- Ranking is based on a list I've created recently cuz I'm having so much free time at work ^_^ - I won't rank a game unless I've played enough or beaten it throughly although memories of some of them may be a little vague - I haven't played many of the recent games on the newer generation consoles so they may not be on the list - I haven't played some of the highly acclaimed series such as Mass Effect, BioShock, Dead Rising, the newer Zelda Games, FFXIII, etc so don't expect them to be on the list - No flaming please, this is just my opinion after all
The Rankings so far
243. Dino Crisis 244. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 245. River City Ransom 246. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence 247. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 248. TimeSplitters: Future Perfect 249. Spider-Man 250. Grand Theft Auto III 251. TimeSplitters 2 252. Top Spin 4 253. Final Fantasy II 254. Final Fantasy X-2 255. Beyond Good & Evil 256. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen 257. Valkyrie Profile 258. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 259. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 260. Silent Hill 4: The Room 261. The World Ends With You 262. Batman 263. Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro 264. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 265. Aladdin 266. Duck Tales 267. Kirby’s Dream Land 2 268. Kirby’s Dream Land 3 269. Halo: Combat Evolved 270. Doom 271. Front Mission 3 272. Adventure Island III 273. Mega Man X2 274. Illusion of Gaia 275. X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse 276. Crystalis 277. EVO: The Search for Eden 278. Super Mario Land 2: The 6 Golden Coins 279. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 280. Gunstar Heroes 281. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles in Time 282. Breath of Fire II 283. Soul Blazer 284. Mega Man X5 285. Double Dragon II 286. X-Men Legends 287. Tekken 6 288. Metroid II: Return of Samus 289. Super Punch-Out!! 290. WWE Smackdown! Vs. Raw 2011 291. Castlevania: Bloodlines 292. Super Castlevania IV 293. Warioware Twisted! 294. Adventure Island II 295. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands 296. Soul Calibur IV 297. Super Tennis 298. Chrono Cross 299. Mega Max X8 300. Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
* I'll post the write-ups for any of the above games on request
#242 - Plants vs. Zombies (iPad) Screw Angry Birds... Screw Ninjum... no wait I love Ninjump but Plants vs. Zombies is the king of iPad games without a shadow of a doubt. I've never played any other version of Plants vs. Zombies but the amount of hours I've invested on the iPad version is massive. This game has saved me from hours of boredom waiting for stupid meetings and lameass functions. Therefore the iPad's rendition (I don't know how superior or inferior it is the the other versions) of Plants vs. Zombies clearly deserves a place on my list.
#241 - Gran Turismo (PS1) This is probably the first racing game (bar the Mario Karts and CTR) which I really got into. I had a friend back then who was obsessed with racing games. Me not being too familiar with the racing genre got my ass handed to me every single time I plugged in the second controller on my friend's ps1. Years later I got better at the game but still I could never beat that racing bastard. All in all I've only fond memories of GT but as the years rolled on, my interest in the genre expanded and I have only but memories of the original GT.
#240 - Gran Turismo 4 (PS2) Gran Turismo 4 didn't impress me in a way the other sequel did but nonetheless it was a solid addition to the series. I didn't play GT4 as much as I would have liked. The racing mechanics are definitely more polished and the graphics got prettier as well. GT4 suffers in this ranking from being released at a time where I bought many great games on the PS2 and thus being unfairly neglected.
#239 - Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2) The original Valkyrie Profile didn't impress me the way I wanted it to but the sequel impressed me in a way I thought it wouldn't do. There are a ton of people who really love the original and a lot of them are unfair with how they rate the sequel. I however hold my ground in the boat "The sequel is an improvement over the original" on this one. However Silmeria is definitely far from being one of the best RPGs ever even on the PS2 atleast in my book. The Valkyrie Profile formula just failed to grasp me the way it did with its thousand cult-like worshippers.
#238 - Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (PC) Age of Empires II is the first Real-Time Strategy game I've ever played. I always used to play as the Vikings because I loved how their houses looked so rugged and how the warriors are reeked of badassery. I can barely if at all remember how the campaign goes like but I do remember playing countless hours against my friends before a very famous RTS game took over Age of Empires as our main hub.
#237 - Tekken Tag Tournament (PS2) Me and my bros always thought Tekken Tag Tournament was Tekken 4 until Tekken 4 was actually announced . From all the Tekken games, Tag Tournament definitely has the most impressive roster. All the characters from Tekken 1, 2 and 3 are present and the Tag feature also adds more gameplay to the game. However TT suffers from ripping off the fighting mechanics directly from Tekken 3. It's the exact same game with more characters, tag feature, a crappy new final boss, and laughably bad SNES fighting game like endings. An impressive Tekken game nonetheless but hardly original.
