Go back and think about how that period of time was during the last quarter of 2004. We had KoToR 2, MGS4, SA , Halo 2, and Resident Evil 4 in early January. Just an amazing time for gamers.
8. Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World
I never gave the question which of the 2 is the better game much thought, but I think I'd go with SMB3 as well.
I thought people weren't that into NSMB Wii U?
Foolz said:I thought people weren't that into NSMB Wii U?
I've seen it be argued it's better. On some levels it might be right, but it's like some artists making a painting with superior tools that may look better but it didn't have the soul of what came before.
I will give it credit on the multiplayer though. If two or more people play together and have some skill, the moves and actions you can pull off are pretty incredible. Totally changes the way the game is played. It's the one aspect of the game that really gives it a unique feeling. Unfortunately, most people never touch that part of it and miss out on it's best feature.
I'd also argue that in World it's easier to find the secrets and tricks, if you're willing to take some time and explore an experiment. In 3, I will always argue that if you don't have a guidebook or FAQ or something to direct you, you'll miss out on half the stuff. The Warp Whistles alone are almost impossible to find if you didn't have an issue of Nintendo Power, or if you didn't see the Wizard.
7. The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening and A Link to the Past
While Super Mario Bros. was the first game I really ever played, it was The Legend of Zelda that was my first love. No other game is more responsible for my lifelong hobby of gaming than the first classic. It's a game I practically know by heart, a game I tend to play every two years or so (takes me about two hours to beat so no big deal), a game that created the ideals I hold most dear in games. Zelda was about adventuring, the spirit of going out into a bold fantastic world and fulfilling that heroes journey, growing as you went with new items and powers that helped you explore even deeper. It is the grandfather of the action adventure genre, mixing action, puzzle solving and exploration in a way never done before. Back then most games were no open ended, the few that were didn't have the fluidity in action Zelda had, it was a truly groundbreaking experience, one signified by it's glorious gold cover.
I can't recall when we first got Zelda. I can't recall the first time I played it. My memories mostly come from me replaying the game over and over and over again as I grew up. It is easily my most played NES game, while I admit SMB3 is the best NES game, Zelda 1 is my favorite. There was something about the structure of that game, the music, the look, I loved it all. I don't remember even learning its secrets, I guess I would watch my brother play or read Nintendo Power because as far as I remember I always knew where to bomb, where to burn what bush and how to find all dungeons. There were a few spots that would surprise me over the years, a place I missed or maybe forgot. Still my strategy with the game was always the same, I had a path I would follow and sequence of when to get what.
The beauty of the first Zelda game was it's freedom; it had the 9 dungeons and hidden items in each but you could do them in any order assuming you had the tools you need. It is possible to run to dungeon 8 early on and get the master key so that keys are never an issue again. This freedom made the game feel free in a way no Zelda game did until BOTW. The combat and puzzles were rather simplistic but they worked great at the time. A room full of darknuts was always terrifying, the final dungeon could be brutal but that's what made it so fun, later Zelda's became a cake walk, Zelda 1 challenged you. Every time I beat it I felt accomplished, every once and a while I would go for the super hard second quest which I did not know as well. There is something about Zelda that brings me peace, when I think of childhood memories a certain calm washes over me when I recall playing Zelda in my old room.
This is where things get weird with my history of Zelda. Being that I went the Genesis route I missed out on ALTTP despite it being the game I probably wanted to play most. I did have friends with it and I would play parts of it at a time. I would read magazines about all the new moves Link has, at how grand the adventure was, it looked like a dream game. But I didn't get to fully play it for many years. Meanwhile in the late 90s my sister goy a Gameboy color which I quickly made my own cause all she wanted it for was pokemon and a few games she hardly played. Link's Awakening had come out many years prior and again no Game Boy so I missed out but I did not miss out when Link's Awakening DX came out so LA was my next real Zelda experience, not ALTTP.
I was blown away at how incredible this game was. It took that simplistic NES Zelda formula and kicked it up a notch with a living breathing world, a whole cast of interesting and funny characters that sort of new they were in a video game. The game was quirky in all the right ways and had a sense of energy to it that kept pushing you to the next area and dungeons. This game was the first to let the player choose what both items Link could use so it is possible to take away the sword and combine different items for new powers like the running shoes with the jumping cape, yes JUMPING. LA has some basic platforming, it even had side scrolling levels with Mario characters in it. All these powers came together in the great dungeons and excellent boss battles. To this day I feel LA is the best portable Zelda and is up there with the best the series has including ALLTP.
