Guessed by Vinther1991

Once upon a time, a new system was hyped up. It would revolutionise the gaming world. We'd enter the realm of 3D, and free roaming control to create worlds and movement unimaginable before. Yes, yes, I know there had been a couple of 3D games by this point, but this would be something else. In this time, pre-ordering was a new thing. So my aunt, being the gamer she was, went modern and pre-ordered the Nintendo 64. My parents were still too new to these things, so we just waited. As it turned out, that was a good idea because, surprise, pre-orders couldn't be fulfilled. Yet there was the occasional unit in stores to buy. So we got one of those, a good two weeks before my aunt finally received here's.

The new and shiny system came with 'Super Mario 64', a timeless game in lots of ways. Internationally, there were of course only two launch titles, but because the system launched a couple months later in Europe we could choose from a handful, which we pretty much all got. Still, even with only two games, I'd argue the Nintendo 64 had the greatest launch line-up of any system ever, simply to the presence of Super Mario 64. The impact this game had, or still has, cannot be understated and Nintendo knocked it so far out of the park with this I'm still looking for the ball. It is basically the perfect game. Often, people criticise the camera controls. I'd call that a little unfair to begin with since this was really the first game to do it right, but as far as I'm concerned, it's still a textbook example for new games to look at. Too often I'm playing a newer game, where I end up wondering why developers couldn't do it as well as Super Mario 64 could 25 years ago. Timeless indeed.

Hopefully within the next few days. 

By the way, I am dead serious guys: you should get the game as long as you still have the chance, before it is lost to times.

#8

Bloodborne (PS4)

YoY: =

Bloodborne is, in my opinion, the best game of the last console generation. A genuine masterpiece of design in practically every possible aspect, from gameplay to visuals, and from lore to the world itself, every aspect of Bloodborne is impeccable as far as I'm concerned. It's so good that I both do and don't want a sequel to it. On one hand, more of something this amazing would never be a bad thing, but on the other hand, it's perfect as it is. Of course, it would be amazing to go back to this world and discover more of its history and secrets, and fight against some of the best designed monsters and bosses in video game history, but part of what makes Bloodborne so brilliant is the fact that it leaves things open and doesn't explain everything to the player.

That's very fitting considering the game revolves heavily around the concept of cosmic horror, and one of the intrinsic aspects of that is that the human mind can't truly comprehend it. Leaving things as they are would be perfectly in keeping with the game's lore, and whether we ever do get any kind of continuation to Bloodborne, I'm just glad I got to experience it in the first place.

2. Mega Man 2 (NES – 1988)

Gotta admire a series that nailed it this early in its life. Mega Man 2 took the great simplistic action platforming experience of the original, and polished it to perfection, removing all the flaws the first one had. The sprite-work is timeless and iconic, even modern indie titles try to replicate this look. The soundtrack is obviously up there with the very finest video game soundtracks, and it is 8-bit!

The option to choose between 8 different stages from the get go, is an effective way to increase replayability. The fact that you gain different power-up, that all have their use against other bosses and for other challenges in the game, is such a sophisticated design choice. An the execution is just the best in this game. The difficulty is more fair than in other games in the series, while the challenge is still high. The length is satisfying, without ever dragging. This is a game that has truly stood the test of time. Now that Capcom has released the game in the Mega Man legacy collection on pretty much everything, there is no reason not to try this game.

1. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES – 1988)

Screw Super Mario World! This is by far the definitive 2D Mario experience. It takes everything good about the original and expands on it in every way. The creativity of this game is unmatched, look at the amazing power-ups: The Tanooki Suit, Frog Suit, Hammer Suit and Kuribo's Shoe, which is only available in a single stage, because why not throw that extra little idea in there?

Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced the overworld map, allowing multiple routes through the game, optional stages and bonus levels as well.

The level design is ridiculously good, from the crazy Giant Land and Pipe Land to the charming Desert Land, and none the least the super challenging air ship stages and Dark Land levels. I love that it provides a good, but fair challenge.

The music is also great and the sprite work is high standard for NES games. Some prefer the ‘enhanced’ visuals of the SNES release in Super Mario All-stars, but I always thought the colors in that one looked really weird, so I strongly prefer the simpler, more charming look of the original.

The same team that did Hotel Dusk and Last Window right? How does it compare to them, as they're two of my favourite games.

You may know I actually still have regrets sometimes, because it looked like this would've maybe been to my liking. I remember I had the box of this game in hand, the big box version even, when I was at a store late in Wii's life contemplating whether or not to buy it. But then, because of some cosmic ray or something, I just.. put it back and turned away.

That's deep.

Yes, well, lol, it's kind of tongue-in-cheek but really I can't remember me having any kind of actual reason to put that game back on the shelf.