What Are Your All-Time Top 5 Games? And Why?

[Lago | 234]

I did a forum search and couldn't believe I didn't find anything.  If I missed it forgive me.

As the post says tell me your top 5 games (in order or not), the reason they are there, and for giggles the system you played them on.  I'll start.  

In no particular order:

Uncharted Waters: New Horizons (SNES)

This game has a bit of everything and it is interwoven so perfectly.  You have six characters that have different storylines.  Different objectives.  The gameplay is, mostly, unique to each character as well.

I don't know what it is, but I love ships and the ocean. That's a huge checkmark for me.  Roleplaying elements, another checkmark.  Turn based tactical sea combat it has that too.  Add in the fact that the different playable characters pop up at different times in each other's story and I am playing this game again and again.  There's just so much you can do from exploring, fighting, trading, cartographing.  This game just kept me wrapped up in it.

This is one of those games that I rented enough times from the video store that I could have bought it, twice over.  I wish I would have thought to see if I could get them to order it for me as no store near me had a copy when I was younger.  In fairness the only store I had to go to was the local Wal-Mart.  Remarkably, I only beat this game once.  I blame other renters erasing my save data.

Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)

This is, in my opinion, the best football game ever made.  I remember reading about this is Nintendo Power.  It was the first football game that I had ever seen with a season mode, every NFL team, all the players, season stats.  I wanted this game so bad, I saved up for it.  Prices at Wal-Mart were ranging from $79.99 - $89.99 or so I was told by my friends.  Every time I went to Wal-Mart it was sold out.  I remember giving my Mom the money for it and telling her to not let me spend that money on anything else. I tested her on it too, but she wouldn't let me spend it.  I asked for another game, a set of Score football cards, some now forgotten action figures, she always said no, and reminded me what I had given her the money for.  Hey - I was young cut me some slack.

She worked right next to Wal-Mart and checked for me every day.  It took four months!  And then one day she came home from work and there it was.  I don't know who was smiling more me or her.  I handled this game like it was a precious piece of art.  Carefully, removing the shrink wrap, examining every insert, the manual, the playbook, the box.  Heck I think I even inspected the styrofoam.  I kept a chart and set out to beat the game with every team.  I never did that, but I know I was close.  So many hours spent on this game.

Street Fighter II Turbo (SNES)

I first saw SF2 World Warrior at, you won’t believe this, my local Wal-Mart as an arcade machine.  I wanted to play it so bad, but I didn’t have a quarter.  So, I watched the demo screen while my Mom shopped.  I was enthralled with this game.  I want to say it was the driving force behind wanting to get a Super Nintendo, but that isn’t accurate.  

Then SF2 Turbo Hyper Fighting came out.  $79.99 at Wal-Mart.  I remember holding this in my hands when I bought it.  Play as the boss characters, WHAT?  I fell into a full-blown obsession with this game.  So. Many. Moves.  I played the game with every character.  Beat it with all of them too, save one exception.  Dhalsim.  I am so bad with that guy.  The music, the backgrounds, the character animations, art style, fighting techniques.  Man, I love every aspect of this game.  I’ll still drop a quarter in this game whenever I see it.  I ran across an arcade in Cincinnati with this in it recently.  I was a little rusty but did pretty good if I do say so myself.  Took down the arcade manager and some local regulars. /nostalgic gleam in eyes

Brigandine: Legend of Forsena (PS1)

You ever see a game and know you’re going to love it?  That was how I was with this game.  Originally saw at the video store.  I’ve sunk countless hours into this.  Played and beat with every character; including using the cheat code to unlock Esgares.  Tried every way imaginable to unlock the Snake of Chaos and Bulnoil.  Spoiler alert you can’t in the US version.  I can’t tell you how many internet rumors I tried hoping you could.  This game is the single reason I bought a Japanese PS1 and Brigandine Grand Edition back in the day.

