#03
'Super Mario 64'
for the Nintendo 64 released in 1997.
The Bronze trophy and thus the first contender to step onto the podium of gaming-honour is 'Super Mario 64'. Over a year after the best 2D Platformer came the best 3D Platformer. The Nintendo 64 was released half-a-year later in 1997 in Europe, but rumours of this game had reached our shores. Arguably, this game had the most impressive first-impression of any game ever in the history of gaming both past and present. The 3D opened all our eyes and we owe basically everything in gaming today to this stellar game.
It already began at the title screen. When switching on the Nintendo 64, Mario fully 3D-fied face storms onto the screen. Maybe the strongest opening for any game, and the face could even be molded into funny things. Hours of fun right there. Luckily though, the game itself did not disappoint. What was perfect about the 2D gameplay in 'Yoshi's Island' (#4) is still perfect in 'Super Mario 64'. The game is probably mentioned in the dictionary under the entry for 'bullseye'. With their first shot, Nintendo perfected the genre. Still to this day, a lot of games should take this game as an example.
Where 3D Platforming is all perfect, with many large, original levels with many secrets and elaborate themes and challenging objectives that's addictive until the very end, the game is best in it's control department. It can't be any better. The controller for the Nintendo 64 was made solely for this game, and it shows. The 2005 DS-remake adds a lot of interesting things, but it becomes painfully obvious that the strange-looking N64 controller was actually the best one ever invented.
#02 Hint:
Maybe the perfect story for this (mainly) movie-based franchise. Story is where the game shines the most, and the mid-game 'revelation' is probably the best twist in a story to ever be done in a video-game. How could I not see?
