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Forums - Gaming Discussion - gamrConnect Presents: Their 1131 Greatest Games, as of 2021

Mnementh on 22 January 2022
Jaicee said:

1) Butterfly Soup
2) Gone Home
3) Knights and Bikes
4) Chop Suey
5) Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
6) Crypt of the NecroDancer
7) Cadence of Hyrule
8) Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
9) Papo & Yo
10) Kentucky Route Zero
11) ScourgeBringer
12) Death Stranding
13) It Takes Two <-- Seriously!! You know, the GOTY winner at The Game Awards?!
14) Gato Roboto
15) Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
16) Pony Island
17) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
18) This War of Mine
19) Streets of Rage 4
20) The Artful Escape
21) The Shrouded Isle
22) That Dragon, Cancer
23) Deathloop <-- Yup, just me!
24) Mission: It's Complicated
25) There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension

Interesting that with Deathloop and Death Stranding two AAA games only got your vote. I kinda understand Death Stranding, as far as I see from the outside it is a game really standing against usual convention. But Deathloop seems very well be mainstream compatible. Maybe too much good AAA games, only so much could be voted.


6) Crypt of the NecroDancer
7) Cadence of Hyrule

I actually love these two games. But the reason they didn't make my list is simple: I am really, really bad at rhythm games. Still, in difference to platformers at which I suck as well, I enjoy the experience until I get stuck. And these two combine rhythm gaming with dungeon delver RPGs (like rogue - the namegiver of roguelikes - , nethack or more modern: Etrian Odyssey), which I like. The music in Crypt of the Necrodancer is so great. And achieving disco floor is so, so satisfying. I don't even care about better rewards, the disco floor is cool. The story is kinda cool to meet the rhythm theme, Cadence dying and getting her heart reanimated, so that she can only move to the beat of the animated heart.

Cadence of Hyrule combines it with Zelda, which I love. Zelda also matches the dungeon delving theme, it has great graphics and music was always something great in the Zelda series, having it remixed to match a rhythm game is great. I guess I could play it classically, to avoid my bad rhythm, but hitting the beat is also a lot of enjoyment, so that is lost.


5) Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

I actually played it a bit. It has a great artstyle (or two of them) and cool game mechanics. But as I said before, I suck at platformers, and this frustrates me.


10) Kentucky Route Zero
15) Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
17) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
18) This War of Mine

These are all on my "have to play"-list. But well, this list is long. And stress at work can actually suck my energy so much, that I only have enough for Netflix.


20) The Artful Escape

I never heard of it before the VGC GOTY awards. It looks kinda cool. I guess i add it to the evergrowing "have to play" list.



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]

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JWeinCom on 22 January 2022
Farsala said:
JWeinCom said:

I had 25 of the top 100 on my list.
8 of the top 10, just missing LTTP and Super Metroid.
11 of the top 20
So, somewhere between basic and peculiar. Really surprised at Wind Waker over Ocarina, Super Mario Galaxy 1 over 2, Brawl over Melee, Astral Chain over Bayonetta, Goldeneye on the list (great for its time, has not aged well), and that people liked Final Fantasy 8 or 12.

When I think about Wind Waker over Ocarina, or Brawl over Melee. I think it comes down to demographic switch. Eventually older games in the 90s, early 2000s will feel underappreciated. Younger people will feel nostalgia for 2000s games over 90s/ early 2000s.

I think a lot of people have a bias towards games from during their youth, and my list certainly has that. It just surprised me with those two entries in particular. Brawl because its sequels are so plainly superior (except for the single player mode maybe). I was surprised at Wind Waker over Ocarina, because of how beloved Ocarina is, and more importantly, because I misread the chart, and Ocarina is actually above Wind Waker. Surprisingly close though.



rapsuperstar31 on 22 January 2022
Mnementh said:

Hmm, let's see.

In the TOP 10 is only one of my games: Breath of the Wild (I had it on #15).

In the TOP 50 are three more: Xenoblade Chronicles (#9 for me), Okami (#5), Fire Emblem Awakening (#20).

And in the TOP 100 are no more of my games.

Seems my tastes are not actually in line with the majority here. But quite a lot of the listed games are on my backlog, so they may enter later. Also quite some entered my list in past years like Final Fantasy X, Twilight Princess or Pikmin 3.

So, how many of my games got only my vote? Let's see:

Pinball Dreams, Descent, The Battle for Wesnoth, Gylt, Dragon Quest Builders, King's Bounty II, Supaplex, Phoenix Point, Armello, Romance of the three Kingdoms XIV, Pillars of Eternity, Attack of the Friday Monsters!, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Jagged Alliance, Return to Zork, Baldur's Gate III, Graveyard Keeper, Persona Q, Another Code R, The Secret of Monkey Island, UFO: Enemy Unknown, Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millenium Girl, Baldur's Gate, Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land, Tokyo Mirage Sessions.

25 games! Half of my list was only voted by me. Guys, you all are missing out!

Sorry I couldn't vote for most of those games listed above, of that list of 25 games I only played 2 of them in Immortals Fenyx Rising and The Secret of Monkey Island.  I didn't really care for Immortals after a few hours and stopped playing, but I do like the Monkey Island games.  I may have to put a Monkey Island game into my top 50 on next years list.



rapsuperstar31 on 22 January 2022
Jaicee said:

Alrighty, I'll play that game we're all playing now. Out of my top 50 picks...

...1 made the top 10.
...3 made the top 20.
...11 made the top 100.

The 11 games I picked that also made the top 100 were: Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VI, The Last of Us, The Last of Us Part II, NieR: Automata, Portal, Portal 2, Okami, Ori and the Blind Forest, Hades, and Undertale. Last year, Celeste (another fave of mine) also made the top 100, but it was bumped out this year, apparently in favor of some more Nintendo games.

I was the sole contributor of 25 games to this year's list...so half my list consisted of unique selections, in other words. Looks like I'm tied with Mnementh in this regard. My unique selections included:

1) Butterfly Soup
2) Gone Home
3) Knights and Bikes
4) Chop Suey
5) Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
6) Crypt of the NecroDancer
7) Cadence of Hyrule
8) Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
9) Papo & Yo
10) Kentucky Route Zero
11) ScourgeBringer
12) Death Stranding
13) It Takes Two <-- Seriously!! You know, the GOTY winner at The Game Awards?!
14) Gato Roboto
15) Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
16) Pony Island
17) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
18) This War of Mine
19) Streets of Rage 4
20) The Artful Escape
21) The Shrouded Isle
22) That Dragon, Cancer
23) Deathloop <-- Yup, just me!
24) Mission: It's Complicated
25) There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension

I mean, I always kind of expect my lesbian romances and feminist type games to be more or less unique to my list, along with some quirkier, super-obscure faves of mine like ScourgeBringer, Pony Island, There Is No Game, that sorta thing...but come on now, I didn't expect to the be the only person who included Kentucky Route Zero, Hellblade, Sakuna, It Takes Two, Deathloop, This War of Mine, and Streets of Rage 4. Those are a little less obscure and have real fan bases.

I loved Deathloop but I didn't play it until the end of December, so I'm sure it will be in my top 50 list next year.



JWeinCom on 22 January 2022
mZuzek said:
JWeinCom said:

because I misread the chart, and Ocarina is actually above Wind Waker. Surprisingly close though.

I was waiting to see when people would realize this lol. As I said earlier though, it wasn't that close - the gap in points between Wind Waker and Ocarina was roughly the same as between Ocarina and Mario Galaxy. Whereas everything from Wind Waker on is really close, as in, were you to remove Wind Waker's highest vote (#2 on Kakadu's list), it'd drop down to 8th place. Meanwhile, Ocarina of Time would only lose its 2nd place if you removed three of its highest votes.

