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Not in any order:

Metal Gear Solid 3
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Mega Man 2
Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver
Ace Attorney 3
Earthbound
Super Mario World
Mega Man X2
Yoshi's Island

can't think of a 10th

 

[Professor Beef]

I hereby decree that anyone who can't fit in anymore games in their list will have Sonic Chronicles automatically posted as many times a required.

*bangs gavel*

 

[Kokonoe]

There are too many games I really like to have an empty spot on a list.

 

[qq more]

I hereby decree that anyone who can't fit in anymore games in their list will have Sonic Chronicles automatically posted as many times a required.

*bangs gavel*

nooooooooooooooo

 

[qq more]

I've decided


Kirby's Adventure (actually it's either that or Super Star but I think I've played Adventure way more)

 

[TheOGB]

This will literally be the first 10-15 awesome games I remember, fuck order, in my mind there is only chaos!

Spoiler

It's 4:30 am

Crash Bandicoot 2
Sonic 2
Crash Team Racing
El Shaddai
Kirby Super Star (Ultra)
Pokemon Black
Pokemon SoulSilver
Sonic Colors
Sonic Generations
Saints Row The Third
Burnout 3
Sonic 3&K
Team Fortress 2
Rayman Origins
Tekken Tag Tournament 2/Tatsunoko vs. Capcom/Street Fighter 4 series/Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike/ Tekken 3/Tekken Tag Tournament (all sharing a single spot)
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3/Street Fighter X Tekken/Soul Calibur V (sharing the spot immediately underneath)
Crash Tag Team Racing
Super Smash Bros. 64 and Brawl



Ahh shit that's way more than 10

 

[Kokonoe]

No cheating!

 

[qq more]

Fuck I completely forgot about Saints Row 3. It'd be totally on the list but I don't know which game to replace D:

 

[TheOGB]

I might have to return to this when I'm not braindead

Also Super Mario Bros. 3

Edit: I can condense that down to 10, but there's gonna be a shitton of ties

 

[The Xtortionist]

top 10 lists really ok guys.

1. Resident Evil 4
2. Metroid Prime
3. Super Metroid
4. Tie: RollerCoaster Tycoon/RollerCoaster Tycoon 2
5. F-Zero GX
6. Tie: Donkey Kong Country Returns/Donkey Kong Country 2
7. Earthbound
8. A Link to the Past
9. Portal
10. Buck Bumble

...just kidding, #10 is actually Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Honorable mentions: Rayman Origins, Super Mario 3D Land, Call of Duty 4, Half-Life 2, Halo:CE, Shadowrun (2007), Sonic 2/3&K, Kirby Super Star

Fun fact: I don't like Yoshi's Island all that much because I find the 100 point system tedious and annoying as hell.

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

I actually made a list on GiantBomb a couple years back just for such an occasion, but it's way longer than ten entries, so I guess I'll cut things down a bit. In no particular order:

Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Donkey Kong Country 2
Chrono Trigger
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Half-Life
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Portal 2
Sonic Unleashed
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

If you'd like to see the full list, and read all the little blurbs as to why they're on the list, it's right here.

 

[DICKS AHOY]

In no particular order while trying to vaguely keep it one game-per-franchise and still leaving out a ton:

Super Mario Bros. 3
Yoshi's Island
Resident Evil 4
Team Fortress 2
Half-Life 2
Bioshock Paper Mario 2
Toss-up between Link's Awakening or Wind Waker (Ironically I loathed WW originally)
Toss-up between Donkey Kong Country 2 and Returns
Toss-up between Rayman 2 or Origins
Toss-up between Sonic 3 & Knuckles or Sonic CD

 

[Nocturnowl]

Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Donkey Kong Country 2 (Returns as a close alternative)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (SMW as series alternative)
Metroid Prime
Pokemon Fire Red
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
Valkyria Chronicles
Resident Evil 4
Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Sticking to one game per franchise, I'll probably kick myself for having forgotten something important. I can already think of a few bubbling under right now. Also it's safe to say I have an alternative franchise runner up for damn near every entry on that list from their respective series, except Resi 4 which stands alone, for Valkyria i'd just throw in Fire Emblem 9 as the close comparison because somehow I view that as working..BECAUSE I CAN'T PUT THREE!

