Top 25 Video Games Lists v2.0: Cable's NES Nostalgia 15 & 2 (starts pg32)

[cramx3]

GTA III was my intro to GTA and god did it make an impact. To this day I consider it one of the best party games ever despite being single player. Seriously, how many of y'all remember hangin with friends 15 years ago gettin shit-tanked on piss-tier swill and passing the controller around for hours playing this?

Oh totally, we used to play "Do as much damage as possible and survive as long as possible, when you die, hand over the controller to the next guy" So I totally get what you are saying about it being a party game.

[Dr. DTVT]

What b_f is leaving out is when he witnessed me commit one of the funniest suicides on GTA 5.  I got a bus halfway off an overpass, then fell to my death exiting the bus.  The police were about to shoot the bus to death anyway.

[black_biff_stadler]

That was fuckin choice Great bacon and fried eggplant pizza that night too

[Dr. DTVT]

5. Tecmo Super Bowl



NES

There is an original, and sequels

This was the reason to own a second NES controller.  It's not the most accurate portrayal of football, but it hit a magic spot of being realistic enough with most of the NFL players (fuck you Cunningham, Kosar, and cancer-face Kelly), players with attributes that vary depending on the health of a player, and plays that resembled actual plays; along with some humor when you throw a guy several yards in the air when breaking a block, and cut scenes that showed big plays and close plays (the cut scene of the over thrown receiver always made me chuckle for some reason).  You could challenge a friend, or play through a season.  Then there was Barry Fucking Sanders and Motherfuckin Bo Jackson.  The game is so popular it is still being played, both in it's original 26 year old form, and updated forms with current players.

[Dr. DTVT]

4.  Morrowind



PC - there is an XBox version, but get the PC version

Arena, Daggerfall, Oblivion, and Skyrim in same series - other spinoffs also available

Yeah, Skyrim is the prettiest so far, and I would even say that the story in Skyrim is the best...but Morrowind is always going to be the most special for me.  I had played Daggerfall, so this isn't a matter of being blinded by a first love.  There are several things that made this game special.  First, was that game encouraged people to create content, as a matter of fact they gave you the construction kit.  Want to make a new race, class, weapon, dungeon, NPC, quest, island, tower...what ever you wanted to make and add on you could.  You could share things you made and use the things other people made.  While some people just made OP game breaking crap, there was lots of good content that enriched the game with new quests, items that allowed teleportation, and areas to explore.  The second great thing that was removed from later games was the flight spell.  It made the game truly 3D, and it made dungeons and towers even more fun and easy to hide special areas.  There were a lot more NPCs in Morrowind because all interaction was by text, the townsfolk would talk as you walked by, but interactions were by text.  There are the boots of blinding speed, which double your speed but make the screen almost completely dark if your alpha is properly adjusted.  And there are the damn cliff racers.  If you've played the game, you know what I'm talking about.  But I miss those annoying scrubs.  I guess the dragons in Skyrim sort of replicate the aerial combat.  Still the best sandbox experience in a game I've ever had.

[Phoenix87x]

Morrowind is definitely in my top 5 favorite games of all time. Its also my favorite elder scrolls game and the last one that I felt really nailed what I am looking for in an RPG. The world is bizarre, unique and very varied, the music is definitely my favorite of the series. I like how it barely held your hand, and you needed to find places on your own. Seeing a guy fall out of the sky in the first 10 mins really sets the tone and has my imagination running wild as to all the possibilities. I got lost in Morrowind's world for months and I loved every minute of it.

I thoroughly liked oblivion, but I personally don't really like Skyrim. The setting in the north just does not do it for me with its barren tundra kind of feel. Its just too strait forward and stream lined as well. Its a game that I consistently pick up and put down, and again pick up and put down. I've never even beaten it all the way through. Still, I eagerly await the release of elder scrolls 6.

[Cable]

5. Tecmo Super Bowl



NES

There is an original, and sequels

This was the reason to own a second NES controller.  It's not the most accurate portrayal of football, but it hit a magic spot of being realistic enough with most of the NFL players (fuck you Cunningham, Kosar, and cancer-face Kelly), players with attributes that vary depending on the health of a player, and plays that resembled actual plays; along with some humor when you throw a guy several yards in the air when breaking a block, and cut scenes that showed big plays and close plays (the cut scene of the over thrown receiver always made me chuckle for some reason).  You could challenge a friend, or play through a season.  Then there was Barry Fucking Sanders and Motherfuckin Bo Jackson.  The game is so popular it is still being played, both in it's original 26 year old form, and updated forms with current players.

