Robio's All-New, All-Different, Top 100 of All Time
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Has it been that long? Damn. Thanks for making me feel older. 
I look forward to it nonetheless.
Why do you do this to yourself?
And pre-emptively whichever game you select for 100 is demonstrably wrong. The 100th best game ever is Tetris... or Resident Evil 4.
aspro said:Why do you do this to yourself?
And pre-emptively whichever game you select for 100 is demonstrably wrong. The 100th best game ever is Tetris... or Resident Evil 4.
well I've already got a loophole that's going to disappoint you. Both of those games were on the last top 100 list, therefore they are disqualified from being in this one.
#100 - Time Killer
When this list is all said and done, there will undoubtedly be a couple games that some people will look a little cross-eyed at. However, while my tastes in gaming may be a little unique, I'm confident that every game on here has some really good points that in one way or another make it a stand out title. Except this one. Time Killers is unquestionably a piece of shit. However, it is a piece of shit that I have some really fun memories of.
Time Killers was in that first generation of Street Fighter clones, and while it wasn't one of the better ones, it was a unique one. Fighters from different eras we're all brought together to fight and kill one another with the winner receiving immortality. So the fighter list includes a Viking, a knight, a Caveman, a punk with a chainsaw, a space warrior, etc. what made it unique was that it was one of the first fighting games to actually include fighters with weapons instead of just fists. More importantly, it included the ability to severe your opponent's limbs, and that ability is what made Time Killers an absolutely acceptable waste of programming.
You'd be fighting an opponent, and after targeting his arm a couple times, you slice it off. And then if you keep fighting you can eventually slice off his other arm. Now you're just fighting a stump with legs and a head. Isn't that fun? It is, right up until you realize the stump still has legs and can head butt you. Losing to a no-armed opponent really sucked, but it was something that could definitely happen. Once again, this was so stupid and over the top funny that I always enjoyed it. Oh, and you can also end the match with the finishing move that would decapitate the opponent.
The game almost didn't get a home console release. Apparently the developers had a SNES and Genesis port near completion when Nintendo said, "not on our system". The Genesis one did come out after numerous attempts of getting it passed, but not until 1996, when the Genesis was more or less a dead system. While the extreme violence was one reason it wasn't getting through the approval process, the fact is the port was notoriously bad. If you actually check out reviews on it, it's one of the worst games on the console. For that reason, it was always a treat to go to an arcade and find a copy of it. It's just wasn't available anywhere else.
So Vikings decapitating guys with chainsaws, combined with the idea that this game was almost forbidden makes it one of those games that I will always look back on fondly. It was the very definition of "dumb fun", but at the end of the day I suppose the only thing that matters is "fun."
When this list is all said and done, there will undoubtedly be a couple games that some people will look a little cross-eyed at. However, while my tastes in gaming may be a little unique, I'm confident that every game on here has some really good points that in one way or another make it a stand out title. Except this one. Time Killers is unquestionably a piece of shit. However, it is a piece of shit that I have some really fun memories of.
Time Killers was in that first generation of Street Fighter clones, and while it wasn't one of the better ones, it was a unique one. Fighters from different eras we're all brought together to fight and kill one another with the winner receiving immortality. So the fighter list includes a Viking, a knight, a Caveman, a punk with a chainsaw, a space warrior, etc. what made it unique was that it was one of the first fighting games to actually include fighters with weapons instead of just fists. More importantly, it included the ability to severe your opponent's limbs, and that ability is what made Time Killers an absolutely acceptable waste of programming.
You'd be fighting an opponent, and after targeting his arm a couple times, you slice it off. And then if you keep fighting you can eventually slice off his other arm. Now you're just fighting a stump with legs and a head. Isn't that fun? It is, right up until you realize the stump still has legs and can head butt you. Losing to a no-armed opponent really sucked, but it was something that could definitely happen. Once again, this was so stupid and over the top funny that I always enjoyed it. Oh, and you can also end the match with the finishing move that would decapitate the opponent.
The game almost didn't get a home console release. Apparently the developers had a SNES and Genesis port near completion when Nintendo said, "not on our system". The Genesis one did come out after numerous attempts of getting it passed, but not until 1996, when the Genesis was more or less a dead system. While the extreme violence was one reason it wasn't getting through the approval process, the fact is the port was notoriously bad. If you actually check out reviews on it, it's one of the worst games on the console. For that reason, it was always a treat to go to an arcade and find a copy of it. It's just wasn't available anywhere else.
So Vikings decapitating guys with chainsaws, combined with the idea that this game was almost forbidden makes it one of those games that I will always look back on fondly. It was the very definition of "dumb fun", but at the end of the day I suppose the only thing that matters is "fun."
Edited: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 15:04:33
I should steal your idea and do a Top 100 Atari 2600 games or Top 100 Golden Age Arcade Games list.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your list! 👍
Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your list! 👍
Wow. Was not expecting to see Time Killers on there. Definitely takes me back to my arcade days of yore. Played it briefly. Very briefly. 
