Board 8 > transience's top 100 games -- 2023 edition.

(+) Yeah! (+)

1-3 is a top ten case fight me

(Actually I need to re-rank the cases now that GAA is out so maybe it got pushed out, who knows)

I considered GAA2 for my list since it made it near the bottom last time, and I realized that I've completely forgotten every detail about those games

oh hey man, hope you're doing well!

this is awesome timing. i finally played through the first ori game recently*, and it reminded me of these lists, and that our tastes actually overlap quite a bit - except that you actually play more than one video game a year! very excited to grab a whole bunch of recommendations to keep me intermittently busy for the next decade

* probably the first metroidvania i've ever played, slightly ridiculously

hey there old friend! hope things are good with you. got your phd yet?

well talk about ori soon

transcience posted...

hey there old friend! hope things are good with you. got your phd yet?

well talk about ori soon

things are going very well, thanks! tiny life update: I got my phd back in 2019, and since then, i lived in covid-era japan for a year, got a real job, got married and moved to copenhagen. hard to complain!

ori was amazing fun by the end and i loved the aesthetics of everything but i wish you started with a few more skills - once the initial charm wore off, i found the first half slightly monotonous, especially the combat. still an awesome game though, and very excited to explore the (potentially better?) sequel and other similar stuff!

wow, 2019? and married? holy cow am I behind! then again, Im teaching my oldest to drive so I guess time moves both ways. sounds like stuff is great with you. congrats!

ori 2 basically picks up where 1 left off and you get all your old powerups within a couple of hours. give it a look when you can! it also has real direct combat and its good.

transience posted...

yeah that's huge. I owned a game gear once, not sure I need to do it again

I was skeptical too but the Deck is much more comfortable to hold than the Switch is, despite being bigger. I haven't weighed them but I feel like the Deck is also lighter than the Switch somehow, which helps.

It's really making me think I should invest into one of those Hori split pads for the switch. Maybe my whole issue is just that the joy-cons suck as handles.

transience posted...

I considered GAA2 for my list since it made it near the bottom last time, and I realized that I've completely forgotten every detail about those games

Yeah, I'd need to play them again before I could rank them

Also Ori 2 > Ori 1 pretty easily as someone who doesn't play a lot of Metroidvania games

Giggsalot posted...

got married and moved to copenhagen

Oh yeah we never really got around to meeting.

okay here comes the JRPG section of my list. they really clumped up this year.

#45. Triangle Strategy

For literally decades, I have been diving into the depths trying to find the next Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. I once heard someone describe them as "depressed chess" and I'm sticking with that. I've looked for games with similar job systems like Fell Seal, or dumb anime games like Disgaea (how are they up to Disgaea 7???), or old PSP games like Jeanne d'Arc, or even kickstarted spiritual successors that still aren't out 5 years later. It's been a long list of failures from my perspective. Some people like those games but they aren't TO or FFT.

So Triangle Strategy comes along and.. isn't really mechanically like those games at all, but does a shockingly amazing job of matching exactly what I want from those games. Important aristocrats scheming, cool combat mechanics and interesting narrative choices that I struggled with for several minutes before making a choice. It does branching paths as well or better than Tactics Ogre which is saying something. I had a really great time with this game.

#44. Bleed 2

Bleed 2 is just a great 2d action game. It's only about 90 minutes long but there are like 25 bosses or something in those 90 minutes. The action per minute count on this game is about as high as anything out there. It's right there with this next game.

#43. Ikaruga

This game is maybe 21 minutes long and once it gets going, literally every second is thrilling. I'll always suck at it but I go back to it every couple of years trying to crack the code of how to deal with level 4. I will never get there but the impossibly high bar pushes me to always try again.

#42. Fantasian

This mobile game is an amazing achievement. It nails the feel of a PS1 RPG but with a lot of modern quality of life improvements. The music and story and prerendered backgrounds feel like it was ripped straight out of 1999. This game would be super highly regarded if it wasn't an apple arcade exclusive. One day it'll break those chains.

This game got released in two parts -- think world of balance and ruin from FF6 -- and the second part is some of the hardest turn based combat out there. The bosses are oh my god. The bar is so high that even JRPG super vets like me struggle with it. Figuring out how to overcome the game was a lot of fun for me, but it's not a casual kind of playthrough despite being a cute throwback mobile game.

#41. Final Fantasy VI

Yeah it's good. Lately I've been enjoying some of the quality rom hacks the community has made around this game. I played one a couple years ago that's largely a rebalance and makes some really smart decisions. It even has Leo as a playable character, something I laughed at but actually works better than it should!