It is a tactics game with mythological beasts and magic wielding knights.  So, I am sold right there.  What kept me coming back were maxing the monsters.  Trying different battle strategies.  Maxing out the rune knights.  At first, then it was all the different characters you could discover.  How those characters interact is just amazing.  When twin sisters meet on the battlefield and then one of them deserts to join the other.  Or Dryst’s burn it all to the ground attitude, and his ending is straight out CRAZY.  Shred, who can be liberated from a jail cell.  This world really felt like … a world. With everything going on it felt unimaginably deep.  I actually was smart enough to get the video store guy to order me a copy of this one.

Super Mario Bros. 35 (NSW)

I don’t play games online.  Period.  End of discussion.  But Mario against 34 other people?  I mean the game is free anyway, right?  I don’t play digital games on a console either.  Physical or bust.  But it is against 34 other people.  I mean, how does that even work?

This game teleported me back to the mid 80’s.  SMB is a fantastic game but going against 34 other people was just awe inspiring to me.  I can’t really explain it except to say I felt like a kid again. 

I couldn’t put the controller down.  This was my nightly go to for the better part of 6 months.  It was a mission to unlock every stage.  I took a picture of the screen every time I finished first.  It felt like I had climbed Mt. Everest.  I would keep a Switch online subscription just for this game.  Why did you take this away Nintendo?

Honorable Mentions:

Final Fantasy VII

Suikoden

Jade Empire

Contra

And a bunch of others.  The deciding factor for me was how much I would, and still do, come back and play these games.  Or really want to, looking at you SMB 35.

Now, I have rattled on about my top five.  I look forward to hearing all about yours!

 

[Ankos | 481]

I'm not sure if I could say what exactly are my five favorite games but I'll try to name a few that I think stuck with me

Pokemon Yellow

I used a GBA SP to play this one. I grew up on Pokemon games on the GBA and DS and this was one of the first times I got a look at a game from an older console due to the backwards compatibility of the GBA line. I found it to be very enjoyable despite being a bit rough compared to what I played later on. What I really enjoyed was that this was a game relatively easy to pick apart and play around with glitches, something I had not really done before playing this. It was the first time I ever felt like I had an inside glimpse of a game despite that fact that I was just fooling around

Retro Game Challenge

I messed up my original DS so I played this with a 3DS. It was an interesting concept to me, playing false retro games and being able to comb through false video game magazines to figure out how to beat them. Magazines were not commonplace when I grew up so this was all foreign to me, but I enjoyed the experience a lot

Spelunky HD (PC)

This game got me to learn techniques and strategies more than any other when I tried to 100% Even after I beat it I had so much fun zooming through levels and using what I learned to overcome what I once thought was super hard that I'd revisit it just to come up with new ways to have fun with all that I learned, and to keep on learning new tricks not for the sake of beating a game, but just because I wanted to play better

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky

As I said earlier, I grew up on Pokemon. Admittedly I don't think I've ever been super immersed in the mainline games. I've played a few and had fun but once I beat them that's usually the end of it. The story does not grip me and the gameplay is pretty basic. Being able to watch the TV show and play the card game as a kid however helped build the feeling of a fantasy. Playing through the games was a way to feel like you were in this fascinating fantasy world full of vibrant creatures you'd see on TV. I think that RPG games are not just games, but also something you can supplement your imagination with. The thing is, most of them have a story where the main character interacts with the world for a reason, it is more immersive. The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series does this far better than the mainline Pokemon games, and on top of that gives unlockable side stories where you can live the perspectives of would be side characters. I also prefer the gameplay in the Mystery Dungeon series, which helped me develop a love for games with randomly generated levels

Game Start (iOS)

Do you remember that Street Fighter x Megaman game that Capcom endorsed a while back? Yeah, the same person who made that made an iOS game. It is a platformer sort of like Megaman but with much shorter levels. Capcom supported this one too and even let the game have some playable characters from Street Fighter. The game was built to drum up support for a gaming convention of the same name out in Singapore and themes itself around it, which is what lead to the game having silly stuff like a whole world themed around Madcatz (the mediocre game accessories company) and Yoshinori Ono (the game producer) being a playable character. This is a dumb game, but it geniunely is fun to play, and is dumb in a charming way. It being an advertisement itself is 100% free and features no additional advertisements if you are curious

[PekoponTAS | 171]

#5: Haze
#4 Castlevania Judgement
#3 Soul Calibur Legends
#2 Resident Evil Gun Survivor
#1 Shadow the Hedgehog

Oh... I think I read the thread wrong.