Ravenprose said:I should steal your idea and do a Top 100 Atari 2600 games or Top 100 Golden Age Arcade Games list.
I thought about doing something more niche like that, but after 20 games on a single platform that gets hard. You should do it though.
Archangel3371 said:Wow. Was not expecting to see Time Killers on there. Definitely takes me back to my arcade days of yore. Played it briefly. Very briefly.
That's probably longer than most people played it, and they're better for it suspect.
robio said:
That's probably longer than most people played it, and they're better for it suspect.
Most likely.
I often wonder if the game was real or if I just dreamt it up because I never see anyone else ever mention it.
#99 Metropolismania
Metropolismania is one of those games that is kind of hard to describe without sounding like an idiot. It's basically a cross between SNES SimCity and Animal Crossing. The social sim aspect of the game actually outweighs the city building.
Theoretically your character is there to build a city. But he's not really building the city so much as trying to keep people who live there happy and keep their bitching to a minimum. Residents of the town or city actually have a complete meter. And each one will have their complaints and will tell you how important the complaint is. Are they mildly irritated? Are they really annoyed? Are they ready to take your life or just leave the city? That meter basically lets you know what the priorities are. And the more you fix things, other opportunities come along, which is a nice way of saying other things get broken.
Sometimes you can just bribe your problems away, but usually you have to fix problems by building something new. The problems range from a small time crime wave, to not enough coffee, to a cult moving into town. Things get bizarre. Ultimately, that's why I loved it so much. The whole game was a pretty strange experience that didn't really exist on a console before.
The game was definitely ahead of its time in its concept of gameplay. That said, it did look like ass. Supposedly it was made for the N64 and based on the visuals, I think It's probably accurate. However, it was also only $20 new, so the good folks at natsumi were aware of its ass aesthetics. And that's probably one more reason why I was willing to pick it up and have an absolute blast with it.
Metropolismania is one of those games that is kind of hard to describe without sounding like an idiot. It's basically a cross between SNES SimCity and Animal Crossing. The social sim aspect of the game actually outweighs the city building.
Theoretically your character is there to build a city. But he's not really building the city so much as trying to keep people who live there happy and keep their bitching to a minimum. Residents of the town or city actually have a complete meter. And each one will have their complaints and will tell you how important the complaint is. Are they mildly irritated? Are they really annoyed? Are they ready to take your life or just leave the city? That meter basically lets you know what the priorities are. And the more you fix things, other opportunities come along, which is a nice way of saying other things get broken.
Sometimes you can just bribe your problems away, but usually you have to fix problems by building something new. The problems range from a small time crime wave, to not enough coffee, to a cult moving into town. Things get bizarre. Ultimately, that's why I loved it so much. The whole game was a pretty strange experience that didn't really exist on a console before.
The game was definitely ahead of its time in its concept of gameplay. That said, it did look like ass. Supposedly it was made for the N64 and based on the visuals, I think It's probably accurate. However, it was also only $20 new, so the good folks at natsumi were aware of its ass aesthetics. And that's probably one more reason why I was willing to pick it up and have an absolute blast with it.
A game I never heard about. Kind of rare.
Since I've already pulled 100 games that I already deemed "top 100 of all time," I had to dig a little deeper into my obscure game pile. I don't think there too many of those, but maybe 5 or 6 are definitely going to be in that category of, "you just made that game up/it's not real."
Edited: Sat, 16 Mar 2024 20:35:37
#98 - Flower
In the debate of, "are games art," the one game that always gets brought up as an example that they are is Flower. Personally, I don't think games are art, but I definitely agree that no game makes a better argument for the case that they are.
The very concept behind the game,"what do flowers dream about?", makes the case. And the execution is pretty incredible. You guide flower petals around a landscape, and reach certain marks. Simple, relaxing, fun, and they even found a way to increase the difficulty as the levels progressed without compromising the zen feeling you get from the game. It might also be one of the very few games that actually figured out a good way to use the 6-axis controller features for the PS3 and was worth playing.
For me this was actually the first digital purchase I made when I got my PlayStation 3. And from pretty much the minute I started it, I didn't put it down until it was done. Digital games were nothing new at that point, but I don't think I'd ever played one quite this polished. It really made me think that something special in the world of smaller downloadable titles was on the horizon. Journey would eventually crush that dream completely, but even as much as I dislike that game, it doesn't change how much I love Flower.
In the debate of, "are games art," the one game that always gets brought up as an example that they are is Flower. Personally, I don't think games are art, but I definitely agree that no game makes a better argument for the case that they are.
The very concept behind the game,"what do flowers dream about?", makes the case. And the execution is pretty incredible. You guide flower petals around a landscape, and reach certain marks. Simple, relaxing, fun, and they even found a way to increase the difficulty as the levels progressed without compromising the zen feeling you get from the game. It might also be one of the very few games that actually figured out a good way to use the 6-axis controller features for the PS3 and was worth playing.
