I've been lucky enough to be a Writer for VGChartz for almost nine years. It's been a real honor. I've met some great friends and colleagues, interviewed legendary figures in the industry, and written hundreds of thousands of words about my favorite pastime. And just last week I hit a major milestone: my 400th review.

In honor of that benchmark, I thought it would be fun to share with you all a list of the top 40 games I've reviewed*. Please follow me on a trip down memory lane, as I revisit all the games that impressed me the most, from 2015 through today. And let me know which of these games is your favorite :)

*Note: I excluded remasters and collections.

#40 - Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (XS)
A great add-on to an excellent game, Separate Ways distinguishes itself thanks to the offensive/defensive possibilities provided by the grapple gun. Also, I think the bosses are actually a step up from the base game.

#39 - The Alliance Alive (3DS)
To me, The Alliance Alive is an underrated, underappreciated gem on 3DS. Inspired by the SaGa titles, it provides amazing role-playing depth and dozens of hours of entertainment.

#38 - BlazBlue: Central Fiction (PS4)
With gorgeous art, tons of content, and high-stakes tactical fighting, Central Fiction is a superior fighting game.

#37 - Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (XOne)
Before you raise your torches and pitchforks, let me explain. While I don't care for the multiplayer side of the equation, I absolutely adore the single-player campaign in Infinite Warfare. I maintain it's the best in the entire series. 

#36 - Shin Megami Tensei V (NS)
Despite some technical shortcomings, Shin Megami Tensei V is an outstanding role-playing game with engaging turn-based combat, rewarding exploration, and an addictive demon fusion system.

#35 - RIVE (PS4)
RIVE is tough as nails, but oh so satisfying. It deftly blends side-scrolling action-platforming and shoot-'em-up gameplay. Sadly, this was the last major release from Two Tribes (Toki Tori).

#34 - Shovel Knight: King of Cards (NS)
King of Cards was such a pleasant surprise. I expected something enjoyable, considering Shovel Knight's pedigree, but didn't anticipate such an instant classic. While the action-platforming isn't quite as successful as that from Shovel Knight's original adventure, clever level designs and diverting hub content make up for it.

#33 - Runbow (Wii U)
Runbow is the perfect example of a simple concept executed flawlessly. There's nothing particularly deep about this silly platformer, but it nails the basics so thoroughly that you probably won't be able to put it down.

#32 - Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin (NS)
The first of two Edelweiss games on this list, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a very special experience. It starts off slowly, but blossoms into a beautiful combination of side-scrolling action and 3D farm simulation. Its characters and world will stick with you long after the credits roll.

#31 - Sundered (PS4)
I consider Thunder Lotus Games to be one of the indie studios to watch, and Sundered is a major reason why. A procedurally-generated Metroidvania with stunning hand-drawn art, it's one of the better entries in the sub-genre from the past seven years.

#30 - The Messenger (NS)
Speaking of great Metroidvania games, say hello to The Messenger, a brilliant back-tracking action-adventure that essentially swaps genres (and art styles) halfway through.

#29 - Animal Crossing: New Horizons (NS)
Talk about being in the right place at the right time. New Horizons, which launched just as COVID reared its ugly head, proved to be a restorative balm in an upside down world. It also proved to be a tremendous life simulation game with hundreds of hours of joyful collecting, gardening, socializing, and celebrating.

#28 - Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux (3DS)
Strange Journey Redux is a masterful remake that retains the best parts of the original -- rewarding first-person dungeon diving, habit-forming demon recruitment mechanics -- and upgrades them with extra content, new quality-of-life features, and modern graphics.

#27 - Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights (NS)
A grimdark Metroidvania (yes, another one), Ender Lilies impresses on all fronts: music, art direction, narrative, and, most importantly, gameplay. It benefits from a nifty "Spirit" system whereby players deploy the specters of defeated enemies to fight for them.

#26 - Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (XOne)
The Dragon's Trap takes what was already a great game -- one of the very best on the Master System, in fact -- and elevates it with modern conveniences and a complete audiovisual overhaul. The result is a terrific retro remake.

#25 - Spiritfarer (NS)
If you can finish Spiritfarer with dry eyes, you are surely made of stone. One of the most moving, emotionally-powerful indie games ever made, it's the best thing Thunder Lotus Games has done (at least for now). It's also an excellent management sim.

#24 - Mortal Kombat X (PS4)
Mortal Kombat has been a somewhat uneven series since it started in the early 1990s, but it delivered the goods in a big way with Mortal Kombat X. Thanks to deep, involving mechanics and an extraordinary story mode, it's arguably the best in the entire franchise.

#23 - Severed (PSV)
DrinkBox is one of the very best indie studios active right now, and Severed is its finest game. An unlikely combination of first-person dungeon-diving and Fruit Ninja-esque touchscreen swiping, it boasts a beautiful story, lovely visuals, engaging exploration, and thrilling combat.

#22 - Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (NS)
One of the finest modern Metroidvanias, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom channels the spirit of the Wonder Boy series with creative animal transformations and open-ended levels dotted with treasure. It also sports winsome hand-drawn art and several memorable set-pieces.

#21 - Resident Evil 2 (PS4)
An exemplary remake and a riveting, unnerving survival-horror game, Resident Evil 2 delivers plenty of thrills and chills in a content-rich, luxurious package.

#20 - Streets of Rage 4 (NS)
Probably the best of the recent retro revivals, Streets of Rage 4 adds surprising depth to the franchise's brawling mechanics, and surrounds it with sumptuous art and a killer soundtrack.