#236 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) My memories of Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari are quite fresh because I've finished both games quite recently. At first I thought this game was super weird with the ball rolling and all. I was quite bad at the game to begin with because this was something totally new to me. I barely got through the levels but then as I started to play the game more I got infinitely better. I even beat the constellation levels without too much frustration but in the end Katamari Damacy didn't WOW me the way it did with many others.
#235 - Soul Calibur III (PS2) Soul Calibur III is to Soul Calibur what Tekken 5 is to Tekken. It added a lot of features to the series but somehow wasn't as impressive as some of its predecessors. First of all I didn't really like the arcade story mode too much. It was a monotony to finish the story mode of every character and I also didn't like the way the characters were unlocked through the story mode. The versus mode is as impressive as always and so is the roster. My favorite being Raphael and Siegfried. However what I loved about SCIII (although a lot of people didn't) is the addition of 'Chronicles to the Sword'.
#234 - Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES) Super Nintendo needed a Contra game and a great one because the NES had tons (not all great but mostly). I thought Contra III would be garbage because I played it years after its release (Years after trying out all the nearly unplayable Contras). But I'm glad to say I was sadly mistaken. At first I thought Contra III would be similar to Sega Genesis' Contra: Hard Ops but the moment I put the Contra III cartridge in my SNES I found out how wrong I was. I didn't like Hard Ops because I blame it for the direction it led the Contra series to i.e utter nonsensical rubbish. Contra III impressed me because it stuck to the roots of Contra without trying to be too high tech and therefore bringing a pleasantly delightful experience.
#233 - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES) I've never beaten Castlevania III..... legitimately... but I have beaten it new-gen style (You know what I mean). When I was once a young lad the level of difficulty almost drove me to a nearby asylum ^_^. It was also the first game which made me destroy a controller. It was the medusa heads those f****** medusa heads which made me quit the game. Years later I've beaten the game ^_^ and have found out how awesome it actually was if not for the near unfair difficulty and how Trevor doesn't have the balls to change directions mid-air. I like how CV3 makes you take different paths leading to different characters. And I also found out only years after playing the game that Alucard made his first appearance here, not in SOTN. Good times!
#232 - We Love Katamari (PS2) We Love Katamari is an improvement over Katamari Damacy in many ways. First of all I found the story of the King of Cosmos to be really hilarious lol. The worlds are also much more varied and vast compared to the original. The gameplay mechanics haven't changed all that much and are basically the same however I can't help but put the sequel over the original because it is more enhanced and more fun in almost every single way.
#231 - Super Mario Kart (SNES) The first good racing game I've played and my god was this game the bomb at that time. I've totally and completely beaten Super Mario Kart and I've also invested a lot of hours in the Time Trial so it holds a special value to me. The best thing about Super Mario Kart was playing against my buddies (I always use Koopa) for many long hours. Super Mario Kart definitely hasn't aged well though. The graphics are obviously dated and so are the controls when compared to the newer Mario Karts.
#230 - Mario Kart 64 (N64) I was actually quite hesitant whether to include Mario Kart 64 or Mario Kart DS on the list. I felt only one of them deserved a place on the list but after thinking hard I decided to go with my heart rather than my head and thus you have MK64 on this list. I definitely think MKDS is more polished and has more content but MK64 has that homely feel and it just makes me come back to it more often than any of the other Mario Kart games. Believe it or not MK64 still holds its own against the newer gen toon racing games. Nostalgia goggles or whatever I’m not making a list without MK64 on the list.
#229 - Pokemon Stadium (N64) Attrapez les tous.. Attrapez les… tous! Pokemon! That’s how you sing Gotta catch em’ all in French. I purchased my first N64 in Switzerland and Pokemon Stadium was one of the first games I had along with it. The game was in French but thankfully the language didn’t make much of difference. I expected Red/Blue/Yellow like gameplay but was blessed with a rather original turn-based fighting game.
#228 - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (PS2) Ok whoever says Mortal Kombat can’t be anything but a 1 on 1 fighting game are dead wrong here. This game has been wrongfully abused by the hordes of MK fans for not being what a MK game usually is and i.e a crappy fighting game. I’ve played almost all of the MK games and I can say this without a shadow of a doubt “Shaolin Monks deserves so much more than the horde of crap Midway has produced past MK2”. In Shaolin Monks you can choose between Liu Kang and Kung Lao. (Sub-Zero and Scorpion are unlockables) I’d say Shaolin Monks is more a beat em’ up reimagining of MK2 than anything else. The unlockables are awesome and so is the game once you get the hang of it. Don’t make the mistake of overlooking this game just cuz MK decided to take a different approach.