I'm liking the lists I see, extra props for seeing the unexpected Rollercoaster Tycoon, best PC game that I always end up forgetting about.

Fun fact: I don't like Yoshi's Island all that much because I find the 100 point system tedious and annoying as hell.

Hey, someone else who feels this way!
I still like it but I never got the overwhelming praise, well whatever.

 

[BlackJace]

Was just thinking about this.

1. Metroid Prime
2. Super Smash Bros. Melee
3. Team Fortress 2
4. Phoenix Wright 3
5. Sonic Adventure
6. Dissidia 012: Duodecim
7. Advance Wars: Dual Strike
8. Mirror's Edge
9. LOZ Twilight Princess
10. COD 4

Metroid Prime really changed how I looked at games as a storytelling piece of art. No game as of yet has been on its level for me.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Oh balls, I forgot Smash Bros, I demand a top 20!

 

[BHZ Mayor]

No order:

Banjo-Kazooie
Jak & Daxter
Sonic 2
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Mario Kart 64
Ocarina of Time
Ratchet & Clank (series, otherwise it would take up the rest of this list)
WWF No Mercy
Goldeneye 007
Jak 2 (Anihawk probably hates me now)
Tekken Tag Tournament
Super Smash Bros.
Donkey Kong Country 2

Any of the last three can replace Jak 2 and Sonic 2 to stick to a one-per-series rule.

 

[Nocturnowl]

WWF No Mercy

You may have Jak 2 there but this is just warming to my heart.

Hang on, Goldeneye reminds me of something...AW SHIT PERFECT DARK!
DAMN YOU LISTS, the number 10 just isn't enough, it's just not enough.

 

[Kokonoe]

For those who don't know, WWE Day of Reckoning 1 & 2 are essentially the sequels to WWF No Mercy and are pretty good. (My favorites for the genre)

 

[Nocturnowl]

No Mercy is the single player beast, DoR duo are the multiplayer masters. That's how I view it, both hold high praise with me.
Smackdown HCTP is another good one, damn it's been so long since DoR2 now and i've had to put up with these vastly inferior SDvsRaw turds for nearly a decade.

I'll take Sonic Wrasslin' at this point.

 

[Pietepiet]

Top 10 Games of All Time

We did a Top 50 with a couple friends a little while back. Here's my top 10 from my top 50 list:

1. Grim Fandango
2. Mother 3
3. Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations
4. Jet Set Radio
5. Kirby's Fun Pak
6. Sonic Generations
7. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
8. Super Mario Bros. 3
9. MegaMan 2
10. No More Heroes

Sonic Generations best Sonic game ever. What up.

 

[Seven Force]

My Top 10

10. Pokemon Gold/Silver
9. Mother 3
8. Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations
7. Metroid Prime
6. Sonic 3 & Knuckles
5. Resident Evil 4
4. Final Fantasy VI
3. Chrono Trigger
2. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
1. Super Metroid

10 through 6 usually shuffle around a bit, but my Top 5 will likely always remain the same.