Cancer face Kelly; harsh but 

[Evermind]

Morrowind.

[Dr. DTVT]

3. Front Page Sports Football 98



PC

There were previous versions

"Wait!  Another football game?"  Yes.  This game is my favorite sports game ever.  It's sad that in the twenty years since this series has been finished and no game has brought the full package together like FPS Football series did (even back in 1992, which I have played, and was very good and had most of the features that 98 had, just poorer graphics).  So, why do I and others still play this game today?  It was one of the first games to keep career stats and had a franchise mode.  It had basic GM features like having inactive players, injured reserve, and free agents you could sign to fill those holes that crop up over the season.  Players had attributes, and you couldn't just get a bunch of fast players (hello Madden and NCAA football).  Players had intelligence and discipline ratings to go along with the measurables.  A dumb player doesn't execute his assignments well or make good reactions to situations, and undisciplined players get more penalties, especially when mismatched.  The game had several default camera angles, but it also allowed you to make your own camera views, which I found incredibly useful.  Most of those things are still in games.  What FPS Football has that no other game has made as well - and I watch for new games with this feature like a hawk because it is my FAVORITE thing about a football game - is the depth and clarity of the play creator.  Yes, you can make your own formations and plays.  Want to make a double reverse flea-flicker?  You can do that, and I have.   Even though trick plays are fun to make, the fact that the game behaved like real football was so important.  Tried to make or call too many cute complicated plays?  You weren't going anywhere offensively.  Defensively, you had lots of options as well.  You could create your own man and zone schemes, blitz packages, and sub packages.  Another game came out about 10 years ago with a play editor and it wasn't nearly as good. 

[Dr. DTVT]

2.  Military Madness



Turbo Grafx-16

Also released as Nectaris on PS, PS3, and iPhone

This game shaped not only my childhood, but a lot of my friends.  As you can gather from the title, it is a military strategy game played on a hex map, which I prefer to the square grid map of Warsong (#20).  There were lots of different types of units with different offensive and defensive stats, ground or aerial units, fast and slow units, units that can move after attacking, units that attack short range or long range, factories where damaged units could regroup, terrain that effected the defensive ability and mobility of ground units.  Your units get seasoned and gain experience, which benefits their stats.  You could support your units by placing them next to each other, and create opportunities by trapping opponents by surrounding them.  You could win a stage in one of two ways: destroy all enemy units *the fun way*, or by moving an infantry unit onto the opponent's base.  You could also capture neutral or enemy factories and have your factories captured.  Some of the later stages had you at a large strength disadvantage, and you had to use guile and wits to find a strategy that worked based on your available units.  What made this game fun is that my friends and I would play it as a coop game, discussing strategy and executing on the fly.  While there was some RNG, very rarely did you feel screwed or greatly benefit from the RNG: A full strength, experienced polar tank unit on hilly terrain are going to put a hurt on unexperienced bison tanks on the road.  Reimplementations have included more stages and added some nice paint, and the PS1 version called Nectaris will give you days upon days of fun.  More than the average game these days, as it includes two 32 stage campaigns, 100 fan created and vetted levels, and a scenario editor where you can make your own scenarios.

[Dr. DTVT]

1.  Dark Souls



PS3

Dark Souls 2 and 3 are out there, but this game also covers for it's spiritual ancestor, Demon Souls, and spiritual successor, Bloodborne

Some of you saw this coming.  While I concede that Bloodborne might be the best game in terms of gameplay, no game has ever made my jaw hit the floor than my first playthough of Dark Souls, which I played before Demon Souls.  Most people know that the Souls games are very difficult.  What makes the series special isn't that the game is hard, but the game essentially teaches you how to get good at the game if you are willing to learn from your mistakes.  You'll learn the lay of the land, where the enemies lie in wait, and how they react.  And that's just the regular part of the game.  Then there are the boss fights...oh the boss fights.  I'm pretty sure that I never defeated a Dark Souls boss, other than Pinwheel because he's weaksauce, on my first try.  Or second try.  And in the case of Dragonslayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough, I have no freaking idea how many times.  All I remember was when I FINALLY beat them (because I insisted on not summoning help for some reason), it was two in the morning, and I spent the next five minutes yelling and celebrating.  That wasn't the only memorable boss fight, just the most satisfying and probably the most difficult boss in any game.

