I've had a long day, so here's a quick 5 games that didn't make the list!

Dead Cells



I know this is a bit unorthodox, but this is a game currently in early access, but I already love it. "early access roguelike metroidvania with souls combat" sounds like the nightmare of everyone who hates indie games, but this game is incredible with how good it is. The levels are so good that they feel hand-designed despite being procedurally generated. The combat is snappy and amazing. The progression feels satisfying. I love this so much already that I want to put it on my GOTY list so far. The weapons are great, the movement is great, the art style is fantastic, everything about it is awesome. It's already quite complete now and I can recommend it very strongly.



Clock Tower: The First Fear



Playing a point and click horror game where death is around every corner sounds like a miserable proposition, but it only adds to the terror. Clock Tower has a really unique formula, one that surprisingly hasn't been replicated to my knowledge. You are being chased by one omnipresent enemy that can easily kill you, and you must give it the slip while trying to survive, save other people, and escape. There are many endings you can reach, and many ways you can try to get rid of the enemy. The real horrifying aspect is that there is no one preset way the game plays out, the enemy appearances seem random and whether each hiding spot or trap you can lay will work or not is random as well. The end result is a terrifying experience.



Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft



I love Magic: The Gathering. I've spent over two decades playing it. Eventually I decided to quit, and in a very healthy, totally-not-addicted way, I replaced it with Hearthstone. I love HS, because I can play it anywhere, any time. The problem I had with MTG was that I had to travel a lot to play, and I didn't have the time for that. Sure, HS is less complex in some ways, but it's more interesting in other ways. I was very into MTG competitively, so it took some adjusting, but I enjoy HS for what it is and how polished it is.

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The Witness



I said many times that I love puzzle games, especially ones where intuiting the solution is the point instead of executing it, and obviously The Witness is incredible for this. Doesn't hurt that the game is beautiful either. What I love about The Witness is that it's essentially a metroidvania. Instead of your character gaining new abilities, you gain new knowledge that lets you access different areas. Knowledge is power in this game, but brute force won't get you anywhere. Once you have the knowledge, you have to think very carefully and apply that knowledge. It's probably the most brilliant game ever made. This is to say nothing of the hidden puzzles, which really messed me up for a while, as I was seeing dots and lines everywhere in real life for a while.

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EVO – The Search for Eden



I almost forgot about this game when making my list! This one is one of my favorite SNES games. It's a platformer where you start as a prehistoric sea creature. You earn evolution points by eating other organisms, then you can evolve parts of your body to develop into different creatures. Obviously, there's a path that you take, some upgrades are mutually exclusive. You can develop a spear snout, but that's not compatible with some fins. As you fight bosses and traverse through undersea levels, you eventually grow legs and can move on to land. The game keeps changing along with your character. It's a pretty brilliant concept, and the pacing and progression always felt pretty awesome to me. An underrated SNES classic!

These choices are as varied as they are left field! I'm not sure that any of these are really "for me" but I am super interested in that EVO game. That is a really bizarre and awesome gameplay hook and I would love something similar today (not Spore).


Drooling over Dead Cells, though. Can't wait for that to come to ANY console.

I guess I have an anectode today!

I wanna talk about my time in Japan searching for classic games. Akihabara is an awesome place for retro games, though each time I've been, it seems like it gets more "discovered" and thus more commercialized. The shops realize they can sell their stock online to westerners who are willing to pay exorbitant prices. So when I've been to Super Potato, they had some stuff, but the really notable games were either unavailable or obnoxiously expensive. Also, there's a bit of an attitude towards westerners. I can speak Japanese, but they generally respond to me in English, which feels a bit condescending. Anyway, I played the Virtual Boy they have at Super Potato and it was a pretty entertaining experience. But that's not where you wanna go to get all the games.

Exploring the outskirts of the main street of Akihabara, there are a lot of smaller stores that sell more specialized stuff. And most stores have a used game section somewhere in the back. Taking the time to delve into those is usually worth it because those are usually the more untapped reserves of games. I remember this one store that's a few blocks off the end of the strip, it was on like the third floor of an apartment building. It's totally unassuming, with barely a sign to mark it. I go in, and it's just a casual apartment with some desks set up with glass cases holding games. An older lady is manning the store. She has quite a collection too. That's where I was able to find a majority of my classic collection, many of them in their boxes. I can post a picture when I get home, but I have Castlevanias 1 through 4, Metroid, Super Metroid, Zelda 1/2. All in great working shape too! I also bought a Sharp Twin Famicom which is a licensed console that plays famicom and famicom disk system games - it's much less of a hassle to play FDS games with this than the actual FDS, which, like I mentioned earlier, is a piece of shit.

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Other fun shopping experiences include me finding a 19-disc castlevania OST collection that includes tracks from basically every game - this was on the 5th floor of a store that sells figures, at the bottom of a shelf. Here's the track list, it's pretty ridiculous.



One interesting experience was going into a figure store that sells almost exclusively pornographic/nude figures together with my wife. We already stand out as white people in Japan, but we were especially standing out there. Most of the clientele was older men, and we were just laughing at how extreme some of the figures were. Never knew you could have a version of Chun Li with such massive cleavage.

I mentioned how MGR is one of my favorite games of all time. Last time I went, I was able to find a Raiden figure for pretty cheap in a small gift shop under a bridge for a pretty nice price. I love the economy of used products and small businesses that they have in Japan, it reminds me of Turkey in that sense, and having the know-how of how to parse stores and measure them up quickly and look for the deals has really helped me in my trips to Japan.

I was also in Japan during the launch of the Vita and was able to grab one at launch, and that was a pretty fun experience. In another trip I got my Vita modified to have video out so I was able to do preview videos for the site I was doing reviews for for a short while. That culture of having shops with that kind of know-how and DIY mentality is also really great, and something we have in Turkey as well. Back when I was in Turkey, we had places you could just take your PS1 to get modded to play pirated and out-of-region games, which I had done. In fact, it was essential to be able to play PS1 games in Turkey because my system was NTSC and the games you could find in Turkey were either pirated or imported from PAL regions.