 

[Shadow Hog]

I'll just copypasta an old post I made on another forum

• Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Incredible formula that somehow retains all the magic of 2D Zelda, despite all odds. Wonderful, memorable music. Large, painstakingly-detailed world. Interesting story that gives out more information about the history of Hyrule than almost any other Zelda game, and introduces several of the mainstay races of the series (ie, the Zora and the Goron at least, maybe the Gerudo and Kokiri as well). Oh, and honestly, given all the 3D Zelda games out there, this one still somehow remains the most fun, in spite of any flaws the latter entries may have fixed in gameplay mechanics. Perhaps the best damn game of all time - against all odds, it's really aged the past 11 years rather well.
• Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX. Ocarina is by far the best 3D Zelda, but Link's Awakening is probably the best 2D one. I might be biased since it was my first Zelda, period, but something about Koholint Island just enchants me. Maybe it's the great vistas up north by the Wind Fish egg? Maybe it's the awesome music that really conveys a sense of adventure, despite its handicap of being 8-bit? The graphics are quite wonderful, too; great in grayscale, to say nothing of how awesome it looks in color for an 8-bit title. The plot is easily the most original of the series, too (well, except maybe Majora's Mask). No princess to save here - you're left on an island with no means of escape other than to wake the Wind Fish with 8 magical instruments, but the closer you come to your goal, the more you have to wonder if you're really doing the right thing. I can't think of any other Zelda which makes you even consider that beating the game might have unfortunate consequences. I might like this one even more than Ocarina, but it's a very close call.
• Sonic CD. Great, colorful visuals. Large, open stages with interesting gimmicks abound. Not one, but two catchy soundtracks (JPN>US, though). Some of the most inventive bosses of any game ever. And of course, time travel, which takes the 14 core stages and multiplies it over by 4 (and the other 7 by 2, for a total of 70 stages - although it does feel like less, since a lot of the differences are subtle). A game that can be beaten in less than half-an-hour if you're rushing (believe me, I've done it), or give you a surprisingly large amount of places to explore if you're inclined to do that instead - especially since any given place you explore can be seen 4 different ways. Probably my favorite Sonic title.
• Sonic 3 & Knuckles. I dunno if this is fair, since it's technically two games turned into one, but let's face it, this is what everyone thinks of when they hear Sonic 3 anyway. It's not quite as good as Sonic CD, personally, but it's a damn close second; 26 very intricate stages filled with inventive mechanics, secret rooms and passages galore, and, in probably the most impressive feat of any game, ever, the ability to play as alternate characters and get a significantly different experience from it. Not just "oh, this character jumps higher but runs slower", more like "oh, hey, if I play as Knuckles, I'm going down this entirely different and unfamiliar path! Cool!" Very few games even try to do that, let alone as well as Sonic 3 does. So yeah, definitely one of my favorites; not quite as good as Sonic CD, as I already said, but what it does, it does extremely well.
• Super Mario World. Tons of stages, tons of secret levels and exits, tons of power-ups, tons of nostalgia. I really couldn't ask for anything more. The graphics and level design are, in my opinion, much better than that of Super Mario Bros. 3 (although I do give props to SMB3 for pulling most of the gameplay mechanic overhauls first - like jumping, dear God was that clunky in SMB1; it's SO much better in SMB3 onward), and considering SMB3 was already one of the best games ever, that can only mean SMW is as well.
• Super Mario 64. The game that nearly single-handedly invented 3D platforming (yes, I'm aware of Jumping Flash!, shut up). The levels are a bit small by today's standards, but by God do they still hold up well. The way every stage has multiple goals which can be gone for, some when you first go to the stage without any concern for what you SHOULD be going for, is astounding. Not even weak shit like the Sonic series pulls, where it's "get 100 rings" or "beat the stage in X amount of time" (well, okay, it did have getting 100 coins in every stage, but still), but objectives that send you to vastly different parts of the stage each time, taking that small part of the level you already knew about and expanding upon it ever so cleverly. It's a game that was considered nigh untoppable for the longest time... and while there's no question that various aspects of the game mechanics have been improved in later games, even later Mario titles, I'd say the jury's still out on whether or not the game HAS been topped.