Edited November 19, 2022 by PekoponTAS

[nrslam | 477]

This is a toughie, and my criteria are probably not the same as others. So many great games that were too hard, too easy, too much like what I've seen before, genres I didn't like, or whatever didn't make the list. I've also got a short attention span so anything that doesn't suck me in within the first 15 minutes or so doesn't make the cut. These games all got many many hours of my time.

In chronologic order, not by preference:

Atari X-O football.  This was a favorite because it was a social experience like pool.  We used to make special trips to the bar to play this, had ongoing tournaments, invented drinking games, and even got a little exercise playing it.

Colossal Cave adventure.  This probably sparked my lifelong love of sitting in front of a CRT solving puzzles, and was one of only a couple games we could play on the work computers. Off hours, of course.

Galaga. Ate more of my quarters at the arcade than anything else. Everybody else wanted to play Space Invaders or Pac-Man but for some reason Galaga did it for me.  It's still the game I gravitate towards when I walk into a retro arcade.

Lode Runner (C64) was for me the perfect mix of action and strategy and was by itself reason enough to justify my C64 purchase.  The NES version left me cold (stupid scrolling keeps you from seeing everything at once and no level editor so you can't swap levels with friends).

Advance Wars (GBA).  I enjoyed and occasionally replay the whole series but the first GBA version had a charm which I loved.

Pikmin (or Pikmin 2) (Gamecube/Wii). These games just click with me for some reason and, more importantly, with my mostly non-game-playing wife, so it's something we can enjoy together.  We started out playing on the Cube but have come to prefer the 'New Play Control' versions on the Wii.  Pikmin 3 was the reason we bought a WiiU and 4, if it really comes out, will convince us to finally buy a Switch.

Oops, that's 6 so I'd better stop.

[RH | 5,013]

100%, Galaga is the greatest arcade game of all time in my book.

I’ll have to think about my current top 5.  With age, my preferences have changed but there’s a good chance Galaga will be on it too.

[MegaMan52 | 2,476]

Super Mario Bros. 3 - My favorite game on the NES, and of all-time. And let's face it...it is the actual best Mario game ever made.

Mega Man 5 - Underrated, deserves more respect, and has lots of great stages and features. I could also put Mega Man 3 as my second favorite game, as I like it just as much. But Mega Man 5 is pretty underrated.

Kirby's Adventure - My favorite Kirby game. Well, either this or Kirby's Dream Land 2.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - I think I like the first Paper Mario just a bit more, but TTYD is obviously more polished and has a lot of improvements.

Animal Crossing (GameCube) - NES games, towns divided into acres, different Museum music, Tom Nook running the store as he should, etc., etc. Best game in the series.

Honorable mentions:

Tetris (Game Boy)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)

Super Mario RPG

Super Mario 64

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Edited November 22, 2022 by MegaMan52

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,021]

21 hours ago, Lago said:

This is, in my opinion, the best football game ever made.  I remember reading about this is Nintendo Power.  It was the first football game that I had ever seen with a season mode, every NFL team, all the players, season stats.  I wanted this game so bad, I saved up for it.  Prices at Wal-Mart were ranging from $79.99 - $89.99 or so I was told by my friends.  Every time I went to Wal-Mart it was sold out.  I remember giving my Mom the money for it and telling her to not let me spend that money on anything else. I tested her on it too, but she wouldn't let me spend it.  I asked for another game, a set of Score football cards, some now forgotten action figures, she always said no, and reminded me what I had given her the money for.  Hey - I was young cut me some slack.

