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
Yeah, I hated Wonderland; and Alice is one of the best source materials Disney has managed to get its hands on.
I think I actually gave up in that stupid jungle lol. If I still have the save maybe I'll try continuing from there, if the rest of the game gets better.
#42. Super Mario Galaxy
Black Friday 2007 I was finally going to get the item that eluded me for the past year... a Wii. I made it to Gamestop around 6 AM, and got behind the half dozen hearty souls who managed to get up even earlier. An hour later they opened and it was mine. And besides Wii Sports I needed something to play so naturally I chose....Rayman Raving Rabbids. A couple hours later I realized I had made a great mistake, and around noon I went back and traded it in and picked up the game I should have gotten in the first place, Super Mario Galaxy. I spent the rest of the weekend devoting as much time to the game as I could squeeze in, and would even wake up a half hour early for the next few weeks every day before the rest of the household woke up so I could get just a few more stars under my belt.
After the Dreamcast was released games that really awed me were few and far between, but Galaxy was definitely one of them. It's one of those games I was I could experience again for the first time. So many things made me pause and go "wow." The way that all the characters and objects seemed to have a shiny glow about them always amazed me, particularly the stars. That score... that was amazing. You could have put that soundtrack for Galaxy onto Carnival Games, and it would have made it feel like an epic experience. And the story about Rosalina's origin... that was the perfect amount of story for a Mario game. Nothing too distracting, but finding out a little more was always extra incentive to keep collecting more stars. And the levels themselves were masterpieces. The Good Egg Galaxy in particular was full of awesome stuff. While I said it before, I'll say it again...I really wish i could experience this game again for the first time.
Yeah those two levels are without question the worst in the game. And the Alladin/Agrabah level is also a little rough at first, though it straightens itself out quickly. And Wonderland is a better experience if you chose to revisit it later in the game when you're able to just explore it and not have to deal with the stupid tricks to advance the plot.
I cannot stress enough how much I love Super Mario Galaxy. It’s easily in my top five. It was quite an achievement at the time when I started thinking the 3D platforming well had run dry. I was on a major mission to find that game before it’s street date, visiting several flea markets (Hey, it worked for Vader) but no such luck.
Well, it had run dry because nobody was making them anymore.
Platformers and JRPG'S just weren't cool back in 2007.
Galaxy was great but I remember not being able to stay hooked on it...I'd pick it up and put it down. It felt very arcadey to me with the short levels and objectives. I definitely prefer the Sunshine/Odyssey style for 3D Mario. Although, 3D World might be my favorite one.
Yeah the Galaxy games were really amazing, totally loved them. I would most definitely buy them again if Nintendo ever made them for the Switch.
Very true point.
3D world didn't click with me, although I suspect this might have been because I played through it co-op with my wife. Perhaps I would think differently of it if I had been able to tackle it on my own, at my own speed.
The only game I'll accept as potentially being better than Little King's Story from last gen.
#41. ActRaiser
There is no way this game should have worked. It was an action/city-sim hybrid and an early title for the SNES, and yet the completely bizarre mash-up felt like it was a polished well-established idea. And who would have thought the city builiding portions would actually be the better part of the game? Clearing land with lightning, dry swamps with the sun, and fending off demons while the good townsfolk built their homes and shrines you....GOD!!! And when the demons got too rough, you transititioned to the the 2-D action segments to smack the bad guys around with your sword. It was glorious. Of course when you finally killed the demon lord and there weren't problems, the townspeople would just forget about you, but humans gonna be humans.
Unlike a lot of games on this list I don't really have a great singular memory of this game that sticks out. It's just a game I keep coming back to every few years. It's such a good game, and even to this day it's such an original idea that no one has tried to duplicate. Each time I play it, it is still fun and feels like a fresh brand new experience. Whenever someone asks for a SNES recommendation, this is usually the first non-Nintendo title recommend without even asking what kind of games they like.
Oh man. I remember having quite a bit of fun playing Actraiser back in the day. It was indeed an odd mashup of gameplay but damn did it ever come together nicely.