1. Joust
|
2. Mappy
|
| Joust is a game where knights ride on top of gigantic birds and kill each other in gladiatorial combat. Everybody is equipped with a lance, which sticks out a few pixels from their head. The goal is to collide with other jousters, ensuring that your lance is above theirs, which will then kill them. Bouncing on their heads, of course, will work just as well. It's a different formula from many arcade games from the era like Pac-Man, which typically put the player in weakened state. In Joust, most everyone is on the same playing level. That’s the theory theory, anyway. The key to Joust is learning how to keep your bird under control. There is only a single button – "flap" – which will propel your bird every so slightly into the air. With a few more presses, you take your steed
higher into the sky, allowing you to stay airborne. In addition to fighting against gravity, you're also dealing with inertia. Build up enough speed and you'll find yourself careening across the arena, wrapping around the screen as you disappear off one side and reappear on the other. It’s a surefire way to make yourself dizzy until you skid to a stop. |
Namco is one of the great golden age arcade developers, largely known for Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and Galaxian. However, their secret best title is Mappy, a cute cat and mouse platformer with vague influences from some of their more popular titles. The goal, as the titular policemouse, is to collect a series of items strewn about the level while avoiding a miniature army of thieving cats. The stage is divided into several floors, and the only methods of traversal are trampolines strewn about.
As with many classic games of the era, Mappy cannot directly attack his opponents, but there are a few tricks he can use against them – particularly, the many doors spread around. Only Mappy can open and close doors, so he can use them strategically to divert enemies or knock them off
their feet, if they're close enough. Additionally, Mappy is invincible while bouncing on trampolines. Just on these terms, Mappy is a fun game, but there are numerous layers to the scoring strategy. |
3. Bubble Bobble
|
4. Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions
|
| When it was released in 1986, Bubble Bobble was
hardly at the edge of technology. Platform games
with single-screen levels had been introduced with
Donkey Kong five years earlier, and were already on
their way out. Yet Bubble Bobble was so brilliant, it
powered a small renaissance for the genre, and was
followed by many clones and sequels. It’s a prime
example of how you can turn a simple and
straightforward concept into a mega hit and instant
classic with cute, recognizable characters (some
taken over from Taito's earlier game Chack'n Pop),
and countless small, but clever modifications on a
limited rule set. |
The Geometry Wars series had an inauspicious start
as a minigame buried within Project Gotham Racing
2 for the Xbox. An homage to classic twin-stick
shooters like Robotron 2084, and perfectly adapted
for a dual analog controller, you controlled a little
weaponized claw as you blew up lots of other
geometric shapes, created in the vector style of
games like Tempest. It was fleshed out considerably
and released separately at the launch of the
Xbox 360, where, even as a cheapie download title,
it was the best game on the platform for months,
inspiring legions of new twin-stick shooter clones. |
5. PacMan Championship Edition DX+
|
6. TxK
|
| Despite being one of the most popular games of all
time, Namco has long struggled to make sequels to
Pac-Man. Outside of the American-developed
Ms. Pac-Man, the results have been unfulfilling,
gimmicky spin-offs (Pac-Man Jr., Pac and Pal),
games that completely changed genres (like the
oddball graphic adventure Pac-Man 2), or 3D
platformers (Pac-Man World). Pac-Man
Championship Edition, released in 2007, is one of
the few games that’s not only a suitable iteration of
the original, but also the rare modern reinvention
that actually bests it. This was later followed up by
DX and DX+ editions, adding even more content. |
David Theurer's 1981 arcade game, Tempest, was
one of the first real 3D shooters. Creating what's
now known as the "tube shooter" subgenre, you
control a little claw-shaped ship as it travels along
the outside of a web, shooting at enemies that
spawn from the other end. It's one of the bestgames of the golden era of arcade gaming, in part
due to the sharp, colorful, vector graphics.
However, due to both the display and the rotating
knob controller, Tempest never quite got a decent
home port. That is, until Jeff Minter created an
update for the Jaguar, Tempest 2000. |
7. Super Mario Bros. 3
|
8. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
|
| In the context of NES platformers, Super MarioBros. 3 decimates its competition. Even compared
to other games in the series, it's a gigantic step
upward from the frustrating Japanese Super Mario
Bros. 2, and the diversionary (through still excellent)
American sequel. Compared to the original game,
the screen scrolls in all directions, allowing for more
open and less confining stages, including tense
levels where the screen automatically scrolls. The
map allows alternative routes to the end of each
world, with challenging castles at the mid-way
points, and airship stages that culminate in fights
against one of Bowser's seven children. Put simply,
it’s far more expansive than almost any other similar
game on the 8-bit platform. |
In North America, Yoshi's Island is known as "Super
Mario World 2", presenting it as a sequel to the
legendary SNES launch game. While perhaps
thought necessary from a marketing standpoint, it
does an injustice to how unique this title is, as it
iterates Mario tropes (and characters) in incredibly
creative ways.