• Doom. As a whole, anyway (consolidating the first game, the second one, the "Final Doom" games and every add-on pack that's ever come out for any of the above). Simple, straightforward, no-nonsense gameplay: you start at point A, the exit's at point B, and there's a ****load of monsters between these two points; have at them. Mixed up a bit with some rudimentary puzzles (can't go to point B right away; need to go to point C to get the card key to open the door to B... but can't get to C, because you need to raise the bridge to it, and the switch is at point D... et cetera), which keeps things at least somewhat fresh, and tons of secret rooms (man, do I enjoy finding those). It does get a bit tiresome after a few hours (if I had a nickel for every time I've done MAP02 of Doom 2...), but those few hours are pure, visceral awesomeness, and totally worth revisiting every now and then.
• Team Fortress 2. There's no multiplayer FPS like it, which is a shame, because it's one of the best games I've ever played. 9 classes, all playing significantly differently but who complement each other's gameplay styles nearly perfectly. A team isn't going to succeed without a healthy mix of the classes working together cohesively, and that's honestly where it really shines, especially when your team is doing well (and consequently one of its downsides - when your team is sucking and there's nothing you can do about it, because they just don't work together very well). And it will be a team that succeeds, not one lone gunman who happens to outclass the entire enemy team - every class has its weakness, so all it'll take to take down that lone gunman is his counter-class... unless his team is backing him up, in which case you'll have to take down his entire team to take him out. To say nothing of the style of the game, especially now that it's out of that "desert industrial" rut it was in when it launched. Every class has a distinct (and somewhat exaggerated) personality, and it shows. I swear this game has more personality to it than some SINGLE-PLAYER games, which is a tremendous feat, considering most multiplayer games tend to treat you as if you were an AFGNCAAP. The constant (if inconsistent) updates help keep it popular, so it's not like it's going anywhere any time soon.
• Panzer Dragoon Saga. Shame it's like $200 and very tricky to emulate at full-speed, because this game is just incredible. Short (seriously, I beat it in like 15 hours), and admittedly a bit too easy, but one helluva ride. Great music, incredible world (aesthetically, anyway), literally no filler (well, that prolonged "let's ride a hoverbike with Azel" segment on Disc 2 was a bit annoying, but it at least delivered some important plot points), tons of in-game lore to read, and one of the best, most-action-packed battle systems I've seen in any RPG - where your position means as much as any other stat, and it has to be constantly changed in real-time (although moving around prevents your attack bars from charging, so don't go crazy with it). And you can emphasize any stat you want, as well, because your dragon morphs, too. Really, when Saturn emulation gets to be good enough (and it's making some huge strides, lemme tell ya - SSF is nearly pixel-perfect), this is a definite must-play for anyone and everyone. It might even be as good as, if not better than...
• Chrono Trigger. I'm pretty sure everyone here and their grandmother has played this one, unlike PDS, but that hasn't stopped me from raving about the other titles in this list. It's similarly short (much longer than PDS, at least), but likewise has little to no filler in it - everything that happens has purpose to the plot in some way, shape or form. Plus, it's a plot that spans multiple time periods, and it pulls it off so very well. Every player character is incredibly unique, as well, leading to a wide variety of different ways to tackle the game (I personally wound up using Chrono and Frog nearly religiously, personally; as for the third player, either Magus or Ayla). Plus, multiple endings (some of which are pretty damn funny), and even more importantly, New Game +, so you can experience these new endings without having to start the game all over again - plotwise you do, but statwise you don't, making what would otherwise be a rather tedious task very much an enjoyable breeze. Another must-play RPG, and unlike Panzer Dragoon Saga, you have no excuse for not having played this, given the ease of SNES emulation and the multiple rereleases (for those who prefer a legal approach, like myself).

