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

[Mr. Beale]

46. Injustice 2




I’m not the biggest superhero guy by any stretch, but the colorful character designs and various superpowers really lend themselves well to fighting games. Between the over the top supermoves, tons of unique intro dialogue, mid-battle mini-dialogue scenes in the form of Clashes, and the crazy stage transitions, the Injustice games are extremely cinematic looking for the genre and just a lot of fun even if you don’t play fighting games at a high level. NetherRealm does a really good job of making nearly every character fun to use.

Storywise the game justifies the premise by telling an alternate timeline “What if Superman was pushed over the edge and went full dictator?!” tale. It’s pretty hokey and contrived, but hey what do you expect from a fighting game story (though apparently the Injustice comics are actually pretty good). I might be jumping the gun a bit picking a game so new, but I liked the first game a lot and Injustice 2 builds on a very solid foundation and makes a lot of smart tweaks and additions. I might favor the cast of the first Injustice a bit (we’ll see how the dlc roster shakes out) and think it had a somewhat better collection of supermoves and stage transitions, but the second one just plays a bit smoother, faster, and just more enjoyable overall.




Any other entries worth playing?

There isn’t a lot of reason to go back to the first one, but it’s a quality game that’s got some really fun characters that didn’t make it over to the sequel (like my main Batgirl  ). Worth grabbing for cheap if nothing else. And weirdly Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, while not a great game by any means, is actually where a lot of the presentation and design ideas of Injustice and the recent Mortal Kombat games came from. Looking back it’s actually kind of fascinating.

[black_biff_stadler]

Cool to see Crash and MK getting a nod as I don't remember Crash being on many lists and this might be the first list I've seen with an MK game on it. I should play Injustice 1 some time since it's collected dust since I bought it in a PS store flash sale.

[ReaperKK]

MK9 was such a blast to play. Those fatalities were awesome, the story mode was cheesy as hell but it was a great time. I never played Injustice but there is a lot of talk about it. I don't really think the game is for me but it does look great.

[Mr. Beale]

45. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair




Danganronpa are visual novels-esque games with gameplay elements thrown in a la Ace Attorney. The premise is you and a bunch of other anime archetypes are imprisoned, and the only way the mastermind (a rather amusing mechanical bear) will let you out is if someone can murder a fellow captive and get away with it. Despite effort to avoid such a fate, gruesome things inevitably follow, leading to trial sequences that revolve around “spot the contradiction” logic puzzles. Not all of the gameplay elements are great (or even good) but the game has a ton of personality between the strong soundscape and visual style and the self-aware characters that fill the narrative. On the surface it does appear pretty, uh, anime and niche, but it’s interesting enough that I would recommend almost anyone to give the series a try.

Oh and Gundam Tanaka is the best.




Any other entries worth playing?

The first two Danganronpa games compliment each other so much they are almost two halves of a whole, so play the first one first. I just like the second one a little more because it ramps up the crazy quicker. Ultra Despair Girls is a spinoff you can skip.

[Mr. Beale]

44. Tearaway



Tearaway is a fantastic, striking from the paper-craft visual look of everything to how it integrates all of the Vita’s functions to create a uniquely tactile experience. The art is fantastic, it’s maybe the only game to use the Vita’s back touchpad well, and one of the few to incorporate the camera that isn't lame. It can loosely be defined as a platformer, though it doesn’t try to fit neatly into any playstyle, to its benefit. Super charming with just the right amount of whimsy, the game excellently explores it ideas enough without feeling padded or overstaying its welcome. Just a cool gem that was probably always bound to be overlooked due to its quirky nature.

Unfortunately, it came out on the Vita, so many people will never get to play it. Yes, it was remade for PS4, which I’m sure is fine for what it is, but it can’t fully replicate how the original used all those functions in ways that aren’t frivolous.





Any other entries worth playing?

Outside of the PS4 port/remake no.

[Crow]

DR2 is great but I still prefer the original
Also Chiaki is the best but Gundham is up there

[cramx3]

Cool to see Crash and MK getting a nod as I don't remember Crash being on many lists and this might be the first list I've seen with an MK game on it. I should play Injustice 1 some time since it's collected dust since I bought it in a PS store flash sale.

Nope, the original MK made my list    I think this MK game is the only in the last 15 years to get any attention from me though.  I just moved away from that style of game in general.

