I now wish I could have played Steel Battalion.

I thought it was conveyed well enough.

Number 16

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

There was a period in 2002-2003 where I could have probably recited every spoken line in Eternal Darkness, possibly verbatim. This, this was a game that had been made for me, distilled from the Adventure games that its creators probably played in college, dressed in the raiment of Lovecraft and Howard and Frasier.

Eternal Darkness was the game that made me believe that games could have a story that was excellent and scary, which introduced me to the very genre of supernatural horror. I mastered this game, so enthralled by it that I ended up beating it nearly ten times. Ten is a big number!

Eternal Darkness was scary, well-written, well-acted, full of excellent environments (the environments were definitely more impressive than the character models) and great art, and had a soundtrack that was both ambient and memorable. A story that covered the span of two millenia and thirteen characters, where no one's fate was certain and few if any were ever pleasant. It was grand in scope, in potential, in aim, in execution. One of my favorite games of that entire generation, one of the best games ever. There isn't enough praise to heap on this game.

13. Final Fantasy IX (PS1)

When it released back in 2000, Final Fantasy IX seemed a stunning return to form. It's not that VII and VIII were bad games per se, but they just never felt like Final Fantasy to me. FFIX, on the other hand, is nothing if not a celebration of the series' past. Gone are the dieselpunk trappings of the previous two entries; Final Fantasy IX is all about the fantasy, baby! Well, fantasy and charm. The cast is the most loveable bunch the series has ever seen, headed up by an upbeat David Bowie-look alike. Zidane is a welcome antidote to the dreariness of Cloud and Squall (a.k.a. Crybaby McEmopants). If you don't smile early and often while playing this game, then you're simply not human. There's a lengthy comedy of errors concerning a love letter that remains the most sweetly amusing thing I've seen in a game. But like any good Final Fantasy, IX also has its share of tragedy, and the darker moments seem all the more powerful for the game's abundant charm and humor. I can't remember ever really feeling for a character the way I did for Vivi during his existential struggle, and his story arc is easily the highlight of the game (and arguably the whole franchise) for me. It's interesting to note that Final Fantasy IX was originally planned as a spin-off, but I reckon Squaresoft smartly decided to make it a full fledged entry when it became apparent that the game they'd created was not only a Final Fantasy, but the most Final Fantasy of them all.

Number 15

Mass Effect 2

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the best game of 2010, but it's not my favorite.

Mass Effect 2 takes the most important part of any BioWare game - the conversations - and puts it against the background of a fun and capable third-person shooter with lots of crazy superpowers. Isn't that great? I think that's pretty great.

Mass Effect 2 is better than its predecessor in every way that matters. Combat is fun, dialogue and characters are both an order of magnitude more engaging and believable, and the world in which you walk is much more complex and engrossing. Gone is the clunky (and terrible) inventory system. In many ways the things that have been cut away are a shock, and can even put some diehards off of the game, but Mass Effect 2 is expertly designed to communicate a very particular experience that BioWare wants you to have. That experience is wonderful.

The most important part of any RPG is its characters, and this game has the best cast of any WRPG since KotOR2. That's saying a lot.

Between us, the wife and I have put something like 300 hours into this game. It's the first game that either of us have ever bought DLC for. BY the end of its life cycle, I predict I will have spent three hundred thousand dollars on Mass Effect 2 downloadable missions. And it will have been worth every penny.

Now give me more bridge DLC, BioWare! Lair of the Shadow Broker was forever ago, and I'm jonesing!

Number 14

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

This game was the reaosn I bought a Wii, but I would have sprung for almost anything for the sake of playing it. Have I mentioned that I really love Zelda? I feel like I have, but it bears repeating.

Twilight Princess was a proof of concept for the Wii and somehting like the ultimate iteration of the 3D Zelda formula. You know what? It was more fun with motion controls. I wished that they would release a collection of previous 3D Zeldas with these controls. I still wish they would do that. And you know what else? Past the controls, past the name, past the setting, Twilight Princess is fantastic.

Twilight Princess is a game that is about loss, about dealing with those losses - the loss of childhood, the loss of home, the loss of innocence and humanity and life itself. Hyrule, more than any other game since the first, has become a desolate, almost dead place, where menace pervades the very air and the horizon promises some distant doom. Everywhere you go is a ruin, the fingerprint of mighty people whose only unifying trait is that they have all died. You find monsters living in the houses of rich families, a people who face down the very real possibility of extinction beneath a sheen of ice, and a town full of people that have lost their children.