She worked right next to Wal-Mart and checked for me every day.  It took four months!  And then one day she came home from work and there it was.  I don't know who was smiling more me or her.  I handled this game like it was a precious piece of art.  Carefully, removing the shrink wrap, examining every insert, the manual, the playbook, the box.  Heck I think I even inspected the styrofoam.  I kept a chart and set out to beat the game with every team.  I never did that, but I know I was close.  So many hours spent on this game.

This is an amazing story. That's some next level parenting right there!

[PII | 1,918]

#5  CastleVania III  -  Best CastleVania, Multiple Routes X Multiple Characters = Big CV Fun! + A Wonderfully Bleak And Creepy Visual/Auditory Nightmare Atmosphere That Will Always Be Close To My Heart (of fire.) 

#4  Chrono Trigger  -  [in comicbookguy voice] Best, Story, Ever.

#3  Q*Bert's Qubes  -  The Greatest {and perhaps also most under appreciated} Arcade/Puzzle Game Ever.  I Love It.  Colecovision/2600/Arcade, take your pick.  I'm partial to the ColecoVision Port, as I've played it the most but they are all fantastic Visual/Spatial/Multi-Tasking Challenges and distinct from one another. 

#2  Every WipeOut Game  -  There're actually a couple I haven't played yet, but so far they all provide the premiere Racing Experience.  

#1  A Tie! H.E.R.O.  &  Toy Bizarre  Why?  Because PII appreciates both kinds of Video Games:  He likes Action, & Platforming  These are both simplicity + endless possibilities = endless fun kind of games and H.E.R.O. especially is the type that can be honed endlessly.  On C64 I've maxed out the score in PRO mode many times.  Playing it on ColecoVision is quite a bit more difficult but I've managed a quarter million or so, so far.  There are quite a few different ports of it.  Toy Bizarre, as far as I'm aware is only for the C64 and perhaps the simplest and most enjoyable example of Platforming that I have ever played.  Both of these qualify as the games most deserving of Sequels as far as I'm concerned.  (along with the true-blue sequel to Chrono Trigger that we'll likely never get because politics.)

[Webhead123 | 691]

I only get 5? That's actually incredibly difficult to narrow down...but here's a fun sampling of contenders for the crown. For each, here's a brief summary of why they stand out.

Super Mario World - It probably has as much to do with the circumstances around the game as the game itself. Mario was a big deal for me all the way back to the original SMB. However, the SNES was the very first game console that I made the decision to purchase with my own money (i.e., not received as a gift or passed down from a previous owner). I distinctly remember the date and place I bought it (December 26th, 1991, Woolworth's Department Store, Kailua-Kona). The whole package was a kind of magical thing. I scrutinized all the images and text on the box, imagined the fantastical adventures that awaited me. Then I unboxed the thing, hooked it up in my room and fired up SMW. What a mind-blowing thing. And I felt like I had *earned* it. I anticipated it, saved for it and earned it.

Doom (1993) - My mother was going back to school for a computer science degree. This meant I had the privilege of spending many on odd evening or weekend in the University computer labs. She would be working on a project and I got to browse the (then very primitive) internet and explore the various games students had loaded on the school computers. Crystal Caves, Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem 3-D, Warcraft 2 and Space Quest were among the titles I remember most clearly. All great. But the one that blew my socks off and scared the piss out of me more than any other was Doom. Wow. Just wow.

Thief: The Dark Project - We didn't have much in the way of a home computer until my mother bought an IBM for the household in 1998. We only had 2 games on it for a while: Sim City 2000 and Streets of Sim City. Those were fun distractions for a while but then some random gaming magazine I had picked up came with a pack-in demo disc of games for PC. One of those demos was for Thief: The Dark Project. This was a whole new kind of video game experience for me and it set me on a journey of discovery that continues to this day. It was unequaled in its sense of atmosphere, isolation, vulnerability and in making the player feel clever. To this day, there are very few games I still regard as fondly as Thief and its sequel.