Anyway, I think I've sung the praises of enough games - which is a shame, because there are so many other good games I can't really get to praise (like Day of the Tentacle, or The Incredible Machine, or the Half-Life series, or Radiant Silvergun, or...)

tl;dr:

• Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
• Sonic CD
• Sonic 3 & Knuckles
• Super Mario World
• Super Mario 64
• Doom
• Team Fortress 2
• Panzer Dragoon Saga
• Chrono Trigger

And if I had to recommend only one of these titles to play, I'd probably recommend Ocarina of Time. Jesus, I love that game.

I'd like to squeeze Minecraft in there somewhere, but I'm not sure what I'd axe.

 

[Jazzy Network]

The Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past
Super Mario Bros 3
Super Mario 64
World of Warcraft
Call of Duty 4
Resident Evil 4
Donkey Kong Country 2
Star Wars: Kotor
Final Fantasy Tactics
Devil May Cry

 

[Emitan]

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
Star Fox 64
NieR
Pokémon White
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
DOOM
Super Mario World
Super Mario 64

 

[Hot Coldman]

Super Mario Bros 3 is better than World

get over it

 

[BlackJace]

Super Mario Bros 3 is better than World

get over it

Get out.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Nope, I'm here to stay. Here with the TRUTH.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Super Mario Bros 3 is better than World

get over it

I wake up in a cold sweat every night wondering just which game I prefer more, nostalgia tells me Super Mario World, stage design tells me NSMBWii and a bit of both comes to me in the form of SMB3.
I can't go on like this, NSMBU needs to be the best one yet so I can sleep easy at night.

Or I just go with DKC2, yeah that'll do nicely.

 

[Seven Force]

Super Mario Bros 3 is better than World

get over it

Real talk.

 

[Hot Coldman]

And whilst I'm busting some myths, the DKC games aren't all that. The Wii game is the best one.

 

[Nocturnowl]

And whilst I'm busting some myths, the DKC games aren't all that. The Wii game is the best one.

I knew this was coming, you are predictable like the nightfall and the sunrise.

 

[Hot Coldman]

I knew this was coming, you are predictable like the nightfall and the sunrise.

But it's truuueeeeee. Those SNES games are ugly and I never felt they controlled all that well. And Segata was right about the trial and error level design (although I actually find the level design pleasing for the most part, you gotta admit it's slightly cheap. Not Mega Man levels of cheap, but still.)

 

[Nocturnowl]

But it's truuueeeeee. Those SNES games are ugly and I never felt they controlled all that well. And Segata was right about the trial and error level design (although I actually find the level design pleasing for the most part, you gotta admit it's slightly cheap. Not Mega Man levels of cheap, but still.)

Well lets just go through this from the top...

They're Ugly: Entirely subjective, I still think 2 and 3 look great in particular, ugly are those horrible GBA ports and pre rendered messes like the GBA Mario vs Donkey Kong. Zinger Hive interior still looks great to me dammit!

Control: huh? really? I mean Returns has at least 2 issues I can think of but the original Trilogy is pretty damn tight.

Trial and Error: Hard for me to nail this one down these days as I know each stage like the back of my hand, camera view is a bit too closed in for the earlier games which can be problematic, Returns is much more "fair" for lack of a better term bar some late game bosses.
But yeah some stages in DKC3 in particular will fling shit at you out of nowhere (Buzzer Barrage, my god). 1 is relatively tame on this front except for the first mine cart stage, not sure about 2.
But I don't know, boiling things down to trial and error game design has me envision stuff like Another World and Heart of Darkness where you die like every 10 seconds as part of "the experience". As such it just feels likes your standard 16 bit platformer really in regards to occasional cheap shots.

I hope this has been enlightening for you.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Pre-rendered graphics age horribly, given the climb towards higher and higher resolutions with each passing generation, so I don't know how subjective my assessment of the graphics is. Unless you're a big fan of staring at blurry crap!

I'll concede that they're good games, in case you thought I didn't feel that way. But I can't in good faith rank them up there with Miyamoto's games from the same era. Noooo way.

