Got my list finished.

1. Final Fantasy VIII

As I cross into 2020, I cast my mind back 20 years to the turn of the year 2000. At that moment, I was playing this amazing new game that I'd bought a week before just to see what all the fuss was about, but as I began playing I quickly started to realise this was something special. Time may escape us all, but it has also tested FFVIII and I enjoy it just as much, if not more, than I did when I first played it. Even during 2019, I've completed two playthroughs and still become absorbed by the game and enjoy losing many hours, where I belong. Over the course of 20 years, I've become a fan of both Final Fantasy and the subgenre of JRPGs, all thanks to this game. I've bought this game many times on different systems, I imported a PocketStation for FFVIII, I have a ton of related merchandise including guides, soundtracks, real Triple Triad cards, the list goes on. It was even the subject of my only two threads on VGChartz.

I could write pages on why I love this game (which I began drafting, but discarded in the interest of keeping this short), I'll sum up by saying it nails everything, from the story and characters, to the music (which may be Uematsu's best work), the world, the gameplay, Triple triad and the pre-rendered graphics/cutscenes. The Junction System just narrowly beats Materia as my favourite way to build my characters and party.

2020 may be the year of FFVII (which releases on Rinoa's birthday, funnily enough) and while I'm eagerly waiting to play the remake, there is no doubt I'll replay my favourite game of all time, FFVIII, before 2021 arrives. Hopefully, I'll live to see the day when FFVIII gets a similar remake treatment. 

#2 Metroid Prime

Retro Studios somehow kept the same feeling in the art direction while moving the game to 3D. Prime added three key elements that didn't quite exist in the previous games. They are the descriptive lore, the 3D Morph Ball, and the different scan settings. The ability to scan and read about everything added a massive catalog of lore to the series. Whoever did the writing at Retro Studios pulled out all the stops for this. Everything in this game has great descriptions in the scan visor. How do you make a description of just a simple door sound so compelling? The Morph Ball in 3D leads to some of the most unique and interesting puzzles in any game I've ever come across. Once you get the magnetic Morph Ball the puzzles really get crazy. The X-Ray, and Thermal visors are the first ever rendition of Batman's "Detective Mode", and Geralt's "Witcher Senses". These modes of gameplay for revealing hidden secrets of the map have become a staple of many games. Metroid Prime is an absolute classic and perfect to a degree that few games reach these days. 

#1 Mass Effect 2

This year I went through my list and asked myself one key question. If you were to wipe my memory of all these games, and force me to replay them in 2019, how well would I rate them according to 2019 standards? Mass Effect 2 always made a really good spot on my list every year, but I just didn't feel right putting it in the #1 spot. Hindsight is 2020, and I usually need a good 5-10 years of it to call a game the Greatest Game of All Time. Also, the difference between #10 and #1 on my list is razor thin. Well, this year I just had to give it to Mass Effect 2. Partly because my old roommate who normally hates western RPGs with a passion loves it. As I said in my Chrono Trigger commentary, whenever a game can transcend genre hatred you know it's special. Just look at all the people that never touched traditional Zelda, but absolutely love BotW do death! 

Mass Effect 2 streamlined Mass Effect's gameplay, by taking out the clunky menu system. From the beginning Mass Effect 2's storyline is interesting, and compelling. The game opens up with the main character dying, and then being brought back to life, by a mortal enemy. Said mortal enemy wants the main character to put together a team for a suicide mission. Everything you do in this game determines whether or not your suicide mission is successful. Several supporting cast members either end their character arcs dying for the mission, or rising above and living, depending on what you did through the game. Almost all of these supporting cast members are written perfectly, and are genuinely interesting. We have, a mad scientist responsible for genocide, trying to make up for his past mistakes, an ex-cop gone vigilante, a dying assassin, two science experiments gone wrong, a hivemind AI robot, and a girl who's entire species has huge immunodeficiency problems. Mass Effect 2 makes this spot for it's dynamic choice/consequence system that remembers everything you did, including your save file from the original game. 

Happy new year, guys! I'm posting this at 00:20 here!

#01 - Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (SNES)

Why?

Because this is the game I dedicated most of my childhood. I still remember when I was 9 years old. I would play this game for hours trying to get all the secrets. It took me days, weeks, months to finally discover everything. Geez, I spend hours of my days exploring the overworld trying to find the secret world (I couldn't read english, so the hints were useless).