Yeah, I hope we get a Triangle Strategy sequel someday

Although I've got plenty to do with this one if I ever want to get all the endings since I only got one (I did the Frederica path)!

i still really want to try Fantasian some day

Oh yeah Fantasian, I should figure out how Apple Arcade works

Triangle Strategy is really good. I'm just about to start the endgame of my second route (the golden route). I'm tempted to go for all four playthroughs, but I don't know if I have it in me. I already dropped to Easy for the second playthrough, though maybe I'll go back up to Normal for the final battles.

I wish beating the game would unlock a chapter select so I could just go back and see the alternate routes without having to redo a bunch of stuff. Luckily I had mostly different choices for the second route, but the third and fourth will be retreading a lot more.

I actually ended up on the golden path entirely by accident on my first playthrough. it made the endgame extremely hard!

#40. Final Fantasy IV

The OG JRPG. FF4 introduces all the FF concepts that apply to the modern age and as someone who played it on day 1, it was game changing. That stuff hits me in the right spot, but FF4 also has some of the most interesting rom hack content out there, from the Free Enterprise randomizer (which is amazing) to some of the fan games that have been made (I've probably played 6 different FF4 hacks, which is saying something because I own every copy of FF4 out there!) I most recently played the pixel remaster and had a great time going back through the game, even getting all of the stupid achievements.

#39. Chained Echoes

This game. My god. All I can think about is how essentially one person made all the content for this thing. Usually indie JRPGs are short little jaunts, or if they're really packed with stuff, maybe 15-20 hours. Chained Echoes looks like a 16 bit RPG but has the scope and feel of a PS1 game, all while wearing its influences on its sleeve: Xenogears, FF6, Suikoden, Xenoblade, etc. This guy knows the right games and nails the impressions perfectly.

And while it borrows from all of those games, it is entirely its own game with tons of interesting ideas, both in combat and narratively. Chained Echoes manages to somehow stand alongside JRPG titans without looking like a one-man show, which is the absolute highest praise I can give it. I don't know if it'll stay this high on future lists as I slowly accept the magnitude of what one person accomplished here, but I was legitimately shook at how the game kept going above and above my expectations every time.

#38. The Walking Dead

This game probably had the biggest emotional impact on me of any game I've played. The relationship between the two main characters is beautiful and devastating. I'm not sure that any other game crushes your spirit quite like this one, and if you like that kind of thing (I do), then it's one of the best games around.

This is another game I'll gladly never play again but it's a damn masterpiece.

#37. Street Fighter IV

This game is still great! I played SF6 a few weeks ago and oh my god. Nothing makes me feel like a boomer than getting demolished on a modern fighter. SF4 feels like a modern fighter but also plays in a way that doesn't make me feel like a moron. I love this game's mechanics and meters. Like SF2, nobody is going to play this game against me, but I enjoy just playing the CPU or whatever. A great game.

#36. Outland

This Ikaruga-like in platformer clothing plays like a metroidvania but without the nonlinear progression. It's honestly a dumb genre mashup but it somehow works super well. The game's difficulty curve is so smooth that you end up doing some pretty impressive stuff with your hands to get through the obstacles. This one's just fun.

I miss Street Fighter IV. I've never been much of an online player, but I made an exception for that game. It was just a blast.

SF6 is one of those games I'll follow from afar, which is more than I can say about SF5.

#35. Mega Man 2

One of the most playable games ever. I pick this game up and play it all the damn time. MM2 is honestly pretty easy by MM standards, and once you know how to deal with each enemy you don't even need to use weapons on the bosses. This game has killer music for a NES game and is just a joy.

#34. Chrono Trigger

Also a joy! CT seems like an obvious pick for the "best" JRPG of all time. It's paced immaculately and the game looks and sounds great even by 2023 standards. It's a consistent 8.5/10 throughout the whole game. It doesn't reach some of the highs of other games, and that keeps it below some of my top tier RPGs.

#33. Mega Man 9

I like this game just a tiny bit more than 2. MM9 is a lot harder and you'd have to have a Mega Man savant to beat some of those bosses without using their weapon powers. MM9 has an amazing array of weapons, though, whereas 2 just has the metal blade that crushes everything in the game. Each weapon has lots of great use in the level as well as being boss weaknesses. MM9's fun factor isn't quite as high as 2's, but its weapon variety and interesting level design push it just the smallest bit above 2 for me.