 

[TheOGB]

Crash Team Racing
Sonic 2 -tie- 3&K
El Shaddai
Kirby Super Star (Ultra)
Pokemon Black -tie- SoulSilver
Sonic Colors -tie- Generations
Burnout 3
Team Fortress 2
Fighting Game Jamboree

Spoiler

Tekken Tag Tournament 2/Tatsunoko vs. Capcom/Street Fighter 4 series/Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike/ Tekken 3/Tekken Tag Tournament

My condensed list, at approximate rank. Immediate runner-ups include Rayman Origins, the smaller fightan game clump, Saints Row TT, Batman Arkham City (which I forgot), Kirby's Return to Dreamland, and whatever I pruned from my old list.

Super Mario Bros 3 is better than World

get over it

Get out.

Awwwwww here we go *puts on helmet with SMB3 logo on*

And whilst I'm busting some myths, the DKC games aren't all that. The Wii game is the best one.

The best Donkey Kong is that one on GameBoy that I never finished

Spoiler

:B

 

[TheOGB]

Ah damn

 

[Gravijah]

oooh top 10, huh? this is probably my current top 10. only one game per series.

1 Yoshi's Island
2 Pokemon Black/White
3 Legend of Mana
4 Final Fantasy VIII
5 Earthbound
6 Nier
7 Chrono Trigger
8 Metal Gear Solid 3
9 Diablo II
10 ICO

Super Mario Bros 3 is better than World

get over it

what does it matter when Yoshi's Island is better than both?

 

[Nocturnowl]

Pre-rendered graphics age horribly, given the climb towards higher and higher resolutions with each passing generation, so I don't know how subjective my assessment of the graphics is. Unless you're a big fan of staring at blurry crap!

I'll concede that they're good games, in case you thought I didn't feel that way. But I can't in good faith rank them up there with Miyamoto's games from the same era. Noooo way.

Oh you're talking in terms of technical stuff and not art style, that's a low blow, I cannot halt the march of technology that threatens their pre rendered legacy, artistically I like them, maybe it's because i'm not rich enough to have some massive television that turns things into blurro land.
I dunno, I lent my friend Majora's Mask the other month and it looked horrible on his massive TV through the N64 and the frame rate is still pants, but I wouldn't blame the game for not ageing well enough. Then afterwards he got it on the VC since my copy spontaneously broke during the first day and it ran much better through the wii.
I play the DKC games through the VC, I just don't see that much wrong with them aside from the sprites being a bit blown up.

I guess the point i'm getting at is I find it hard to slam an old game for its visuals getting weaker over time for varying reasons unless they were actually pretty crap in the first place like a few early PS1 and N64 titles. But yeah they have been punched harder by age as opposed to the simple look of SMW or even the more detail filled SNES games like Yoshi's Island which is probably still my favourite art style in any game for that matter.

 

[Hot Coldman]

I play DKC1 on VC too. That was my first time in a long while with the game. Can't say I enjoy its style much. The march of technology has had an impact on that game's look, sure, but I do remember playing it on my friend's SNES back in the early 2000s on an old CRT- back in the days when I paid bugger all attention to tech- and I don't remember being nearly as enamoured with it as I was his copy of Super Mario World. I think it took the N64 to get Rare's style to work, IMO, and even then it's nothing amazing.

I probably should have said that first before bringing up aging. Oh, and for the record, Majora's Mask has so far aged wonderfully!

 

[Gravijah]

I play DKC1 on VC too. That was my first time in a long while with the game. Can't say I enjoy its style much. The march of technology has had an impact on that game's look, sure, but I do remember playing it on my friend's SNES back in the early 2000s on an old CRT- back in the days when I paid bugger all attention to tech- and I don't remember being nearly as enamoured with it as I was his copy of Super Mario World. I think it took the N64 to get Rare's style to work, IMO, and even then it's nothing amazing.

I probably should have said that first before bringing up aging. Oh, and for the record, Majora's Mask has so far aged wonderfully!

games do not age. and you haven't answered my question.

 

[Hot Coldman]

games do not age. and you haven't answered my question.