10: Minecraft

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I wonder if this entry surprises anyone. To me, Minecraft is like the next level of immersive sims. I've been in Minecraft since the early days of the alpha, and I still play it regularly. This game is something different to everyone. It can be a mining and farming simulator. It can be an adventure game. It can be one where you design complex contraptions or Rube Goldberg machines. It can be one where you just relax and build glorious structures. It can be one where you play adventures designed by others. It can be one where you play mini games or other game modes. It can be a solitary, zen experience. It can be one you play with friends and have fun together. It can be one where you play together with many strangers and work towards having a society. It can be one where you compete and try to survive. It can be a game of creation, of scripting, of exploiting systems. I've done all of these in Minecraft, and I keep wanting to do more.

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The best experiences I've had in Minecraft have been across all these. That small hovel I built into a mountain and had to make do with minimal supplies because it was a tall world and there were few resources. That time I was playing with my best friend and he briefly logged off so I filled his house, entirely, with watermelons. That time I built a massive maze full of traps and puzzles for my friends to explore. All the times I watched people roleplay and tell stories. All the challenge maps I downloaded and completed. The time I spent trying to figure out how to solve the skyblock challenge (where you are spawned on a tiny island in the middle of the sky with barely enough resources and try to reach another island via optimally exploiting the resources and mechanics). All of these things. Minecraft is just amazing. It appeals to the creator in me, the adventurer in me, and the min-maxer in me.

9: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective



It's hard to talk about Ghost Trick. It's a visual novel meets adventure/puzzle game. You play as Sissel, a ghost, recently deceased, with an ability to possess inanimate objects and manipulate them. But the more important ability you have is to possess a corpse, which will return you to four minutes before the person died, and let you change time and save the person. Most of the game consists of trying to undo deaths of people while slowly uncovering your murder, leading into a tale that involves espionage, assassins, and maybe a lot more.



Since it's such a story focused game, it's had to talk about it without ruining some of its moments. The game does a very clever job of tying its mechanics to its story, and how you use your limited possession range and your ability to change the fate of others is explored pretty brilliantly. The stylized art style is great, and the memorable cast of characters is a strong suit of the game. It's created by the creator of Ace Attorney, and the same charm follows here. As you can expect from the creator of AA and a supernatural premise like this, the plot goes to RIDICULOUS places and the ending is very touching. One of the very few games where the ending really, really affected me.

8: Resident Evil 4



This is unsurprising, right? RE4 is one of the best games ever made. It almost feels unnecessary to talk about it. It's the perfect blend of horror and action. The gameplay is just so tight. The encounter design is brilliant. The control scheme is precise and adds to the tension. The resource management is very well implemented. It was an action game that really forced you to focus on survival without actually making you weak. It's a really delicate balance that isn't easy to do. Combat scenarios involved parsing the environment, your resources and the enemy types and their weaknesses to find the way to minimize your loss of total resources, which was a different calculus than most action games before and since. The game had a lot of ideas, mechanics and moments, yet somehow didn't botch them or their mixture.



The variety of environments and setpieces is great. The art style was perfect for what it's going for as well. The tone is brilliant, straddling horror and camp in just the right way. It was quite challenging but in a very satisfying way. Leon is just the right amount of cool and cheesy. He's a cool collected badass but also says really dumb one liners and does suplexes on zombies. The game has larger than life characters but then slaps you in the face with terrifying, difficult encounters with them. The game also begs a lot of replays with different constraints, and stuff like a knife only/no knife/no merchant/etc run is very interesting to do. I think the most ridiculous run was knife only, no merchant, 1HP, kill all enemies? I did a knife run. It's pretty amazing. The game keeps on giving, and still holds up. It's a masterpiece of design and an absolute classic.

7: Tron 2.0



I LOVE the Tron movies. I even have a Tron-themed custom guitar. This game, made by Monolith (which I already professed my love to) is such a blast to play. It was made before the second Tron movie, and serves as a sequel to the first. You're the son of Alan Bradley's son, who gets pulled into the computer to encounter a fully-realized world that's brimming with intrigue, politics and betrayal. The game plays like an immersive sim, with your character having access to a host of abilities that you can upgrade with resources you find in the world. While it's level-based and overall linear, the game's levels are quite open and foster exploration and experimentation. Your abilities can enhance your stats or give you access to new weapons or even new skills. The art style is fantastic, and the best depiction of Tron in a video game. It also has some amazing light cycle segments, interesting boss battles, many characters to meet and interact with, and a setting that feels very coherent and larger than the slice of it you interact with.



The story is really awesome as well. You go through many twists and turns, meeting many characters and a developing narrative that spanned a lot of different aspects of the Tron universe. New enemy types had story reasons for being different, and their abilities that you acquire are narratively consistent. The level design changes drastically to go along with the story, and it's all very well-paced. The game explores a vast world and does a really clever job of translating computing concepts into engaging gameplay elements. Both the overly impersonal style of the more structured computer world, and the chaos of it all after everything breaks down is so well-handled. I cannot overstate how much I love this game. I've played through it so many times, and I still enjoy going into its world and becoming a part of it.

6: Yakuza 4

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Someone in the thread asked about Yakuza games before. I freaking love them, they're one of my favorite series. I mean, looking at the rest of my top 10, Yakuza is basically in my top 5 favorite series. The games are a masterful combination of serious crime drama and over-the-top action and quirky Japanese hilarity. What I love about Metal Gear is amplified to the max in Yakuza. I love every game in the series (even Dead Souls) but Yakuza 4 is definitely my favorite. Featuring the beloved semi-open-world of Kabukicho (which is very representative of the real life Kamurocho, I've been there and Yakuza is one of the best virtual tourism games), a cast of lovable quirky characters and a complex plot, the reason Y4 is my favorite is many-fold. First of all, the story feels like the logical conclusion to the events established in the previous 3 games. Basically, to me, it's the end of the main Yakuza story. This isn't apparent at first, but when it's done, when the wild ride is over, it feels like the franchise comes full circle. The game's cutscenes are some of the most cinematic in the industry, with great voice and performance work, and fantastic writing. There's a ton of side activities and mini games to engage in, to the point that it feels ridiculous how much there is in the game, and it's all fun and funny.

