy 7, but lord knows that's when everyone decided to jump on the bandwagon. It's tough to blame them too. This game was a god damn epic. Part of me hates that this game sort of ended the classic "fantasy" elements of Final Fantasy, but it brought a lot of new elements to replace the old and it was hard to not forgive Squaresoft after experiencing them. The animations for summoning espers, materia, serious subject matter, a giant playground at the Golden Saucer, and a serious baddass of a villain. It was all cool shit.
This was the game that I bought my Playstation for, and was in fact the first game I even owned for it, despite owning a PSX for about 3 months. Up until then I'd just occasionally rent games. I promised myself that Final Fantasy 7 would be the first real purchase for my console. And overall, I wasn't let down at all. Classic Final Fantasy drama, memorable characters, and secrets hidden everywhere. It was as good as I could have hoped. If I remember correctly, I ended up dropping a college class because it was interfering with me spending as much time with the game as I wanted (for the record it was an elective that I didn't really need). This game, was a big one for me. It may have started my falling out of love with the series, but I still unquestionably loved Final Fantasy 7.
Final Fantasy 7 was amazing. I know it's cool to hate on it because it's so popular, but fuck those people. The game was a juggernaut. It wasn't my first PS game...I had already been amazed by the worlds of Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. And it wasn't even my first PS RPG...that title went to Wild Arms, just a few months earlier I believe. But I remember loving Wild Arms, as it was the first RPG I had played in years. Really since the Genesis. But FF7 was on such another scale from WA it was literally laughable. I remember thinking to myself not long into FF7 "Man, it's a good thing I played WA before this", because my opinion on it would have been very different.
This was really the game that got me heavily into RPG's, and for me, cemented the fact that the Playstation was a behemoth.
Happy birthday guys, thanks for making me fell young!
FFVII is an all time masterpiece.
I remember playing Final Fantasy VII knowing nothing about it; what an amazing opening.
I have since failed to complete it twice on PC.
#79. Bulletstorm
I don't like first-person-shooters. I don't really like games with realistic violence, and plus I utterly suck at them. I've just never been able to play them with any proficiency and ultimately get frustrated and quit. There's one big exception to this though.... Bulletstorm. Granted I suck at it, but that's okay. Everything else in the game is more than enough to keep me invested and encourages me to keep plugging along... and getting plugged for that matter.
The utterly R-rated yet completely juvenile sense of humor is one pat of it. Anytime a character uses a word like "dick-tits" as a legitimate insult, I giggle like I'm an elementary school kid that just learned a new bad word. And god knows Bulletstorm is filled with stuff like that. Still, as happy as I am with simple playground humor that wouldn't quite be enough to keep me invested over the course of the game, but fortunately there's something a lot more interesting here and that's the gameplay. Bulletstorm is more than just headshots. You're encouraged to kill your enemies with style using a variety of upgradable weapons as well as your environement. You're outfitted with sort of a laser lasso called a thumper and that little device is your key to getting creative in how you kill people. For example you can use it to throw an enemy into the air, then plug them with a couple shots from your gun in mid-air, and then catch them with the thumper again to toss them into a cactus. The combos can get crazy and they're the key to earning points that will allow you to upgrade your weapons further. It's a great cycle that doesn't get old and makes Bulletstorm really stand out in a world of FPS games that otherwise bore me to hell.
#78. Rayman Legends
Rayman Legends is probably my favorite pure 2-D platformer of the past 10 years. While there are plenty of items to collect in each level like the lums and the teeneys, at the end of the day it's focused on the running and jumping more than anything else and that's exactly why I play platformers. That said, Ubisoft did a great job of adding extra features so there's a little here for everyone. There's levels and challenges based on collecting items, time attacks, endless running, and even a halfway decent multi-player game called Kung-foot. Ubisoft's framework went a long way in making this game look like a cartoon come to life, and it's one of those rare occasions where the game is actually as much fun to watch as it is to play.... well almost.
The most notable thing about Rayman's Legend that would probably get it in this list even if the rest of the game sucked is that it is home to the greatest platformer level in the history of gaming, Castle Rock. It's basically a level where you start running and don't stop by doding arrows, monsters, and dragonfire, while listening to a very Raymen-esque version of Ram Jam's Black Betty. Baaaad asssss....
I mention how XC2's combat is in essence little more than a rythm game, and you balk at the prospect of you enjoying a rythm game, but then you put the visually wonderfull but otherwise only so-so Rayman Legends on the list, solely on the ground of some of its levels being little more than a thinly veiled rythm game? You are a person of questionably stable standards!