Number 46

Mario Kart Wii

Can you name a multiplayer series more fun than Mario Kart? Maybe, but I'll argue with you about it. Mario Kart Wii is not only the best-selling racer of all time, it's also the most fun you can have with four people sitting on a couch. More time has been invested in this game than in pretty much every other racing game I've ever owned combined. It bridges the gap between gamers and non-gamers, is intuitive and fun, and has plenty of reasons to come back and keep playing. Some people complain, but I couldn't be happier.

Number 45

Ninja Gaiden Black

Ninja Gaiden Black is the dopest, most pimp-ass, most violent male power fantasy in the history of the medium, the best game in its series, and one of the balls-hardest action games ever made. Ninja Gaiden Black was an expansion on its forebearer, and featured tons and tons of extras: it incorporated new boss and enemy types from the Hurricane Pack expansion, included two new difficulty levels (Ninja Dog and Master Ninja), dozens of balls-hard missions, and difficulty settings that did more than just increase enemy health and damage. In particular, enemy placement would be different in every difficulty setting above normal, where on Master Ninja you were fighting the horrifying Fire Ninjas right off the bat. Some bosses were replaced by harder bosses, others were accompanied by smaller enemies (who would themselves grow more powerful on Master Ninja), on and on and on. Few games have done as much to make difficulty levels matter as much as this one did, and none have done more for the sake of making a balls-hard but completely fair player experience.

It's harder than Sigma and better than either of its sequels. Ninja Gaiden Black is the best Itagaki-related Ninja Gaiden, and I will brook no argument to the contrary. The Unlabored Flawlessness makes my argument for me.

Number 44

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Can you name a game more complete than Smash Bros. Brawl? No, you can't. I defy you to do it. This game is so bursting with content that I can't be assed to unlock all of it, in spite of my immense, burning love of the game and everything it stands for. I take back what I said about Mario Kart: this is the most fun you can have with four people sitting on a couch. It's a long love letter to Nintendo fans and an excellent brawler besides, the spirit of the perfect party game injected into a mold so vast and pleasingly shaped that no real complaint can be leveled against it. It's got what may be the best soundtrack of all time, so much nostalgia that it's painful to consider, excellent and eye-popping graphics, and the single best fighting game lineup of all time. I could not ask for more. How they're going to top this on the next system is anyone's guess.

Number 43

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Man I love the Fire Emblem theme. It is just tops. It's really great in this game, which had a great soundtrack all the way through. In point of fact, this game had great everything: great design, great battles, great artstyle, excellent pacing, good writing, excellent setting and worldbuilding, on and on and on. It served as the endcap to the story begun in Path of Radiance, but ended up being much bigger and grander and more spectacular than its predecessor. It's rock-hard, fun almost beyond reason, and comes with dozens of reasons to play the game over and over again. For a game as long as this one (40 hours is a good guess for a single run-through), its replayability is absolutely stunning. Beating missions feels immensely satisfying, and few things are mroe fun than experimenting with the many different makeups that your effective army can have. It's also one of the very few strategy RPGs that manages to pull off the "horrifyingly huge and powerful final bosses" in a way that is fair, fun, and immensely satisfying. Great game up, down, and sideways.

Number 42 will go up as soon as my replacement banner is approved...

34. DJ Max Fever - PSP

This the first game in the DJ Max series to ever make it stateside. It's a Korean rhythm game similar to Beatmania, DDR, etc. It has TONS of content and has an awesome soundtrack. It's a game that is truly pick up and play and tons of fun. High reccomendation for this gem.

33. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Xbox 360

This one beautiful and engrossing game. I spent so much time on this game. The story was crap, but the world that Bethesda crafted was awesome. Interacting with the characters, towns, and environment. It felt like something right out of a fantasy novel. It also does first person very well for a RPG. Combat works well and you never feel to overwhelmed by having to shift the camera a lot. Definite recommendation to anyone who has a lot of time on their hands. You're about to sink a lot into the world Cyrodill.

32. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger - PS3

The wheel of fate is turning. This is, hands down, the best fighting game of this generation. It has a few characters  but each fight very differently. It has great online, a full story, arcade mode, and of course, traditional versus. I spent quite some time playing this one. As a Carl player, I had some difficulty at times, but all in all, an extremely well made game. As it is the evolution of Guilty Gear, it is a must play.

31. Final Fantasy VII - PS1

This is the landmark 3D JRPG. The pinnacle of the JRPG selling strength the catalyst of JRPG popularity in the States. This was many gamer's first JRPG, but it was not mine. I was late to the party with this one, and despite that, I was still impressed. It has an intriguing cast, a good battle system, and the materia system. The world the game is set in is also very interesting. The set up may borrow a bit from many things (big bad corporation!), but it certainly is quite an engaging place to travel around. This is a game that is better when measured as the sum of its parts, imo. (now speaking relative to the series itself) The plot was pretty lame and Cloud becomes incredibly lame as the game progresses. People tease Squall for being emo, but I found Cloud to be much worse. That aside, still a classic game that every gamer should experience. Tons of fun.

P.S. Still bitter that Aeris died. Favorite character in that game.

