#69. Splatoon
The Wii U was a god damned disaster, but even if it hadn't put out anything other than Splatoon I wouldn't complain. I loved Splatoon. Even with all of it's quirks, it's my favorite multi-player game of its generation, so much so that even to this day I haven't managed to get in more than about an hour of the single-player mode. I still probably should do that because accoriding to everyone who has played it the final boss is pretty amazing. The most remarkable thing about it though is that it successfully appealed to just about everyone. High skill players could go into ranked mode and fight each other in whatever game mode was offered. Gamers who weren't as good still had Turf War where you main goal is just to paint the ground, and any dumbass (including myself) can handle that.
Few games have given me so many good times and yet caused so me to hate Japanese adolescents so much. Everytime I reapeatedly die in this game, I just picture some little shit named Haruto-chan sitting on the floor in front of his TV shouting unfavorable things about my mother. And whatever the truth is, it's not far from that. It's been a blast to play, and it was nice to see Nintendo go a little outside of the box to create something new.
You should definitely play through the single player campaign just to play the final boss battle. It is worth it.
A game with questionable ties to tentacle porn listed at number 69?!
You sir disgust me.
robio said:Could have been worse. I could have made it a Leisure Suit Larry game. Or Animal Crossing.
Furries?!
Archangel3371 said:Furries?!
It's the only thing I think is worse than tentacle porn.
I wonder if splatoon will make my list. I'm kind of waiting for this list to finish so it could be a while. 
#68. Pitfall
There's not a lot of Atari 2600 games I'd consider playable these days, but Pitfall is just as good today as it was 35 years ago. Not many games can say that. It's the first great platformer and when you look at all the elements of it, it's amazing how much it got right (even sadder is how often these same elements would be ignored through the years). Good solid controls that needed to be mastered in order to make it to the end. Multiple paths to explore thanks to the caves. It even offered a level of replay since you could go through the jungle loop by going left or right which almost made it like 2 games in one. It's been an omnipresent game in my life. As a young kid it was one of those games that every kid (but me) owned, so I was always playing it at a friends house. It was released in Atari collections over the years, and its inclusion was the single redeeming quality of Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure on the SNES. Even as recently as last year I was still playing this on my Rasberry Pi. In my little world, Pitfall is a game of legend and will always have a place in my game collection.
#67. Dragon Quest V
The greatest story of the 16-bit era didn't have the words Final Fantasy in its title. It wasn't a Phantasy Star game. It wasn't even Chrono Trigger. It is Dragon Quest V. Sadly the West didn't get an official release for 15 years until the DS remake. I was lucky enough to play the fan translation that came out a few years earlier, and when I did, was I sold. This is probably the entry of the series that really made me the Dragon Quest fanboy that I am these days. Sure, the original game looked pretty plain, and arugably even a step back from DQ4, despite being on more powerful hardware due to fewer character model and fewer unique monsters. But this game had things going on that no RPG had done before. This game was offering up monster hunting/collecting before Pokemon. The first post-game bonus dungeon appeared here. The tactics/partner AI was greatly expanded as well, and you were able to control your party significantly more than before.
But all that doesn't really matter when you look at the main attraction....the story. It's shocking how good of a tale was told in this game given the original system limitations. The main character of DQV arguably had the title of "most screwed over lead character in a video game" until Zak from the Final Fantasy 7 series came along. WIthout going into too many details the story is told over a 30 year period, with the main character taking up his father's search for a legendary hero who will save the world from a great evil.... yeah blah blah blah. It sounds typical on the surface. It wasn't. They actually came up with a pretty special tale here, and its one that I suggest playing through.
I just checked and apparently I didn't download DQ5 and last time I looked, all the rom sites had been shut down. Looks like I'm out of luck until the Switch port.
Pitfall was great. I remember even forcing myself to like the Playstation Pitfall game with Bruce Campbell.
edgecrusher said:I just checked and apparently I didn't download DQ5 and last time I looked, all the rom sites had been shut down. Looks like I'm out of luck until the Switch port.
The DQ mobile ports are all pretty good with the exception of DQ8. They were mostly taken from the DS ports if I'm not mistaken, and if you use a controller it's just as good I think. They go on sale pretty often, and you should be able to get a copy for around 10 bucks if you just keep an eye out.
edgecrusher said:Pitfall was great. I remember even forcing myself to like the Playstation Pitfall game with Bruce Campbell.