LoZ: A Link to the Past - I loved the concepts behind the original two games on the NES. But as a dumb and somewhat impatient kid who also didn't own the games, I never managed to get very far in them back then. That all changed with ALttP. Maybe it was because I was a little older and more focused. Maybe it was because of the extra bit of direction that it gives to the player. Maybe it was also my absolute, unshakable obsession with the SNES that continuously impressed me. ALttP became its own kind of obsession. I scoured every corner of the map. I wondered at every secret. I've beaten the game countless times and yet I never tire of playing it.

Curse of Monkey Island - This was the first full Monkey Island game I ever owned or fully played through. I had played a bit of the original Secret of Monkey Island on a friend's computer a few years before. This was me going head-first into a series that created unforgettable times for me. I don't think any game had ever made me laugh as much as this one, nor imprinted on my mind so many incredible characters. I still regularly play the MI games today and they are still just as magical.

There could be many serious honorable mentions:

Super Metroid
Super Mario RPG
Super Mario Kart
Contra
Castlevania
Fallout 1 & 2
Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight
System Shock 2
Doom (2016)
LoZ: Breath of the Wild
Spider-Man (2018)

The list goes on...

Edited November 20, 2022 by Webhead123

[AstralSoul | 503]

1. EarthBound (SNES)

2. Super Mario 64 (N64)

3. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)

4. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)

5. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)

Runner-ups (because 5 isn't enough): Dark Souls, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 3, Crash Bandicoot 2, Diddy Kong Racing, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 2 Remake

Edited November 21, 2022 by AstralSoul

[DarkTone | 989]

I've been working on a top 10 for years haha. As for my 5.....

5: CHRONO TRIGGER: Greatest RPG I've ever played. Dream team worked on it. 

4: THE LAST OF US: Incredible visuals. Great voice acting. Fantastic story.

3: DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 2: Don't know how Rare outdid themselves. Play this multiple times a year.

2: STREETS OF RAGE 2: incredible game with a kick ass soundtrack.

1: METAL GEAR SOLID: Will sit on that throne..... forever 

[DefaultGen | 5,506]

Zelda OOT
Super Mario 64
Doom
Metroid Prime
Super Mario Bros 3

Cause I grew up in the 90s and have no original taste or thoughts. Like is OOT my favorite game ever or has it just been so long and I'm scared of change?

[Reed Rothchild | 9,641]

I have a rough top 10 in my @Brickman interview, without SNES to avoid spoiling them.  If I do an all-inclusive list, it looks something like this:

1. A Link to the Past - see the writeup on my site
2. Myth: The Fallen Lords/Myth II: Soulblighter - I forced myself to uninstall these so that I wouldn't play them for 12 hours a day.  Multiple times.  I would do anything for Bungie to reboot this.
3. Chrono Trigger - see the writeup on my site
4. Final Fantasy III - see the writeup on my site
5. Ocarina of Time - Still the pinnacle of 3D Zelda.  I really hope Tears of the Kingdom marries up the BoTW mechanic and open world with some of the lessons in storytelling and dungeon design that were so strong in Ocarina.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,641]

47 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

Zelda OOT
Super Mario 64
Doom
Metroid Prime
Super Mario Bros 3

Cause I grew up in the 90s and have no original taste or thoughts. Like is OOT my favorite game ever or has it just been so long and I'm scared of change?

The first 5 great games you play are more impactful than the 70th.  That's my take.

It's why kids in 20 years will talk about Breath of the Wild they way we talk about Ocarina.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

1. Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Convoluted, glacially-paced, over 100 hours long "what the hell is going on?" visual novel with almost no real gameplay that kept me captivated throughout. Kinda hard to summarize the story in much detail without letting out significant spoilers or descending into total nonsense but starts with a rich family gathering on their own private island for their annual family conference. Deals with themes of mystery, truth, identity, fantasy, gender, and abuse, while also having lots of ridiculous anime nonsense. Also has an extremely good soundtrack and (in some versions) great Japanese voice acting.

The original character designs used in the game (nowadays there are alternatives) were also done by the author, Ryukishi07, whose ability to draw is, uh...

yeah.

UMINEKO THE BEST

can't wait to see what this man does with Silent Hill f.

2. Chrono Trigger

I feel like SNES RPGs are in general a bit overrated and at least once you get past a few of the top games probably not as good overall as a lot of what followed. Chrono Trigger pretty much deserves its reputation though. Squaresoft around the height of their powers gave us a game with great sprite graphics and music, a great time travel-themed story, and some of the smoothest pacing and progression in the genre. If only they could be all this great, but you generally can't make great games without great staff, and you seldom get as much talent as those that worked on this game.

3. Super Metroid

Compared to a lot of other well-regarded sidescrolling Action-Adventure games, I always really liked the focus on movement and the avoidance of RPG stats here - I never liked the Metroidvania Castlevanias nearly as much. And I have particular issues with Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission so while those were great games there wasn't really much that could surpass this for a long time.

I should get around to the more recent 2D Metroid games and Hollow Knight and Ori and stuff.

4. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

I really like the kind of platformer that stood atop the 16-bit(-ish) era. Superb polish, heavy on the action but also with lots of room for secrets and exploration, long enough to probably take you multiple sittings, sprite graphics because trying to shove 3D models into a 2D sidescrolling just pretty much never looks great. Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, Sonic 3 & Knuckles. That's the good stuff. Rayman 1 clearly wanted to be a game at least sorta in that vein but the difficulty curve and polish really aren't there for that game. Yoshi's Island stands out for me because of all the high production values, strange mechanics, and creativity on display.

Then the shift to 3D happened and they pretty much stopped making games like this for like a decade, and  a lot of the attempts to recapture the magic have fallen flat. They were reasonably good games but the likes of Yoshi's Island DS, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and New Super Mario Bros. just don't compare. At least Shovel Knight basically delivered.

(I own New Super Mario Bros. Wii. 3D models and a disappointing predecessor be damned, I'd probably still like it a lot. I should try it.)

5. Super Mario RPG

Was the first game I owned that wasn't a 2D Platformer or Mario Paint, got it for my 7th birthday. I think it's really great objectively too but the personal touch there is unquestionably what pushes it over into my top 5. Love almost everything about it to this day.

[twiztor | 856]

thought about this for a few days, and here's what i came up with. Ask again in 6 months and there would definitely be some moving parts. There's just so many good games!

1. the Legend of Zelda (NES)
the first game that really hooked me. I spent hours and days and weekends and months and years fully exploring this game. The whole "burn every bush, bomb every boulder" is just the tip of the iceberg. hand drawn maps. doodling Link, his enemies, and the Triforce on everything. Just last week, my friend texted, asking me about the weird name of some LoZ enemy. He was amazed that i knew it, but i practically have the manual memorized from reading it so many times. Just the most immersive game i had ever played, and anything in that vein immediately gets compared to the greatness of LoZ.

2. Diablo 2 (PC)
now, i'm not really a PC gamer, as i love the feel of a controller in my hands. But there's something about the Diablo series that overcomes all of that. a new Diablo (either game or expansion) is a national holiday in my home. The only game related release that i schedule time away from work for. It was just so HUGE. and randomly generated (at least to an extent) that kept me coming back. i love the lore, the characters, and the gameplay. 
When Diablo3 released back in 2012, i didn't like it much. It was too linear and easy. So i would stick with playing D2, but balance enough D3 in to beat the game and immerse myself as much as i needed. Over time, the ease of D3 ended up winning out, as i LOVE to kick back with a few drinks and kill demons for hours on end. Diablo 4 is rumored for April 2023. 

3. Final Fantasy VII (PSX)
RPGs aren't really my thing. but damn, do i love FF7. the characters, the setting, the world. and especially the materia. i loved mixing and matching and finding the perfect combination for each party member. the summons. the locations. the side quests. i love it all.
ironically enough, i've never beaten the game. i always make it to disc 3 (when the entire world map is fully opened up) and have even ventured into the North Crater, but i just can't commit to completing the game because that means the game is finished. Maybe i'll put it on my Backlog 2023 list and see what happens. 

