#7 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD

Last year: 8th place

Just like Pokémon, Zelda is a franchise of which every game I've played ends up high on my list, since they're all so great. They're some of the most ingenious games in existence, full of clever puzzles and exciting battles. What puts this above the other 3D Zelda's, is it's charm. The funny cartoony look makes a big difference. It makes the game bright and happy, which was a nice change from its predecessors. This is also one of the easier games in the franchise, but since I'm pretty bad at gaming, this is perfect for me!

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

• Super Nintendo Entertainment System, GameBoy Advance, 3DS
• 1995
• 2D Platformer
• Nintendo EAD / Nintendo
• Guessed by Flilix

Actually named 'Super Mario World 2', but hardly a real successor, 'Yoshi's Island' was the start of the character's own series of platformers. And an excellent start it was. People often seem to complain of a certain baby-noise, but the gameplay is so perfect, that it doesn't even matter to me and my ears have grown deaf to the sound as being a nuisance. Though of course, it does still do it's job of making me nervous and make mistakes that get me killed perfectly.

Not a Mario game, not a Donkey Kong one, nor classic Sonic the Hedgehog or one of the popular modern "indie" platformers; no, 'Yoshi's Island' is the best 2D platformer. The concepts of the game have all been implemented in perfect ways and it should be the textbook example for developers about how to make a 2D game. The music is terrific, memorably catchy and ranks among all-time greatest soundtracks. The art design is one of the best to ever come out of a video game and it still makes this beautiful game look good today. It is certainly one of the prettiest looking games ever.

I played this game plenty of times when it had come out on Super Nintendo and together with 'The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past' it is most likely my most played game on that system and even of that generation. It is a long game however, so as a kid I never finished it. It wasn't until many years later when I was happy to buy the port to GameBoy Advance, when I finally saw the final boss. And then I wanted to play it again.

And there we have it, the top 3. Finally reached the podium. Let's see if these super-difficult to guess games will be guessed...

#3: There's a lot more of them in the sky, but in this game there's 120. In the original release anyway.

Yes!

No.

Also, since there's only three games left, it's time to mention some other favorites, that didn't make the cut this year;

• Age of Empires, PC, 1998
• Banjo-Kazooie, N64, 1998
• Cities: Skylines, PC, 2015
• Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, PS, 1998
• Empire: Total War, PC, 2009
• Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, GBA/3DS, 2005
• Luigi's Mansion 2, 3DS, 2013
• Medieval II: Total War, PC, 2006
• Missile Command, A2600, 1981
• No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way, PC, 2002
• Professor Layton and Pandora's Box, DS, 2009
• SimCity 2000, MacOS, 1993
• Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, PC, 2000
• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, PC, 2005
• Super Mario 3D Land, 3DS, 2011
• Uncharted 3, PS3, 2011
• Virtua Tennis, DC, 2000
• Wolfenstein 3D, MacOS, 1994
• The Legend of Zelda, NES, 1987
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Wii, 2011

I would love for Ubisoft to re-release this series on Switch, ideally as a compilation like 1-5 all in one set.  

Also is #3 Twilight Princess?

Super Mario Galaxy?

Close.

Super Mario 64

Yes.

Etrian Odyssey overall is one of my most beloved series. As I didn't wanted to clutter my list with Etrian Odysseys I choose one to represent the series. It became Millenium Girl, the remake of the first game with the engine of the fourth entry and a complete new story mode.

I usually lump remakes and remasters with the original. But in the case of the Untold game, so much is added, that I see them as an entry of their own. You can choose playing between classical mode and a story mode, which gives you precreated characters and a story told in cut-scenes.

The Etrian Odyssey games are classical RPG greatness. Great battle system, the ingenious level design so typical for Atlus game, colorful world and enemies. It is a big fun to play these games. I'm very intrigued to see how the series evolves on Switch if it not dies with the 3DS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFbu_RAMf94