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The gameplay is as awesome as ever, featuring incredibly visceral melee combat and RPG elements. In Y4, for the first time, you get to play as 4 different characters that all have their own story and play style. It all ends up tying together in a brilliant way, but the gameplay is leveraged very cleverly here. The main character of the series, Kazuma Kiryu, is the one you play as last, and his style incorporates elements from every other character and he's way more powerful. It feels so satisfying, like a reward for playing through the other chapters, and you get a better appreciation of just how insanely badass Kiryu really is. Each character's segment shows a different side of the underworld, and each have unique gameplay and story gimmicks, but Kiryu's sections are sheer ridiculousness. It's really a masterful conclusion to the series. That being said, I love Y5 and am looking forward to 6 as well, but 4 felt like a climax to me. 5 introduces a lot more elements and story threads, and the minigames are pretty amazing. But 4 is very dear to me. It's one of my favorite stories in games (my second favorite story, really).

RE4 is way up there for me as well. Great pick!

I'm just getting into Yakuza series now (as in I've put about a half hour into Yakuza 0 and I will play it a lot this weekend I hope). Seems really varied and unique.

Minecraft I am just scared to take a chance even though I've heard the Switch port is fine.

Ghost Trick I couldn't really get into on iOS. Begging for a Switch port.


And...Tron 2.0?! I've not heard anybody mention that game in like a decade. Amazing. Never played it but cool aesthetic.

StarPhlox said:

Ghost Trick I couldn't really get into on iOS. Begging for a Switch port.

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IT'S OUT ON IOS? WHY WASN'T I INFORMED?

Going to get it right now.

I'm so glad you put Minecraft up there, there is a reason it's the world's most played video game. I took a break from it after playing the Java version for a couple of years, which I modded to all hell with shaders and such, making it a truly beautiful experience.

I only really play survival, and I currently play the Pocket/Windows 10 edition, I am lucky enough to be a member of a really good Realm of close minded mature players from around the world.

That is one of the greatest aspects of Minecraft, I've made some great friends that I talk to outside of MC from around the world, one being an Engineer from Germany, and currently a good buddy from Russia. We help each other with resources, go on quest, and talk about world politics and MC as friends, it's a great experience.

Also, I've bought RE4 4 times for 4 systems, the Wii version still being my favorite. I sold my Wii, but still play it on PC. Would probably be in my top 10 with Mine Craft.

Where is our top 5 nynt9? I'm looking forward to telling you what's wrong with your top five picks. so hurry it up man.

Also, I was reading about Tron 2.0 (which I had forgotten existed until this list), did you know that the original creator viewed it as the sequel to the original movie, but it was removed from cannon by the Tron: Legacy director.

Yes we are all waiting. This is the worst case of neogaf blue balls ever.

Spladam said:

Where is our top 5 nynt9? I'm looking forward to telling you what's wrong with your top five picks. so hurry it up man.

Also, I was reading about Tron 2.0 (which I had forgotten existed until this list), did you know that the original creator viewed it as the sequel to the original movie, but it was removed from cannon by the Tron: Legacy director.

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Hey all I'm back! I owe an explanation. I got a cold yet again, then had to travel, and it was my marriage anniversary among other things. I decided to take a bit of a break. Writing these posts takes a lot of effort so I wanted to give them the attention they deserve. I'm back now though!

I knew that about Tron and I'm perpetually upset that the game was decanonized. It's not like the movie couldn't have co-existed with it.

Spladam said:

I'm so glad you put Minecraft up there, there is a reason it's the world's most played video game. I took a break from it after playing the Java version for a couple of years, which I modded to all hell with shaders and such, making it a truly beautiful experience.

I only really play survival, and I currently play the Pocket/Windows 10 edition, I am lucky enough to be a member of a really good Realm of close minded mature players from around the world.

That is one of the greatest aspects of Minecraft, I've made some great friends that I talk to outside of MC from around the world, one being an Engineer from Germany, and currently a good buddy from Russia. We help each other with resources, go on quest, and talk about world politics and MC as friends, it's a great experience.

Also, I've bought RE4 4 times for 4 systems, the Wii version still being my favorite. I sold my Wii, but still play it on PC. Would probably be in my top 10 with Mine Craft.

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Yeah, my Minecraft is modded to hell and back as well. It was really taxing on my machine at some point. I don't do pocket/win10, I'm a Java purist, but it's great that so many people can experience this game. As for RE4, I've bought it a billion times as well. The Wii version was how I initially played it and I consider that version definitive as well. Well, the PC version is going to be great when that HD texture pack is completed.

As for my top 5, I'm going to treat this with a bit more attention. Instead of lumping them into a single post, I'll give each of these their own post and add some anectodes. I think they deserve that.

5: Super Metroid



This game is not only the perfect platformer. It's also the perfect example of the subgenre it created. Obviously, Metroid existed before Super Metroid, but the formula wasn't fully realized back then. I actually love the original Metroid (more than most Metroid fans) and have spent an inordinate amount of time with it. Its nonlinear design and atmosphere were game changers back in the day. The game paved the way for so much. Beyond that, it created a speed-running and exploration scene. Are you familiar with the "secret world" concept that the Metroid fanbase discovered? Basically, you can glitch your way through a door, corrupting the memory of the map and leading you to be able to explore glitched worlds. Every door leads to a unique glitched world that is bizarre, broken and fascinating. I spent more hours exploring glitch worlds than actually playing Metroid. It was akin to playing a roguelike, almost. This really evoked in me the desire for emergent gameplay and exploration, specifically unintended exploration that to this day defines my gaming habits.



Enter Super Metroid. Now, to be fair, Fusion was the first game in the series I played seriously. So I was already familiar with the template of Super Metroid. As I mentioned, I never had a NES or SNES until way later so those systems were lost on me. Of course, I was familiar with the reputation of the series, and Fusion made me want to go back and see what the series was really about. That's where my love for the original Metroid came from, and that's how I also discovered Super Metroid. If Fusion was a directed, polished experience, Super was raw creativity and experimentation. There was so much to the game! Your path through the game is way less linear, and you could get upgrades in many different orders, even bypass some, and use cheesing of the game mechanics (like wall jumping) or other tricks to really break the sequence of progression. This idea was always fascinating to me, that developers could just go "hey, we created this system for you to explore, then just gave you some tools to craft your own path". To me, games are about expression, and this was the first point where I actually really discovered my love for this approach. I still look for this in games, and it's why I love stuff like Dishonored, Prey, Minecraft and Skyrim. Note that just because a game is open world doesn't mean it appeals to me. In a way, that's the opposite. The thrill comes from trying things that aren't obvious and seeing that the developers either accounted for it, or that they didn't, but let you do it anyway. Being able to climb certain places in Skyrim or exploiting the AI line of sight or stuff like that. This also gave me an appreciation for speedrunning, and I've participated in and followed the community ever since. It's no wonder that Super Metroid is the most popular speedrunning game, is the conclusion to every GDQ event, and draws the largest audience. The game is still fun to run and watch runs of, and there's still interesting categories. I've done 100% runs, low% runs and reverse boss order runs myself. It's really fun to try to find ways around the intended path.