Er, yeah they do. JSR just came out, that should have reminded everyone that. Unless you're picking on semantics and I should have used the word "dated", not "aged".

And Yoshi's Island is a very different game, so it plays into the SMB3 vs SMW debate how exactly?

 

[Dark Schala]

Man, it looks like I missed a lot of fun when I was in the lab...

Out of curiosity, I'm interesting in knowing SonicGAF's top 10 favorite/greatest video games of all time. I'm not looking for posts explaining why, just a simple list stating you top ten favorites, and they don't have to be in any order. I wish to know this so I may possibly get a bigger of idea of what games and styles you prefer the most.

Just 10? That's a horrible thing to make me do. :/

I found this old post of mine but I feel like it's changed since then. But there're half-assed explanations in there because I didn't put aside the time to type up something decent.

Ummm... Well, I lean towards two particular genres, and I'm not going to put them in any order. I'll try to limit it to one per series.

- Genso Suikoden 2 (PSX, PSP) (so hard to pick between this and GS1; I have a lot of knowledge about both of them, and GS1 is super-close to my heart, but GS2 improved on the first game so much.)
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
- Chrono Trigger (SNES, PSX, DS)
- Mother 3 (GBA)
- Sonic 3 & Knuckles (GEN) (even though Sonic 2 is one of my favourite games to speedrun *shrug*)
- Tossup between Akumajo Dracula X (PCE) and Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
- Tossup between Mega Man 2 (NES), Mega Man 3 (NES), and Mega Man X (SNES)
- Yoshi's Island (SNES)
- Persona 4 (PS2)
- Tossup between Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening SE and Ninja Gaiden: Black (and maybe Bayonetta as well).

...can we do a top 20 instead?

I want to fit in Arc the Lad II (PSX) because it's one of my favourite TRPGs of all time. Oh, and Baldur's Gate II (PC), Diablo II (PC), Super Metroid (SNES), Terranigma (SFC), Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu (SFC), イースIV: Dawn of Ys (PCE), FF10-2 (PS2)/FF9 (PS1)/FF5 (SFC/GBA), Dragon Quest 5 (SFC/PS2/DS), Tales of Graces f (PS3)/Tales of Rebirth (PS2/PSP)/Tales of Destiny R Director's Cut (PS2), Shin Megami Tensei 3 (PS2), Super Mario Bros 3 (NES), Paper Mario: TTYD (GCN), and Tetris Battle Gaiden (SFC). And I still feel like I'm forgetting a whole bunch of things... Maybe some visuals novels if they count.

*sigh* Forget it. I can't do this list thing. I always feel like I'm forgetting something and start rearranging my list.

Oh, I'd recently started Sora no Kiseki SC. It's pretty cool, but like SnK FC, you need to play it in longer sittings (like a chapter per day); story-wise and music-wise, it's better than the first. I'm almost finished Nayuta no Kiseki and I think it's one of the prettiest PSP games I've played. It's better than Ys Seven in some ways and in some places because omg there's actual platforming they brought it back!!

Recently finished Growlanser IV and I think it's pretty great. There are some things that I prefer in GL1 and that's the narrative, but GL4 is so much better in terms of battle engine and customization. It's more fun than the other GL games.

Spoiler

The end of the arc just reinforced my impressions from the first half. Shard is excellent all around, Larry is comedy gold, and Silver's actually enjoyable when he's busy being a foil for Shard's powers and personality and not blathering on about the traitor. The other half of the team is boring, useless, and in the specific case of Elias, actively bad at his job. Chuck and Nicole as support works, but Harvey can go jump in a lake. We didn't need yet another team of characters, and certainly not one this big. They're also all terrible at being stealthy, so it came off as fairly odd that the arc both lampshaded the fact and still tried to end on a "BUT NO ONE CAN EVER KNOW" note. Keep the good half, put the rest back on a bus. Shard, at least, had plenty of hooks set up for future development, so I imagine we'll at least see more of him. Hopefully in a three-way match between him, Shadow, and Scourge over who's the better dark Sonic.