30. Super Smash Bros. (N64)

This game is one of the reasons why the N64 is the best console for local multiplayer. I can't remember how many hours I played it with my friends or even alone. Sure, Melee and Brawl added much content and better graphics, and actually I think that all SSB. games are on one level, but Super Smash Bros. was really something unique for me back in the N64 days.

updating now

37. METAL GEAR SOLID 3 : SNAKE EATER (PS2)

An amazing game in almost every way. There's not much to say here, fitting music, awesome story, tear-jerker ending, great voice acting, great graphics. Oh but I hated the jungle setting.....to be fair its not like the entire game was in the Jungle, but a lot of it was and I just didn't like that setting compared to MGS2's Power Plant and so on.

One of the best bits of the start where you see snake wear a Raiden mask...its jokes like that which show Kojima's genius!

Oh and EVA <3 <3 

Favourite Music Piece followed by fav cut scene:

Snake Eater Song (Very bond-ish)

The Ending (Heart wrenching)

36. PHOENIX WRIGHT : ACE ATTORNEY (DS)

The first time I played a point n click adventure game. For me this was a new style of playing and the stories were so engrossing, especially the final one (which I believe was new and wasn't in the original GBA version?). Anyway so the whole idea of being a lawyer, searching for clues and so on was really fun....I thought it might get boring but the awesome music, quirky characters kept me going. There seemed to be loads of twists all the time, the game tried to be unpredictable. This is still my favourite out of the series.

Fav Music:

Damon Gant

Cornered

35. FINAL FANTASY IX (PS1)

Yet another Fantasy epic.......only 6 left on the list now . 10 years ago this game would be in my top 20.....I was a bit let down by FF8 at the time and this was a welcome change....but after playing FF8 and FF9 this year (PSN Versions) I have had to reconsider the position of FFIX and my "let-down" with FF8 which I can't seem to understand anymore. Anyway the games amazing charm, world and cast of characters (for the most part) still had me love it.....but it simply put it wasn't that much fun anymore. The turn based system in this game just felt too slow...I don't need 4 people on at one time, maybe that slowed everything down, I didn't like the trance mechanic......now if battles aren't that fun then the game takes a sharp drop for me and I just stopped playing in between.......but I did love it a lot many years ago.

But still the decent story (some lost potential....the cast and world deserved a better story), amazing world, characters (vivi) and of course soundtrack make this game come in relatively high on the list. Oh and how the hell did they manage such graphics on the PS1?

Fav Music Piece & Cut scene:

Crossing Those Hills (Best world map theme ever)

Your Not Alone

Vivi's Defense

34. MASS EFFECT 2 (PC)

Zomg ME2 over FFIX...t3h blasphemiz! 

What can I say about this game, Bioware proved once again why they are one of my most beloved developers. After the major disappointment I had with Dragon Age this game more than made up for it!!

Fighting enemies was actually fun...I love TPS games and hadn't played one in eons so that was only good for me, the character's were awesome, being able to explore the galaxy was neat, the choices you make in ME1 affecting ME2 was an awesome feature to see. Now ME1 had a better story, in fact ME2 seems to have a "filler" story, but it was much more fun than ME1.

The lore that they have created is absolutely astounding.....if you read the datalog you'll find that there's a planet with a whole bullet hole going right through it...and other really "cool" things.... it really made me think there's a great expanded universe thats been made here and I want to know about this planet and so many other things that are talked about in the datalog. Perhaps ME3 will give us insight into this.

Oh and Mordin Solus <3

Fav music & cut scene:

Mordin Solus Sing's

33. UNCHARTED 2 : AMONG THIEVES (PS3)

Refined to near perfection. The game that doesn't really innovate but perfects a forumla. We get Uncharted 2.

Now one of the reasons why this si one of the highest current gen games on this list is because I actually enjoyed the online mode!!!!!!!!11112!! I usually hate online but Uncharted 2's online co-op, deathmatches, capture the flag....whatever it was I loved it. So not only did it have an awesome story with good characters, jaw dropping moments...but also great online.

Fav music:

Main Theme

Nate's Theme

32. MGS1 (PS1)

The beginning of one of my greatest franchises. Initially I saw my dad play through it.....but around 2000 or 2001 I played it myself and loved it even more. It was just so different from anything else....stealth was awesome, the story was well told, voice acting was great, music was memorable. Like every MGS it also has a tear jerker scenes (sniper wolf's death).....Naomi!! <3 

 Yes this is a landmark game. But is surpassed by 2 other MGS games....trololol.

Fav music & cut scene:

Sniper Wolf Death

SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE

The Best Is Yet To Come (End Credits Theme)

I agree with you're take on the setting. of MGS3... partially why it's not on my list.

ME2 and MGS is too low. Now I get to doo it.

plus I remember you saying that metal gear solid was the worst metal gear solid. not mgs3. Prepare to be flamed by everyone not me!

I have high hopes for ME3 even if ME2 is really high on my list. The DLC hammerhead settings in overlord was phenomenol. Plus the overlord mission was outstanding. OMG I love overlord.A lot more than I love liara's DLC which is exactly not what I expected.... not that you played those.

My point being if they can include the Hammerhead. The scope would be massive. As well as have more story now that your charactesr for the most part have been aquired. Maybe that will be the best game ever! I hope!

Okay I quit.