But level design and freedom isn't the only reason Super Metroid is fantastic. The controls are great, and the enemy design, combat loop and platforming are all fantastic as well. I know some prefer the snappier Zero Mission controls, but I think Super Metroid is a lot better. There's a sense of weight to Samus. She is wearing a power armor after all. You feel like a real person in a rough environment, and to me Super Metroid was the first game to try to convey a sense of presence in a platformer beyond Mechner-style cinematic platformers. You have a great variety of abilities and controls to play with. The hidden moves are brilliantly designed, shooting feels satisfying, taking a hit feels brutal and platforming feels tight. That's all one could really ask from a game. Of course, in typical Metroidvania fashion, Samus gains new abilities as you progress. Few clones of this series really nail the exact sense of discovery, and Super Metroid does this perfectly. When there's a branching path that you can't access yet, you just remember it. It's all brilliantly placed and designed, so that you will not forget to come back to that one room and try out a new ability. This sense of pacing and discovery is really hard to quantify, but you know it when you play it.



Speaking of, the atmosphere. I didn't know a 2D game could be this powerful. The sense of isolation, of being on an alien planet that's entirely hostile to you, it's really palpable. Part of that is the music, part of it the graphics, but most of it is really game design. Again, there's something that's not simply quantifiable about it all that really nails everything it's going for. The game has a real sense of place, enhanced by the memorability of the design. Nintendo really struck gold with this game to an extent they've never done before, and in my opinion never since. This game is pretty much perfect except for a few minor technical hangups due to its platform.



Beyond that, the game even has a relatively active modding scene. There are some really great total conversions out there. Super Metroid Redesign is of course the most famous one, but there are many more. Mods that retool the existing architecture some, mods that create completely new worlds, it's all out there. While I'm at it, I should also mention Metroid: Rogue Dawn, an incredible total conversion for the first Metroid. Anyway, Super Metroid is one of the best games ever.

Great list so far even if I think some games would be higher on my list. Looking forward to the rest as this has been very interesting to read. Good job!!

Thanks for (finally) updating! I think you've made a strong case for Super Metroid being the best of the franchise even if for me it would be maybe...4th? Unquestionably a classic and I'm looking forward to a controversial rest of the list

Awesome, Super Metroid is a top ten for me as well. It's really cool that even though you didn't have access tot he Super Nintendo originally you were able to go back and experience this incredible title, although I can't imagine how I would have felt about it if I played Fusion and Zero first. I was able to play it a couple of months after it came out, and this game ASTOUNDED me, just the opening screens blew my mind, it was such a cinematic experience back then, incredibly polished.

I was lost in it's world for so long. It was a unique experience, especially coming from a childhood of PC gaming. That fact that you ended up speed running it is crazy, and I've never attempted a minimal upgrade run or *gasp* a reverse boss run? Wow. This makes me want to play it now, might have to run through the whole series.

I didn't own an NES until I got my SNES, so I never really got into the original, it was a bit too dated and frustrating for me back then. It's always been a hole in my game completion list. My order on the series would be Super Metroid > Fusion > AM2R > Zero Mission.

Great write up.

bpfd said:

Great list so far even if I think some games would be higher on my list. Looking forward to the rest as this has been very interesting to read. Good job!!

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It's the differences in opinion that make conversation interesting!

StarPhlox said:

Thanks for (finally) updating! I think you've made a strong case for Super Metroid being the best of the franchise even if for me it would be maybe...4th? Unquestionably a classic and I'm looking forward to a controversial rest of the list

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I can't think of what 3 one would pick before Super. Zero controls smoothly, but the content is less inspired and good, and the zero suit sequence really drags the whole experience down to a slog, IMO. I love Fusion, but it's too linear. And Prime is great, one of the best games ever, but the transition to 3D loses more than it gains, and backtracking and combat is more tedious in 3D than it is in 2D, I think. Mind you, I love all these games, as evidenced by my list, but I don't think any of them are anywhere near as well-realized as a whole as Super is.

Spladam said:

Awesome, Super Metroid is a top ten for me as well. It's really cool that even though you didn't have access tot he Super Nintendo originally you were able to go back and experience this incredible title, although I can't imagine how I would have felt about it if I played Fusion and Zero first. I was able to play it a couple of months after it came out, and this game ASTOUNDED me, just the opening screens blew my mind, it was such a cinematic experience back then, incredibly polished.

I was lost in it's world for so long. It was a unique experience, especially coming from a childhood of PC gaming. That fact that you ended up speed running it is crazy, and I've never attempted a minimal upgrade run or *gasp* a reverse boss run? Wow. This makes me want to play it now, might have to run through the whole series.

I didn't own an NES until I got my SNES, so I never really got into the original, it was a bit too dated and frustrating for me back then. It's always been a hole in my game completion list. My order on the series would be Super Metroid > Fusion > AM2R > Zero Mission.

Great write up.

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I felt more liberated in Super than in Fusion or Zero, really. See my comment above. While those two are excellent games, Super is the one where it's really more than a sum of its parts. I also had a childhood of PC gaming as the thread makes very obvious, but there were a lot of games that lost me in their world on PC too. I was big into Daggerfall and Lands of Lore and Might and Magic. Those games were immersive as hell. But I never thought a platformer could be immersive to this extent until I played Super.

The reverse boss run is pretty ridiculous and tough, there's a good one at AGDQ 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VH-NWMezEo

I was super into the original as I said. I love the clunky ass immersive NES games, namely Zelda 2, Castlevania 2, Kid Icarus and Metroid. They have their own charm. But I agree with you on that series order.

nynt9 said:

It's the differences in opinion that make conversation interesting!