#227 - Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (PS2) If you thought Hot Pursuit 1 on the PS1 was awesome wait till you get a load of this. Hot Pursuit 2 is Hot Pursuit with enhanced graphics, better mechanics and overall much more fun. This game is without a doubt my favorite Need for Speed game and rightfully so.
#226 - Syphon Filter (PS1) Never judge a book by its cover is the motto of the Syphon Filter series (Well at least 1, 2 and 3). At first I thought Syphon Filter looked and played like crap. I didn’t like the way Logan ran and the way you fired your guns. However the game mechanics quickly grew on me and before I knew it I was having a major amount of fun with the game. The game does suffer from irregularity in the difficulty though, it kinda does spikes up during the end and I know quite a few people who actually quit the game because of that. The stealth missions are my favorite part of the game (I may be one of the few though) and Syphon Filter is one of those PS1 games which really stood out in its genre. I don’t know how well the game may have aged since then because I haven’t touched a Syphon Filter game beyond 3 since the early 2000s.
#225 - Twisted Metal 2 (PS1) I take all my pent up frustration on the road and unleash it in….. Twisted Metal! I’ve haven’t played the original enough to actually rate it however Twisted Metal 2 does look so much better. Although the graphics are still dead ugly (Looks so much uglier now than ever) it doesn’t stop the game from STILL being fun. The character I always use is the guy who rides the vehicle with the huge ass wheel in the front(Can’t believe I forgot his name). It’s my dream car for causing destruction on a road full of stupid maniacs.
#224 - Harvest Moon: Back to Nature (PS1) I didn’t think farming was that fun back when I played the original Harvest Moon on the SNES. However Back to Nature revamped the formula and made it into an incredibly delightful experience. I loved the choices in marriage and how the mechanism in farming worked. Harvest Moon created a genre of its own and so far nothing has topped Harvest Moon: Back to Nature on the PS1.
#223 - Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen (SNES) Strategy-RPGs were few back then and Ogre Battle definitely played a huge role in shaping up the genre. Although Ogre Battle did suffer from a pretty weak storyline, the battles more than made up for it. I heard Tactics Ogre is similar to Ogre Battle but have never tried that series out therefore Ogre Battle for me is a revolutionary in the SRPG department thoroughly deserving a place on my list.
#222 - NiGHTS into Dreams (Sega Saturn) I remember this Saturn classic as a short and sweet experience. I don’t know what genre this game belongs to but so far I haven’t played any game quite like it. The game starts to get fun the moment you know what you’re doing although it suffers a lot from being way too short. With a little more length and probably a little more variety NiGHTS into Dreams may just have been one of my favorite games of all time rather than one of favorite Saturn games.
#221 – Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (PS2) First of all, I love DBZ. Second, this has thus far been the best DBZ game I’ve experienced. The story mode in this game is gold! It does an awesome job at telling the story compared to its predecessor, not to mention the voice acting is just like it is in the anime. What I really like about this game is how you unlock the massive amount of characters and how the campaign is handled. The campaign just makes you feel so accomplished because there are various challenges including some really tough fights. I’ve played most if not all the new DBZ games but none of them had a lasting impression on me like Budokai Tenkaichi 2 on the PS2 did.
#220 - Dynasty Warriors 5 (PS2) Everyone knows Dynasty Warriors as a famous hack and slash series on the PS2, but sadly not many have noticed the improvements Dynasty Warriors 5 offered and in my opinion, revived the series. The massive amount of characters you can unlock (40+ If I recall correctly) and the story mode makes Dynasty Warriors 5 the best I’ve played from the series. (I haven’t played the original and 7)
#219 - Viewtiful Joe 2 (PS2) Did we really need a sequel to ruin the original just like what many of the sequels usually do to their otherwise classic original? I’m just messing around man. I’m really happy that there is a Viewtiful Joe 2 because if anything it made me wanna wish for a Viewtiful Joe 3 which probably won’t happen. Viewtiful Joe 2 is almost as good as the first but not quite. It falls a little short because for me it just didn’t impress me the way the first one did. As a standalone game the sequel would have done much better but as a follow-up to one of the best beat em’ ups of its generation, it is just a sequel inferior to the original.
