I was sitting at Meg’s the other night looking through her rather extensive game collection. Lately, she’s been on a retro-gaming kick, snatching up all the classic rpg’s she can get her hands on. She’s been wading through sites like amazon and ebay searching for obscure titles such as Suikoden I & II, Secret of Mana, Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, and Breath of Fire II just to name a few. Her goal is to have a complete library of the greatest rpg titles ever made.
That same night she bought a game called Lunar: The Silver Star Story for $80.00 on amazon. For the average gamer, $80.00 is a bit high for a used ps1 title, but for a collector, I think it’s a steal. I played this game when it originally debuted on Sega CD back in 1993. It was by far one of the most memorable gaming experiences I’ve ever had. The ambiance and design of the game was so incredible and alluring that one of my best friends watched me beat the entire game from beginning to end. We were geeks back then too.
This got me thinking about all the other great games I’ve played over the years, so I’ve decided to compile a list of games that I consider to be the best. The problem with making a list like this is making sure people understand the criteria for said list. In an effort to jog my memory for games long forgotten, I’ve been reading other “best games ever” lists around the web. Some of the lists I’ve found were absolute crap, while others I found to be very interesting. Again, the problem is criteria. How do you make a list like this? What is the criteria?
- Are they games with the best graphics at the time of its release?
- Are they games with the best story lines?
- Are they games that have sold the most copies?
- Are they games with the best replay value?
- Are they games that have had the most significant impact on the gaming industry?
- Are they games that are just considered to be the most fun?
- Or does a list like this need to take all of these aspects into consideration?
I’ll tell you right now, based on what I wrote above I could make 7 very different lists. That’s why I want to make sure everyone knows what I’m basing my list on. A game must meet all of the following criteria to make the cut.
- I must have played it.
- I must have really, really, really liked it.
Simple enough, right? Well then, here we go.
A quick side note, this lists consists of games starting with NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Although I loved my older systems like Atari, Colecovision, and Intellivision, I feel that the real gaming revolution began at the original NES, and thus, this is where our journey shall begin. By the way, I’ve ordered the list by platform and then by year released, not by preference.
DONE!! That was a blast. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few games though. I’ll add them as they come to me.
You know, while making this list I discovered some interesting facts about my tastes in games. The most obvious is that I’m a huge first person shooter fan. I didn’t need this list to tell you that. However, one interesting fact is that I have no favorite games on Sega Genesis, Nintendo Game Cube, or XBOX. It’s not because I didn’t own those systems, because I did. This kind kind of suprised me, so I thought about it a bit and here is what I came up with.
- Sega Genesis -
Sega competed head to head with Super Nintendo. I think back then you were either a Nintendo guy or a Sega guy. I was a Nintendo guy. There’s not much more to say. I guess Sonic the Hedgehog just didn’t cut it for me.
- Nintendo Game Cube -
The truth is, I don’t think I ever gave this system a fair shake. It was always kind of in the shadow of the PS2 and the XBOX. From what I hear the Zelda series on NGC is incredible as well as their Resident Evil titles. But don’t loose hope yet, you Nintendo fans may be happy to know that since my daughter’s interest in video games has surfaced her platform of choice is the Game Cube. Naturally, being her gaming mentor, I have to pick up the controller every now and then and show her how it’s done.
- XBOX -
The first reason I never played the XBOX is simple, the controller. XBOX’s controller has, does, and will forever suck. Don’t try to defend it. It sucks. The other reason I never played the XBOX is because I’m a PC gamer. All the great titles that have ever been released on XBOX have been released on the PC a year earlier and ten times better. I’m sure Halo was a great game, but that’s only because it’s the first real game of it’s kind to hit consoles. Games like Halo are a dime a dozen on the PC.
Am I droning on? This is such a fun topic for me though. While doing my research I read dozens of “top games” lists from different magazines and game sites. None of the lists were even close to identical, but I was able to find some common recurrences. A lot of these games made it on my list. Some, however, did not and that piqued my interest. What have I missed! I’ll list some of these games below and my pathetic excuses for never playing them. And I call myself hardcore, please!
- Chrono Trigger for SNES
Out of all the games I have never played, this one appears on the most lists. I’m embarrassed to say I really know nothing about this game. I have, however, already downloaded the rom to my hard drive. I shall be a Chrono Trigger master by the end of the week.
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for N64
This game claimed the most #1 spots of any game I saw. It also got a perfect 10 on Gamespot. I have no excuse for not playing this game. It just slipped through the cracks. It isn’t too late I’m happy to say. This just happens to be one of the games Meg bought on her game buying spree.
- Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos for PC
This game made its fair share of lists. The truth is, it’s just not my genre. True, Starcraft is on my list, but I think that was caused by some kind of wierd cosmic anomaly. I may dig it out and play it someday.
- Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow - for PC
Again, no excuse. I own it (actually I stole it from Meg), I’ve installed it, I even went as far as setting up the controls. I’ll get around to playing it once I kick my addiction to World of Warcrack.
- Super Mario 64 for N64
To tell you the truth, I was suprised to see this game show up on list after list after list. It just doesn’t seem appealing to me. But alas, the people have spoken. It just so happens that Meg owns this game too, what luck.
- System Shock II for PC
Being an avid fps fan I’m ashamed to say I’ve never owned or played this game. There’s no excuse for my obvious disrespect to the genre. This game is also on almost every Top 100 gaming list I read. It looks very Deus Exish, I’ll be buying it.
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for PC
Own it, haven’t played it, I suck.
- Beyond Good and Evil for PC
I remember when this game came out. There was little to no hype about it, but every now and then you would here someone say what a terrific game it was. Then some more people would say it. Then some more. Now it’s considered one of the best sleeper hits of 2003.
Alright, I’ll shut up now. I’m sure I missed a ton of games that deserve to be on this list, but my brain hurts right now. Like I said, I’ll add them as I remember them.
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