A friend of mine helped me to get 103% and finally beat this masterpiece. But I was so mad at this game, that I wasn't satisfied with 103%. I was like: "No, this game is hiding something else". Yeah, it took me a few weeks to finally accept that that was everything.

Love this game. Rare did an awesome job at Donkey Kong Country series, and DKC3 is my favorite!

Leaderboards

@Mnementh guessed twelve of my games!

I still need to cover my last two games here, but before I do that I thought I'd bring up some facts about my entire top 50.

# of games by Decade:

1990s: 9

2000s: 20

2010s: 21

Oldest game: Super Mario Bros 3 (1991)

Newest game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)

# of games by platform:

NES: 2  SNES: 2 Switch: 1

X360: 1

PS1: 6  PS2: 10  PS3: 16 PS4: 8

PC: 10

# of games by series:

Final Fantasy: 5

The Legend of Heroes: 4

Dark Souls: 3 

Uncharted: 2

Command & Conquer: 2

The most represented genre in my top 50 are JRPGs by a comfortable margin, with 18 to 20 games being them depending on how you categorize few of the games. In addition, a total of 35 games on my list were developed by Japanese studios, with 9 of the games in my top 10 being made there as well.

With that out of the way, here are a few quick thoughts about my #2 game:

#2

The Legend of Dragoon (PlayStation)

Change From Last Year: =

As far as my favourite games are concerned, the very top of my list hasn't really changed at all for years now, with my top 3 games having been the same for almost 20 years now. The Legend of Dragoon is a game that I keep going back to every few years, and I always end up loving it even more than before, as not only does it feature many of my favourite video game characters ever, the story is also one I find extremely interesting. I also think the world that was created for the game is wonderfully realized and unlike in many other games has a genuine sense of history to it.

The game's shortcomings are largely related to its age, with the visuals being naturally dated by today's standards, and the voice acting being quite emblematic of JRPGs of this era. However, the strong visual design alleviates some of the former issues, with many of the pre-rendered backgrounds still looking genuinely gorgeous today. The soundtrack is also excellent, and I would honestly rank it very high among the very best scores the PS1 ever produced.

#1

Final Fantasy IX (PlayStation)

Change From Last Year: =

Finally, my favourite game of all time is, and has been since 2001, Final Fantasy IX, the best game in the best video game series of all time. It is another game I routinely replay every few years, and every time I do I love it more than I did before. It is quite literally the only game I have no real criticism for. I love the story, the characters, the gameplay, the world, the visuals, the music, and every other wonderful, minute detail Squaresoft put into it almost 20 years ago now. I have so many fond memories surrounding this game that it's impossible to even mention them all, from starting it for the first time all those years ago and hearing that gorgeous music, to getting my girlfriend to play it and in turn making her a fan of the series as a result as well.

Simply put, this game means more to me than any other, and the simple fact is that there will never be a game that can push it off my #1 spot no matter how good they are. I believe that there are no perfect games and never will be, but this is as close as any game has ever gotten to that. Even just writing about it here makes me want to go and play it all over again.

This is my second favorite Final Fantasy game (after 7), and FF is the series I have most on my list as well (6 games).  I kind of have to agree that this game is perfect and that is why it ranks so high on my list.  For the other FF games usually there are certain parts that really stand out in my mind.  FF9 doesn't really have any one part that I consider one-of-a-kind exceptional.  It's just that every part of the game is done extremely well.  It's pure fun from beginning to end, and I even love chocobo digging.  The only flaw with this game might be the card game.  Everything else is perfect: Story, characters, combat, advancement system, music, etc.... 

I know I've played through this game at least 3 times, maybe 4.  I can definitely see why it would be in someone's top spot.

So, now that I've finished and remained active for just over half the days, I'll have a look at the stats.

Overall, I managed to give hints for 27 games, ah well maybe I'll break 30 in 2020

1. SanAndreasX, guessed 9

2. Darashiva, guessed 4

3. TruckOSaurus, guessed 3

4. Scoobes, Moren, The_Liquid_Laser, all guessed 2

5. Jpcc86, BraLoD, S.Peelman, Xen, Mnementh, all guessed 1

New Entries - 9 games

YoY - 21 dropped, 3 rose up in the ranks, 17 didn't change position

System Breakdown

A very PlayStation (32 games) focused list, with Nintendo (16 games) being the only other to feature heavily. PC and Sega platforms round out the list with 1 game each.