You're a better man than me. I think I played that game for 5 minutes before I quit.
#66. SteamWorld Dig
I like big games that offer up multiple types of gameplay, giant worlds, and epic stories. But there is something to be said for smaller games that only focus on handful of ideas, and pull off exactly what they wanted perfectly. SteamWorld Dig is the later. The basic idea is simple. Dig in a mine, collect precious stones, sell them to upgrade your abilities so you can dig deeper than you did the last time, and repeat. Woven alongside this are a couple colorful supporting characters, a story about trying to find out what happened to the main character's uncle, and just a little backstory about what happened to the humans. No real twists and turns to any of this. Just good straightforward story-telling and very polished gameplay. The result is maybe a perfect 6 hour gaming experience. Since it's release almost 5 years ago, I have played this game at least once each year. It's a great way to kill an afternoon or a long flight.
#65. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
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Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike... only the hardcore fighters need apply. Seriously, this is not user friendly Street Fighter. The entire Street Fighter III franchise was quite a bit tougher than it's Alpha/Zero predecessor or even the original SFII games, and was a more direct appeal to the hardcore audience. It was also pretty much an epic debacle as a result of dying arcades, mismanaged characters, franchise and fighting game fatigue, and home ports that for many years were only available on the Dreamcast. By the time 3rd Strike came out though, Capcom had finally filled the roster with some interesting characters and ironed out the controls to a near flawless level which ultimately earned it a following, though not a very big one and the franchise went into hybernation for a generation.
As for me, 3rd Strike has always been a game I've aspired to be good at, but never really was. Lord knows I've tried for many years and I've ever gotten close with a couple fighters. Still, once the ranks gets higher, I start having my ass handed to me, but at the end of the day that's okay because there's a lot to enjoy in this game. I love this roster of genuine freaks. Q, Necro, Oro, Hugo, and the naked guys who fight in diapers. They're a great compliment to the regular guys like Ken and Ryu, as well as Dudley the most gentlemanly fighter in the history of fighting games. The music is top-notch, the stage design is excellent and there's a bunch of great little moments scattered throughout the game like Alex and Hugo's face off that was meant to replicate Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant's Wrestlemania III match. Excellent fighting and tons of personality. It's what ever fighting game should aspire to... but maybe not be quite this fucking tough.
Steamworld Heist was pretty solid, too.
I definitely need to try Pitfall sometime. The cover may make a top 10 of all time list.
robio said:Pitfall's cover was excellent. I have a book of cover art for the Atari 2600 game library and overall there was some very impressive work. I really think there was a step backwards for the industry in the next generations.
Art in general was better back then. Look at the badass artwork on albums at the time.
#64. Order Up
Poor poor...Order Up. This absolutely excellent game had the misfortune to come out at the height of Wii Shovelware, and if you didn't know better you'd think that's all this was. Tough to blame anyone who thought that too. It had kind of a goofy looking aesthetic and looked to be a cooking game that featured the Wii's motion controls. Honestly, I don't even remember why I looked past that. I can only assume I found a favorable review for it somewhere by a brave reviewer who took the time to play it instead of immediately dismissing it. Yes, the gameplay focused on using the motion controls to cook food, but there was a lot going on here including restaurant management and some damn good mini-games (including one where you knock a paperboy off his bike). Plus the developers had a wicked sense of humor. They spoof everything from Star Wars to Iron Chef to Clint Eastwood in this game. That was to be expected though. These guys actually included a paper hat from the fast food place you work at during the game's training level.
The game went on to be ported to the PS3, 3DS, and mobile and for the most part they were fine, but the motion controls were for the most part implemented very well and it's tough to switch back to a traditional method. It's almost like playing Wii Sports with a traditional controller. If you can find the original grab it, but if not you wouldn't be going wrong checking it out on other platforms. At any rate, Order Up was great. I've actually bought the game for two different systems, and if it ever comes out for one of the current gen systems, I might very well grab it again.
There is a remaster of it: the PC version. I don't see it working well without the wii-remote, though; and it's apparently a bad port.
To add to my previous post, Cing co-developed it with Town Factory; but I have no idea who or what Town Factory is.