WolfAtTheDoor

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.


7. GTA: San Andreas Regardless of the overwhelming critical acclaim and hyperbole surrounding GTA IV, I still felt it to be a little bit disappointing. Aside from the obvious graphical improvements and the compulsory fantastic storyline, it felt, to me at least, to be two steps back as opposed to San Andreas' massive leap forward. San Andreas had all the typical GTA elements - compelling characters, sandbox environment, immense amounts of fun to be found when you veer off track. But what makes it the best of the series is how well all of these elements are executed. No matter how cliche this sounds, it still remains true - you could literally spend hours exploring and never find yourself growing bored. Perhaps the environment was a little too large at times and maybe the RPG system was somewhat tedious, but it barely detracts from the overall experience. A perfect balance between the serious and silly, it is definitely the highlight of the series and has not been bettered.

8. Super Ghouls n Ghosts Pure determination and excruciatingly lengthy playing hours allowed me to finally complete this game at the tender age of 8 years old. Feeling accomplished, I lay the pad down and awaited the inevitable rolling of the credits. They never came. Yes, I'm sure anyone who has a half-decent knowledge of videogames knows that in order to complete SGNG, you must complete the game twice. There are barely any alterations in gameplay and no real reason for the game to be repeated other than the developer WANTS you to suffer. But I had suffered long enough. I turned off my SNES and resigned, never stepping up to the challenge again. With the power of the internet I have since come to learn that even halfway completing SGNG at 8 years old is a bewildering achievement, with it earning itself the accolade as one of the most hardcore games to ever exist. It's difficulty is legendary and oh so unfair, but that's what makes it brilliant. Never has a game made you feel so satisfied, and never has a game taken it away just as quick.

9. Def Jam: Fight For NY I'm a fan of my over the top fighters. Far too often do developers focus on making their beat-em-ups as realistic as possible, immersing the player in the fight to the point where you actually feel like you are wearing the gloves. That's all well and good, but give me ridiculous finishing moves and vast amounts of weaponry any day. Fight For NY was a game that had found a perfect balance between the two, taking the chaotic ethos of Power Stone and injecting it with gritty, hip-hop realism. The story mode was surprisingly fun, the roster huge and the soundtrack top-class. But what made it so good was the fighting itself, which offered hours of replay value (especially in the company of friends). Severely underrated for one of the PS2's finest.

10. Super Mario World Although it is overshadowed by SMB3, Mario's first SNES outing is still an achievement. Even though it doesn't pose much of a challenge to, well, anyone, it's still incredibly fun and features some of the best level design I've ever seen in a game. Each world has its own hidden delights to explore and is capped off by some tremendous boss battles with the Koopa Kids. On top of all that it marks the debut of Yoshi, perhaps the greatest sidekick in videogame history. The graphics are lush, the gameplay excellent and the experience irresistable. Sure, it disappoints when compared with its predecessor, but it's still the second greatest platformer of all time.

__________________

press your space face close to mine, love