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
#98. Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
The very first Disney movie I ever saw was the animated Robin Hood and it created a lifelong love of the character and lore. To this day whenever any kind of new Robin Hood media comes out (movie, show, game) I'm quick to check it, but often disappointed. Not with Conquests of the Longbow though, which is not just a great Robin Hood game, but one of the best adventure games Sierra Online ever made. There were a lot of clever puzzles, some original light strategy elements, and some really amazing graphics and music for the time. The main attraction though was the story. It may be the best that Sierra ever crafted. Few liberties were taken with the characters, but the writers still found a way to create many original adventures for Robin and his merry men while still respecting and incorporating the most famous stories (i.e. the archery tournament). Outside of some literature and maybe two of the movies, this may very well have been one of the best portrayals ever made of the character. Very high recommendation for any Robin Hood fans.
Is it PC only?
Yes. Sierra only dabbled with consoles once when they made King's Quest 5 for the NES and that was epic enough of a failure that they never tried again.
#97. Streets of Rage 2
I've never been a big fan of the beat'em up/brawler genre. Even at its heyday when it was the biggest genre in the arcades it never did much for me. Too formulaic and repititious. Take a few steps, punch a few villains, repeat until you get to a boss. Streets of Rage II of course followed this mold, but the result was much better. There was noticeably more effort put into the development of this game that made it stand out amongst all the others in a very crowded genre. The playable characters all felt very different from one another and they had larger move sets than any other beat'em up at the time. Enemy AI wasn't as blindingly stupid as other brawlers. It has an amazing techno soundtracks, that while basic still holds up. Really is a great reminder of how extra time, care, and passion from a development team can make what would usually be an average game into something special that stands the test of time. *HINT HINT SEGA! YOU CAN DO BETTER*
Crazy how there used to be so many PC only developers. Xbox really opened the floodgates for a lot of those guys to consoles.
Does your love of Robin Hood go deep enough that you've read the earliest known source material in which he's a devout Christian exposing the hypocrisies of knights and bishops?
Streets of Rage 2 is the embodiment of A E S T H E T I C. It'd be all over the internet if it looked a little more like an anime. Looks perfect as it is, don't get me wrong...
I've never gone that far down the hole. Most of what I know begins with some of the ballads that were written in the 15th and 16th century. And even those I am pretty rusty on these days. But what you said certainly makes sense. There's a lot of threads of exposing the church in some of those stories.
In fact, in this game with the exception of Friar Tuck the Church was painted very negatively. The main church in town was filled with drunk and womanizing priests along with a highly corrupted Abbott. Then there was a separate sect of monks that was made up of former soldiers who kill and torture enemies of King John in the name of God.
#96. Lollipop Chainsaw
When this list is over and done with, Lollipop Chainsaw will probably have the lowest Metacritic score of any game on it. Because of that I'm tempted to call it a guilty pleasure, but screw that. I maintain this is an excellent game. A collaboration between Suda 51 and an up-and-coming writer and director of cult and monster movies named James Gunn, this game is a reminder that sometimes video games are nothing more than goofy-ass fun. If you want to complain about the game over-indulges in male fantasy or arguing that it's about female empowerment, then you are spending too much time analyzing the game and not enough time playing it. Everything in the game is fun and ridiculous and has the depth of a sidewalk puddle after 2 minutes of rain, with the exception of the combat which is right on par with most action games of the time. And best of all it's the perfect length at about 6 hours. It's perfect for a weekend or even just a day or good schlocky video game fun.
I was very disappointed to discover that this game is not backwards compatible on Xbone. Not having been able to play this Suda51 game has been bugging me ever since this released. The internet however is pretty pessimistic about this ever appearing as a BC game, which is double sad since I know of a place that still sells this game new for under €20.
I really enjoyed Lollipop Chainsaw as well, such a damn fun game. It’s funny because I’ve been thinking about going back and revisiting it lately. I may just do that soon.