Dark Souls is more than just epic boss fights.  The stage design, particularly in the original DS, is just amazing.  Other than the beautiful Anor Londo, all the areas that you can explore are seamless, and are connected by short cuts.  But seeing how the cathedral connects to Firelink which connects to New Londo Ruins is just amazing.  If the game was just all that, it would still probably be my #1 game.  But on top of all of that is a great multiplayer system where you can help other players, summon other players to help you, invade other players to regain your humanity, and be invaded by other players looking to take your humanity (if you have it).  I generally dislike PvP in games because...well I will suck at it because I don't practice it and dealing with immature 12 year olds isn't my idea of fun.  Dark Souls makes it work though.  Yes, there are some people who are really damn good at PvP and will hand you your ass sideways; but you rarely have to deal with the negativity.  There is a weird honor in the game, people will often bow before fighting you, and ambushing is seen as cowardly.  Try your best and lose, and you'll still be honored with a nice gesture.  I don't PvP often, I prefer to play coop helping others, which is just as fun and rewarding as well.

Dark Souls reignited what was a dying love of video gaming.  It created a world that is rich in lore if you wanted to find it, offered more challenges than most games, gave you the tools to overcome those challenges, and created an in world community where messages of help and humor were there to help your game and your spirits "Try finger, but hole!".

[ReaperKK]

I started playing Dark Souls 3 for the first time last week. I have all the Dark Souls games but haven't played any of them so I started with 3. I got to the first boss, spent 2 hours trying to kill him and almost through my controller through the window. Don't think the game is for me but I can appreciate people who can take the time to learn it and how great it looks.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

I enjoyed reading this list. Saw a few games that I really like, and a few that I'd be interested in checking out.  Also tempts me to craft and share a list of my own.

[Dr. DTVT]

Reaper, try a sorcerer.  They are terrible at PvP, but good for learning the game as well as very welcome in coop.  DS3 probably isn't the place to start.  If the first boss drove you nuts after heat up, the third boss would have driven you insane because you some of the nodes on rotting tree require ranged or jumping attacks to hit.

DoC, what games are you interested in trying now?

[Lynxo]

Dark Souls. <3 So unique and awesome games. They truly are revolutionary and something special.

[Crow]

I have dark souls on steam but haven't actually played it yet, guess I should 

[Dr. DTVT]

I have dark souls on steam but haven't actually played it yet, guess I should 

[Destiny Of Chaos]

DoC, what games are you interested in trying now?

Landstalker and Warsong sound great. Growing up, we were a Nintendo household, and while I did end up with a Genesis (and Master System) at some point, I never really explored too many games on the system. So I'd like to check them out at some point. Also, you gave Crystalis some high praise. I never played it, but love the first Zelda.

[Cool Chris]

I've been intrigued by the Dark Souls games, but the limitations on my gaming time make it seem these would not be best for me at this time.

Who's up now??

[Sacul]

Been waiting for Dark Souls to be on sale for a while to finally get it. Hopefully will do in the next Steam sale.

[Mr. Beale]

Soul games sure are great, I have a hard time even picking a favorite.

[Cable]

Heck of a list Dr., thank you!

[ReaperKK]

Yea awesome list Ltup

[Dr. DTVT]

Thank you to all who read and or commented.

[Mr. Beale]

Don't know if the waiting list is still valid, but I can start my list if no one objects.

[black_biff_stadler]

You're good to go I'll clean up the long-in-need-of-updating OP some time soon.

[Mr. Beale]

Alright lets get this started.

Welcome to Mr. Beale's Top 50 video games of All Time!