[Mr. Beale]

43. Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City



Etrian Odyssey is a great series of dungeon crawlers descended from old-school turn-based rpgs like Wizardry. It’s an excellent entry point for newcomers with gameplay that’s approachable but challenging while not as brutal as the games it takes inspiration from. The other big hook is that you use the bottom screen on the DS to draw you map as you explore the labyrinth, which is an extremely clever call back to the days of drawing handmade maps on graph paper.

Every EO game has been great, but III is the one that really opened up the scenarios while smoothing some rough edges (things like character class balance) that the first couple had. Rock solid games. The only issue I have with them is that they tend to be slow-burns and huge time sinks.








Any other entries worth playing?

The series is very iterative, so the more recent entries in the series are generally the best ones. I easily could have listed EO IV or Untold 2, III is just the one I spent the most time on. The Persona spinoff Persona Q is also a great introduction to this style of game if you have some affinity for that series.

[Mr. Beale]

42. Vanguard Bandits



Vanguard Bandits is an old-school tactics rpg that was published in North America by Working Designs. As a game it’s got an enjoyable amount of turn-based tactics going on, but what I love most about it is the presentation. It soooo 90s anime in a way I find utterly charming. It’s a kind of game to bask in nostalgia, despite me not actually playing it until a few years ago.






Any other entries worth playing?

N/A

[Mr. Beale]

41. God of War III



God of War is a violent, dark fantasy take on Greek mythology known for its big set pieces and III had the biggest and best ones. Yeah the story’s not great and Kratos isn’t exactly the most likable protagonist, but it’s actually a set up from the second GoW which was terribly storywise.




Any other entries worth playing?

Ghost of Sparta is the one to not sleep on. Not only is it the tightest mechanically and the best playing moment to moment, it actually gives Kratos some pathos and makes him sympathetic in ways most of the other games fail to do. It also has GREAT final boss scenario that is actually quite emotional.

[ReaperKK]

Great write ups. I haven't played any of those games but I was always interested i n the god of war series.

[Mr. Beale]

Great write ups. I haven't played any of those games but I was always interested i n the god of war series.

They get ragged on in some circles but they're good times when you just want to play something big and full of spectacle. Although the first one is a little rough to go back to now.

[Mr. Beale]

40. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch



Do you like Studio Ghibli? Would you like to play an rpg that looks like a Studio Ghibli film? If so then I hope you've played Ni No Kuni. Level 5 has been a solid rpg developer for some time now, but Ni No Kuni is easily their best game in my opinion. Presentation-wise the game is gorgeous in the way you’d hope a collaboration with Studio Ghibli would turn out. The story in Level 5 game’s tend to run twee, but Ni No Kuni hits emotional beats better than any other Level 5 title I’ve played, and the characters are likeable. Mechanically the game is divisive (it relies a lot on AI-controlled party members) but I didn’t have any problems with it.






Any other entries worth playing?

Not yet although a sequel is on the way!

[Mr. Beale]

39. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles IV: Turtles in Time



Not much to say about this other than it’s a classic beat’em up with great graphics and a lot of energy that does the property justice. Concentrated Turtle Awesomeness!




Any other entries worth playing?

Eh, not really. There were other arcade TMNT games in the series (as well many other licensed games obviously) but Turtles in Time is the best.

[black_biff_stadler]

Bury my shell at Wounded Knee!

[ReaperKK]

I didn't play a lot of the Ninja Turtle game because my buddy owned it at the time but it was a great time.

[Mr. Beale]

I totally remember thinking Turtles in Time was the most impressive looking game I had ever seen at the time.

38. Fight Night Round 4



A wild sports game appears! The thing with boxing games is that they feel less like a sports simulation and more like a genre closer to my heart: fighting games! The steady progess of getting stronger and moving up the ranks was pretty rewarding. The control scheme primarily uses motions on the analog sticks and is pretty fun too once you get the hang of it.




Any other entries worth playing?

Fight Night Champion is the most recent one in the series. It’s basically the same game with a lame cinematic story mode.

[Mr. Beale]

37. Devil May Cry



DMC made a huge impression on me when it came out. The speed of your attacks, the way everything flowed, the moody atmosphere, everything about it spoke to a very strong vision and was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It made you go "Oh, THIS is how you make an action game in 3D." It may have started out as a Resident Evil game but it ended up being something that felt much cooler.