I think I saw Young Link in Majora's Mask's picture and thought Ocarina.



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Runa216 on 22 January 2022
Jaicee said:

Alrighty, I'll play that game we're all playing now. Out of my top 50 picks...

...1 made the top 10.
...3 made the top 20.
...11 made the top 100.

The 11 games I picked that also made the top 100 were: Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VI, The Last of Us, The Last of Us Part II, NieR: Automata, Portal, Portal 2, Okami, Ori and the Blind Forest, Hades, and Undertale. Last year, Celeste (another fave of mine) also made the top 100, but it was bumped out this year, apparently in favor of some more Nintendo games.

I was the sole contributor of 25 games to this year's list...so half my list consisted of unique selections, in other words. Looks like I'm tied with Mnementh in this regard. My unique selections included:

1) Butterfly Soup
2) Gone Home
3) Knights and Bikes
4) Chop Suey
5) Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
6) Crypt of the NecroDancer
7) Cadence of Hyrule
8) Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
9) Papo & Yo
10) Kentucky Route Zero
11) ScourgeBringer
12) Death Stranding
13) It Takes Two <-- Seriously!! You know, the GOTY winner at The Game Awards?!
14) Gato Roboto
15) Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
16) Pony Island
17) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
18) This War of Mine
19) Streets of Rage 4
20) The Artful Escape
21) The Shrouded Isle
22) That Dragon, Cancer
23) Deathloop <-- Yup, just me!
24) Mission: It's Complicated
25) There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension

I mean, I always kind of expect my lesbian romances and feminist type games to be more or less unique to my list, along with some quirkier, super-obscure faves of mine like ScourgeBringer, Pony Island, There Is No Game, that sorta thing...but come on now, I didn't expect to the be the only person who included Kentucky Route Zero, Hellblade, Sakuna, It Takes Two, Deathloop, This War of Mine, and Streets of Rage 4. Those are a little less obscure and have real fan bases.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through It Takes Two with my buddy and loving every minute of it. I might end up putting it on my list as well once I've completed it. what a delightful game from top to bottom; even my coop buddy I'm playing with had to stop every level or so and say 'man, this was not at all what I was expecting, it's so much more'. 

Honestly, when it won GOTY I was a little skeptical in the wake of such gems as Rivet and Clank...I mean, uh, Ratchet & Clank as well as stuff like Deathloop and Forza, but like, after playing it? I have to say it's truly something special. 



My Console Library:

PS5, Switch, XSX

PS4, PS3, PS2, PS1, WiiU, Wii, GCN, N64 SNES, XBO, 360

3DS, DS, GBA, Vita, PSP, Android

Kakadu18 on 22 January 2022

The only games only I have on my list are Tetris 99, Sniper Elite 4, Luigi's Mansion 2 and The Walking Dead: Season Two.
I'm a bit surprised about Luigi's Mansion 2 to be honest.



Kakadu18 on 22 January 2022
mZuzek said:
JWeinCom said:

because I misread the chart, and Ocarina is actually above Wind Waker. Surprisingly close though.

I was waiting to see when people would realize this lol. As I said earlier though, it wasn't that close - the gap in points between Wind Waker and Ocarina was roughly the same as between Ocarina and Mario Galaxy. Whereas everything from Wind Waker on is really close, as in, were you to remove Wind Waker's highest vote (#2 on Kakadu's list), it'd drop down to 8th place. Meanwhile, Ocarina of Time would only lose its 3rd place if you removed three of its highest votes.

You're kidding me. We haven't got nearly enough participants if one vote has such an influence. That means that Astral Chain is only higher than Bayonetta 2 thanks to my #4 placement. Right?