Kinda. Sort of. Actually I'm going to limit entries to one entry per series, otherwise I think to list will be too dominated by a few series which would be repetitive to read and write. Spinoffs are fair game though (for example Mario Kart 64, Super Mario 64, and Paper Mario would count as different series). I will be leaving space to write about other entries worth shout-outs if it's a series with multiple notable games. And yes I know 50 is way more than this thread calls actually calls, for but well this did start as a project seperate from this specific thread, sooooo.... yeah. I will be writing short explainations about why they made the list but nothing extensive in most cases. I'll try to have multiple entries most days to get this done in a reasonable amount of time. For far as personal background I was born in the mid-80s and have always been primarily a console gamer with a soft spot for handheld systems, so my tastes in rpgs tend to lean Japanese, and don't expect many RTS or point and click games to show up.

Now for some honorable mentions (vol. 1?)

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back



I'm honestly don't have strong feelings for either Crash 1 or 3, but Crash 2 is a game I have a lot of fond memories in the early-ish original Playstation days. In my opinion it has the best balance of difficulty and variety in the trilogy.





Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale



This game gets a lot of flack for being highly derivative of Smash Bros. but also deviating from it in a few respects. And while does have some balance issues, I have to admit I'm a weirdo who  enjoy this more than any Smash game.





Bionic Commando (NES)



It's platformer except to hook is you can't jump: instead you must swing from platform to platform with your bionic arm. Still feels really cool.





Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords



What happens when you put rpg mechanics into a match-three game? A much more compelling game. It's almost too easy but it works. 





But let's get to the real list!

[Mr. Beale]

50. Star Wars: Rogue Squardron



The N64 wasn’t my favorite console. Between the software droughts and the high price of the cartridges it sucked if you blew your allowance on a game that was less than great. Rogue Squadron however was a great game that did the property justice. Probably my most played game in the later days of the system’s lifecycle.




Any other entries worth playing?

Rogue Squadron II was a great showpiece for the Gamecube, but I never got into that one too much.

[Mr. Beale]

49. Parasite Eve



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Tcl6qvfy4


It’s a Horror-RPG. That alone makes it unique. While the pseudoscience is pretty laughable, the story does have a lot of wonderfully eerie imagery, and that music! Tone and atmosphere will go a long ways with me and PE has both of those in spades. You probably shouldn’t play this if you find the concept spontaneous combustion terrifying. Man Squaresoft was so godly during the Playstation era.

Also, that moment in junior high biology you learn that mitochondria is a real thing = priceless.







Any other entries worth playing?

Short answer = no. The sequel stripped away a lot of the rpg elements (you know, the MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT THE FIRST GAME) in favor of a more derivative Resident Evil clone, and the less said about Third Birthday the better.

[Mr. Beale]

Probably won't be able to post this weekend so let's get one more in.

48. College Slam



The less remembered NCAA version of NBA Jam. Plays exactly the same (enormous jumps, “HE’S ON FIRE!”, etc.), just with college teams. I was always more of a college hoops guy.




Any other entries worth playing?

Don’t think it had a follow up.

[ariich]

Top 50 in a Top 25 thread? Shocking behaviour!

Though if you'll get through them quickly (similar pace to others getting through Top 25s) then I'm fine with it.

Crash Bandicoot 2 was amazing. Never played any of the others.

[Mr. Beale]

Yeah I've been working on this for a awhile so I should be able to have a steady pace posting.

[ReaperKK]

I love crash bandicoot, I can't wait for the rerelease.

[Cable]

Love Bionic Commando.  Challenging game, and has "Hitler's" head explode- big deal back then in the NES censored days.

Parasite Eve also is a  . It felt like an Action RPG or something, and was integrated pretty well. A for sure underrated game, and probably because it got lost in all of Square's FFs nailing it (well, not FF8 ) ) on PSX.

[Mr. Beale]

47. Mortal Kombat (2011)





Mortal Kombat (2011), or MK 9 as it sometimes referred to, is a video game love letter to MK fans. It reimagines the glory days of the series’ original trilogy of games in HD while also rebooting the ongoing storyline that had gotten out of control. Seeing those classic MK stages fleshed out in high-def was definitely a personal highlight of the last generation of consoles. But on top of that, it was easily the most competent MK to date from gameplay standpoint. This game gave me everything I want from a MK game to the point it’s going to be hard to ever top this.




Any other entries worth playing?

I have tons of nostalgia for the original trilogy (more 1 and Utimate MK 3 than fan favorite 2 though) but they really aren’t games to go back to. The newest MK X by all accounts plays better than MK 9, although it didn’t grab me as much.