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
#74. Minecraft
It's not a game, it's a revolution. It infilitrated the gaming world on every level - PC, mobile, and console, and sold multiple millions on each. It achieved a mainstream presence that maybe only Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros has. Minecraft may very well be the most important video game the industry has seen in over 20 years. While that might be debatable what's not is that it is extremely fun. At it's core this game is Lego's come to life with one very key idea of its own. You have to work for your building blocks and pieces. That one idea gives whatever you create extra satisfaction that many games seem to miss.
At the end of the day though the main attraction is ultimately the freedom the game gives you to enjoy it any way you want. You're dropped into a world and you can create and design to your hearts content. If you just want to explore and see what already exists in the world, you're free to do so. If you want to go on a quest to destroy the Enderdragon you can do that. If you want to create a cities and castles in the sky with their own waterfalls that crash into a pit of lava, go for it! Play with a friend? You can do that. Maybe you just want to show off your world because your friends only know how to create square buildings and have no imagination whatsoever. Just invite them in after the fact. Personally I saw the game as pure therapy. Just play with legos while some soothing piano music plays in the background. As far as relaxing experiencing go, it's tough to top.
#73. Super Fantasy Zone
The original Cute'em Up is back with even more cuteness than before. Can you withstand the super cute challenge of Super Fantasy Zone? Probably not. It's basically a super Japanese'd up version of the Atari classic Defender with cute boss battles in place of rescuing civilians As cute as it may be the game is tough as old bubble gum. I suck at it, but this is an example of my love of awesome art styles outweighing a lot of other things. My meager skill aside this really is a fun game though, and it really does say a lot for a game where I repeatedly die and still smile.
#72. Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder
Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder is my favorite classic beat'em up, and one of the most confusing puzzles in the world of video games. Death Adder was the arcade only sequel to the original Golden Axe that was a pretty big hit in the arcades and on the Sega Genesis. A separate Golden Axe II was released on the Genesis, but even to this day the highly superior Death Adder never saw a port of any kind. And that's a damn shame because it really is an excellent game. 4 new fighters were added, and while the barbarian was similar to his original counterpart, the other three new characters were rather unique and included a centaur, a giant with the dwarf from the original riding on his back, and a tiny imp who acted as a healer which was a pretty original idea for the time. Additionally there were branching paths to travel through to offer up replay value, more enemies, more creatures to mount... more of everything. Maybe one day Sega will come to their senses and finally release some of their old arcade classics instead of just releasing new Genesis collections every other year. The world would be a better place for it.
Ok, I haven't heard of most of these, and the ones I have heard of, I haven't played. I'm still trying to recover from you putting Minecraft ahead of FF7. It made my brain go all Y2K.
Well here's the thing. I still enjoy Minecraft today. I will enjoy it tomorrow. Final Fantasy VII..... well not as much. It's not aging really well. It's still solid and I'd still recommend it, but some of it's issues are a little more glaring than they used to be. For instance the protect the reactor mini-game with the Phoenix egg?? Wow that's just awful today.
Playable on MAME, though, right? I'll definitely have to check it out; I loved the two Golden Axes that made it onto those Sega compilations.
I've never gotten it to work on Mame, but if you want of those people who knows how to get all the right bios, settings, etc then yes it is available.
Yeah I'm curious about it. Keep it up, I'm loving these.
I'm not, but I'm willing to try and fail.
#71. Final Fantasy Legend II
Not every game on this list is going to hold up well to the test of time. Final Fantasy Legend II is one of them. It's a pretty old RPG, with a lot of the trappings of those games. Way too many random battles and the infamous SaGa individual stat leveling system make this a tough game to get into. But I don't care. For many years, this game meant the world to me. If I did this list in the early to mid 90's I would have made this a top 5 game. I probably spent more times playing and replaying it than anything Square ever released. I was so obsessed with this game I even tried to create my own monster transformation chart/FAQ (though that sort of burned out once I ran out of notebook space.
There was lots of love about this game, and it's good points still make it remarkable in my eyes. You travel through different lands with your friends, trying to find your father, and collecting pieces of crystal that together assemble the statue of a goddess. Along the way you fight other people who've used these crystals to become gods. The bosses in this game are Odin, Apollo, Venus, Ashura amongst others. And to keep things from getting a little too predictable at times you'll pick up a 5th member of your party who will sometimes be massively overpowered compared to your group, or very underpowered and you'll need to protect them. Most amazingly was this huge epic adventure was all on a little Gameboy cartridge. It made me curse the fact that the Gameboy wasn't backlit, and eventually I'd have to quit playing at night.