I can't think of what 3 one would pick before Super. Zero controls smoothly, but the content is less inspired and good, and the zero suit sequence really drags the whole experience down to a slog, IMO. I love Fusion, but it's too linear. And Prime is great, one of the best games ever, but the transition to 3D loses more than it gains, and backtracking and combat is more tedious in 3D than it is in 2D, I think. Mind you, I love all these games, as evidenced by my list, but I don't think any of them are anywhere near as well-realized as a whole as Super is.

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No I don't like those three. I was thinking:

Other M
Prime Hunters
Federation Force
(maybe?) Super
Prime Pinball

If anyone is interested, here are some great Metroid related rescources to check out for any fan or newcomer to the series:

• Metroid Wiki - Most comprehensive collection of Metroid information.
• Metroid Data Base - Large fan site with a good community and info and downloads for Rom hacks, mods, tools, and media.
• Super Metroid Symphony - Just what it sounds like, just click that link and come back and tell me how awesome that was.
• Deer Tier - Metroid Speed Running Nexus, Best of the best in the Super Metroid speed running community.
• Metroid HQ - Longest running fan site and nexus of all things Metroid (It's not up right now for some reason, but here's the twitter if you would like to follow.)

StarPhlox said:

No I don't like those three. I was thinking:

Other M
Prime Hunters
Federation Force
(maybe?) Super
Prime Pinball

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I don't even know what to say.... We all have our own opinions and it makes the world interesting. But that list...

Spladam said:

If anyone is interested, here are some great Metroid related rescources to check out for any fan or newcomer to the series:

• Metroid Wiki - Most comprehensive collection of Metroid information.
• Metroid Data Base - Large fan site with a good community and info and downloads for Rom hacks, mods, tools, and media.
• Super Metroid Symphony - Just what it sounds like, just click that link and come back and tell me how awesome that was.
• Deer Tier - Metroid Speed Running Nexus, Best of the best in the Super Metroid speed running community.
• Metroid HQ - Longest running fan site and nexus of all things Metroid (It's not up right now for some reason, but here's the twitter if you would like to follow.)

I don't even know what to say.... We all have our own opinions and it makes the world interesting. But that list...

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I think he's trolling. I hope!

Back in the day, metroid 2002 was my resource. They have information about how to sequence break and all kinds of glitches. It was also how I discovered AM2R nearly a decade ago, along with all the ROM hacks.

nynt9 said:

I think he's trolling. I hope!

Back in the day, metroid 2002 was my resource. They have information about how to sequence break and all kinds of glitches. It was also how I discovered AM2R nearly a decade ago, along with all the ROM hacks.

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This one is new to me, cool, thanks for sharing.

I'm trying to remember if I played Super Metroid. I know I loved Fusion and it would likely be up in the top 20ish (maybe higher) of an all times list for me.

Time for #4! I realized that there's still a few "non top 100 games" left, but at this point I'll get to them after I finish my main list.

4: Bloodborne

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This is the highest scored "new game" in my list. I don't know what counts as a "new game", but I guess I could arbitrarily define it as a game that I first experienced at a time that wasn't during my (equally vaguely defined) "formative years". My first Souls game was Demon's Souls, but back in the day when I played it (after buying it due to internet recommendations), I didn't get it. Actually, let me back up a bit. In one of my anectodes I mentioned that I had gaming ennui during the 7th gen because of following the AAA paradigm too much. DeS was one of the earlier games I got when I was trying to break out of the paradigm. Obviously it was a hell of a game to pick for this. While the game was surely obtuse and difficult, it wasn't off-puttingly so. I didn't know about the online community for the series back then (it didn't even really exist like it did today) but I somehow powered through the game, and loved it. Did the same with Dark Souls when it came out as well, but at that point I still hadn't really "gotten" the games.



A few years later, when DS1 came to PC, a friend of mine walked me through the game for my second time, really explaining the principles of the game and the lore. I instantly fell in love. I was there day 1 for every Souls game past that, and I was very into them. But then we get Bloodborne. This game is something else. By now, you probably realize that I love horror, specifically lovecraftian stuff. Of course, Bloodborne was an instant classic for me. Now, I'm not one of those people who thinks the Souls games are too slow, I love them. That being said, the faster, fiercer gameplay in Bloodborne was an entirely different beast. Closer to the character action speed of things, the game encouraged you to take more risks thanks to its regain system. It's really brilliant. There are many small tweaks to the Souls formula that make this game so much more appealing to me personally than the rest of the series.



But the real winner here is the atmosphere, the style, the vibe. The semi-surrealist take on gothic horror, blending Victorian, Japanese and Lovecraftian elements, is simply brilliant. The lore is fascinating, and the visual design of the game conveys it perfectly. Dark, decaying streets, a rotting forest, graveyards, cathedrals and more. What's so fascinating is that there are different disparate tropes of horror playing together, like werewolves, insanity, eldritch horror, backwoods village, stargazing, fishing village, etc. Somehow it all fits together, and that you go through a variety of these makes the game feel like a vast journey. And they manage to make it feel like its own thing regardless. There were many moments in Dark Souls 3 where I went "this is clearly a Bloodborne enemy and not a Souls design". The game just has an immediately distinct style. The ensemble nature of the game's themes also makes its lore deeper as well. As you go through the game, you peel through multiple layers of the story and events. What initially seems like a "village gone mad" tale spins into a battle of heretical churches, blood curses, and aliens. It's pretty amazing, and I LOVE the lore of Bloodborne.



It also has the best DLC in the series The Old Hunters is just amazing and adds so much more to the game. The boss fights in it are some of my favorites across the entire series. In fact, almost all the boss fights in this game are straight up amazing. Even the "bad" ones are fascinating spectacles. That extends to the enemies as well. Everything is horrifying and interesting, and delving into the world of the game is just such an engrossing experience. I even love the chalice dungeons, because it means I just get to play more Bloodborne. This game had a huge uphill battle to fight to get to this slot, but it totally deserves it.

I have played each of the Soulsborne games (and other Soulslikes that have been admirable in their attempts but so far failed to exceed what From Soft has done) and I have come to the conclusion that Bloodborne is probably the best of the lot and almost assuredly feels the most complete. To be fair, I never did the Artorias DLC but Bloodborne doesn't fall apart in the final act quite like Dark Souls does.

Regardless, I am still surprised to see Bloodborne so high up but it's hard to think of a more deserving game from this gen. I would welcome a sequel.

