1. Super Mario Bros. 3 A hugely imaginative addition to the Mario Bros. series, the third of the portly plumbers outings ticked all of the necessary boxes and cemented Mario's status as a gaming icon. Whether it was venturing through the land of impossibly oversized koopas, hopping around in Kuribo's shoe for the first time or even taking part in one of Toad's minigames, Super Mario Bros. 3 was the pinnacle of gaming excellence at the time and still shines as the crown jewel of retro platforming.
2. Halo 2 Though it has its fair share of detractors, it cannot be denied that as a multiplayer experience Halo 2 was second to none. When it first came onto the scene I spent an unruly amount of time hooked up to Live, mucking around with friends and desperately trying (and failing) to level up. Although I am not a fan of developers shunning the single-player campaign in favour of the multiplayer experience, Halo 2 was so incredibly fun to play online that it barely mattered.
3. Super Smash Bros. Melee Brawl is undoubtedly the greatest game in the franchise, with its superb collection of characters, fantastic selection of arenas and unadulterated chaos. However, Melee was the game that made me rush out, buy a Gamecube, gather a bunch of friends and finish lengthy drinking sessions with some good ol' fashioned Kirby head-bashing. Sublime.
I'll post more later.
And now, to belatedly continue my list...
4. The Warriors Although it has found its memory buried beneath Rockstar's illustrious back catalogue, The Warriors was an underrated classic that quite clearly appreciated its source material like no other licensed game has managed since (well, aside from one notable outing from a certain Caped Crusader). Featuring a refreshing no-frills core mechanic, permeated with surprisingly enjoyable mini-games (spray painting, radio-jacking etc), it shoved campy 80s nostalgia in the backseat and allowed the gritty beat-em-up to take the wheel. On top of that it featured an endlessly replayable King Of The Hill mode, making muliplayer something of a surprising treat.
5. Super Star Wars I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing the ESB or ROTJ entries in the Super Star Wars series, so the one that makes it to number 5 on my list is first installment 'A New Hope'. Or, if you are particularly relentless in refusing to acknowledge the Episodic treatment of the Star Wars series, 'The First One'. As with every good retro classic, it is both relentlessly difficult and overwhelmingly replayable, meaning that every time you find yourself facing the last boss of the Cantina level with only half a health bar, you WILL go aaaaallllllllllll the way back to Tattooine just to have 'one last go' at him. This, the epic soundtrack and some surprisingly pleasant Mode 7 vehicular sections make this a forgotten classic.
6. Project Gotham Racing 3 I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a petrol-head. Forza Motorsport, although inarguably a perfect driving simulator, is a little too overwhelming for my tastes. I know the bare minimum, enjoy what I know of the bare minimum, therefore I race with all the logic of someone who knows the bare minimum. I know not of understeer and oversteer - I see a corner and I swing into it fearlessly. On the other hand, arcadey racers send me cold. There's just something about your Need For Speeds and Burnours that doesn't sit right with me. PGR, then, sitting comfortably between the hardcore and the lightweight, is my perfect match. The third installment showcased incredible visuals, a smooth and accomplished driving mechanic and the impressive PGR TV mode, which allowed you to watch the very best online racers go at it. It simply hasn't been bettered, not even by its successor.
Again, I'll be back with more.
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