PS1, PS2, PS4 - 9 games each

SNES, N64- 5 games each

PS3 - 4 games

GameCube, GBA- 2 games each

NES, Mega Drive, PC, Wii, PSP - 1 game each

Breakdown by Decade

1990-1999 - 20

2000-2009 - 19

2010-2019 - 11

Newest Game - Yooka-Layle and the Impossible Lair (8 October 2019)

Oldest Game - Kirby's Adventure (23 March 1993)

Most Featured Franchises

This is pretty representative of my list, dominated by JRPGs and Platformers. I enjoy many different genres but my favourite two ended up taking up the highest ranks. If this was a top 100 list, there would be plenty of games from genres not even represented here, with more JRPGs and platformers of course.

Final Fantasy - 11 games

Donkey Kong - 4 games

Kingdom Hearts - 4 games

Sonic the Hedgehog - 4 games

Games #50 - #46: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9080521

Games #45 - #41: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9080995

Games #40 - #36: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9082358

Games #35 - #32: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9082907

Games #31 - #27: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9084360

Games #26 - #21: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9086184

Games #20 - #16: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9087936

Games #15 - #11: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9089353

Okay, I finally enter the top 10:

#10 - Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus is a majestic and unique masterpiece, thanks to its mindblowing colossus boss battles and the concept of them being the only "enemies" there are in the game's world, which helps to give off a very unique atmosphere of desolation. Each collosus battle is a completely different experience that left me astounded, but not only they're visually imposing, the battles themselves are incredibly well designed: each of them is like its own giant puzzle and figuring out how to solve these "puzzles" is one of the things I enjoy the most about the game. But, as you continue defeating the colossi, you start realizing that maybe what you're doing is not the right thing to do...I really really like it how this game makes you question the morality of your actions. Which takes us to its storytelling: I love how SotC is very subtle about the way it tells its story, and the ending is one of my favorite moments in gaming (I cried when watching it). The game's world does an amazing job at giving a great sense of scale and its emptiness is what gives it the atmosphere of loneliness that I mentioned before (though some may not like this emptiness). The OST is outstanding, and the theme that plays when you kill a colossus got particularly stuck in my mind. I haven't played the PS4 remake, but honestly I'm don't think I will ever do...it's just that certain visual changes in that remake do nothing for me, I guess nostalgia is just too powerful.

#9 - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

This is a divisive game, but it definitely has some of the highest highs in the series which, for me, completely overshadow its lows (well, the ones that actually bother me). Firstly, the game's dungeon design is top notch, definitely some of the most brilliant level design in a series filled with great level design, and the puzzles are incredibly clever, even more than Twilight Princess'. The areas outside the dungeons are also masterfully crafted, especially the Lanayru Desert area, which has the genius puzzles involving the time stones. The items in this game are as amazing as in Twilight Princess but, unlike that game, they actually have great usage outside the dungeons where you find them. The boss battles are also incredibly well designed, and they are more challenging than in Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. The battle against Koloktos and the battles aginst Ghirahim are some of my favorite boss battles ever. The divisive motion-controlled combat in this  game is also something that I enjoyed a  lot, as it wasn't just mashing the B button like in the other 3D Zelda games, and you actually have to pay attention to what your enemies do.

The story in this game is my favorite of all the Zelda games (only Wind Waker's story comes close), it just has so many memorable characters and moments. Regarding the characters, SS has my favorite incarnation of Zelda in the series, and I really really like to see how Groose grows as a person during the story. Ghirahim is also one of the most memorable villains in the series. An aspect of this game that is really underrated are its side quests: the game has a  lot of NPC-related  side quests which have their own mini stories and allow  you to get to know more about the personalities and interests of said NPCs, I spent so much time doing those side quests and they are one of my favorite parts of the game. The art style in this game is gorgeous and the soundtrack is wonderful, in my opinion one of the best in the series.