4. Double Dragon (NES)
this was the first beat 'em up i owned (and one of the few NES games i owned period!) and maybe the first i'd played- i guess i'd have to look up when the TMNT arcade game came out and work backwards. but i just thought the world of it. and, if you haven't listened to it lately, the soundtrack is awesome. It would make an absolute killer rock album with screaming guitars. the simplicity of the gameplay drew me in, and the deadlier and deadlier enemy encounters kept me coming back. The first time getting far enough in Level 3 to have TWO ABOBOs burst through the brick wall scared the hell out of me. hell, i even enjoyed the live action movie because i loved this game that much. but the cartoon didn't share that same fate.

5. WCW/NWO Revenge (n64)
as a hardcore wrestling fan during the Monday Night Wars, this game was freaking amazing. it did everything its predecessor (WCW vs NWO: World Tour) did better, and added so much on top of that. Even the later WWF games (WrestleMania 2000, No Mercy) were awesome but didn't recapture the magic of this one. the abysmal character creator options were terrible but *JUST* good enough for me to include some of the WWF guys. Hey, if you squinted just right, it SORTA resembled who i needed it to. I can't even begin to estimate how many dozens of hours we would just play this, multiplayer style. Or how many dozens of hours i spent in single player mode. Just the perfect game to hit at the height of my fandom. 

so many more games i wanted to mention. Metroid (1). Smash Bros (Melee). Mortal Kombat (2). Goldeneye (007). Castlevania (Symphony). 

Edited November 23, 2022 by twiztor

[Makar | 1,964]

Top 5 in no particular order are

1) dragon quest monsters joker 3 - the superior game to Pokémon. The 3rd one especially is absolutely incredible. 

2) Mario strikers charged - I find myself constantly going back to this game. It is very fun and rewarding when you beat the toughest computers. 

3) zelda a link to the past - my favorite zelda game. They nailed everything in this game. The 3ds sequel was fun as well but not as good as the original. 

4) paper Mario the thousand year door - really really love this game. The exploration, battle system, and especially the badge system make this a very good game. 

5) shovel knight - this game is the game that keeps on giving with all the extra campaigns. The king of cards campaign was especially good. If you need a platformer, this is the cream of the crop. 
 

honorable mentions 

pikmin 1 and 2

drone tactics

boktai

pokemon Firered and leafgreen 

ivy the kiwi wii

super Mario bros 3

star fox 64

mega man x

wargroove

yugioh 2011

tingles rosy rupeeland 

zelda botw 

zelda windwaker 

zelda links awakening 

zelda ocarina of time 

digimon world ds

digimon world dusk and dawn

cave story 3d

pocket card jockey

fire emblem echoes

mario kart DS

Tetris DS

Geometry wars galaxies

 

[T-Pac | 7,644]

My "Top 5 Video Games" is a moving target, but I feel like this list is pretty solid:

1 ) Abadox [NES]
- A near-perfect space shooter for my tastes. Strategy-based, relatively obscure, 8-bit, mechs and monsters ... it checks all the boxes.

2 ) Solomon's Key 2 (Fire 'N Ice) [NES]
- The king of action puzzlers in my book, complete with dead-simple mechanics, adorable visuals, and a flawless difficulty curve.

3 ) Bubble Bobble [GameBoy]
- A quintessential arcade-action classic. This game always feels fresh with all the hidden goodies, and the GameBoy port is my favorite rendition (as well as my introduction to the series).

4 ) Pac-Man [Arcade]
- The poster-child for classic gaming, and the title that hooked me on the hobby. Pac-Man rises to my top 5 on personal nostalgia and the merit of its place in the gaming lexicon more than the gameplay itself, but it's a solid classic nonetheless.

5 ) Turmoil [Atari 2600]
- Twitch-reflex gaming at its finest, and a prime example of the addicting, score-based gameplay that defines the pre-crash era.

-CasualCart

[Webhead123 | 691]

27 minutes ago, CasualCart said:

1 ) Abadox [NES]
- A near-perfect space shooter for my tastes. Strategy-based, relatively obscure, 8-bit, mechs and monsters ... it checks all the boxes.

I distinctly remember the commercials for Abadox and seeing it in the display case at my local Toys 'R Us. All the body-horror and bizarre alien enemies really captured my imagination. Sadly, I wouldn't get to play it until decades later but when I did, it absolutely lived up to my expectations. While not a perfect game for me by any stretch, it is one that I find endlessly enjoyable, as shooters go. I feel 10 years old every time I see it.

[T-Pac | 7,644]

23 hours ago, Webhead123 said:

I distinctly remember the commercials for Abadox and seeing it in the display case at my local Toys 'R Us. All the body-horror and bizarre alien enemies really captured my imagination. Sadly, I wouldn't get to play it until decades later but when I did, it absolutely lived up to my expectations. While not a perfect game for me by any stretch, it is one that I find endlessly enjoyable, as shooters go. I feel 10 years old every time I see it.

Wow - I swear another Abadox fan comes out of the woodwork every time I mention it. 

First @Gloves, then @ThePhleo, and now @Webhead123.

Cool to see that I'm in good company here, but should I be concerned that my little "hidden gem" will get overexposed...?

-CasualCart

[ThePhleo | 2,198]

30 minutes ago, CasualCart said:

Wow - I swear another Abadox fan comes out of the woodwork every time I mention it. 

First @Gloves, then @ThePhleo, and now @Webhead123.

Cool to see that I'm in good company here, but should I be concerned that my little "hidden gem" will get overexposed...?

-CasualCart

 

Abadox is the secret best shooter of NES. Well...Gun Nac and Recca '92 exist.

[AirVillain | 494]

This is a difficult question to answer. I'd probably need a few weeks to get an actual list together. Off the top of my head:

1-5....

Contra, Double Dragon 2, Mega Man 2, Mega Man, SMB3... but there's so many that could almost maybe make the list. 

 

On 12/13/2022 at 10:31 AM, Webhead123 said:

I distinctly remember the commercials for Abadox and seeing it in the display case at my local Toys 'R Us. All the body-horror and bizarre alien enemies really captured my imagination. Sadly, I wouldn't get to play it until decades later but when I did, it absolutely lived up to my expectations. While not a perfect game for me by any stretch, it is one that I find endlessly enjoyable, as shooters go. I feel 10 years old every time I see it.

1 hour ago, CasualCart said:

Wow - I swear another Abadox fan comes out of the woodwork every time I mention it. 

First @Gloves, then @ThePhleo, and now @Webhead123.

Cool to see that I'm in good company here, but should I be concerned that my little "hidden gem" will get overexposed...?

-CasualCart

55 minutes ago, ThePhleo said:

 

Abadox is the secret best shooter of NES. Well...Gun Nac and Recca '92 exist.

Respect to you all for being able to play this game. It's pretty rad with really neat graphics and a cool concept, but it's SO HARD.  

I don't think you need to worry CasualCart, Abadox is all yours, though, haha.... 

I like the idea of Abadox more than I actually like it. I didn't know if it as a kid and remember "hearing" about it on NA.... but after getting it and playing it, it is a very difficult playthrough. 

I mean.... so difficult it makes it hard to like. I'm not TERRIBLE at shooters, but I use my NES Advantage and I can do okay. Can beat Gun.Smoke, Legendary Wings, Fantasy Zone.... probably a few others. But I don't think I made it much past the first level in Abadox. I tried with the Game Genie, but I'm pretty sure I still got fucked up because everytime you die you lose all your power-ups and you're fucked. 

Holy shit that game is hard. How the hell do you all play it???

[ThePhleo | 2,198]

@AirVillain ProTip: Shoot the things that move, and try not to get shot yourself.

Thanks for reading my GameFAQs guide. Please consider donating to my patreon.

GG.

[AirVillain | 494]

@ThePhleo Wow. What an incredible difference that made. Beat the game already!!

A true master. 

[Gloves | 11,891]

2 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

 

Abadox is the secret best shooter of NES. Well...Gun Nac and Recca '92 exist.

Don't sleep on Blade Buster either.