#32. Suikoden

The original Suikoden has pacing on the level of a Chrono Trigger, and has a super interesting story. I love the progression of the game, not just the building of your castle but the slow push from being a band of idiots to becoming a full fledged army. Suikoden moves so quickly and it's such a fun romp to get into once you get your castle going and feel the game's flow.

(For those wondering about my eternal struggle to finally complete Suikoden 2, I played it last year for quite a while and got maybe 15 hours in... and then it quite literally crashed my Vita and corrupted every single save on the device. I'm not kidding. That game continues to hate me. I'm going to buy the remake solely to try to defeat this curse. Maybe I need a new version of the game to overcome it. This has happened to me in various forms about 5 times now.)

#31. Skul: The Hero Slayer

Skul! This game is super good! I don't think people know Skul all that well, but it should be mentioned alongside Hades and Rogue Legacy and Enter the Gungeon and all of those kinds of games. It's better than all of 'em. Skul is basically sidescrolling Hades but with (in my opinion) much better progression and a much higher skill ceiling. This game is super hard and you come across dozens of different skull forms -- think the weapons in Hades -- that you can equip.

The builds you come across in this game are super interesting and varied, and the game is so hard that you need to really master each item in order to survive. I'd actually recommend that any new player start on the easy mode because even that mode will kill you fast. I can't recommend this enough for people who like those kinds of games.

Yeah, MM9 is my favorite classic game, too. The sheer variety of it is unparalleled in the series.

MMX1 is still my favorite Mega Man game overall, but I know you were never big on the X games.

Hadn't heard of either, but Skul and Chained Echoes both sound great

#30. Persona 3 Portable

This has always been my favourite of the Personas just because it cuts the BS and focuses on dungeon crawling and social linking. The cutscenes are like 5 minutes tops as opposed to later games that get way out of control.

I picked this up a few weeks ago just for a temperature check and I ended up playing the whole thing. The music and tone of this game are way up there. There's some quality of life stuff the later games have that this one lacks, but otherwise it's my go-to for the series.

#29. Final Fantasy

This will always be high on my list just because of my emotional attachment to my first Final Fantasy. Even 35 years later, I can still pick up the original and pound through it happily. And if I ever get bored, there's a boatload of hard mode mods waiting for me.

#28. VVVVVV

Is there a friendlier pick up and play game than VVVVVV? It's directional keys + one button, the whole game is infectiously happy, and the music just gets you in the mood. This game is about an hour long and gives you everything you want out of a simple 2d platformer, and if you do want more there's the trinkets for extra fun. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to dislike VVVVVV.

#27. Super Mario Odyssey

I'm not much of a Mario guy -- this is the only Mario game on the list -- but man, I love Odyssey's creativity and energy. The semi open world structure hits me in the right way and the traversal is amazing thanks to all the interesting enemy captures. I'm not sure why I love this game and hate Mario 64, but here we are. This game is so joyful and enthusiastic. I've been waiting for a followup for 6 years and still nothing even announced!

#26. Dragon Quest VIII

It's Dragon Quest at its best: colorful visuals, a huge open world, and some of the best monster designs in the biz. There's so much to do in this game and the story is really strong for a DQ game -- some of the moments in it really resonate and the villain (well, the first one) is legitimately terrifying.

I wish they would give this game a proper remake - the 3DS version adds some QOL stuff that is absolutely vital to enjoying this game, but also kills a lot of the production values due to the limitations of that system. One day they'll bring this back in style.

#25. Cave Story

Cave Story is this weird blending of genres that is hard to even describe, something between Mega Man and Metroid but pretty far from both. I never know how to pigeonhole this one.

And that's a good thing, because it's totally unique. This game has some really cool weapon and gameplay systems, and good boss encounters thanks to them. I dunno, this game is just a great play. Cave Story is awesome.

Chrono Trigger really feels like a JPRG by the book. When I think of my favorite RPG moments, nothing from Chrono Trigfer immediately comes up but the game foes everything well. Would not change a thing.

#24. Shadow Hearts

The tone of the original Shadow Hearts is what I look for in an old PS1 RPG. This came out on the PS2 but it's really a PS1 game. There's nothing systems-wise that stands out in SH1 but the feel of moving through those lovely prerendered environments and hearing that music and those sound effects is top notch. I ripped through this game the week Pennyblood was announced and had an absolute blast despite it being pretty archaic mechanically.

