#16 - Catherine

Can't believe nobody got this one.

This was my first game from Atlus's Persona studio and I loved it, which lead me to buy Persona 4 Golden just a few months later. The game is very mature. Not mature like Gears of War, full of blood, guts and F bombs and not mature like a Nintendo 1st party game. It's mature in its writing and humour. The writing and voice acting is phenomenal, some of the best I've ever heard in a video game. The soundtrack is also great, with each level having its own distinct music. The story grabbed me and some scenes were incredibly tense, although I was very disappointed by the ending. The puzzles and gameplay mechanics are brilliant. Even after my 2nd playthrough, I still wasn't bored of pushing blocks. The difficulty curve is absolutely perfect, some of the levels later in the game I was stuck on for hours, but they didn't wear down my patience enough that I had to resort to using a guide.

Hint for #15:

An action-RPG sequel to a traditonal RPG that, in my opinion, is nearly as good the original.

Hint #21 - Sonic's Ass Kart 64

Hint #20 - Sometimes, when it feels like you've come to a dead end and there's no going back, you just have to get back up on your feet and press up and down.

Hello everyone *waves*. So, i finally finished and posted my list of games. I didn't participate in the discussion thread as much this year as i was busy (silly excuse as aren't we all) and umm bit lazy too (more like it). You guys are really good at these guessing games and then sharing a paragraph or two about why you love a particular game so much. I've been a lurker in this thread and have been enjoying it. It is joy to share our favourite games with others but then you also realize that there is so much more to play. Games that we missed because of not having a particular console, time and money constraits.

I've been mostly gaming since early 90's. I did take big breaks from gaming from late 90's to 2002 and then 2006 to 2009 i didn't play much either. NES, XBOX, NDS, PS3 and now the Wii U are the consoles i've owned over the years. There are quite a few GCN games on my list too and that is because a good friend lent me his gamecube and i got to play some amazing games i would have missed otherwise. 

Looking forward to catching up some great games i missed on Wii through backwards compatibility on Wii U and exploring some virtual consoles games i missed on SNES and N64. It does become hard to choose where to put a certain favourite game on the list. For me, nostalgic and newer games seem to be more fresh in the mind when making such a list. Some of the games played during the middle years, end up becoming more of lost memories. 

Anyways, i'll stop rambling here and just link to my list if anyone is interested. http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=5847376

Cheers

16. Super Mario Sunshine (26 last year), first impression 9, replay 10, technical 7.5

Pros: Captures most of what made Super Mario 64 fun to play with its continued focus on exploration: bigger worlds, more elaborate shine-challenges, lots of neat little bonuses along with 240 blue coins to collect. Plaza Delfino is the best overworld they've established so far, and the FLUDD pack allowed for tremendous parkour-esque exploration opportunities that Nintendo hasn't matched yet.

Cons: It feels like the most kiddy of the mainline Marios, with its goofy plot and Bowser's voice acting, and much of the setting felt too *real* for a Mario game, missing out on a lot of the magic. Needing to "choose" a sprite at the level loading screen (and then that being the only sprite you could get) cut back on exploration, paving the way for its almost total abandonment by the time Galaxy rolled around.

Number 15's selling point was how it could combine with two other games, as well as with any other game on the console to unlock a limitless bonus game.

16. Fire Emblem (15)

This probably qualifies as my favorite tactical RPG. Winning an individual battle was one thing but keeping the characters you want alive and leveling properly forced you to adjust your strategies when an important ally is in trouble.  In aaddition the range of main characters, weapons, and classes adds excellent depth to the experience.  The game wouldn't let you just build up one super powered character so making sure your team was well balanced was an important par of progressing through the game.  I loved the story and elements such as support keep the strategy from becoming too stale.  This one of very few games I've wanted to play through more than once because the difficulties actually add something to the game instead of just having to do the exact same thing better.

15 - Alien vs. Predator.

Sonic & Knukles.

Yep you got it.  Such an incredibly good game.  Someone guessed 16.  It was Castlevania 3.  17 was Borderlands 2.

Clue for 14 - I have played more multiplayer on this game than any other, and it had one of the most dedicated communities I have ever been a part of.  It is the  sequel to the game that many deemed the most violent game ever.  It featured an andvanced damage modeling system that was critically acclaimed for its enhancement to realism.  This same engine was used in a very good Star Wars game down the line as well.

Right!

15. Sonic & Knuckles (last year 16) first impression 9, replay 8.5, technical 9

Pros: This was the epitome of the 2D Sonic formula, in terms of diversity of power-ups, gameplay mechanics, bonus worlds, and multiple ways to play through multiple characters. Knuckles is awesome, Blue Sphere is awesome, the combinations with Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 make for a game of unprecedented scale at the time.

Cons: The game really forces the "Sonic & Tails" mode down your throat as the preferred setup, so you cannot experience the full game unless you play a certain way.