62. Chrono Trigger

The legendary Chrono Trigger, every best RPG list I came across had this game at or near the top. Due to not having an SNES nor caring for RPGs all that much I did not play this game back in the day. The first time I attempted to play it was when I bought it for the DS. I played for like 6 hours and got side tracked by some other game. It wasn't looking good for me and this game to ever come togther. A year or so ago once again this game appeared on the top of the best RPGs ever lists and I figured its time I fill that hole in my game history. So I got an emulator and decided to give it another go and man am I glad I did because this game absolutely lives up to the hype and it is easily the best RPG of the pre 32-bit era.

Chrono Trigger works because of its cast and story, it flows at such a great pace and keeps things frresh with its crazy time traveling mechanics. Again I love time travel stories, especially ones where I can decide where to go and this game lets you explore many eras of the same world. Go to prehistoric times and fight dinos with primitive warrior clans or jump into the future where there is a city in the clouds. I loved the cast which included Frog which is my favorite character in the game, every character gets a great arch that is fully explored. Where it excels is the incredible variety in events and moments that occur. Crazy bosses that fill the screen, side game moments which use the mode 7 graphics in great ways, racing in hover cars, finding secrets and optional enemies. There is so much to find and do, it's all interesting. The game is a series of great moments, a non stop thrill ride and SPOILER ALERT a game with the balls to kill its main character.

I was blown away playing it. It captured the essence of that 16 bit era where the limitations were just imagination as sprites were easy to make so no limits on giant game worlds. Its a blast with a fun combat system that encourages different combinations of characters, those epic effects on the screen when you do the biggest attacks are so cool. The art style is memorable, the music incredible, every aspect is top notch. Chrono Trigger today is still every bit as good as it was back in the 90s, clearly deserves it's praise.

So the first 40 are done. Lets do a quick poll on what I have so far.

Here is the publisher breakdown so far:

• Sega 8
• Nintendo 6
• Sony 6
• Square Enix 6
• Konami 6
• Ubisoft 4
• Capcom 2
• EA 2

Nintendo started to show up big in this part of the list and now only one Sega published game in this 20, compared to 7 in the first 20. I had quite a few RPGs in there across different eras. Still no sonic games, only one Zelda, one Metal Gear, only two RE games, no marios. So a lot left still to cover.

59. Sonic Adventure, Sonic Unleahsed, Sonic Colors, and Sonic Adventure 2

The 3D Sonic's, how I love thee. These hold a special place in my heart, not just cause they are modern day versions of my childhood favorite Sonic series but because they offer unqiue style of skill based gameplay you don't see in most platformers. It's half racing game, half platforming and many times lots of extra fluff. There really isnt much like it. Now you won't find Generations here, I know its one of the best ones and it had Genesis levels remade in 3D! But for some reason it didn't click for me, it was too easy, the scoring was dumbed down from unleashed and the levels were not as interesting. It just didn't hold my attention like it should have. So here are my favs from least to most favorite, we start with the beginning.

9/9/99 that was the day the Dreamcast hit America and the day the first 3D Sonic finally came out. The Saturn came and went, no Sonic. We were promised Sonic X-Treme and it never happend. Not having their flagship franchise left a massive hole in the Saturn's library, Sega made sure to not repeat those mistakes by making Sonic THE launch game for the Dreamcast. The most state of the art graphics for it's time, when that damn whale breaks throuh the docks it was a jaw dropping moment. Sonic was fast, zooming through these huge level, bouncing off speed pads that would launch him into loops or across great distances. He would run down buildings as missles chased him. He would navigate the outside of a massive airship as it traveled with dangerous winds gusting. There was great level diversity, some hitting all the right notes for Sonic nostalgia like the Ice level. Great boss battles against Robotnik robots capped the levels. In between stages you had the Adventure half of the game where you explored areas and found hidden secrets or advanced the story. It wasn't Zelda, it wasn't an RPG, but it was weird and quirky which is what Sonic should be,

It would be all good if it were just Sonic but instead he brought his friends. This made the game a massive adventure with five playable characters, all with their own campaigns and stories. Sadly non come close to the quality of the Sonic levels. Tails was mostlt a retread of Sonic. Knuckles had werid scavenging missions. EV was just a poor shooter. And then there was Big... oh Big... wtf. At the time I loved it all, more content meant more time in this beautiful world Sega made. I was fully engrossed in the story and lore of Sonic. I vividly remember the day I beat the full game, it was at night around dinner time and I was being called to go eat. But I was there at the end, time to fight Chaos so I screamed "I'll be there in a minute!". That battle hyped me up like few things in gaming ever has. Sonic goes Super! The theme song starts to blast " Cant hold on much longer, but I will never let go!!!" All the people are chanting SONIC SONIC SONIC! YYYYEEEEAAAAHHH!!! Sonic speeds ahead to fight the giant Super Chaos in an epic battle. Just the best, Sonic does drama in a way Mario can never match.

This game also had a large impact on my life as I gained a life long friend from it. In my high school one day my best friend told me some guy in his class one the Sonic tournament, a national Sonic Adventure tournament where he won $15000. What?! First there was a tournament I couldn have entered?! And then the winner so happens to go to my little school (it was a dual enrollment program of 100 students), WHAT?! So we hit it off and we have been friends ever since. We haven't done it lately but many years we would have a sonic adventure challenge, he would always win in Sonic Adventure 1 but I would win Sonic Adventure 2.

Sonic Unleashed gets a bad rap deseverd in some respects as half the game is a poor beat em up but the 3D levels are the best in the series. Unleashed perfected how Sonic should feel in 3D, the boost button, the way you can switch lanes quickly and the way the levels are designed make for a visual and skill based feast. The world tour style levels were a great change up for sonic, traveling through what is clearly beautiful Greece is a sight to behold. I spent so many hours mastering these levels, finding every shortcut, nailing every enemy for max combos. Platinuming Unleashed is one of my greatest trophy accomplishments, it was a long difficult process as this game has an ubsurd amount of content. I loved that adventure elements returned, kind of felt like the Sonic Adventure 3 we never got. Also werehog wasn't that bad, it was just average which is better than some of the side characters these games make you play as.

Sonic Colors is the odd one here because it's not a standard 3D Sonic, instead this one is actually a great true platformer. In terms of quality this is the best 3D Sonic game ever because it takes cues from Mario to focus on platforming and fun gameplay mechanics. Here Sonic can absorb wisps which grant him temporary powers, like how Mario can get powerups. These powers can change the routes sonic can take and adds much gameplay variety. He can attach to walls, he can turn to a rocket and burst into the air, he can drill through dirt and more. The best part is how these powerups all keep the momentum going, this game strikes such a great balance between speed and proper platforming. Levels are very well designed with plenty of 2D sections for that more traditional platforming challenge and transitions to 3D for that 3D Sonic gameplay. I don't have to be a Sonic apologist to recommend this game, this is simply a great Wii platformer, one of the best.

And then there is my favorite Sonic Adventure 2. While the first was a good experience to play through, I didn't master it. SA2 gave me the kind of levels and gameplay that hooked me in ways few games do. If you look at my save file it will say something like 75 hours and EVERY EMBLEM. I got the amazing Green Hill level unlocked, which is seriousy the greatest reward for 100% a game ever. The scoring system in this game is genius, its why I kept playing over and over, You don't just finish a level fast. You don't just finish a level without losing rings. No, here you need to learn every inch of these levels as many aspects contribute to your score. If you find a railing and grind it quickly you get a bonus. The longer the enemy hit combo you get the higher a multiplier goes. Hit that level specific action, get some points, go down a secret route, get points. So to get the highest score finding the route that still gets you the highest speed bonus but gets you the most of these points is key. The quest for better level scores is what kept me going for so long.

Yeah the game has a Tails and Knuckles and the villain flip side of them. There levels weren't terrible, they each had their own way to master them but nothing compares to the Sonic and Shadow levels. They kept getting more and more interesting, the forests, grinding down the golden gate bridge and then going into SPACE with gravity switches well before mario did it. This game consumed my soul. It was also a blast to play with my girl friend at the time who was every bit as good as me in some levels, we would take turns beating each others scores. I just love this game so much, it sucks that the camera is a mess and many aspects don't hold up but in its day it was amazing.

Not gonna lie, I actually kinda liked Adventure. But it was indeed mainly cause of good it looked. There was also a Sonic cartoon (or anime?) that looked surprisingly good, but I have no idea what it was.