#23. Final Fantasy Tactics

Blame yourself or God. FFT's character builds are the best in the genre and the maneuvering political story is really strong. You can really get lost trying to build out the perfect guy. The classes are wildly unbalanced and that kinda makes it more fun -- but if you want perfect balance there's mods for that too and those are also awesome. This game has been the star of the depressed chess genre for decades.

#22. F-Zero GX

Dear god this game is good. It might actually be perfect. As I say every year, no futuristic racing game has come out since that can even remotely compete with F-Zero GX. I've been playing the demo for this upcoming Kickstarter game called Aero GPX that is the closest I've seen in the 20 years since this game's release. I've grown a little tired of GX since there's not a lot to get out of racing the same tracks over and over, but it's undoubtedly one of the best games ever made.

i got i think all the way until the stretch before the final dungeon in suikoden and just ran out of motivation for whatever reason. completely forget why; maybe i couldn't figure out what to do

I wish we could get a modern port of FFT that didn't use the PSP translation.

Surprisingly, the PSP translation seems to be the more popular one? There are mods for PS1 FFT that insert the PSP TL, but no mods for the PSP version that insert the PS1 TL.

I imagine it's because of its reputation as a bad translation, but I'll still take it over the purple prose of the newer one.

the PSP translation is definitely the better one but it's hard to get over certain changes of iconic scenes and especially names. if you change skill names and character names then you're going to throw off a lot of people.

Argath Thadalfus is still hilarious

#21. Final Fantasy X

I'm high on this game after a recent replay. This game is honestly among the very best in every major JRPG aspect: story, setting, combat, gameplay systems, you name it. There are issues with the characters as it relates to voice acting and dialogue, but otherwise this is the complete package. When FFX goes wrong it goes way off the rails, like some of those ultimate weapon sidequests, but overall this game really nails it.

#20. Ori and the Blind Forest

This game has amazing art design and some of the greatest 2d traversal in all of video games -- and it almost doesn't matter because it's been replaced by its superior sequel. I hate saying that and I hate trying to evaluate this game because of it. Let's just move on.

#19. Dragon Warrior Monsters

My favourite DQ thing is this dumb monster breeding game. There's no story to speak of and every dungeon is randomly generated -- is this a roguelite?? -- but the DQ hooks get me real good. This game can occupy my mind and my time more than any other game on the list. I'm always looking for another one of these that's anywhere near as charming or as enjoyable, kinda like how I'm always looking for the next great strategy rpg. But there's only one DQM. Even the remake of this game doesn't do it justice.

Out of curiosity, have you gone back to and enjoyed Ori 1 after playing Ori 2?

FFX is the most enjoyable gameplay in the series for me. It's one of the few RPGs where battle never becomes boring or mundane.

FFX has a great battle system but I wish the bosses were balanced better. Most are stupidly easy with like 1 or 2 that are huge jumps in difficulty. I guess that's pretty normal for JRPGs though.

transience posted...

Even the remake of this game doesn't do it justice.

why's that?

transience posted...

#19. Dragon Warrior Monsters

My favourite DQ thing is this dumb monster breeding game. There's no story to speak of and every dungeon is randomly generated -- is this a roguelite?? -- but the DQ hooks get me real good. This game can occupy my mind and my time more than any other game on the list. I'm always looking for another one of these that's anywhere near as charming or as enjoyable, kinda like how I'm always looking for the next great strategy rpg. But there's only one DQM. Even the remake of this game doesn't do it justice.

This game captured my heart as a teenager. Capturing monsters and breeding them to get a new, stronger, different monster with traits of the parents had so much depth. I've also always been chasing this dragon but I've never gotten a similar experience except Jade Cocoon, which had an awesome feature that would actually fuse the appearances of monsters to create an in between monstrosity of combined body parts and colour schemes. Shocking they were able to achieve that on the PS1 but I've never seen anything like it since. Pokemon was dead for me after this, breeding is practically non existent compared to what I want after DWM.

Apparently, Monster Taming and Monster Breeding are actual genres with tons of games and I've been scouring Steam lately looking for something similar, but I haven't really found anything at all that gives me what I want.

I've never tried Shin Megami Tensei but I've heard it may be similar... I thought Persona was that so I tried Persona 5 which was a good game but not what I'd hoped, but apparently that's actually a spinoff?

modern persona uses a lot of the same systems as modern smt, persona just uses it for the main character instead of the entire party.

there's a lot of turnover and planned obsolescence baked into it, with demons in most instances not being terribly useful outside of when you can first recruit/fuse them because your mc's level is finally high enough and tend to fall off sharply after a few levels (because the demon's base level is used in fusion instead of the current level, and I think many games have their base level as part of the damage formula too)

the Siralim series seems like it's trying to be close to dwm, but I never really played any of them much.

