#17: Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

Retro Studios certainly know how to handle the franchises they're given (more on that later...). DKCR managed the impossible task of not only matching the quality of the original trilogy but in my opinion they actually surpassed it. The game is beautiful, colorful, challenging, diversified, a true platforming gem. Getting all the KONG letters in each level is quite the task but it's incredibly satisfying especially since you're rewarded with the awesome "K" levels which are some of the best platforming proving grounds ever made. I've yet to tackle the hard mode (with no hearts and only DK) only because my Wii died and I'm still in the process of making my way through the game again on my new save.

Super Mario Sunshine?

#16 Hint: Features creatures called Etecoons who I'm pretty sure are laughing at me for failing so hard at doing what they're teaching me.

Super Metroid, I'm so grateful they made this 30 cents for a while.

#17

'Super Mario Galaxy'

for the Nintendo Wii released in 2007.

I don't really understand why a lot of people find this game's successor to be a better game. Sure, that game's excellently amazing in it's own right and certainly wouldn't mind being condemned to play it for all eternity, but there's one thing missing that this game has. 'Super Mario Galaxy' has the Observatory. Or rather, the hub-world which is actually quite similar to Peach's Castle in Super Mario 64.

The concept for this game and it's successor, was brilliant for the underpowered Wii. Because it focussed on one small planetoid at a time, the detail that could be brought into the game could actually compete with the better looking games on the HD-twins. Amazingly so, 'Super Mario Galaxy' was actually able to look better than a lot of the games on those systems.

However, the concept also brought superb and very original gameplay with inspired level-designs. It's no wonder why people are screaming for a Galaxy 3. They could fool you because of the small pieces of level the player gets each time, but combined, each level (and there's a lot) is actually huge and packs a ton of secrets. There's fun missions for back-tracking and those single-mission levels like the slides are the best in the series. Last but not least, the game's orchestrated music is exquisite.

#16 Hint:

What can be better than 'Super Mario Galaxy'? The very best game on this older system that's what. This game features dark humour a bit like Tim Burton's movies. It even looks like his animated ones too. For me the most memorable part was the final boss, where there's chicken-sounds, but it ends up looking like a scorpion!

Stealing your formatting guys, thanks.

#17 - Grand Theft Auto V

I haven't quite completed it yet, but I still know it deserves a place on this list. It's better than its predecessor in every way and Lost Santos is one of the most incredible and immersive worlds I've seen in a game. The best thing about this game though is its humour, and the way in which it parodies real life, most notably the game's own version of Facebook, "LifeInvader", and the absolutely hilarious radio advertisements. The game is visually stunning, its lighting and draw distance is quite possibly unmatched by any other console game. This game mostly fixed one of my biggest gripes with the series, too many missions that all feel the same. Luckily Grand Theft Auto V's story mode (or what I've played of it) is short and varied.

Hint for #16:

Edge. Undo.

#17 - Team Fortress 2 (Kudos to no-one for guessing this)

In a generation where I thought I was done with first-person shooters because they didn't cater to me anymore, TF2 came along and reminded me that the genre can be massive amounts of fun if it doesn't take itself too seriously.

The fact that you have 9 different classes to play as meant that this has been one of the longest-running online FPS games I've ever played (iirc, 300+ hours and counting).  I keep coming back to rocket jump around as a soldier; stab people in the back as a spy and build an impregnable fortress as an engineer.  THe variety in maps is fantastic and - as I said in my clue - they keep adding content even half a decade after release.  The new mode is horde mode and it's absolutely heaps of fun.

Oh, and the "meet the" series introducing the characters was literally sublime:

#16 - TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (Kudos to Brendude for guessing this)

Incidentally the only FPS I rank higher than Team Fortress 2 is the sixth generation's finest hour.  Filled with ridiculous humour; fast gunplay; hilarious characters; more time periods than you can shake a stick at and a multi-player mode that'll keep you entertained for hours, Future Perfect was the real deal.

I see a lot of people with a greater love for Timesplitters 2, and that was indeed the game which brought the series into its own.  But Future Perfect improved the base game in just about every way.  Gunplay was faster and switching weapons was easier; the co-op mode was better fleshed out throughout the campaign (which in itself was massively improved, having a discernable story this time).  Local multi-player was as good as ever with "virus" being the undoubtable highlight but modes like monkey assistant bringing some fantastic options.  Maps were as varied as ever and you could of course play as a variety of ridiculous characters.

And zombie-mansion in co-op was hiliariously awesome:

Clue for my #15 - the best James Bond videogame that had nothing to do with James Bond.

Exactamondo.

16 is Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow.