Music Banter - View Single Post - MB's 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time: How YOU Can Vote!

boo boo · 11-02-2009, 08:30 AM

Anyway. Here's mine to start things off.

1. Super Mario Bros 3: Very rarely do games live up to their massive hype, but this one did, in fact this game was so huge that they made a whole movie (The Wizard) that devoted it's entire climax to advertising this game, and rest assured that was the only reason people went to see it. It took the formula of the original SMB but not only did it upgrade it in every single way, it added tons of variety and content in it's challenges, level design and awesome power ups, that til this day none of the Mario games feel as "complete" as Super Mario Bros 3. The levels may be short, but they offer so much satisfaction in such a short amount of time, Super Mario Bros 3 is the video game equivalent of multiple orgasms, everyone should play this game right now, and then have a cigarette afterwards. Then we may finally achieve world peace.

2. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: I might get killed for thinking this, but I do in fact consider LTTP to be slightly better than OOT. Almost every game has a few flaws, but LTTP probably comes the closest to having none whatsoever. While the original gave the blueprints for exploring a massive free roam environment, LTTP perfected it, with more dungeons, a greater variety of obstacles, cool new items like the Hookshot, more sidequests, a huge cast of NPCs and instead of one massive, wonderfully detailed overworld, you had two. SWEET. Great graphics, beautiful music and a cool backstory just add to the emmersive effect of what is easly the best SNES game ever.

3. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: While this isn't on the top of my list, it will certainly make the top of many lists to come and I can't argue against that, as great as the other 3D Zelda games are, none of them have made as huge of a leap as OOT did, nobody expected a Zelda that wasn't a 2D overhead to work, but Nintendo made it happen. Zelda kept all the tried and true classic elements of the Zelda series but took them into 3 dimensions. Everything about this game captivated me. The revolutionary graphics, a compelling story with a huge cast of memorable characters and one of the greatest video game soundtracks of all time. I gotta tell ya, exploring the massive hyrule field for the first time, and watching the sun set was truly unlike anything I have ever seen before, never before did a game feel so amazingly real and so incredibly vast in it's possibilities. Even after you beat it, there's still tons of stuff that's just waiting to be explored, and like every Zelda before and after, you'll find some new surprises even after years and years of playing it.

4. Super Smash Bros Brawl: OMFG THIS GAME IS A TRAVESTY LOL THIS GAME IS FOR N00BS WITH NO SKILLZ STICK WITH MELEE. Yeah, I've heard it all before, and you know what? F*ck Melee, looking back on it that game was a total failure, Sakurai never wanted Super Smash Bros to be a tourney game or even a competitive fighting game, it was meant to be a fighting game for people who don't even have to like fighting games to enjoy it, and that was exactly what the original SSB achieved, when Melee (the most overrated competitive fighting game of all time) became a staple among tourney tards people seemed to have forgotten what made the series unique from other fighting games, I can't blame Sakurai for wanting to bring the series back to it's roots, and that's exactly what he did here. It felt much more like the original, but at the same time added tons of awesome new content like a stage builder, new items like final smashes and many more new characters to choose from, everyone from underdogs like Pit and Captain Olimar to third party superstars like Sonic and Solid Snake. The stages are fantastic too, you'll find yourself visiting one famous Nintendo universe to the next. Never has a game offered so much nostalgia overload and complete random chaos like this game has, and that in my eyes is the beauty of the Smash series, not some boring ass matches on Final Destination where Captain Falcon and Shiek do nothing but wavedash and chain grab for 5 minutes.