MacArrowny posted...

Out of curiosity, have you gone back to and enjoyed Ori 1 after playing Ori 2?

yeah, I have. it's still good, though it takes a while to get used to the lack of direct combat or (especially) the need to create your own save points. Ori 2 just starts with Ori 1's base and adds so much more, and the games are already so similar. even the Metroid games aren't as similar as Ori 1 is to Ori 2. they have different game feel - not so much with Ori.

SeabassDebeste posted...

why's that?

the DQM remake basically changes the mechanics of the game. it's still cool, but the Joker games that came out on DS changed the way Monsters games worked for good, and some of the changes are offputting.

CoolCly posted...

I've never tried Shin Megami Tensei but I've heard it may be similar... I thought Persona was that so I tried Persona 5 which was a good game but not what I'd hoped, but apparently that's actually a spinoff?

SMT and Persona are essentially different series' in my book. they share the same monsters and breeding mechanics but the scope of them are totally different. SMT is maybe a little more focused on monster breeding but not significantly so. you aren't going to scratch the DQM itch with SMT - DQM is just nothing but breeding while SMT has a whole RPG storyline and whatnot. SMT's fine and Persona's good, but yeah, different things.

What would you say Joker changed that you didn't like? I've played Joker and liked it but didn't get immersed like before and I'm not really sure why, have been thinking about trying it again or just replaying the original DWM.

Fun fact when Joker came out like 15 years ago my best friend was dying in the hospital and I happened be at a Gamestop and saw Joker was mispriced at $5 so I bought two copies, one for me and one for him and gave it to him. He spent every waking hour at the hospital playing and really wanted to beat me but I effortlessly crushed him every time I visited and we'd battle. He brings it up every now and then. He can't wrap his head around it. He had nothing else to do except play the game and plan how to beat me but still couldn't pull it off \_()_/

so wait, he died or didn't? don't leave me hanging here

Joker had this ranking system where your monster would be rank F, E, D, etc, and breeding them focused on what rank they were moreso than a unique combination. there were some unique combos but most of it felt like you were banging your head against an artificial wall due to rank. Persona kinda uses this method too but not as explicitly.

Joker also had stat maxes for each character. in Monsters, you could create this uberslime with 999 HP/MP and max stats if you wanted, but Joker forced you to live within the character's archetype. your Battlerex could have tons of attack but low MP, or your metal slime would never have anything more than tiny HP. Joker in general had a structure to it that it forced you into while DQM felt a lot more freeform.

#48. Dragon Quest XI

DQ11 is lovely. It's basically DQ8 in HD, but the story doesn't hit quite as hard (though it's good) and the music is kind of dreadful thanks to its composer being like 90 years old. There's lots of cool mechanics though and some of the scenes it sets up are shocking (in a good way). There's also a lot of reused assets as you essentially revisit each location 3 different times, and that's kind of a bummer. That's the side effect of designing those darn HD towns, I guess. Anyway, I love DQ games and this is maybe the only true HD game in the series.

Man I'm like 48 hours into this game, been slogging through it for years and I'm just so ready for it to be over. It think its because it seems cheap compared to other games in the series. Sort of the same way some of the Tails games feel with the reused assets you mentioned. I think most, if not all of the music in this game is just music taken from past DQ games too and for a game this long you hear the same stuff more than you should. I mean, I love it because its DQ but they need to start making these games shorter or something. Pacing is just so off for me in the same way DQVII was

#45. Triangle Strategy

For literally decades, I have been diving into the depths trying to find the next Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. I once heard someone describe them as "depressed chess" and I'm sticking with that. I've looked for games with similar job systems like Fell Seal, or dumb anime games like Disgaea (how are they up to Disgaea 7???), or old PSP games like Jeanne d'Arc, or even kickstarted spiritual successors that still aren't out 5 years later. It's been a long list of failures from my perspective. Some people like those games but they aren't TO or FFT.

So Triangle Strategy comes along and.. isn't really mechanically like those games at all, but does a shockingly amazing job of matching exactly what I want from those games. Important aristocrats scheming, cool combat mechanics and interesting narrative choices that I struggled with for several minutes before making a choice. It does branching paths as well or better than Tactics Ogre which is saying something. I had a really great time with this game.