Just this past year we got to revisit Koholint island on the switch with the remastered version and it's still as great as it ever was. What a breath of fresh air to get a tightly designed game that lasts a good 12 hours and packs tons of great content with no padding. The remaster reaffirmed my love for this game, one of the all time greats.
Finally in the late 90's, before I fully got to play OoT even though it was out for some time I was able to borrow a SNES and play ALTTP from start to finish. Even though I was familiar with the game and even though we were already deep into the 3D era what I experienced is easily the best 2D action adventure game of all time. The presentation holds up today, a stormy dark night, a uncle killed, a hero being thrust into a grand adventure, it was Nintendo just showing off at how much better they were at making games than everyone else. That world map is so perfectly designed, sections just out of reach slowly open up like a perfectly paced book. All the new abilities work together with the world to make it feel like an interactive wonderland, knocking on trees for fruit, dashing into a bookshelf to knock down a book, diving into the river ways to find secret areas. It was all so fulfilling, the game simply plays like a dream and its designed like one too.
The core Zelda formula that basically every Zelda game adhered to until BOTW was created by ALTTP. Yes the game got a bit more linear but they still offered so many secrets and let you find your own way that the added structure vastly benefited the formula more than took away. The dungeons became a bit more themed, multistory puzzle factories filled with traps and always a new item that opened up a new gameplay mechanic for use all over the game. Bosses filled the screen in epic battles. Just when you feel wow this game is ending, oh it only just begun.
The dark world opens up a whole new map and a game wide shifting between two worlds. tons of new dungeons to complete, way tougher enemies, grittier environments, its the kind of twists that legendary games are made of. This is the greatest franchise in gaming for a reason, because no matter the era, a Zelda game stood as the best of the genre. A Link to the Past is probably the tightest and most pure fun Zelda game to play. To me the greatest 16-bit game of all time.
A Link to the Past is the G.O.A.T.
Archangel3371 said:A Link to the Past is the G.O.A.T.
Same for me. This whole list is bullshit for not recognising it as such.
At the present rate of his posting, this may actually be the last one Vader gets to before he dies of old age! So it's effectively number 1!
Foolz said:At the present rate of his posting, this may actually be the last one Vader gets to before he dies of old age! So it's effectively number 1!
We can only hope
Vader, the G.R.R.Martin of videogame lists.
SupremeAC said:We can only hope
Vader, the G.R.R.Martin of videogame lists.
But I will finish!
6. Mass Effect 2
Being a fan of sci-fi all my life I have always wanted the a game where I feel like I am on an epic space adventure. The captain of my own ship, leader of a rag tag group of aliens, fighting for the fate of the universe. Enter Mass Effect, a dream scenario with the expertise of Bioware and the perfect setting and style for the game I want. Now Mass Effect 1 was a MS 360 exclusive, I did not have a 360 and so like back in the 16 bit days I watched from the outside as many praised Bioware's first episode of this planned trilogy, desperately wanting to play. Then something crazy happened, Mass Effect 2 would come to PS3, but not the first and it would come with all DLC. So that is what I played, I watched ME1 cutscenes on youtube, I made my choices in the intro movie of the PS3 version of ME2 so you can set the stage for your version of ME2 and off I went.
The best part of Mass Effect 2 is that its actually an action game. ME1 was plagued with half RPG elements, made the game feel real sluggish, playing that after the far better playing ME2 was not easy. ME2 thankfully embraced that it is a shooter with RPG elements, the result is my perfect kind of game. I instantly fell in love with Shepard and the crew. I had the Normandy, my own spaceship! I could go to each team members quarters, chat with them, try to sleep with them, learn about their lives. It felt like the Star Trek game I always wanted. Well if Star Trek was part action movie and you are space Jack Bauer, which so happens to be my other favorite genre, shooting shit!
ME2's combat was a really cool TPS strategy hybrid. Unlike Gears where all you do is hide behind cover and pop out and shoot, ME2 gives you biotic powers with basically makes you a Jedi with a gun. I was force pulling fools, launching enemies in the air and gunning them down. Some teammates were hackers giving me support drones and hacking Geth enemies. There was an element of rock paper scissors with the powers and shields, and the way you command your entire team made each combat scenario more than just shooting. I was enthralled with every gunfight as the story sets up every scenario so well and I loved the various planets and locations you visit.
Bioware's strength is their storylines specifically with the team members. ME2 has a stellar cast from your right hand man Garrus, to Miranda the hard headed second in command that might become your love interest. Thane the assassin with a spiritual background, Zaeed the assassin who doesn't give a shit about no one. Jack and her tragic story of being experimented on, she is the hot head of the group. Tali who is just the best, kind of like the crew's Data. And the rest, all really great team members each of them with their own story lines, each can be grown with specific powers and such.