I love all the Souls games, (I actually imported Demons Souls from Korea as it had English text and audio before it got a western release as I never thought it would. My only import game ever) and Bloodborne is probably my favorite of the lot. The Victorian gothic atmosphere is so very well done. The detail in the environments and the enemies just oozes so much style.

Fantastic game.

FallenGrace said:

I love all the Souls games, (I actually imported Demons Souls from Korea as it had English text and audio before it got a western release as I never thought it would. My only import game ever) and Bloodborne is probably my favorite of the lot. The Victorian gothic atmosphere is so very well done. The detail in the environments and the enemies just oozes so much style.

Fantastic game.

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It feels so much like a classic Castlevania game brought into 3D! As for me, I started with Demon's at launch and played about a half hour of it before dropping it (picked it back up and finished last year though). Got back into the 'series' when Bloodborne came out and recognized its brilliance.

nynt9 said:

10: Minecraft


I wonder if this entry surprises anyone. To me, Minecraft is like the next level of immersive sims.

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Minecraft is like the entire opposite of an immersive sim. Immersive sims simulate a realistic environment following real life physical laws (Looking Glass games were among the first to use rudimentary physics so you could grab, carry and throw every object) in which you got a number of systems governing the environment interacting with each other and the living characters, a number of independent AI entities who follow a complex ruleset depending on their affiliation and assigned tasks and a player given a goal and a toolset used to mess with these systems and interact with the NPCs in order to accomplish this goal in any way they see fit within their means.

Minecraft, as great as it may be, is no immersive sim.

StarPhlox said:

It feels so much like a classic Castlevania game brought into 3D! As for me, I started with Demon's at launch and played about a half hour of it before dropping it (picked it back up and finished last year though). Got back into the 'series' when Bloodborne came out and recognized its brilliance.

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I agree. The fantastic level design with how shortcuts connect to previous areas as you weave your way through along with the atmosphere really nail that Castlevania feel.

I've seen other people with similar experiences regarding the Souls series. Though many of the mechanics are the same, Bloodborne's combat is so much faster it just feels very different in the strategy of taking down enemies in a lot of ways that some people really prefer it over the slower Souls titles.

StarPhlox said:

It feels so much like a classic Castlevania game brought into 3D! As for me, I started with Demon's at launch and played about a half hour of it before dropping it (picked it back up and finished last year though). Got back into the 'series' when Bloodborne came out and recognized its brilliance.

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FallenGrace said:

I agree. The fantastic level design with how shortcuts connect to previous areas as you weave your way through along with the atmosphere really nail that Castlevania feel.

I've seen other people with similar experiences regarding the Souls series. Though many of the mechanics are the same, Bloodborne's combat is so much faster it just feels very different in the strategy of taking down enemies in a lot of ways that some people really prefer it over the slower Souls titles.

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Indeed! I neglected to mention the Castlevania parallels to the Souls series, and Bloodborne doubles down on that. Even with the metroidvania-like elements there's kind of a parallel. Perhaps that's why I was so receptive to the series.

Javier23 said:

Minecraft is like the entire opposite of an immersive sim. Immersive sims simulate a realistic environment following real life physical laws (Looking Glass games were among the first to use rudimentary physics so you could grab, carry and throw every object) in which you got a number of systems governing the environment interacting with each other and the living characters, a number of independent AI entities who follow a complex ruleset depending on their affiliation and assigned tasks and a player given a goal and a toolset used to mess with these systems and interact with the NPCs in order to accomplish this goal in any way they see fit within their means.

Minecraft, as great as it may be, is no immersive sim.

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Let's parse this a little bit. Minecraft has physics. Not for all block types, but objects dropped onto the ground, water and lava have physics. To the point that people uses these to create complex Rube Goldberg contraptions. The game has a lot of systems. We have Redstone and all the circuitry and machinery you can make with them. Each enemy and creature type has its own AI ruleset and they interact with each other and the world in varying ways. You can create traps for them with redstone or changing the world geometry. You're given a set of tools with which you can create more tools, shape the world, exploit AI behavior and more. I think there are enough similarities that you can draw a parallel.

Anyway, time to talk about my #3. Ready?

3: DOOM II



So, Doom is great. Both the original, and the 2016 one. I've mentioned in my anectodes how I came to first play Doom. The game is an absolute classic. Much, much has been said about it. I'll point to Ahoy's excellent retrospective yet again. The games really captured the culture of its time, and was incredibly innovative. The pseudo-3D level design was mind-blowing, the art style was unprecedented, and the game just oozed style. I played a lot of the first Doom, but for me the real winner was the sequel.



I know many people prefer the first, and I think that's totally valid. But for me, Doom II is more appealing. Why? Well, if I really boil it down, it's three factors. Weapon, Enemies, Level design. Notice how I used the singular "weapon". It's because the only new weapon in the game is the super shotgun, aka the famous double-barreled shotgun. This addition is one of my favorite weapons in all of gaming. The shotgun is so punchy, and the slower reload speed really makes you commit to making your shots count. Doom is all about entering a room, seeing all the enemy types, the room's geometry, then positioning yourself and moving along while shooting, in a way so that you take minimal damage through projectile avoidance. It's almost like a first person bullet hell shooter. Previously, most weapons in the first game let you fire pretty continuously, or they just did so much spread damage (RPG and BFG) that you could just fire and forget. The super shotgun is different. It does a lot of damage to a focused area, but it's slow. This changes the calculus of positioning completely. Now you have to know the rhythm of when your next shot is coming, where you need to be when it's ready so that you can take the best shot, and where to move away. Previously it was mostly about avoidance, but now you need to take some risks to maximize your damage output. This simple change just adds so much more depth to the formula.



Secondly, the enemy types. The minigun zombie lets the developers place an enemy that's easy to kill but immensely dangerous due to having a hitscan weapon that can hit hard. These guys are usually who you want to take out first, and their relatively weak status lets id use them a lot, upping the tension of he game. We have the mancubus, which can serve as a mini-boss almost. Just remember MAP07: Dead Simple. That is one of my most memorable experiences in gaming, and it's because of the mancubus. It's your first encounter with them, and it will wreck you. We have the Revenant, which is now one of the most iconic Doom monsters (and was further emphasized in Doom 2016). These guys are a huge threat both up close and from afar. But the fact that they shoot slow rockets means that, despite how dangerous they are, they can be prioritized less in some situations, and learning this priority order of who to take down first is key to Doom. By having weak enemies that are very dangerous and strong enemies that can be avoided a bit easier, they can design a lot of interesting encounters that the first game didn't allow for. Then, we have the two baddies who, through their ability to replenish ranks, are new super-high-priority targets. The Pain Elemental that can spawn Lost Souls can easily overwhelm you, and of course, we have the dreaded Arch-Vile. The Arch-Vile can resurrect dead enemies, so they are the utmost highest priority to take out. As you can see, with a few tweaks to the formula, id were able to add immense depth to the game, which is why Doom II is so great.



Finally, the level design. Don't get me wrong, Doom has some of the most iconic levels in gaming. But now that they're more confident in their design, id really stepped it up with some of their levels here. More gimmicks, more traps, larger areas, more labyrinthine levels, and overall more creativity. Doom I maybe has tighter level design, but II is a lot more experimental and varied, so I generally prefer the sequel's level design.



This game is incredibly formative to me, and I play through it frequently. The modding community is still very active, so there's always new experiences to be had with total conversions, gameplay tweaks or even graphical improvements (see some of the shots above). But even without that, the original is an absolute classic and one of my favorite games of all time.

I'm extremely surprised to see DOOM 2 as the choice for the DOOM series!

Everybody agrees that the original is a classic, 3 generated a lot of discussion, and the most recent is widely beloved and highly relevant.

Nobody talks about 2.

So this is a very cool and unexpected way to raise the profile of something you love and it's definitely a surprising inclusion. Would like to try it some day but I don't know if I have anything that can run it...

StarPhlox said:

Nobody talks about 2.

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I feel like it's usually lumped in with 1.

Exodust said:

IT'S OUT ON IOS? WHY WASN'T I INFORMED?

Going to get it right now.

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It's been on iOS for years.

StarPhlox said:

Would like to try it some day but I don't know if I have anything that can run it...

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You probably do.

Damn every time I see this thread get bumped I expect it to be OP! Guess while we wait for him to keep writing I will post my current 5 GOATs (subject to change over time)

5) Metal Gear Solid 3
4) Dark Souls
3) Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
2) Metroid Prime
1) Mega Man X

StarPhlox said:

I'm extremely surprised to see DOOM 2 as the choice for the DOOM series!

Everybody agrees that the original is a classic, 3 generated a lot of discussion, and the most recent is widely beloved and highly relevant.

Nobody talks about 2.

So this is a very cool and unexpected way to raise the profile of something you love and it's definitely a surprising inclusion. Would like to try it some day but I don't know if I have anything that can run it...

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Some dude lectured me in one of the Retro threads for recommending Doom II over the first one. I was an avid PC gamer when both came out, and I played both for way too many hours when they were released, and I clearly recall being amazed at how much better the second was over the first back then.

I prefer the level design and added enemies and balance of the second. When I go back and play the classic Dooms, I usually end up just playing the second one.

I can finish this before E3! Only two left!

2: The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind



I mean, people who've been following this thread probably saw this coming. I love Oblivion and Skyrim, and the reason why I love them are much more prominent in Morrowind. When I first started playing this game, the moment I stepped off the ship, my mind was immediately blown. I can interact with every object, and it feels like a living, breathing world? It was completely unprecedented at the time, and in many aspects is still unmatched. Where to begin?



There is no game world that has this level of detail that also feels this alien. VVardenfell is a place. It exists. There are people in it, those people have business. There is an ecosystem. It all just makes sense. And they do a brilliant job of making you take that world in. Open world games changed after Morrowind. There were no quest markers in Morrowind. When someone tells you to go somewhere, they will describe the location to you, and it's up to you to use that description to find your way. It will be imperfect, of course, as it would be in real life, and that forces you to explore. Additionally, there is no full on fast travel system. There is the equivalent of public transport, which only connects certain places. The end result is that you do a lot of legwork, and you get to know the world. You see, just removing quest markers and having locations be description-based isn't enough. You also need to design your world so that things are unique and memorable enough that one can navigate within the world using landmarks, and they've done that.



The inhabitants of the world matter as well. There are characters with agendas here, many factions at play, and many different people from different regions. There's actual politics, and you can actually get involved in factional conflicts. You can find some weird shit in the game, and you can kill everyone. This can even lock you out of completing the main quest, but this degree of freedom owed to you is what makes the game appealing. Characters you met were actually interesting, they had a place in the world and motivations, and these were conveyed to you in meaningful ways instead of just endlesse exposition. There's a lot to do in the world, and the world is fascinating so you actually want to experience more. The main quest is also satisfyingly long and feels like a genuine epic unlike any of its follow-ups.

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There's so much stuff to do too. You can craft your own spells from scratch, with a huge variety of properties. Your skills are meaningful and you can build your character in many different ways. This extends to the expansions as well, each of them introducing equally well-built and interesting areas. Honestly, Morrowind is all about your experience, the atmosphere, how you become a part of hands down the most intricate single player world, so describing it just doesn't do it any justice. It's something that needs to be played. And it's my favorite gaming experience barring one last thing.

Oh snap, Morrowind gets number 2!!! Shit dude, I'm finding it really hard to argue with you about your picks, and I'm not sure how I feel about that...

Just the lore in that game... holy crap. I might have put more hours into that game than any other game I've ever played. It's the game that made me obsessed with modding. It was the first game I had a real mod manager for. It was a true role play. That's all I have to say about that.

PS. Actually, one more thing, I don't know if I could play this game without the Greater Mark and Greater Recall spells mod. But even that mod, you had to earn it in game. You had to work yourself up to be able to use it, and you had to find the guy who sold it, and you had to earn his trust before he would sell it to you. It became a target goal of every play through after I first found it. (It was sold by J'Rasha the Healer in Vivec hahaha, just looked it up.)

Of all the mods, that and Beardo's Zelda Estate, with it's alchemy lab, those two are basically part of the game for me. It seems you can't find the original (legendary) Zelda's Estate online now. I still have a CD (that's right, a compact disc) with the original Zelda's Estate and all the other mods I used, along with my save files. It came with some sick original weapons that were so cool looking I never took them of the wall above the fireplace. I want to go back and play it now.... Ok, I'm done.