Wow, surprised to see this on the list at all, especially so high. Almost bought this game so many times, the genre is among my favorites and the visuals look amazing. Also the length doesn't seem to be over the top according to howlongtobeat. I hear there is a ton of dialogue which is really offputting also. Would you say that's true?

get the demo for Triangle Strategy. it's the first 3 chapters I think and progress transfers. it's actually a bad first impression because the game does a lot of table setting up front, which means a ton of dialogue and cutscenes. once you get into a flow, it's a lot more balanced. people who complain about the dialogue played the demo and decided against playing more.

Chained Echoes was such a wonderful surprise. I was all in on Sea of Stars and didn't even notice Chained Echoes until like a month before it came out, and fell in love with the look of it right away. When pre-release reviews started dropping and people were saying jRPG of the generation and lives up to Chrono Trigger etc. I was like okay thats pretty damn high praise, this will surely disappoint like many other indie jRPGs trying to live up to CT, FF6, etc.

It exceeded all the hype. Haven't redone my top 100 in a bit, but it very well could be top 10 all time for me. Loved it start to finish.

LockesRagnarok posted...

Man I'm like 48 hours into this game, been slogging through it for years and I'm just so ready for it to be over. It think its because it seems cheap compared to other games in the series. Sort of the same way some of the Tails games feel with the reused assets you mentioned. I think most, if not all of the music in this game is just music taken from past DQ games too and for a game this long you hear the same stuff more than you should. I mean, I love it because its DQ but they need to start making these games shorter or something. Pacing is just so off for me in the same way DQVII was

When I thought I beat DQXI and then found out there was another 40 hours... loved the game but oh god was it long.

I had Chained Echoes on my Steam wishlist like a year prior to its release but I had no idea it was going to be more than a cool throwback. if anything, it's raised my expectations for Sea of Stars.

transience posted...

so wait, he died or didn't? don't leave me hanging here

CoolCly posted...

He brings it up every now and then.

Unless he's bringing up via ouija board, I think he made it.

#18. Dicey Dungeons

I've probably played this game more than any other in the last 12 months thanks to its mobile release. Dicey Dungeons is basically Slay the Spire for babies - a nice, simple, charming game that doesn't require a ton of complexity but there's enough variety there to keep it interesting. I play this game on hard mode and do a couple of runs per day for some unknown reason, and still enjoy it.

#17. Ace Attorney 3

This game concludes the original trilogy in the best possible way. I love the huge dramatic conclusions that Ace Attorney offers and AA3 sticks the landing as well as any other game franchise.

#16. Tetris

Yep, it's Tetris. I still pick up Tetris 99 every few months to get bodied by all the lunatics that are still playing it years later. I've been battling online in Tetris for many years and this game kinda never gets old for me. It's one of the only games (maybe the only game period) that I still play competitively.

did you play/like tetris effect?

not really. I'm really pure in my tetris and tetris effect just felt kinda artsy and pointless. I'd rather just play the real thing than some trippy spinoff of it.

#15. Final Fantasy V

I love this game for all of the gameplay complications that it presents and all the fun ways that you can break the game in half. It's basically all the reasons that I like the original Final Fantasy, but with more options. I play this game at least once a year to go through the four job fiesta, though that is getting a little old after having done it like 30 times or whatever. One day I'll find some new challenge way to play this that's actually fun and it'll shoot back to the top of my list.

#14. AM2R

This incredibly impressive fan game is honestly on the same level as Zero Mission from a movement and control perspective, which is the highest possibly praise you can put on a fan game that's standalone and not emulated. Zero Mission is the pinnacle of 2d movement.

The only thing keeping this below the other top tier Metroid games are the constraints of it being a remake of Metroid 2 -- that game was never designed to be an open ended exploration game since it was on the game boy. AM2R makes some attempts to align it with other games in the series, but there's only so far you can go without making a net new game. (I wish this had been a new Metroid game rather than a remake of Metroid 2, but oh well.)

#13. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together

I've put an absolute ton of time into this SRPG gem recently -- not just the recent remake (which is excellent), but also the One Vision mod for the PSP version that makes a ton of really smart changes. Tactics Ogre has been treated a lot better than FFT and the remakes have pushed it a little above FFT for me. I've always gone back and forth on these two, but they're mom and dad of the SRPG genre for me - nothing else is really all that close, though Triangle Strategy is very good. Hopefully the rumored FFT remake can make up the ground and bring it back up to Tactics Ogre's level.