For me this was actually the first digital purchase I made when I got my PlayStation 3. And from pretty much the minute I started it, I didn't put it down until it was done. Digital games were nothing new at that point, but I don't think I'd ever played one quite this polished. It really made me think that something special in the world of smaller downloadable titles was on the horizon. Journey would eventually crush that dream completely, but even as much as I dislike that game, it doesn't change how much I love Flower.
Edited: Sun, 17 Mar 2024 19:58:17
I need to play that one.
Yeah you do. It gets pretty cheap from time to time so keep a look out for it when it hits hobo pricing.
#97 - Defender
Defender was always one of my favorite Atari 2600 games. I think I've read somewhere that it was the first side scrolling shooter. If that's true, it's probably worth mentioning. He always have to pay tribute to the innovators, right?
But to me what always made Defender such a great game was getting to rescue the little people or astronauts or whoever they were. That really elevated the experience. I wasn't just flying around shooting aliens, I was also protecting innocent people from a fate worse than death. Even if those innocent people were pretty much just a small square block. I've always thought it was strange that such a cool idea was never really carried forward through other shooters.
Sadly, I never had my own copy of Defender. A guy that my dad worked with had it though, and his Atari was just for his grandkids, so I got to borrow it for a couple months once. Once. That was a pretty sweet time, and I got surprisingly good at it. I was definitely sad as hell when I had to return it back, but I can confidently say that thousands of pixelated humanoids were rescued from a life of alien servitude thanks to the time I devoted playing it.
Defender was always one of my favorite Atari 2600 games. I think I've read somewhere that it was the first side scrolling shooter. If that's true, it's probably worth mentioning. He always have to pay tribute to the innovators, right?
But to me what always made Defender such a great game was getting to rescue the little people or astronauts or whoever they were. That really elevated the experience. I wasn't just flying around shooting aliens, I was also protecting innocent people from a fate worse than death. Even if those innocent people were pretty much just a small square block. I've always thought it was strange that such a cool idea was never really carried forward through other shooters.
Sadly, I never had my own copy of Defender. A guy that my dad worked with had it though, and his Atari was just for his grandkids, so I got to borrow it for a couple months once. Once. That was a pretty sweet time, and I got surprisingly good at it. I was definitely sad as hell when I had to return it back, but I can confidently say that thousands of pixelated humanoids were rescued from a life of alien servitude thanks to the time I devoted playing it.
Nice! I own a boxed copy of Atari 2600 Defender with the included comic book.
Huh... So today I learned about the Atari Force comic.
#96 - California Games
"So we need a sports game that doesn't have a lot of sports that people actually play. And we'd really like it if you could find a way to make it really capture the late '80s. What do you got for us? And lo and behold, California Games was born.
California Games was the first "cool" game I ever remember playing as a kid. This was the game that the older kids who were really into the skater subculture complete with brand named skater clothing were playing. If you wanted the older kids to think you were cool, you either had to play this or Skate or Die (or maybe T&C Surf Design). But California Games was still the most mature, so it carried a little bit of extra cred.
Unlike a lot of the copycats though, California Games was also very good, at least most of the games were. Roller skating and half pipe were both pretty well put together. Surfing was tricky, but if you knew what you were doing, you could pull off some cool moves.
To me though, I think the standout game was always hacky sack. I think mainly because it was something I could see myself actually do. Although truth be told I totally couldn't. I was always good for one or two bounces off my foot and then it would inevitably fly across the room or take a weird angle and get launched off My foot into some place. I couldn't retrieve it. And then I'd be without another hacky sack. But I could always go back to California Games. The hacky sack was always waiting for me there.
"So we need a sports game that doesn't have a lot of sports that people actually play. And we'd really like it if you could find a way to make it really capture the late '80s. What do you got for us? And lo and behold, California Games was born.
California Games was the first "cool" game I ever remember playing as a kid. This was the game that the older kids who were really into the skater subculture complete with brand named skater clothing were playing. If you wanted the older kids to think you were cool, you either had to play this or Skate or Die (or maybe T&C Surf Design). But California Games was still the most mature, so it carried a little bit of extra cred.
Unlike a lot of the copycats though, California Games was also very good, at least most of the games were. Roller skating and half pipe were both pretty well put together. Surfing was tricky, but if you knew what you were doing, you could pull off some cool moves.
To me though, I think the standout game was always hacky sack. I think mainly because it was something I could see myself actually do. Although truth be told I totally couldn't. I was always good for one or two bounces off my foot and then it would inevitably fly across the room or take a weird angle and get launched off My foot into some place. I couldn't retrieve it. And then I'd be without another hacky sack. But I could always go back to California Games. The hacky sack was always waiting for me there.
I rented that game for a sleepover and it was a big hit for all of us teenagers.
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robio (2m)
My first thought was to reevaluate the old top 100, but fuck it, it's easier to pick 100 new games that I didn't have on the list last time. In the past 5 and a half years I've played more than I usually have, largely due to COVID. And in that time I've played a lot of new great games.
Plus, when I made the last list, I avoided adding multiple games from the same franchises. So I can dip back into the Dragon Quest pool and a few others.
Anyway stay tuned. Starting tomorrow we're doing this shit again.