Home sweet home.

I love Morrowind, but I only experienced it on my original Xbox way back in 2002 (I think I started it right after me and my little bro finished Halo:CE on Legendary!) and then never really touched the rest of the series. Probably going to grab that Skyrim port on Switch as soon as that comes out though!

Nice pick, regardless.

Oh, didn't realize another one of these threads had popped up. Took a quick skim and found a lot of the choices interesting, and very different from what would be my personal list.

Will have to go back and read all of the descriptions later, but wanted to subscribe so I don't lose the thread.

I'm in the process of compiling a list for a thread in this vein myself, but it will probably be a while before I'm happy enough with it to start.

And I'm done with the main list! I'll come back for more over time, for my 100 games that didn't make it. But here's my #1:

Planescape: Torment.

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I'll just ask one simple question. What can change the nature of a man?



You wake up in a mortuary in a bizarre world. You've died, but you're back. You befriend a floating skull who's a lovable asshole, but is also probably lying to you. You seemingly can't die. Why? You must find out. You can get dissected, trying to find why you can't die, and it's fine since you'll come back. How does one tell a tale when the protagonist keeps coming back from the dead? Where's the tension?

Then you realize that you've had previous lives. Met people, befriended them or made enemies of them. They remember, but you don't. There's a bizarre cast of characters, like a sentient suit of armor, a man perpetually on fire, and more. Several of these characters can be easily missed in your playthrough. You need to explore, talk to people and immerse yourself in the world.



And boy, there's a lot of talking. It's the crux of the game, really. Chris Avellone has a reputation for wordy, complex games, and this game is why. You will encounter dialog prompts that have paragraphs of text, leading to a multiple choice answer of nearly a dozen. A decent amount of these answers matter as well. Not just in the sense that the game reacts to you, but you react to yourself. Often times the answers will force you to think about your values and reach a conclusion about how you justify things. And that's the power of this game.



Beyond the incredible atmosphere, memorable and quirky cast of characters, clunky combat (it's fine, really), gripping narrative, absurd amounts of missable content; we have a game that's just challenging emotionally and intellectually. It doesn't necessarily just pull on your heartstrings or give you complex puzzles (though it does those too), but it forces you to really think, introspect and internalize. There are other games that do this, but no game cuts you as deep as Planescape: Torment. In a world of grotesque and fascinating wonders, friends who are manipulative and treacherous, a narrative that is branching yet consistent and well-told in every branch, you will lose yourself and find yourself anew. Nothing really compares to Planescape: Torment.

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So, I ask again: What can change the nature of a man?

Well, this game probably can, and it has.

P.S: Play the enhanced edition.

Never heard of that, looks boring.

But seriously, this might be my favourite piece of writing in all of gaming and it's just a throw-away side thing in Planescape:

An elderly man was sitting alone on a dark path, right? He wasn't certain of which direction to go, and he'd forgotten both where he was traveling to and who he was. He'd sat down for a moment to rest his weary legs, and suddenly looked up to see an elderly woman before him. She grinned toothlessly and with a cackle, spoke: 'Now your third wish. What will it be?'
'Third wish?' The man was baffled. 'How can it be a third wish if I haven't had a first and second wish?'
'You've had two wishes already,' the hag said, 'but your second wish was for me to return everything to the way it was before you had made your first wish. That's why you remember nothing; because everything is the way it was before you made any wishes.' She cackled at the poor berk. 'So it is that you have one wish left.'
'All right,' said the man, 'I don't believe this, but there's no harm in wishing. I wish to know who I am.'
'Funny,' said the old woman as she granted his wish and disappeared forever. 'That was your first wish.'

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There's no follow up to this, it's just a story an NPC tells you. But for some reason, out of all the amazing things in Planescape this stood out the most to me.

Fantastapotamus said:

Never heard of that, looks boring.

But seriously, this might be my favourite piece of writing in all of gaming and it's just a throw-away side thing in Planescape:


There's no follow up to this, it's just a story an NPC tells you. But for some reason, out of all the amazing things in Planescape this stood out the most to me.

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I remember this! It's just one of those moments that's a gut punch and that's it. Love it.

To this day I've never played it. Crazy it beat out all the games in the history of video games to top this list. Was NOT expecting a game I've never played. boooo.

Spladam said:

To this day I've never played it. Crazy it beat out all the games in the history of video games to top this list. Was NOT expecting a game I've never played. boooo.

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Well, it's a very special game it's also #1 in RPG codex's list. I'm sure you can find many people who feel similarly about the game, because the writing in it is hands down the best in gaming and it's conveyed to you fantastically through an amazing world, and there's so much replay value.

Good list.
What I like about your list is that it feels real and authentic, I mean you haven't tried to shove the usual suspects into it to look cool and stuff
Haven't read the descriptions yet but overall, I appreciate the effort you've put into this.

JOKERACN7 said:

Good list.
What I like about your list is that it feels real and authentic, I mean you haven't tried to shove the usual suspects into it to look cool and stuff
Haven't read the descriptions yet but overall, I appreciate the effort you've put into this.

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What would be the usual suspects? FF7 and OOT? Also, would anyone care for a written list of just the names of the games, with links to the corresponding posts?

Thanks for taking the time to write all this out. It was a blast to read. Especially the anecdotes.

Thanks for this list and the write ups! Had a great time following along.

I have also not played Planescape, and I fear my limited gaming time doesn't really give me the option of jumping into something so vast. But it's on my Steam wish list just in case I someday get the urge.

Good read OP!

As your list went on and on it became more apparent how much it comes from the perspective of someone who seems to mostly be a 90s era PC gamer at heart, which just isn't me at all (I have trouble dealing with those games' interfaces and controls, even did back in the day, I always feel like I'm doing work if I'm playing an isometric RPG or PC strategy game or something), but even then it's cool to see the perspective of someone who comes from a wildly different background and has very different opinions than your own.

nynt9 said:

What would be the usual suspects? FF7 and OOT? Also, would anyone care for a written list of just the names of the games, with links to the corresponding posts?

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Yeah if you have the time and energy somehow to do that then please make the effort. I will probably go back and give several of these (that are practical to be able to play today) a go!

I've been following this from the beginning and it has been a blast. What are you looking forward to most out of E3?