5. Sonic 3 & Knuckles: For those stupid assh*les who say Sonic 2 was the last good Sonic game, WHAT THE F*CK IS WRONG WITH YOU? Hell, I thought the Adventure and Advance games were fantastic and very worthy additions to the franchise, yeah, I said it. sue me. So much for that Sonic hasn't had a good game since Sonic 2 theory, eh? But one thing that can't be denied, the Genesis games will always be on top, and IMO this is Sonic's finest game to date. This game took all the best elements of the last three 16 bit games and put them into a big blender, as well as adding some other things. This was the largest Sonic game yet, so large that it took two cartridges with a lock on feature to contain it. Some purist idiots seem to hate this game for all the same reasons I consider it the best, the levels were bigger and there were more of them, there were more multiple paths and more exploration involved, more varied levels each with their own unique challenges, a funky Michael Jackson inspired soundtrack and 3 different characters (Sonic, Tails and Knuckles) with their own unique abilities that not only altered the difficulty level but allowed you to explore different areas and take different routes than before, making this feel like 3 games in one. This truly was the most complete Sonic game of it's time and as a matter of fact, it still is.

6. Star Fox 64: My favorite shoot em up of all time. I've replayed this game more than any other game, ever. Everything about this game clicks, incredibly varied level design that ranges from being on rails to free roam environments, the then revolutionary use of force feedback with Nintendo's handy Rumble Pak add on, a multiple route system that added much of the replay value because there were so many different ways to play the game and some of the most quoted video game dialogue of all time. While it annoyed some people I always loved how your teammates talked to you in game, it was like being immersed into an interactive movie, and while it's something games take for granted today, it was something totally groundbreaking at the time. While the game is easy enough for pretty much anyone to beat on a first playthrough, the real challenge is getting a high score in every level, which then unlocks a hard mode in which you can complete the task once again. If there's any game that is truly worthy of the title "Galaga 3D" it's this gem.

7. Street Fighter II: Can you name another game that is so incredibly popular that it has spawned more countless rereleases, ports and remakes than probably any other game in history? Well it's that popular for a reason, it's the quintessential fighting game, it wasn't the first, but it perfected the formula. A large cast of classic, unique and well balanced characters, incredibly tight controls and fast paced action throughout. There's a large amount of debate over which version is the definitive one. But for my money it's Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Why? You ask? Is it because of the better graphics and sound? The expanded cast of playable characters? The introduction of super combos? A new scoring system that kept track of combos and other accomplishments? The adjustable play speed? The tournament battle mode? Well, it's really just because I like looking at Cammy's victory poses, but whatever, this game rules.

8. NBA Jam: I gotta confess, I'm not a fan of sports games... well, at least the ones that strive for realism, which is why I consider this the best Basketball game ever made, as it throws any hint of realism completely out the window. You want to push your opponent without getting disqualified? Go right ahead. You want to do a 360 mid air as your basketball catches fire? Go ahead and do that too. Why it may not seem like much in the aesthetics department, it's the super smooth controls, variety of special moves, the awesome announcer (BOOM SHAKALAKA) and the incredible multiplayer that makes this a classic.

9. Super Mario Galaxy: Some say the planet hopping and Wiimote controls are just lame gimmicks, some say this is just a tired rehash of Super Mario 64 with overly linear level design, I say that this game is a great example of how to keep a 25 year old franchise fresh and exciting. Granted the replay value isn't incredibly high when compared to other Mario adventures. But no Mario game ever WOWED me on it's first playthrough like this game has. Mario's universe feels so massive and jumping from one planet to the next always makes me feel tingly inside. I don't think I've ever seen a 3D platformer with such creative level design and the Wiimote truly opens up a new interactive experience for games like this, and for a Mario game, it has a surprisingly cinematic feel, with the most epic soundtrack in Mario history and some mind blowing visuals, whenever people say the Wii has sh*tty graphics, I like to rub this game in their face.

10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time: This is a perfect example of how a game can do a popular license justice. It's the best beat em up of all time. In fact as soon as I finish writing this up I'm gonna play it, it's one of those games I can't even think about without wanting to play it, that's how good it is. Sure there's more challenging beat em ups out there if you want something more hardcore, but it's not just the novelty of it being The Turtles that makes this a beloved classic, nobody knows beat em ups better than Konami, and this game does everything right. But the presentation that makes the game feel like an interactive version of the classic cartoon is what seals the deal if you're a TMNT fan like yours truly, if you have an SNES and a friend to play with, there's no excuse not to pick this one up.