#63. Hearthstone
Ohhhhhh Hearthstone...I wish I could quit you. For about three years, Hearthstone has been one of my favorite and least favorite games of all time. It's a great evolution on the traditional card game, and has been a source of good fun and great frustration. At times I've been near the legendary rank of players and at others I'm right with the newbs who just opened their starter packs. It's constantly updated with new cards, and each year older decks are retired in order to keep strategies somewhat fresh. It's pretty friendly to new users as well. You're not going to make it to the legendary ranks overnight, but if you put in enough time and play smart, you'll be competitive.
One of the coolest things about it is the in-game lore. It started out as a direct spin-off of Worlds of Warcraft, but over time it actually forged its own storylines separate from the main game with its own characters and scenarios. It's little extra touches like that this have really elevated this beyond the point of other card games out there.
#62. Monkey Island II: LeChuck's Revenge
The adventures of Guybrush Threepword continue and they were never better or funnier than in LeChuck's Revenge. The second game in the Monkey Island series addressed most of the issues the first game had, and then kept the quality of the puzzles and sense of humor the same, and created one of the all-time great PC Adventure games. This game was basically Pirates of the Carribean the video game (before those movies started to suck ass), about 20 years before anyone thought of turning a ride into a movie. Despite all it's goofieness, the actually has a pretty impressive story, of Guybrush looking for the treasure of Big Whoop, while trying not to be killed by the zombie pirate (who was previously a ghost pirate) LeChuck. The ending was straight up bizarre with one of the weirdest 4th wall breaking moments I've ever come across, but it matched the game's tone. I could go on and on about the story in fact, but here's the ultimate sign of how in-love I was with it.... in highschool and college, I tried to take the game's story and write an adapated screenplay for it because I was so sure it could be a hit movie. Sure enough... 15 years later Pirates of the Carribean comes out. Who would have thought....
I've never played most of these games you're listing, but I am enjoying the ride.
#61. Bayonetta
Hardcore Bayonetta fans will praise the game's controls and battle system....I assume they do. That's what I keep reading on message boards. And indeed it's pretty cool. However, as someone with virtually no skill at these kinds of intense action games, I really couldn't be bothered too much with them, though I do try to pull off whatever combos I can. For me Bayonetta was all about it's bizarre beautiful style. The character, the angels, the settings, the music, and the batshit crazy breakneck speed it was all delivered in. The game seems like it was created after Kamiya took a shitload of ecstasy and then started playing Devil May Cry while listening to someone read The Inferno with some piano music playing in the background. Oh, all that except he wanted a female lead. Even with my lack of skill I still found this to be one of the best gaming experiences I had a in a while. IT's an adventure that everyone needs to experience.
Anything else that you liked?
I was really disappointed by Monkey Island 2. Everything felt like those making it had lost interest in the characters, the concept and the setting. Particularly the ending.
But I will say the ending has some novelty value now that Pirates of the Caribbean films exist.
travo said:Anything else that you liked?
Ehhhh not really. I liked her character design, but I've never been at a point where I've been hot and bothered by a video game character.
Foolz said:I was really disappointed by Monkey Island 2. Everything felt like those making it had lost interest in the characters, the concept and the setting. Particularly the ending.
But I will say the ending has some novelty value now that Pirates of the Caribbean films exist.
Really? Huh, I thought most people thought pretty highly of the second one. I guess I can see your point, but I will admit that I prefer Guybrush's more douchenozzle characterization over the eager beaver one.
#60. Galaga
There's really not a ton that can be said about Galaga. You're a space ship and you shoot aliens. And if you're not doing it quickly enough you're dead. That's pretty much all there is to it, but I'll be damned if it isn't one of the most addicting games ever made. It took the "simple but addictive" gameplay theory, but really elevated it with a surprising amount of strategy. That made it fun for me when I was a kid, and keeps it fun for me today. In fact, I probably like it more today than when it originally came out 35 years ago. I will happily spend a half hour trying to beat my high scores, and if I'm at an arcade that has one I won't rest until I've set a high score there... unless of course it's a super high score than then I'll say fuck it and move onto something else.
robio said:
Really? Huh, I thought most people thought pretty highly of the second one. I guess I can see your point, but I will admit that I prefer Guybrush's more douchenozzle characterization over the eager beaver one.
They do, I don't. 
I'm pretty sure Bayonetta is the game Anita Sarkeesian lubes up the mechanical dildo to.
#59. Earthbound
For those people who do not like Earthbound, I do not blame you. It took me 4 or 5 attempts over the course of 20 years to finally understand why Earthbound was an amazing game, though to be honest I still couldn't entirely tell you why. The game has some rough difficulty spikes, too many enemy encounters, and sometimes just seems weird for no real reason other than to be weird. But if you can just look past some of that stuff, you'll appreciate all the ways it excels; the character and world design, music, and the ideas and themes that it throws out. Even to this day, there is a level of creativity and originality that you rarely see anywhere. If that's not enough to convince you I'd also like to point out that Earthbound has one of the most bizarre and twisted end battles you'll ever come across. Plus it features one of the coolest endings I've ever come across, in that every single NPC in the game has a different message for you if you go back to talk to them. So, there you go. If that's not incentive I don't know what is.
One day I will try again to make it through the nausea this game gives me. It sounds adorable.
All I remember about earthbound are the old magazines ads that had a scratch and sniff that smelled like a fart.
Dvader said:All I remember about earthbound are the old magazines ads that had a scratch and sniff that smelled like a fart.
Yep, NoA had no idea how to market that game. None at all. as it is, they never really had any clue, which is partially why the first one never came out. Ironic too, because the series, and especially Mother 3 is considered to be a national treasures in Japan.
I remember going to the store and picking up that nice big Earthbound cardboard box. Man I wish I had kept all my stuff from back in the day. 
Yeah I had the giant box with the guide in it too. Nintendo sent me a coupon in the mail for $5 off for Earthbound so I figured why not. Like I said earlier, I just didn't get it, and after 15 hours or so I gave up and sold it back. Major gaming regret right there. Right up there with not buying the copy of Illusion of Gaia that came with a free t-shirt packed in.
#58. Super Mario Bros.
This is THE game that is probably responsible for turning me into a full fledged gamer. The first time I laid eyes on Super Mario Bros, the world pretty much changed. I had spent plenty of time with the Atari 2600, in arcades, and even with the NES, but nothing really prepared me for this. The graphics were big and bright, the music was insanely catchy, and despite being bizarre as hell it all made sense. Yes, I need jump on turtles and kick their shells. I need to pick a flower and throw fireballs at evil mushrooms. And I shall enter castles and attempt to save a princess who never seems to be there. No explaination is needed!!
I professed my love for this game many times, and I always will. I played tournaments with all my neighborhood friends to get win titles such as "Super Mario Champion of the Universe." I played it on the Gameboy Color at my first office job when I was supposed to be out doing sales calls. And I still buy it anytime it shows up on whatever version of the Virtual Console Nintendo throws out there. Games may have gotten better over the year (but not much), but Super Mario Bros is about as meaningful as any game has ever been to me.
LOve the art world of SF3, never played it.