Number 41
Super Metroid
Aw yeah. This is the good stuff, right here, so good that some people will wish death on me for ranking it as low as I have. Still, I take nothing away from this game: it is a triumph of exploration-based gameplay, the product of fell alchemy that took great art, great music, great world design, and terrifying bosses and transmuted all of them into a wonder. Super Metroid is a game the mechanics of which border on flawless, remaining perfectly playable to this day, and the design of which is timeless. Few and rare are the games that age as perfectly as this one does.
One of the things I like best about Super Metroid is the narrative structure of the game; most of the plot is fleshed out only sparsely in the opening text scroll or in the manual, and then after that it grows without using any words at all. Ideas and concepts and emotions are conveyed through images, both explosive and muted, and the result is a game whose story - via pictures - burns itself into the recesses of your mind. The game blends horror, fear, exhiliration, and grief into an exquisite mix, and you will remember all of it.
I may go play it again after writing this post.