Oh, and going by the X's, if the whole traitor things really does end up being "it was Sally because she got roboticized and Silver didn't figure it out because he's completely oblivious," I'm gonna go bang my head against a wall for a while. Though apparently we have a good six months to go for that. This whole year's been terrible for scheduling changes.

Spoiler

I completely agree with that. More thought was put into Shard, Silver, and Larry than the other guys. I thought Elias would have been written better, but he wasn't. I'm kinda glad that someone finally did something decent with Silver's character. I was kinda surprised and going in, I figured I was going to treat Silver as a non-entity like I tried to do with other things he's in. Anyway, more Shard. I wouldn't be against an entire Shard arc for SU.

Well, considering Silver's an idiot, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. I'm hoping for better writing, but that's what I thought when I'd read the last page.

 

[Gravijah]

Er, yeah they do. JSR just came out, that should have reminded everyone that. Unless you're picking on semantics and I should have used the word "dated", not "aged".

And Yoshi's Island is a very different game, so it plays into the SMB3 vs SMW debate how exactly?

games don't age. they don't become dated. i can't think of a single game (and i play stuff from the late 70s-now) where i've thought "man, this game has aged poorly!" you just have to approach with the mindset of the era they are from.


and Yoshi's Island is the best 2D Mario (and it is a Mario, as confirmed by Miyamoto) which is why it's a part of the debate.

 

[Dark Schala]

I thought Miyamoto said it wasn't a Mario game, and that it was a Yoshi game?

Could've sworn I'd read that somewhere here.

 

[Hot Coldman]

games don't age. they don't become dated. i can't think of a single game (and i play stuff from the late 70s-now) where i've thought "man, this game has aged poorly!" you just have to approach with the mindset of the era they are from.

and Yoshi's Island is the best 2D Mario (and it is a Mario, as confirmed by Miyamoto) which is why it's a part of the debate.

I can temper my expectations based on the realities and trends of the era a game is from, but if I know the things the game is doing have been done better since I can't ignore that. The best games work throughout time- some games just have features or mechanics that, whilst fine at the time, have been pointed out to be of generally inferior design. See, any game involving arbitrary time limits *cough*JSR*cough* or random battles. Time is harsh to games, and some designs just don't cut it forever more.

As for Miyamoto, he can call it what he likes, but I'm comparing two similar games involving running, jumping, power-ups and general platforming, so I'm leaving out the game that controls differently, has a completely different fail scenario, and is generally utterly mechanically disparate.

 

[Emitan]

modern games have random battles

 

[Dark Schala]

After playing a bunch of older games with random battles every two steps, I feel like a lot of the more popular games with random battles don't have them in a frequent sense. Like... Half the time, I'm running around looking for battles to fight in some recent games. It's weird.

The only recent game I could think of where I hated the frequency of random battles is maybe Black Sigil for the DS. But that game was a glitchfest anyway... Man, I wanted that game to be good so badly. :/

 

[Emitan]

After playing a bunch of older games with random battles every two steps, I feel like a lot of the more popular games with random battles don't have them in a frequent sense. Like... Half the time, I'm running around looking for battles to fight in some recent games. It's weird.

The only recent game I could think of where I hated the frequency of random battles is maybe Black Sigil for the DS. But that game was a glitchfest anyway... Man, I wanted that game to be good so badly. :/

I was looking forward to Black Sigil for what feels like YEARS. And then I never made if very far in because... yeah.

 

[Seven Force]

Random battles in general have never bothered me at all, really.

Was Black Sigil the game with the 16-Bit Squaresoft esque sprite style? I remember reading a preview for it in a magazine a while back.

 

[Emitan]

Fallout 1 has random battles therefor they are awesome.

Spoiler

Fallout has terrible random battles