Mass Effect's most impressive feature is that Bioware wanted to create an adventure across three games where all your decisions matter. So depending on what you did in the first game some characters are dead or alive, some races hate you or welcome you and the choices you make in this game have impact on the next one. That ambitious project sort of fell flat at the very end but in the moment it made every story decision feel nerve wrecking. I was many times deciding the fate of my crew, like Captain Kirk, making the tough decisions. Its the perfect blend of great combat, compelling story and making the player feel in control of their own story. It all culminates in one of the best final missions of a game ever, where every character you meet has a role and can die.
Now I played the game with all the DLC integrated into the game so this game felt MASSIVE to me. I was engaged for 40+ hours, exploring every nook of this galaxy. I read every journal entry, I loved all the lore, all the detail Bioware put into this. I couldn't wait to get to my next planet, to see what kind of horrible situations I have to fight my way out of. It felt like being in control of a TV show that I never wanted to end. Mass Effect 2 is the best Bioware game ever, if you classify it as a true RPG it would be my favorite RPG ever. It's almost my dream game, it just needs a little better combat with better enemy and level variety. Still it's one of those gaming experiences where it was pure joy from start to finish.
5. Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2
Obviously I grew up loving Super Mario Bros, I love platforms, but for whatever reason the transition from 2D to 3D didn’t really capture me the way it did other genres. I think it mostly had to do with how precise the controls had to be for a platformer to work, 2D Mario always controlled like a dream, the levels lend themselves to focusing on the most basic and essential of all video game mechanics, the act of timing a jump.
When Super Mario 64 hit it was a revelation, exploring that 3D world was awe inducing BUT that need of the precise jump was gone. Levels were large, most of the time was spent looking for what to do rather than doing what had to be done. This was exacerbated further in Sunshine which went even more toward exploring. Were 3D platformers never going to be able to capture that energy and magic of the 2D ones. Enter Super Mario Galaxy.
Galaxy takes the spirit of my favorite Mario game up to that point SMB3 and successfully translates it into a 3D space. Gone are the giant meandering levels, Galaxy has smaller more goal oriented courses. The focus is back on the act of jumping, timing, using powers to get around and it’s all done so in a way that’s so incredibly imaginative.
The hook of Galaxy is that Mario gets to run and jump around spheres that have their own gravity. You can launch yourself and forward and wrap around a small planetoid due to the gravitational pull. Or using the Wiimote to grab onto stars that launch you from one gravity field to another. This leads to incredible levels where you are slingshotting Mario using gravity across space or running on top of and below a UFO has lasers fly from every corner of the screen. Crazy levels where floors come and go at the beat of music. Levels where it’s a race against time. The classic auto scrolling levels. And yes even a few larger levels to satisfy that exploration itch. Variety is what makes this game so amazing.
One of my favorite aspects of SMB3 are the wild suits and all the powers it gives Mario, well Galaxy one ups SMB3 with even wilder suits. Bee, ghost, fire, ice and even a flying Mario suit all add to the ridiculous gameplay variety. My favorite though was the spring suit that has you bounce around what was my favorite levels of the game, a giant sized toy room with the Mario theme song playing. Galaxy 1 practically had it all or so I thought but the sequel proved there was still more.
Galaxy 2 does not stray to far from the formula of the first but it does add a bunch of new suits and Yoshi into the mix. Yoshi levels were a blast, getting Yoshi to catch fire as you flew up walls and upside down areas at fast speeds, almost felt like a sonic game. The cloud and rock Mario suits were incredibly fun to play with and the cloud in particular lead to some genius levels.
SMG2 streamlined the levels even more, giving you a spaceship with a giant Mario head to use to navigate an almost SMB3 like level map. It’s got the same creative level design and non stop variety that makes the first so great. Oh and when you beat both games and get all stars you get to do it all again as Luigi, just insane amount of content at such high quality.
I see no correct answer as to which one is better, this is truly 1a and 1b. I prefer Galaxy 1 slightly one because it was the first one and I liked the hub more. I liked that it still let me get a little of that exploration Mario feel when I wanted it. Plus it had Gusty Garden Galaxy and that music! The Super Mario Galaxy games are platformers perfected, to me the best the genre has ever produced. When I think of pure gaming, the essence of why I play it boils down to the joy of controlling a character and getting past obstacles in many ways. Galaxy is pure gaming bliss.
I totally loved Vice City but ended up being pretty meh on San Andreas. Was all hyped for it and lined up to get it on the eve prior to launch day. I tried to get into it but just never could. By then I was getting tired of the PS2 graphics and the sloppy controls of the franchise. Traded it in a few days later.