Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.  My favourite in the franchise.

18. The Legend of Dragoon (18)

This masterful PS1 game has stood up really well over time. 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.

17. Advance Wars (20)

This is the game that actually prompted me to get a GBA. This was pretty much the classic war-type board game brought into the video game world.  In other ways it was so much better.  The results of individual fights were usually pretty predictable so you could strategically plan multiple moves ahead without needing to have too many contingency plans.  The gameplay is fairly simplistic, build, move, attack, capture and there's often multiple ways to win.  Add in a campaign which  ramps the difficulty almost perfectly and its hard to get too discouraged playing this game.  The CO powers give you an advantage for a short time so you have to be careful when you use them and your COs base specialty actually has an impact on what units you build.  Fog of war and varying victory conditions added almost as much extra gameplay as the large set of maps already built into the campaign and war room.  Overall this game shines because it really feels like you can do well no matter who your CO is and the balance of the individual units on top of that works nicely.

#17: Mega Man 3

#21: Resident Evil 2 (PS1)

My first Resident Evil game. It's also the one I've replayed the most. The story is view from the point of view of both main characters (Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield). Depending on who you choose to play as first, you get a slightly different story. The game is true survival horror, the bullets are in short supply and you have to choose your battles, well unless you play it as much as I did and unlock the Unlimited Rocket Launcher then you can kill whatever you want.

#20: Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GC)

My favorite Mario Kart game. With its unique two characters per kart dynamic, special character powers and an amazing selection of tracks, this game provided me hundreds of hours of fun playing with my brothers. Always going for the All Cup option, it was an all out battle to see who would win the gold trophy and who would be humuliated by getting silver (or for total shame the bronze cup!).

17. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (12 last year) first impression 9, replay 10, technical 7

Pros: A plot that keeps you invested as well as a wide variety of characters and chapter-types (compare to Awakening and its constant barrage of "kill everyone"). Auto-canto on the mounted units is important, as is Shove. It's a thinking man's SRPG just like other Fire Emblem games in the series.

Cons: Balance problems, namely the Black Knight fight and Laguz transformation cycles.

#19: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)

Metroidvanias are all awesome games but this one is the best of them all. The castle you have to explore is huge and full of secret (you can "finish" the game without ever discovering the inverted castle). The music is stellar and the voice acting... um... well... awful but it falls into the so terrible it's funny category so it adds to the game. Some bosses can be difficult and nothing that will make hurl the controller at the wall. It's the kind of game I love to replay about once a year.

16 had an Italian resort theme, unique to the franchise despite the lead character's name.

#18: New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)

I was afraid this game would feel stale after New Super Mario Bros. Wii but I was quickly proven wrong. This game features high quality stage design (most of all in hidden stages and star world stages. The Flying Squirrel form is much better than the propeller suit and provides some great inventive challenges when it comes to catching some Star Coins. Once you're done finding every single Star Coin in every single stage, there's also the Challenge Mode where you have to really crazy stunts to win and if you want to test your skill a little further the Boost Mode is insanely challenging.