This game is an adventure of the highest order, with huge and terrifying enemies and dungeons that tease the brain while lifting the player up into a smiling understanding of progression. Really, these are the best dungeons in the series, with Yeto's Manse in particular standing out. From visual design to music to puzzles to the placement of monsters, everything about the locales in this game is phenomenal.

I want to keep this description relatively short, so I will leave off with this: Twilight Princess is not perfect. But it is beautiful, and long, and when I played it I felt like I was having an adventure. I cared about the children and then the kingdom that I was sent out to save. As ever, triumph over evil is its own sweetness, made only sweeter by the bitterness of loss.

Twilight Princess is awesome.

I'll continue to drive you as close to insanity as possible khuutra!

13. The Legend of Dragoon (PS)

I'm normally not a fan of games that require fast thinking or reactions but the timing mechanic for additions in this game really kept you engaged in the battle.  I could have done without button mashing to make item attacks more powerful but the idea made up for it.  Dragoons were wonderful as they were almost like summons that you got to exchange for your character in battle.  Later in the game they were almost a necessity to keep your defense and health high enough to survive.  This also meant that you had to manage when you went into your dragoon form.  I thought the story surpassed that of most rpgs and would have loved to learn even more of the lore (prequel please!).  The dragoon cutscenes were fun to watch in an anime sort of way as well.

12. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)

It was one of the first five games I had for the PS3 and it's still one of my favourite ones. Awesome graphics, great gameplay and an engaging story; these things are all reasons why I like this game so much.

18.GENSO SUIKODEN III(SUIKODEN III)(PS2)

Suikoden III is an awesome Role Playing Game from KONAMI Released in 2002

Suikoden III is set in IS 475, roughly 16 in-game years after the events of Suikoden II. The game takes place in the diverse Grasslands region, an area to the northwest of Dunan from Suikoden II (which itself was to the north of the Toran area from Suikoden). Politically, the Grasslands are mostly controlled by the Six Clans, a loose coalition between the Karaya, Lizard, Duck, Chisha, Safir and Alma Kinan clans. The clans are considered rather backward and barbaric by neighboring powers, and the clans have comparatively smaller towns than the cities seen elsewhere in the Suikoden universe. On the western coast, the merchant nation of Zexen thrives. The Zexens were an ignored offshoot of the Grassland clans long ago, and have since grown to be powerful and independent. Their architecture, politics, and citizenry are similar to Renaissance Western European civilizations. To the east lie imposing mountains and eventually Harmonia, a gigantic and populous nation. Harmonia maintains outposts along the border, notably the submissive, conquered town of Le Buque and the trading citadel Caleria.

The Cast of Chracters is awesome, The Trinity Sight System is cool addition. it was fun seeing the story from the prospectie of the 3 main chracters and there is always the fun of collection all 108 Stars of Destiny to get a awesome bonus..  

Suikoden III Musica Score is Epic it was composed b Yamane Michiru who composed the soundtrack for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Fukami Keiko, Kimura Masahiko. the opening song Ai wo Koete is on of best opening songs ever in a Game.

I love the Suikoden Series and Suikoden III is a Game that all Japanese Role Playing Game fans have to play it is that Awesome. and I hope that KONAMI make Suikoden VI.

Suikoden III Intro

12. Mario Kart 64

This was my second Mario Kart game, after playing Super Mario Kart first. It is also my favourite Mario Kart game. It took me a while to figure out who my preferred racer was, but I eventually settled on Yoshi, and that is a choice that is still in use today. When we weren't shooting each other in the face in Goldeneye's MP mode, my friends and I would be found playing Mario Kart. Rainbow Road was easily the most used track, and it has always been my favourite (Nintendo should have included this RR in MKWii IMO). The music from RR is also quite possibly some of my favourite game music ever created.

A true testament to MK64's brilliance is that I can turn it on today, and have as much fun with it as I did the first time I ever played it.

Unless somebody minds, I'll replace my previous #50 (MGS3) with this:

50. Mega Man 9 - WiiWare

You've got yourself one hell of a list, when Mega Man 9 just barely makes it. While some see it as sheer fan service, others (myself included) see it as a sheer stroke of genius.

With it's awesome retro soundtrack and unforgiving jumps, Mega Man 9 is a love-letter to anyone, who grew up playing video games on the good ol' NES. And while you did grow up playing them, you also grew up paying 50 bucks for each. This time around, you have the killer price tag of only 10 bucks. It feels like you're practically stealing from Capcom! Do yourself a favor, and download it. Now.