Super Punch Out!!

#47 - Garou: Mark of the Wolves - NEO GEO

There is nothing better in fighting games than sprite ones and there is no better company for that than SNK. With the last game we got in the Fatal Fury series in 1999, it doesn't only have some of the best sprites and animations, but they also managed to create one of the greatest fighting games ever.

This entry took a bold direction, most of the playable characters from previous Fatal Fury games are gone, with the exception of our legendary wolf Terry, and still with its new 11 characters and bosses, it manages to create a memorable cast of characters and successors to the likes of Andy and Kim, and of course Rock Howard, son of Geese Howard and raised by Terry, Garou stands as one of the best executed passing the torch like stories with this cast. All with their unique personalities, fighting styles, great sound design and amazing animations to bring them to life.

The battle system is polished as hell too, from perfect guards, your usual commands and the T.O.P system, a simple but fairly strategic mechanic, place your T.O.P in any third of your life bar, when it gets there, you get more strength and can recover some health by doing perfect guards, so you can try to keep yourself from getting hit and have your T.O.P with full health, or keep it as a comeback method by having it on your final third.

Overall, even if is just arcade mode with endings for each character and a fairly fun survival mode, there are few fighting games as fun and satisfying as Mark of the Wolves.

Actually a fun game, but not fun enough to be in the top 50. So no, not Tingle either.

You are right; Majora’s Mask is higher up the list. But it’s not Skyward Sword either.

To you both; it’s not a Zelda game, or one of it’s spinoffs. The character itself has already been mentioned though.

I was wondering when someone would mention Baby Mario. He’s notorious. Personally I actually don’t find him annoying though, I got good.

But no, I’m afraid it’s not Yoshi’s Island yet.

In general;

#47 (Hint 2): He especially likes failure.

If it’s not one of the other two that have been mentioned; Grim Fandango perhaps?

so soon

Duck Hunt?

Yes!

Bofferbrauer was almost there, he initially mentioned the dog but then chose another.

In this first cut-scene, when the Rabbids look up to the moon and make 'ooooh' noise, that alone won me over. It is so charming.

I do like the Rabbids humour generally (many find them annoying), but their games are hit or miss. This one is a game which works. I am not aware if it was the first game which deviated from the minigame formula, as there are so many Rabbids games, but at least it is one of the first bigger adventures for the Rabbids.

And it fits all so well. The Rabbids were introduced as brutal, carefree, mischivieous, silly, lazy. And this game fits that so well. They want to reach the moon - but only to have another place to sleep. To reach it they don't build any structures, they pile on trash. If they see no trash, they make other objects into trash. They use the sewers to transport the trash.

As a big contrast there are humans in this game, which are the exact opposite: they are tidy, planned, controlled. The human society isn't shown as an utopia though, people are shown as worker-drones and messages remind them to consume to keep the economy running. When the Rabbids come they bring chaos with them and the humans are helplessly running around.

The gameplay is simple, but works extremely well. In increasingly difficult levels you try to collect as much trash as possible. The levels contain simple puzzles to progress, some light platforming and from time to time special stuff like time-limited areas or boss-fights. Depending on how much care you invest in searching every nook and cranny you find different amount of trash. Over time the humans get dogs and pest-control to fight the Rabbids. This makes the levels somewhat more challenging as you have to avoid these dangers.

This is a joy to play, as the shopping cart you control allows for fluid movement, the gameplay offers enough variation, the humour is on point. Last year this game was pushed out of the TOP 50 by new entries, but has a reentry into my list this year. As the rabbids got reintroduced with Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle, this game might be a good candidate for a rerelease or a sequel. Make it happen Ubisoft!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a2IBgxypgA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0KdSPylxHY

#48

Portal 2 (PC)

Change From Last Year: -2

It's quite rare that every element of a game comes together in such an impressive way as the first Portal. It was an unquestionably short experience, but the excellent puzzle design, smart and often funny writing, and the genius of the portal gun made for one of the most memorable video game experiences of the last 20 years. Portal 2 is essentially that, but with more puzzle variety, length, and arguably even better writing. I also found it quite a bit more challenging than the first game, which I very much liked as the first Portal felt a little too easy most of the way through. 

Of course, I have to mention the excellent performances of the voice cast throughout the game, which bring so much more depth to the game. This is still one of the best puzzle games ever made in my opinion.

Correct!