Any other entries worth playing?

Devil May Cry 3 is often considered the pinnacle of the series. 4 and the reboot are decent but flawed.

[Dr. DTVT]

Love the EA Sports Fight Night series, except for the god awful rap soundtracks.

[ariich]

Almost no games that I've played so far.

[ReaperKK]

I don't remember which fight it was but I remember walking into a Best Buy once and just being blown away by the graphics of fight night.

[Dr. DTVT]

One of the great things about Fight Night is that there is relatively so little for the game to process that the designers can put a massive amount of detail into relatively few things.

[ReaperKK]

Similar to racing games, except probably even less to process in Fight Night

[Mr. Beale]

36. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2



I doubt I need to introduce this to anyone, but this was the sickest game you could own for a period of time in the late 90. It famously gave a boost to skateboarding, but even if you had no interest in skateboarding in real life there was no denying how brilliant these games were.




Any other entries worth playing?

Well 1 and 3 are also really good games, but THPS 2 is a kind of game that is impossible to improve upon in my opinion.

[Mr. Beale]

35. Heavy Rain



One of the more unique games on this list, Heavy Rain is an adventure-ish game where you mainly use quicktime prompts for inputs. That doesn’t sound super compelling on paper, but somehow committing to it to the degree Heavy Rain does makes it work. You play as multiple protagonists, with the central premise a thriller: a child has disappeared, seemingly at the hands of a known serial killer, and the father will be tested to what lengths he will go to get him back before it's too late. The story certainly has its shortcomings, but the game does conjure an experience with a distinctly somber feel and tone unlike anything I had played at the time.






Any other entries worth playing?

N/A

[Crow]

I never played heavy rain but I did watch a playthrough.

It seemed alright.

[Dr. DTVT]

I think I had Heavy Rain as an honorable mention.

[Phoenix87x]

Tony Hawk 2 is a god tier game for me. Hours upon hours played and god damn, I love that soundtrack.

[ReaperKK]

Tony Hawk 2 is a god tier game for me. Hours upon hours played and god damn, I love that soundtrack.

I agree, I wish I knew how many hours I sunk into that game. As a kid it'd pump me up for skateboarding, I'd play the game and then go outside and bust my ass

[Mr. Beale]

34. Chrono Cross



Now we’re getting into the RPGs. Chrono Cross is a flawed game in a lot of ways. It’s rather experimental, thinking outside the box in terms of rpg mechanics like leveling and how combat works: most of which don’t pan out great. You play as a silent protagonist in a story that seems ill-suited for it. Said story’s pacing is not great, and the philosophical musings the game is reaching for can feel sophomoric.

And yet that’s all worth it when it’s firing on all cylinders and hits those peaks, it suddenly becomes something very gripping. When it’s at its best, the games heavy themes of the transient nature of existence, and all the melancholy that entails, really stuck with me. I love the game’s visual motif of tropical blue skies and white clouds. And there’s no way to talk about CC without mentioning Yasunori Mitsuda’s score, which has a huge presence everywhere and lends so much resonance and emotional weight to everything. And wrapping it all up with Radical Dreamers (which I’m convinced is one of the most perfectly constructed songs I have ever heard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBE3c9X0BoA) leaves you with maybe the best mic drop of an ending there could be. Just damn.






Any other entries worth playing?

So there’s this game called Chrono Trigger that’s often regarded as one of if not the best rpg to come out of Japan. It’s a very polished and clever game with interest design aspects that still feel fresh even today. But to be honest CT has never particularly resonated with me. It’s probably a better game than Cross objectively speaking, but I’ve never found the characters terribly interesting, and Cross just has so much soul.

[Mr. Beale]

33. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood



Rondo of Blood (titled Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo in Japan) is a Castlevania that had some mystique around it because it was not released outside Japan for a long time but had a reputation for being one of, if not the best, entry in the series. Well, it totally lives up to that reputation and more because Rondo of Blood is the pinnacle of old-school Castlevania platforming. It plays similar to its predecessors but has just a total package of good sprite art, soundtrack, level design, and challenge. It also has lots of secrets and branching paths, encouraging exploration (and hinting where the series would turn with Symphony of the Night). I’ve always preferred the straight-ahead platforming of the older games though, and Rondo of Blood is the best. Rondo of Blood actually got a remake (and western release) on PSP subtitled Dracula Chronicles X, while the original version made its way to the Wii Virtual Console. Both versions have their merits.






