#41 Eternal Darkness

"May the rats eat you eyes, the darkness comes!"

The first instance of me enjoying horror games. I played it first at a time when I got really creeped out buy scary movies. But this game just took it up a notch and bringing the "horror" out to the real world. The sanity effects of Eternal darkness is still my favorite use of third wall breaking in video games. Shout out to Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid that also is great but I experienced Eternal Darkness first so. 

In classic horror style gameplay the controls are a bit stiff by todays standard. The battle system where you can strike at individual body parts was good for the time even if it feels a bit off today makes it interesting to revisit. Blood dripping from the walls, statues following you with their gaze, strange knocks on the other side of the wall, who changed the channel??  I never had to change my pants playing. Not. Once.

#40 Mario Kart Super Circuit 

I never thought I would see this game on my top 50 games ever. But because of this years theme the black sheep of Mario Karts finds its way this high up for one simple reason. I was f**king good at it. Had several top 10 times (unofficial sadly since I never bothered to send anything in) and the second best time on rainbow road back when 2000 had just started. Today I probably cannot master up a top 1000 time. 

Way more technical than most other Mario Karts. Almost as difficult to drive as the original Mario Kart which it most resembles. Today I enjoy almost all other Mario Karts more since they are more laid back fun. But the GBA release just needs to be mentioned for being the only time that I felt I was not just good at a game in my local community, but actually great even on an international level. A true first. And a very true last. 

#39 Super Smash Bros

For a couple of months the only thing me and my best friend did was go to school and than come home and play Super Smash Bros. Me playing Mario and him playing Donkey Kong. Time and items. The Chaotic nature of the game made it impossible to know who would win until the timer run out. The physics of the game  made it almost like a sandbox in a fighting game. 

I was never into fighting games before the platform fighting style of Smash Bros.  I had played my share of Street Fighter 2 and Tekken 3 and they where entertaining enough. But Smash Bros, man that game was fun to just talk about previous matches where something extra cool, strange or unique happened. We played and laughed - not from jokes but from the pure enjoyment of playing Smash Bros. 

Gotcha. Will have to remember that.

That said - could #41 be Cat Quest?

50 - Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
- Red > Green. Green > Blue. Blue > Red. Purple > all.
- An exclusive, mature title on a console that had a reputation for catering to younger gamers.

49
- There could be up to 4 previously unvisited countries on your itinerary.
- England, Mexico, Jamaica, Hong Kong

48
- Those precious collectibles are found in the levels here, rather than in bonus stages like in its more powerful namesake.
- This game was first available on both a home console and a handheld.

47
- Robotic animals take each other out in a title from the developer of one of the biggest franchises of all time.
- You have to take control of these robotic animals to do combat, solve puzzles, and get to each level exit.

46 (incorrect guesses - Psychonauts)
- The playable character is like the antithesis of Freddy Krueger
- A Zelda-like game exclusive to one of Nintendo’s rivals.

45 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215
- Solving everyone else’s problems whilst trying to solve your own.
- A handheld title that produced one sequel. Fans hope for a remaster one day (much like two similar games from the same, now defunct, developer), or maybe even a third game.

#38 Donkey Konga

This released before Guitar Hero and the real music games hype. I do not know why I like this game so much. I hope it had more to do with the gameplay than the fact that I bought it at full prices shortly after release for most of the money I had back then and needed to play in order to get my monies worth. But I played and played and played, chasing higher scores. Longer runs without a miss and until I was associating the colors red and yellow with left and right.

I played this game so much that when it was time to play multiplayer with my siblings I had to play using me feet instead of my hands to make it even. Mostly an effect of them not playing and liking the game as much as I did. It bothers me greatly that there still to this day is a section of my favorite song in the game (All the small things) that I have never gotten past without a "miss". Probably the game I like most compared to the general public. And I have the stinky feet to prove it.

Eternal Darkness

Correctumondo. The first clue is a reference to the magic system in the game, and which rune is stronger than other.

Two games left for now, a new clue for each.

#35: Tales of Berseria

• Though most games in this long-running series are unrelated to each other, this entry was is set in the same world as the previous entry in it, set around a 1000 years earlier.

#34:

• The game received an updated version a year after release that made some changes to features such as enemy positioning and behavior, and also added some new details to the story, including a new final boss that appears if you complete certain requirements beforehand.
• Said new final boss was also the namesake of this updated version, though he wasn't directly named in the subtitle bur rather referred to by a specific title.

#33: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III

• After two games of student life, the main character has now become a teacher in a newly established branch of a military academy.

#32: The Last of Us Part II

• About halfway through the story the perspective suddenly switches to who up to that point had been the game's main antagonist.

#31:

• Details the events of a secret offensive during the second Europan War.
• Takes place at the same time as the first game in the series.

#40 - Someone solved the complicated rights issues around this game, because it was finally ported to modern systems in early 2023

#39 - The fourth iteration of one of the most important arcade games of all time, this title introduces four new characters

#38 - An iconic character strives to break up a shotgun marriage in this acclaimed video game

#37 - Designed primarily by one man, this modern JRPG masterpiece channels Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and Suikoden

#36 - The iconic character from #38 also stars in this game, which is the (double) cherry on top