Here are some clues to my next set of games.

40.  This PS3 downloadable tower defense game came out in 2007.  The title suggests that the graphics may not be the most sophisticated.

39.  Because it took a long time for Fire Emblem to be released outside of Japan, my first strategy RPG was this Genesis game.

38.  The big surprise reveal at the end of this NES game is now so well known, that younger gamers may not realize that this was ever a secret.

37.  This SNES game returns to the gameplay style similar to what originated in the arcade for this series.  Of course it didn't have a celebrity's name attached to it this time to help drive sales.

36.  "It's a beautiful day outside, birds are singing, flowers are blooming... on days like these, kids like you... Should be burning in hell."

All correct!  39 was, in fact, Shining Force.  Good job!

#41

Suikoden II (PlayStation 1)

Change From Last Year: NEW

I finally got around to playing Suikoden II earlier this year after having bought it something like five years ago, and I'm glad I did because it is an excellent JRPG that rivals many of the best games in the genre. However, the elements that separate Suikoden II from most other JRPGs, or even games in general, is its smart and well-written politically charged story and interesting characters the story centers on. Everything else about the game is good as well, but it's those two things that push the game to the upper echelon of RPGs.

#40

Super Metroid (SNES)

Change From Last Year: -3

Super Metroid is another game I only got to play years after its original release, as I never actually owned an SNES growing up, and my friends who did have the console didn't have the game. Once I finally did have a chance to play through Super Metroid it more or less lived up to its wonderful reputation. From the minimalistic storytelling to the excellent world design that encourages exploration and creates a near constant sense of discovery, there is very little that could ever be improved in the game.

The only minor issues I had were mostly related to the controls, which made certain moves a bit difficult to perform at times, but besides that this is a game that everyone should at one point or another play.

36 is Undertale, I haven't played it but I know this quote from listening to Megalovania on Youtube.

No attempt yet, a second hint;

#39: At the very end of this game the song says you go through something that's basically twice the same.
#39 (Hint 2): At least you can’t get boo-ed off the stage because it’s, well, the end.

I have a soft spot for Pinball games, and this one is the game that is the reason for that. Pinball Dreams was great fun, that I could start and try to get new highscores at any time. Animation was smooth, the tables were interesting, the sound effects and music was great (remember, back then this was not a given).

All four tables are pretty fun, which is why I rate this game higher than the successors Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Illusions, which had some fun tables and some that were not so great. Ignition was a table themed with space travel, with you trying to reach different planets of the solar system and other goals related to space travel. Steel Wheel has the railroad in the Wild West as theme, Beat Box is a table themed about the music industry. My absolute favorite was Nightmare though. Sound effects and music was so matching to the theme and the multiple targets to get a higher score were so rewarding. Pinball Fantasies has a similarly styled table Stones&Bones, which is also my favorite table in that game.

The smoothness of the animations and the great sound effects is explainable, because the creators were an experienced demo-group named The Silents. They founded their company Digital Illusions in 1992 and released Pinball Dreams early on in the year as their first game. Later that year followed Pinball Fantasies. Digital Illusions CE nowadays goes mostly as DICE, you may know them as EA-subsidiary that is responsible for Battlefield and other stuff.

If you want to hunt highscores nowadays, you can easily run this game in Dosbox, the DOS-emulator. If you don't own a copy, GOG has the game in the Pinball Gold Pack together with Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Illusions. All as Deluxe version, which contains additional tables, which are subpar. But the original four tables are great. Or you can play the game for free in your browser via the Internet Archive, although for my setup at least the emulation via browser is challenged and so it plays in slow motion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6xfzwO8GdA

Hints for my next batch of games.

#38. Released in Japan in 1995, and in the US just a few months ago.

#37. According to the game's box, you're supposed to collect the souls of great heroes for the last battle. But the game rewards you for subtlety disobeying the ruling gods, as long as you don't get caught.

36. The latest in its series, this game is a re-telling of the Allied invasion of Western Europe in 1945.

#36: Battlefield V?