Any other entries worth playing?

These been a lot of quality Castlevania games, but my other favorites are 1 and 3 on NES and Castlevania Chronicles of PS1, which is a remake of sorts of the original.

[Phoenix87x]

*Many are quick to praise chrono trigger, which is utterly incredible in its own right, but there is a special place in my heart for Chrono Cross. I love the setting and I get goosebumps from the beautiful beyond words soundtrack.

*I respect Rhondo quite a bit, but by the time I got to it, I had already sold my soul to SotN and the metroidvania style. Rhondo still kicks ass though

[ReaperKK]

I've heard of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. I played a bit of Chrono Trigger but never got very far, turn based rpg's don't really do it for me.

[Cable]

39. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles IV: Turtles in Time


Not much to say about this other than it’s a classic beat’em up with great graphics and a lot of energy that does the property justice. Concentrated Turtle Awesomeness!



Any other entries worth playing?

Eh, not really. There were other arcade TMNT games in the series (as well many other licensed games obviously) but Turtles in Time is the best.

I would slightly disagree, as the first TMNT was more prevalent in arcades I felt. It was more straight forward, and tied to the TV show at the time. And the trio of NES games were not bad, but obviously not as polished as TMNT In Time.

34. Chrono Cross

Now we’re getting into the RPGs. Chrono Cross is a flawed game in a lot of ways. It’s rather experimental, thinking outside the box in terms of rpg mechanics like leveling and how combat works: most of which don’t pan out great. You play as a silent protagonist in a story that seems ill-suited for it. Said story’s pacing is not great, and the philosophical musings the game is reaching for can feel sophomoric.

And yet that’s all worth it when it’s firing on all cylinders and hits those peaks, it suddenly becomes something very gripping. When it’s at its best, the games heavy themes of the transient nature of existence, and all the melancholy that entails, really stuck with me. I love the game’s visual motif of tropical blue skies and white clouds. And there’s no way to talk about CC without mentioning Yasunori Mitsuda’s score, which has a huge presence everywhere and lends so much resonance and emotional weight to everything. And wrapping it all up with Radical Dreamers (which I’m convinced is one of the most perfectly constructed songs I have ever heard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBE3c9X0BoA) leaves you with maybe the best mic drop of an ending there could be. Just damn.





Any other entries worth playing?

So there’s this game called Chrono Trigger that’s often regarded as one of if not the best rpg to come out of Japan. It’s a very polished and clever game with interest design aspects that still feel fresh even today. But to be honest CT has never particularly resonated with me. It’s probably a better game than Cross objectively speaking, but I’ve never found the characters terribly interesting, and Cross just has so much soul.

*Many are quick to praise chrono trigger, which is utterly incredible in its own right, but there is a special place in my heart for Chrono Cross. I love the setting and I get goosebumps from the beautiful beyond words soundtrack.

Big ups for mentioning Chrono Cross Mr. Beale . I enjoyed CC more than CT, and I'm glad I'm not the only one. The huge cast of characters, in which multiple play throughs was required to obtain (all?) of them added replay value to a genre sometimes without it.

[Mr. Beale]

32. BlazBlue: Central Fiction



Blazblue a fighting game series that inherited a lot of Arc System Works’s signature Guilty Gear mechanics (bursts, air-dashing, match-ending instant kills) while being more accessible than their older series (fewer buttons, easier execution inputs, slightly less system-heavy). The speed at which Arc System Works games move along can be intimidating to get into, but once you have a grasp of the mechanics and find a characters that gels with you it’s a great time. Featuring great 2D sprite work on 3D backgrounds, the game has a great colorful presentation with very anime character designs, some of which are pretty gonzo, both in terms of aesthetics and more importantly playstyles. Arc have always been good at creating some of the most inventive characters you will find in the fighting game genre, and after many iterations, Central Fiction has a huge roster to choose from.






Any other entries worth playing?

Honestly this spot is more for the series as a whole than Central Fictions specifically, and there are earlier entries I like a lot (like Continuum Shift Extend) but the series is iterative enough there isn’t really a need to go back.