#19 - Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (PS4)
Ys VIII is a remarkable action-RPG with a soaring story, lots of engaging content, and a perfectly-interlocking set of role-playing systems that inform and texture each other.

#18 - Gears of War 4 (XOne)
Sure it's a bit derivative, but Gears of War 4 delivers a thrilling campaign, superior multiplayer options, and visceral third-person shooting throughout.

#17 - Freedom Planet (Wii U)
The best Sonic game that's not really a Sonic game, Freedom Planet remains a lovely surprise all these years later. With excellent level design, a thrilling sense of speed, and tons of replay value, it belongs in the conversation for best indie games of the past two generations.

#16 - Wargroove (NS)
Speaking of indie gems that sometimes surpass the games that inspired them, Wargroove takes the Advance Wars template and builds upon it, delivering a huge & varied campaign, and mountains of single-player and multiplayer content.

#15 - Super Mario 3D World: Bowser's Fury (NS)
Bowser's Fury feels like the beginning of something special. Featuring the tight controls of Super Mario 3D World in a seamless open world, and filled with endlessly-creative platforming trials, it's hopefully the new template for 3D Super Mario moving forward.

#14 - Sea of Stars (NS)
The second Sabotage game on this list, Sea of Stars is a modern classic, a turn-based RPG inspired by the classics with stories, heroes, and battle mechanics all its own. Perhaps its best features are its spellbinding graphics and the relationship among its three main characters, which forms the emotional bedrock of the game.

#13 - CrossCode (NS)
CrossCode starts to flag in its final act, but for the most part it is a stellar action-RPG with sympathetic characters, thrilling combat, challenging puzzles, and loads of quests & challenges.

#12 - Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course (NS)
The Delicious Last Course carries over the precision mechanics and death-defying platforming of the base game and infuses it with new tough-as-nails bosses, a new playable character, and art that is somehow even more jaw-dropping than the original.

#11 - Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NS)
A game that truly earns the name "wonder", this latest entry in the Super Mario series does amazing things with the property, introducing new enemies, level layouts, badges, and platforming ideas. Its most brilliant addition: Wonder Flowers, which reinvent each level and disrupt the typical rules and physics of reality.

#10 - Resident Evil Village (PS4)
Something akin to a Resident Evil "greatest hits" album, Village is an ambitious, envelope-pushing entry in the series with some of its most heart-stopping scares and explosive action.

#9 - Astebreed (NS)
Astebreed is a modern shoot-'em-up tour-de-force, thanks to shiny graphics, exciting music, kinetic perspective-changing action, and a nuanced scoring system that will keep you coming back again and again to beat your high scores.

#8 - Ikaruga (NS)
Ikaruga is a legendary name in the shmup space, and for good reason. Everything about the game sings, from its poetic interludes to its crisp graphics to its otherworldly art direction to its precision gameplay.

#7 - Super Mario Odyssey (NS)
What can you say about Super Mario Odyssey? It's creativity incarnate. The game's miniature sandboxes allow tons of experimentation and exploration, and the "capture" mechanic allows players to control dozens of different creatures -- all with perfect handling, mind you.

#6 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (NS)
Sakurai outdid himself with Smash Bros. Ultimate. The game features so much content, so many characters, and so much to do, see, and unlock that it's almost overwhelming. It's a fighting game for the ages, and, arguably, the finest celebration of video game history we will ever see.

#5 - Chained Echoes (NS)
I could write for pages (and I did) about what makes Chained Echoes so special. It's a role-playing masterwork, as far as I'm concerned. The characters are layered, the story is inspired, the gameplay systems are amazingly fleshed-out, and the quality-of-life additions make everything less onerous.

#4 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (NS)
While not quite on the same level as its predecessor, Tears of the Kingdom is an exceptional sequel, a magnificent action-adventure experience, and one of the best games ever made. With so many creative outlets, and more DIY opportunities than ever before, it's a game tough to put down.

#3 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps (XOne)
Will of the Wisps has everything: ravishing art; powerful music; a sad & thoughtful story; sublime action-platforming; and intensely rewarding Metroidvania gameplay. It's simply a work of art.

#2 - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NS)
By retaining the perfect controls, superior soundtrack, and spatial freedom that defined the vanilla version, and then incorporating all the previously-released DLC and finally adding a worthwhile battle mode, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe made Nintendo's best racing game even better. And the game has only become more attractive in the years since, thanks to 48 additional tracks. 

#1 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NS)
The Zelda series has delivered many triumphs over the years, but none as special or electrifying as Breath of the Wild. The programmers at Nintendo managed to capture lighting in a bottle with the Switch launch title, delivering an open-air adventure with an intoxicating level of freedom and scores of surprising emergent situations brought about by several complex systems working in tandem behind the scenes.

If you're wondering, I pulled the poll options from the top vote-getters in mZuzek's Greatest Games thread.

Great list! 6 of them are in my top 50 of all-time.

If I were to rank the ones I've played it would roughly be:

1. Tears of the Kingdom
2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
3. Breath of the Wild
4. Ori and the Will of the Wisps
5. Super Mario Odyssey
6. Resident Evil 2 Remake
7. Mario Kart 8
8. Shovel Knight: King of Cards
9. Animal Crossing New Horizons

Super Mario Odyssey is the best Switch exclusive, best Mario game, and so on.
It's a joy.

Thanks for this list. I am happy to see a good amount of Indies in the list. Shoutout to Spiritfarer, it is a good game often not getting the credit it deserves.

Great list with tons of titles I also love. 400 reviews that's A LOT! Congratulations on this milestone!