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
I remember that bundle. Yep, Majora's Mask would have been a sweeter deal, but that wasn't too bad either all things considered. Not sure if you've got a Wii U, but it's definitely worth a Virtual Console pick-up.
#23. Azure Dreams
I'm not sure if there's a game on this list that gave me so much fun and so much frustration as Azure Dreams. I threw controllers, slammed my hand on top of my PSX, and popped out the game and flug the disc across the room in moments of sheer rage due to the game cheating (this was in college, I'm much calmer these days). The result would be me quitting the game for long lengths of time before going back to it. In fact, for many years Azure Dreams held the record of the longest time in between playing a game and completing it at 10 years (it was eventually surpassed by Earthbound). But even as frustrating as dying and losing all my items and progress could be, there was just too much to do and too much fun to be had in this game.
Azure Dreams was primarily a Rogue-like dungeon crawler, and was my introduction to the genre. It's since gone on to become a favorite genres despite the lack of innovation in them these days. But, where Azure Dreams tops all the others was the additional features and the other genres it mixed in. Half the game is in fact focused on monster training so you can have a couple with you to make climbing the tower (hell it's literally impossible to do it without them). And then there's some lighter elements like a dating sim and city building in the game as well. The result is a game where your time climbing the tower helps you progress the story elements in town, and vice versa. It's a great balance that keeps the game engaging at all times.
Early version of Dark Souls?
Not so much. The frustration was just from being a rogue-like, but one that's a lot harder than the average ones. though even average difficulty ones will have you pulling your hair. But once you start learning how to breed and combine monsters the game gets a lot more manageable. There's a few combinations that make things a hell of a lot easier, and once you get one of those you can finally win the game, which is how I finally managed to do it after 10 years.
Nice to learn stuff about games I hardly know about. My list will be so boring in comparison, everyone knows my games.
Zelda, Metal Gear, The End.
I remember reading a long GS blog about Azure Dreams' virtues; could it have been written by you?
On the bright side, it gave me a chance to play Ocarina of Time in full.
My DS's lower screen is broken. Given Nintendo's shitty attitude lately I'll probably emulate it.
I rented Azure Dreams but I played it briefly and I mean extremely briefly. Don’t really recall much of it all to be honest.
Very likely. there's not exactly a giant fan club for this game, even when it was newly released. I remember writing about the game and rouge-like's several times before. Hell, I've even written about its piece of shit sequel, Tao's Adventure in my 28 Worst Games blog from a couple years back.