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
Kain is a hell yes! Mario 2, eh. The music in Mario 2 was incredible.
I was so sure he was going to show up in Super Mario 3D World. That was as close to a sequel as we've ever seen to SMB2 and I swore up and down he was going to be a secret boss or something.
I really enjoyed Super Mario Bros. 2. Back in the day I legitimately thought that it was a true sequel to Super Mario Bros. and didn’t hear about it being a reskinned different game until many years later. I would totally be down with Nintendo revisiting this game someway somehow. It would be awesome if Wart was to be a dlc character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Good for you man. Two is better than none. Hopefully you had on some "Christian Woman" by Type O Negative to get them in the mood.
I don't remember much of Mario Bros 2. I'd love to play it again just to bring back memories. I remember the first game and the 3rd game much more vividly. Just like with the Zelda series, actually.
#31. Dig-Dug
I love classic arcade games. There's an elegant simplicity to them, that make them easy to learn, tough to master and addictive as hell. Dig-Dug though will always be the king though.You dig, you fight Dragons and balloon monsters, you get bonus points for finding vegetables, and level ups are represented by flowers. Does gameplay even matter when you have all of that? Well I suppose you do, but Dig-Dug still works. Limited space and lots of monsters mean you have to have to develop a plan for beating the level quickly, and in the later levels that means you have about 5 seconds. Fast, dangerous, and cute balloon monsters and dragons.... yay!
Plus, I hate to brag, but I am widely considered one of the greatest in the world. It's true. On the Playstation 3 version of the Namco Classic Collection my top score for Dig-Dug put me at 79 worldwide. It's awe inspiring I know. But it's a good reminder that you if you put hundreds of hours into game with repetitive play, you get good.
#30. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
Monster Hunter was a series I never thought I'd give a damn about, but when Monster Hunter Tri came out for the Wii I gave it a shot. It was okay, but after around 20 hours I found it too hard to be fun and gave up on it. When it was remade for the Wii U and 3DS, once again I didn't think I'd give it a shot, but due to the Wii U's ridiculous dry spells early on (and during it's entire run if we're being accurate), I found myself in a position where I was willing to try it out again. This time something clicked, and about 90 hours later once I had finished the main game and had dived into the post-game content I was satisfied that I found a series that would be one of my all-time favorites.
The incremental experience and progress is certainly addictive and makes you want to keep going back for one last hunt, but that's only a small part of why I love it and the series as a whole. You hunt through beautiful landscapes looking for these giant ferious beasts, study them, and then hope you don't get your ass handed too you too badly as you try to kill them for new weapons and armor. Solo was fun enough, but finding that right hunting party online was something truly special. Sure a lof of times you'll end up grouped with some dumbasses (and in some instances you are that dumbass), but when you find that balanced group where everyone knows what's going on and knows how to do their part.... god it's amazing fun. You feel like you could go against anything in the world. And even with all the QoL changes the recent MH World brought us, I still think 3U is slightly better with it's variety of monsters an slightly harder difficulty. At any rate, great game, and a marvelous series.
MH Tri also introduced me to the series. Such a great game. A lot of people didn't like the swimming segments, but personally I think they provide a welcome break from the normal hunting. I think I spent about 150 hours on Tri, and got it again on WiiU for free thanks to some loyalty scheme Nintendo had running at the time. While a lot was added, I got stuck on the first 'new' monster and couldn't be arsed to play any further because over half I would have done before anyway. Since then I've played 4 and MH:W. Out of all those I think 4 is my favorite though, as it has a lot of different 'types' of beats to fight, ranging from dragons, to frogs and monkeys.
#29. Duck Tales
How many games can you say were amazing twice? When Duck Tales first came out on the NES it was mind bogglingly good. Capcom threw down in the biggest way and made one of the greatest licensed game of all time, which was especially amazing when you consider some of the licensed trash that was out there during the 8-bit era. It was a great non-linear adventure game that had you traveling the globe looking for treasure. It even had different endings depending on how much loot you found. And then 25 years later Wayforward comes along, remakes it with cartoon perfect graphics and the original actors doing VO work. It was incredible all over again. Honestly I couldn't tell you which one I liked more.
But let's talk about the most amazing feature of both games. The soundtrack. Duck Tales was a freaking god-tier level soundtrack. The original 8-bit soundtrack did an outstanding job of recreating the cartoon's theme song, but took things many steps further with an incredible OST. And then Wayforward came along and did something even more amazing. They created arrangements of those 8-bit tunes and turned them into something that was completely true to the original song, but still fully brought them into the modern era. My son who also enjoyed the game would hum along to these tunes even when not playing them, just like I did back in the day. Even my wife was impressed. During the end credits a piano version of the Moon's theme song played and she started asking me what I was listening to, not realize I was playing a game and thinking it was much better than the usual crap I like. So the game is a great accomplishment, and it's genuinally hard to think of another game that pulled that off twice.
And going forward things are going to be a little familiar for anyone that read the top 28 list I made 5 years ago (though to be honest I can't imagine how any remembers what was on it). There are 5 and a half new games on it though. Three of them hadn't been released when I did the list 5 years ago. One is being replaced by another game in its series, that I look at a little more fondly these days. It could have really been a coin toss, but it's getting changed. And one was a game that I left out by a mistake, and still confuses how I did that. And that one half of a change.... well you'll see it when we get there.