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
#34. Scorched Earth
Scorched Earth was a simple turn-based artillery game. Choose your weapon, aim, set your range, and unleash hell on the other players. It was brilliant. There were so many types of weapons and armor, and when you coupled that with randomly generated landscape and changing weather conditions, this simple game ended up having very serious depth to it. It also got me into trouble like no other game, and why wouldn't it? It was my first time at a multi-player game that had more than 4 players. Scorched Earth supported 10 players!! Put this game in front of ten highschool freshmen and well.... you get banned from the school library. Where the hell else could I play with 10 people though. School was the only option. I give the librarians credit. They gave us warnings, but after a few days of playing and really learning the techniques and strategies all we could do is get excited and talk smack and volumes that really would only be appropriate for a sporting event. We were banned for the rest of the semester, and my school passed a new rule banning video games from the school library that summer. It is my greatest legacy. Truth is, I could still kill hours of playing this today though. Scorched is that that perfect simple game offers something for gamers of all level and makes the time fly by.
So simple, and yet so good. The graphics were mesmerising, too. Like a psychadelic Worms.
Also, my school law reform legacy is the banning of footballs, but also the introduction of a sports day.
One of the ultimate school games (Oregon Trail is the king). Why did every school have this game? Are they secretly training us for the eventual nuclear war? Anyway spent many hours in computer class with this awesome game.
They didn't have Scorched Earth at the two schools I briefly attended. One had Doom, the other Sim City, Tetris and another strategy game I've forgotten the name of. But I'm not 50 years old.
#33. Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Legacy of Kain couldn't have come around at a more pefect time in my life. I was going through my college goth phase (truth be told it was more about trying to have sex with goth girls while in college, but that's just too wordy), and lo and behold what do I find? The Playstation's answer to the Legend of Zelda starring a vampire. It's practically like the video game gods wanted me to keep dressing in black.
Ridiculous phases aside, Legacy of Kain is one hell of a brilliant game. It was hard as hell and the loading times were obnoxious, but Kain's adventure in learning how to vampire while exploring Nosgoth makes those things feel like small trade-offs. The combat was strong, with lots of customization thanks to the different types of weapons and armor. Nosgoth itself was a really impressive world to explore, though definitely depressing at times, particularly due to the actions you can take as Kain (sometimes out of necessity and sometimes just for fun). And it probably had the best video game voice acting up until that point. Really Simon Templeton's portrayl of Kain may still be one of the great VO performances in gaming to date. And as much as I love this game, of all the games on my list I think this would be the most improved with an updated remake.
Fucking amazing game. Yeah it was basically A Link To The Past: The Adult Version. Pretty edgy for the time. Almost like the videogame equivalent of Death Metal. Best game Silicon Knights ever made (sorry, Eternal Darkness). Hell, even Soul Reaver was basically the adult version of Ocarina Of Time....they were riding Zelda's coattails and I loved them for it. The voice work was indeed what set the stage for MGS and all games to follow.
You're lucky you went to college when you did. Today instead of hot goth girls you'd be surrounded by pink hairs and being told you're a bad person because you're of Euro descent. And the goth girls were fucking hot back then...good lord were they smokin'.
The key word in that sentence was "trying" to have sex with goth girls in college. Back then I was not the smooth lothario that you all know and love now, and most of my tries were failures. I did land two though, so that's something.
#32. Super Mario Bros 2
I don't think I'll ever be as hyped up and as excited for a game as I was for Super Mario Bros. 2. A sequel to Super Mario Bros was rumored for years. So many kids had mysterious uncles who worked for Nintendo that told them about an upcoming sequel. They were all full of shit, but every once in a while a golden nugget of corn would be found, usually in an obscure early video game magazine, that suggested the sequel was real in kids in Japan were playing it. Thank god Nintendo had the good sense not to release it, and instead gave us this bad ass Mario skinned version of Doki Doki Panic instead. I ended up getting the game as a Christmas present when I was in 7th grade, and it's pretty much gone down in history as one of my favorite presents of all time.
I loved that the game was drastically different from the original, but it still had all the familiarity that I needed. The original cast was back (with their own unique abilities this time). Mushrooms made you bigger. Warp zones let you skip levels. Everything else though from the worlds, to the monsters, to the music were all new. Everything felt fresh and was insanely fun. And god, the ending... holy crap that ending. I was in jaw dropping awe when I saw Mario wake up from a dream. Video game graphics should never be able to look that good, and yet here it was. I probably beat SMB2 more than any other NES game (and possibly every other game) simply so I could see that ending one more time.
That game had the best ending of any Mario game. I’ve been waiting for years for Wart to return to the Mario series.