50. Kirby's Pinball Land
49. Pokemon Diamond
48. Arkanoid
47. Strikers 1945 II
46. Tetris
35. Dragon Warrior 2
34. Pokemon Blue
33. Final Fantasy VII
32. 3D Dot Game Heroes
31. Katamari Damacy
12. Super Smash Brothers Brawl
1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
5. Okami (PS2)
The concept of running around as a wolf with a magic paintbrush and using it to change the environment around you seems almost katamari-crazy at first, but after a while just feels normal. The game at first feels a bit short before achieving its RPG length with a zelda-like midgame boss. The normal battles have a little bit of variety thrown into the techniques used to kill different enemies but the boss battles are where the game really shines. Outside of battle there are numerous things to collect and upgrades to achieve for different items. The special part of this game is the ability to draw your attacks and platforming tools using the paint brush as you learn new brushstrokes. These techniques allow you to change the time of day and do everything from a simple slash to a bomb, or blooming flowers to walking up walls. The story ties in mythology nicely and the art style is beautiful as well.
4. Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
If I had to pick the most prominent reason I liked this game, it would be because it took everything except the boss fights out of the equation and got straight to the reason you were playing the game in the first place. The sixteen bosses display a surprising amount of variety and each requires some exploration to discover how to approach finding its weak spots. The limited grip strength means that your first attempt won't be successful in many cases. I remember thinking after the first couple battles that it would always be finding a weak spot to climb onto the colossus, but many of the colossi surprised me as they would send you underwater, into the air, and onto your horse in order to meet your end goal. Finding your way to the next colossi by watching the sun glint off your sword and then riding through the beautiful expanse until you reached a new area you didn't know existed was the rewarding alternative to fighting against smaller, ultimately unchallenging, foes. Ultimately the simplistic storytelling forced you to look around to and discover what is happening to the characters. After beating the game there is still plenty left to do as well, a harder set of fights, gathering new items, and completing speed runs against any of the colossi. This is a game that really deserves to be played on a big screen because of the sheer impressive size of the colossi, and the hd/3d remakes should make it all the better.
3. Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
The end of the two dimensional numeric entries in the Final Fantasy series went out with a bang. Ultimately the transition to the third dimension meant a short lived setback, both graphically and otherwise. The game breaks itself up into two sections, at the start trying to prevent the world from being destroyed and later dealing with the results of your actions. The second section means regrouping your party through a series of events based around the individual characters. Largely the characters you bring back into your fold may be done at your leisure and you get the option of who you want. Blitzes were a more involved version of the limit type attacks seen in later games and varied amongst the different characters. The customization level in equips led to a bunch of flexibility up to the point where you can attack 8 times or quadruple cast ultima and allows the enemies to throw more potent attacks at you. The story in the game remains one of the more epic entries in the series as well.
2. Final Fantasy IX (PS)
This is my favorite Final Fantasy game, largely because it goes back flawlessly to the roots of the series. Indeed, part of the allure of this game was the story (my favorite), set not ina futuristic setting but instead the standard fantasy medieval setting. There is plenty of lore, backstory, and allusions to previous games that will make you smile if you've played previous games. The combat is good with a four player lineup and simplistic trance system. More interestingly is how equipment and skills work together in character development. Using your weapons to master new skills you can use and then deciding upon a limited amount of points worth of skills to keep active makes you put some thought into how you build your characters within their designated classes and allows you to adapt your builds to the type of combat you are enduring. In addition, there are plenty of minigame opportunities between the tetramaster card game, moogle mail, and chocobo content. Chocobo hot and cold remains my favorite Final Fantasy minigame to date. The music in this game is also exquisite with songs like Vamo' Alla Flamenco and Melodies of Life.
1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
The addition of parallel worlds added depth to the zelda universe's gameplay. This game wrote the formula for those later to come with all of its additions. Spin attacks, heart containers, many items, and multiple floor dungeons with more than just staircases to travel between floors all were wonderful features of the huge zelda world. There were so many hidden wonders to discover in this world that exploring was often as fun as the massive dungeons. What really made this game is the unbelievable number of items and upgrades to those items you get throughout the game, some very useful ones which aren't even required to complete the game. Many of these items such as ice and fire rods are sorely missed in other games, which usually have a small subset of the arsenal. There was also a fairly significant amount of story for this game to keep you involved if somehow the gameplay was wearing thin.
Primarily an RPG player but have interest in any game that will make me think.