#8 - Tales of the Abyss

Tales of the Abyss' plot kept me engaged all the time, as it does a great job at keeping things interesting and it has a lot of great moments (though sometimes it feels too long winded). The lore of the game's world (Auldrant) is particularly intrincate, the amount of effort they put into creating it is amazing and I really like the whole concept of it. Luke fon Fabre, the game's protagonist, is a  divisive character: due to his background, he's highly spoiled and many times plain annoying, but one of the things the story does best is to show how he changes his attitude as he sees the consequences that his harsh decisions can have. Another thing that I really like about this game's story is how the relationship between the characters evolves, as they don't particularly get along very well at the beginning of the game but, as the story progresses, the chemistry they have together improves (I particularly love how the relationship between Luke and Tear evolves). Also, I must mention that Jade Curtiss is one of my favorite J-RPG characters ever. Regarding the villains, I really like how each one of them has ties to the protagonists, so they all are equally important to the plot. In general, the game does a great job at showing the interactions between the characters, mainly thanks to the skits. The gameplay is fun and it doesn't feel nearly as dated as Symphonia's thanks to the addition of the free run mechanic and the Field of Fonons mechanic (though I had a hard time learning this so I couldn't pull it off many times). The character growth system, based on items named "capacity cores", is flexible, as it allows you to choose which stats you want increase the most when leveling up by equipping the right capacity core. The soundtrack is fairly underrated and the opening theme, named Karma, is just amazing.

#7 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Similarly to Mario 64, nostalgia kind of helps this game to be this high in my list, but that's not the main reason it's in this position: the main reason is  that I think it's the most well rounded of all the pre-BOTW 3D Zeldas (I've only played BOTW for a  few hours so far, so I won't compare it to the others right now, though at this  point it's pretty evident that it has really different piorities to them). Firstly, the game's pacing is mostly impeccable, as it has basically no padding and the intro is pretty short (padding is a problem that TWW, TP and SS certainly have). The game's dungeons, especially the ones  when Link is adult (well, more like teenager), have very well made intrincate layouts and the puzzles are clever, though kind of basic compared to the ones in TP and SS. Also, the dungeons excel in terms of atmosphere and making you feel like you're truly in danger. The Forest Temple and the Spirit Temple are my favorite dungeons in the series.

The boss battles in this game are memorable and very well designed: the battles against Twinrova and Phantom Ganon are among my favorites in video games. Another thing I really enjoy about OoT is the atmosphere of mystery it gives off when you're kid Link and how it changes to a more depressing atmosphere when Link becomes adult. The game also has a good amount of side content, for example, I love the Gerudo Training Ground and Biggoron Sword side quest. The soundtrack is probably my favorite in the series: the Gerudo Valley theme, the Forest Temple theme, the Lost Woods theme and many others are some of the most memorable tracks in gaming.

#6 - Tales of Vesperia

I must admit that I still have not finished this game but I've played it for more than 120 hours and I think that's enough time to give a good judgement of it. Tales of Vesperia has my favorite or second favorite cast of characters from any JPRG (up there with Final Fantasy VI's cast), it's just amazing how fleshed out each one of the characters is, the game gives a lot detail about their struggles and how their way of thinking changes through the story. I also love their personalities: the main protagonist, Yuri Lowell, is my favorite J-RPG protagonist ever, mainly thanks to him being completely different to your usual J-RPG hero and thanks to his highly highly likeable (and honestly cool) personality; the other characters are amazing too (Rita, Judith ) and have fantastic chemistry together, which takes me to how the game also shows in great detail how their relationship evolves with time. The plot is overall engaging and well written (even if a little bit too long winded), I'm right now at a point when it's getting particularly good.

The gameplay is super fun and fluid, I love the Fatal Strike mechanic, which allows you to knock enemies out in a single hit if you consistently use the right kind of artes against them and, by creating a combo of Fatal Strikes, you can get different bonuses after battle and certain stat boosts when in Overlimit mode. The game's character growth system, based on learning skills through your weapons, is highly engaging, and you can even learn modifications to artes via this system. Tales of Vesperia has an insane amount of side content that gives a lot of insight into the characters' personalities, the lifes of the NPCs and the game's world as a whole. Visually, Tales of Vesperia is just gorgeous, thanks to its cel-shaded art direction (but sadly they dropped this art style after this game, so every Tales game released after Vesperia looks worse than it, though that will most likely change with Arise).

Also, Happy New Year to everyone!!