Jaicee on 22 January 2022
Darashiva said:

I can't say if they will eventually make my list, but a lot of those unique titles on your list are games that I just haven't gotten around to playing yet. I own Hellblade, Cadence of Huryle and This War of Mine, but haven't played them yet, and I am planning on getting The Artful Escape, Sakuna, Pony Island, That Dragon, Cancer and at least a few others you listed. You know, once my list of unplayed games isn't so massive, so hopefully within the next five years or so.

That is a hell of a backlog! I have to buy on a pretty strict budget, so I don't typically have much of a backlog issue, though sometimes I wind up with lengthy wish lists.

Mnementh said:

Interesting that with Deathloop and Death Stranding two AAA games only got your vote. I kinda understand Death Stranding, as far as I see from the outside it is a game really standing against usual convention. But Deathloop seems very well be mainstream compatible. Maybe too much good AAA games, only so much could be voted.

I think that, in a sense, both games have the same problem really: they belong to unconventional genres that haven't really reached the mainstream of gaming as a scene. In the case of Deathloop, well, in a sense it's got the same issue as Returnal: roguelikes are an especially challenging genre that just doesn't appeal to, and isn't accessible to, everyone, hence why up until recently it had been relegated more to the sidelines, concentrated squarely in the indie scene and enjoying smaller budgets. And let's face it, Death Stranding IS its own game genre...which is a huge part of makes it appealing to me!

Mnementh said:

6) Crypt of the NecroDancer
7) Cadence of Hyrule

I actually love these two games. But the reason they didn't make my list is simple: I am really, really bad at rhythm games. Still, in difference to platformers at which I suck as well, I enjoy the experience until I get stuck. And these two combine rhythm gaming with dungeon delver RPGs (like rogue - the namegiver of roguelikes - , nethack or more modern: Etrian Odyssey), which I like. The music in Crypt of the Necrodancer is so great. And achieving disco floor is so, so satisfying. I don't even care about better rewards, the disco floor is cool. The story is kinda cool to meet the rhythm theme, Cadence dying and getting her heart reanimated, so that she can only move to the beat of the animated heart.

Cadence of Hyrule combines it with Zelda, which I love. Zelda also matches the dungeon delving theme, it has great graphics and music was always something great in the Zelda series, having it remixed to match a rhythm game is great. I guess I could play it classically, to avoid my bad rhythm, but hitting the beat is also a lot of enjoyment, so that is lost.

In my opinion, Crypt of the NecroDancer has the best soundtrack in gaming, period. People who know me know that I'm partial to hard rock -- punk rock, grunge, metal, alternative country, whatev -- but I also really enjoy electronic dance music because it has a comparably high level of energy to it that just refuels me when I'm tired and frustrated so often, and any attempt to bring those styles together is...just perfect to me. And I love everything about the game's premise and storyline. Yeah, I know it's a tough game! To me, it's perfect for cultivating focus in a way that's extremely fun! I find it more fun to use a dance pad, which you can do with the home computer version of the game.

Cadence of Hyrule in my mind is a little less special because the tunes are so derivative for obvious reasons, but it's my favorite Zelda game! (I hate to call it offbeat though 'cause that's the exact opposite of the idea. ) I love how you get to use so many different characters too!

Mnementh said:

5) Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

I actually played it a bit. It has a great artstyle (or two of them) and cool game mechanics. But as I said before, I suck at platformers, and this frustrates me.

I grew up on platforming games, so they don't frustrate me.

I love how the music adjusts on the fly when you switch from cute Giant to punk Giana and vice versa 'cause there are actually two versions of each stage's soundtrack going at the same time (both of which are fucking incredible!), and how the stages change drastically when you switch. The game ain't perfect by any means (it could use more tracks actually, and also more enemy variety, to state the obvious), but these shortcomings are more than made up for by my partiality to the game's subdued thematic vibes of sisterly love, to which end I classify it as one of my "targeting a feminist fan base" type games I don't expect most to appreciate quite as much as I do. It's NOT a common theme in this medium the way brotherly love and male bonding have been.