#218 – Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) And we’re back in Liberty City…. again! Yes it is bigger, yes it is more detailed and yes it is better as well. But by how much? Well I’d definitely say GTAIV is the best GTA from the numbered titles but compared to the major titles which preceded it, it doesn’t do much. Apart from the cell phone there is not much new GTAIV brings to the series. The missions are mostly repetitive but some of them were fun. What I do like about GTAIV is the way the story unfolds and how Nico Bellic actually has a personality. The GTA series should learn a lesson from its 4th installment and learn to focus a bit more on the plot if there is ever gonna be a GTAV rather than focusing on more frustrating missions. Don’t get me wrong I like GTAIV, It’s just that I find the whole series in general to be overrated.
#217 – Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2) Vice City took everything good from GTAIII and improved upon it. First, We have an actual main character i.e Mr. Vercetti. Second, the place i.e Vice City looks much better than the Liberty City in GTAIII. Third, Vice City is set in the 80’s and is done really well. I just found Vice City more fun than GTAIII in general, from the plot to the missions to basically everything. Granted I’ve never been a huge fan of the GTA series which may not mean much but Vice City did improve upon its predecessor and is just better overall.
#216 - Diddy Kong Racing (N64) Who says Mario Kart owns toon racing? DKR has upped the level of the genre by implementing a less arcade-y story mode than usual by allowing players to roam around freely and at the same time retaining awesome levels. In my books DKR is better, more polished and more fun than Mario Kart 64 except maybe the characters.
#215 - The Simpsons (Arcade) Being a huge Simpsons fan, I used to spend countless hours in the arcade playing this game. Something about the Arcade version of The Simpsons was so addictive that I used to revisit this game time and time again. At first you might mistake The Simpsons for just another side scrolling beat em’ up but soon you’ll come to realize how deep the gameplay actually is. The level design is simply fantastic and you get to play as all four members of the Simpsons family adding more hours and more variety to the gameplay. One of my favorite arcade games without a doubt but would have done so much better if it were ported to a console and retained the arcade feel.
#214 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES) For some strange reason I’ve never seen this game in the Arcade but have only played it on the NES even though the title says TMNT2: The Arcade Game. If you were like me and were a huge Ninja Turtles fan in the 90s you’d have wanted to play a great Ninja Turtles game back then. TMNT1 on the NES wrecked my expectations of ever anticipating a good TMNT game but much to my surprise TMNT2 blew my expectations away. The levels were just phenomenal, as were the characters, the enemies, the bosses and the level of challenge (which was unfair by any means but still challenging). Everything looked just like it did in the TMNT TV shows back in the 90s and it was one of my favorite games way back then. It’s safe to say I’ve played better TMNT games over the years but this one was the first to have truly impressed me.
#213 - Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (NES) I love what Konami did with the second installment of Castlevania on the NES. They tried something new and I loved it. I loved it more back then when I first played the game. The levels concept is totally taken out of this game and instead we have free exploration. Simon can level up, buy new things as well as new weapons, something which was unprecedented in action side scrollers back then. The game could definitely have been more polished and the final boss is ridiculously easy which makes it seem as if the game is a little broken. However the game was simply more fun than the original as well as many other Castlevania games for many years until Konami totally remodeled the series, thus taking the Castlevania series to new heights.
Castlevania II is the worst game I've ever had the misfortune of playing.
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The most effective technique to avoiding all further damage in a fight, perfected by Pride Legend Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua: http://i53.tinypic.com/34y4kmd.jpg
#212 - Metroid (NES) I played the original Metroid way way after its release therefore it may not have had the impact on me like it could have if I’d played it back in its hey days. I’ll start with the negatives first. Samus’ jump controls are quite stiff making the game frustrating in some parts. Having no map is the biggest ball drop of the original Metroid because for me completing that game w/o using a guide was nearly impossible. Having no clues as to where to go doesn’t exactly help either. That being said it is obvious that the game is a revolutionary. The upgrades are so satisfying to get not to mention the game is fun when you know where exactly you have to go. The game isn’t too difficult and the level designs are a masterpiece for the NES system. Without a doubt one of the NES system’s finest accomplishments but I can’t find it in my heart to give the first Metroid more than a #200 in this list.
#211 – Pitfall (Atari 2600) This is the FIRST GAME I’ve EVER played. Well I was probably around 5 or 6 when I first saw my dad playing this game. The Atari was my Granddad’s and was quite old and even though I owned a Nintendo very shortly after, I played Pitfall quite a lot before shelving my Atari for good. I didn’t have a clue as to what the objective of the game was, back then. But then I figured it was avoiding obstacles and collecting as many treasure as you can. I’ve played this game quite recently and beat it for the first time…… cheating. Man did it bring back memories and man was it fun ^_^.