Mnementh said:

10) Kentucky Route Zero
15) Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
17) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
18) This War of Mine

These are all on my "have to play"-list. But well, this list is long. And stress at work can actually suck my energy so much, that I only have enough for Netflix.


20) The Artful Escape

I never heard of it before the VGC GOTY awards. It looks kinda cool. I guess i add it to the evergrowing "have to play" list.

Sounds like the right plan!

Machina said:

Games only I listed:

  • Dota 2 (my #6)
  • Mirror's Edge (#7)
  • Homeworld (#9)
  • Homeworld 2 (#10)
  • Grand Theft Auto III (#12) << that one surprises me
  • Tomb Raider II (#14)
  • Prince of Persia 2008 (#18)
  • Tekken 2 (#21)
  • WipEout 2097 (#22)
  • Fighting Force (#31)
  • The Last Guardian (#33)
  • Mirror's Edge Catalyst (#34)
  • The Surge (#35)
  • N++ (#37)
  • Race Driver: GRID (#38)
  • N+ (#42)
  • The Company of Myself (#43)
  • Grand Theft Auto (#44)
  • Alex Kidd in Miracle World (#46)
  • WipEout Pulse (#47)
  • WipEout Pure (#48)

21 in total, not far off @Mnementh & @Jaicee on 25.

I've traditionally had Mirror's Edge on my lists and it remains my favorite game from its original year of release (2008), just ahead of Persona 4, but I couldn't resist adding a bunch of new games this year and Mirror's Edge was a casualty of that. What's more, it's already a settled matter in my mind that I'll also be adding Chicory to next year's list (as I just recently played it) and there may even be other additions from this year too by then. I thought it was a pretty good year for video games!

I also kinda like a lot of the Tomb Raider games myself, but they fail to make my top 50 lists anymore for similar reasons. Same principle with The Last Guardian, which is actually one of my very favorite games from its year of release as well. At this point, nearly all older games have been phased out of my top 50 and it takes something of extraordinary personal value to me to remain there after decades anymore. Still Chop Suey remains in my top 10 though, and Super Metroid in fifth place.

Now as to Mirror's Edge Catalyst, well...I think there are reasons why you're the only one to include that particular game. I just think it worked better in a more linear format.

Anyway, that Dota 6 and GTA III fail to make anyone else's lists does surprise me too! Some of the games you listed though I don't recall having heard of before, like the Homeworld games, The Surge, and N+ and N++. What do you like about those games?



Jaicee on 23 January 2022
mZuzek said:

I disagree with these opinions so much. Don't mean it in a mean way, it's just kinda amusing really. I do agree Cadence of Hyrule isn't as fun or exciting as the original Crypt of the Necrodancer, but favorite Zelda game is quite a statement lol. As for the soundtrack, Danny Baranowsky is always great, but definitely not among the best for me - I feel like his soundtracks are a lot of fun but rarely do they make me feel things. So basically he's the Mario of videogame composers.

Well fun has value to me too. Crypt of the NecroDancer is an escape game for me. I have those too, they're just not everybody's. I'm not above that.  While yes, lots of my favorite games have more of a narrative focus, I don't have like a set formula in mind as to what design philosophy makes for the perfect game, I just think Crypt of the NecroDancer is a creative and extremely fun game that gets my mind to refocus. The maddeningly fun soundtrack helps that a lot. I'm not always the deepest person in the world. I don't get into that many rhythm games specifically because I rarely like the song selection. I just don't really get into a lot of standard pop songs.

As to Cadence of Hyrule, it has all the depth of most Legend of Zelda games, but it's more unique and fun and I can actually play as a womanz without the context being, ugh, Hyrule Warriors. (My favorite canonical Legend of Zelda game is probably always going to be The Wind Waker, though Majora's Mask has really grown on me in recent years and may eventually emerge as my runner-up favorite. Currently, runner-up status belongs to, of course, Breath of the Wild, no surprise.)