In truth, Yoshi's Island is a prequel. The hero,
of course, is Yoshi (defined as a whole species of
differently colored, but otherwise identical
dinosaurs), tasked with escorting a diaper-clad Baby
Mario away from danger. Yoshi is better prepared
for direct conflict than the Mario Bros., able to eat
almost any enemy and produce an egg, which can
then be thrown as a weapon. |
9. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
|
10. Sonic CD
|
| When it was released in 1994 for the SNES,
Donkey Kong Country wowed gaming audiences
with its impressive CG graphics and fantastic
soundtrack. Still, there was some resentment
against it – it was simpler than Nintendo's own
Super Mario Bros. games, and was criticized as a
case of style over substance.
Fast forward 20 years to 2014, and the tides
have drastically turned. Nintendo’s prolific New
Super Mario Bros. series is fun, but safe and
uninspired; meanwhile, the Donkey Kong Country
series, out of the hands of original developers Rare
and placed in the care of Retro Studios, has created
better crafted games. Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii was
very, very good, yet it suffered in a few areas – the
forced waggle controls were lame, the music was
forgettable, and the levels lacked creativity. Every
issue was fixed in its Wii U sequel, Tropical Freeze. |
The third game released in the classic Sega series,
Sonic CD, has always been an oddball, especially
when you consider the system it spawned from.
Even among Sonic fans, it can be a rather divisive
game, given how different it is from those that
followed. It's that sort of weirdness that makes it
so memorable, though, even among a set of such
great games, and there's no doubt that it's one of
the shining gems of the Sega CD.
From a gameplay perspective, Sonic CD almost
feels like a more polished version of the first game.
Sonic has his spin dash attack as introduced in
Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but it's not quite as quick to
use as in the later entries. The general pace is
somewhat slower as well, with more emphasis on
platforming and exploration than your average Sonicgame. |
11. Klonoa: The Door to Phantomile
|
12. Super Meat Boy
|
| While first and foremost respected as an arcadecentric
developer, Namco has made several
fascinating games for consoles. Their most
impressive non-coin-op game may be Klonoa, a
slightly late attempt to get in on the Sonic-esque
mascot platformer craze. Nonetheless, it turned out
to be a gorgeous adventure, putting 95% of all
Sonic ripoffs to shame.
For starters, it barely even feels like a Sonicgame, with an art direction all its own. Playing in a
2.5D perspective, the graphics still hold up
remarkably well today – something that can't be
said for a lot of PS1 games. With creative character
designs and vibrantly colored landscapes, it's
certainly more than just jagged polygons
everywhere. Everything about the aesthetics, from
its cute fodder enemies to the whimsical sound
design, gives off an adorable charm (though things
do turn remarkably more dark later on). The main gameplay gimmick here is the "Wind
Bullet", a short-range projectile that balloons an
enemy a la Dig Dug, and allows Klonoa to either
throw the opponent or bounce off of them for a
double-jump. |
Super Meat Boy is the reason why, for better or
worse, the "masocore" genre of gruelingly difficult
games is so popular nowadays. It turned out to be a
massive success story for Team Meat, and was
worthy enough to be chronicled in Indie Game: The
Movie. The setup here is that Meat Boy's partner,
Bandage Girl, is kidnapped by the vile Dr. Fetus.
This leads to more than 100 levels of pure
platforming goodness, where all you need to do to
survive is run, jump, and wall jump.
It starts out fair at first. Before long, though,
the tricks and enemies grow especially vile, like
living missiles which split into six, or murderous
Meat Boy clones. There's a gargantuan amount of
content up front, as each normal level also has a
tougher dark side variant unlocked if you beat the
normal one under the par time. There are also warp
zones leading off into hidden levels, where you can
unlock characters from other indie games, each of
which play akin to the games they're from while still
adhering to this game's physics. |
13. Shinobi (Arcade)
|
14. Strider (Arcade)
|
| Sega's 1987 side-scroller Shinobi is remarkable for
the way it plays with the conventions of both player
and enemy vulnerabilities. In most games of the
time, simply touching an enemy meant death, or at
least taking damage. Not so for ninja hero Joe
Musashi, who is merely knocked back when running
into a foe, and is only killed by a weapon or
physical strike. It allows for a much more gung-ho
playing style that promotes forward momentum.
This is important for more than one reason.
While Joe has an unlimited supply of shuriken to
take out enemies from a distance, many foes have
shields, which prevent them from taking damage.
However, if you're close enough to an enemy, you'll
automatically execute a melee attack, which will
either immediately kill or at least stun them,
enabling an opening for a follow-up blow. |
Capcom's Strider is a masterwork of character and
game design. The hero, Strider Hiryu, is a ninja
badass that flies straight into enemy territory with a
hand glider. His sword, the Cypher, is so fast that
its blade is like one continuous blur of light, slicing
most mooks right in half. He can also somersault,
and even climb on walls and ceilings. He even has
robotic tigers and birds as sidekicks.
The enemies, too, are well defined. The evil
Grandmaster Meio is introduced as a cackling
madman, with his twisted fingernails encircling the
Earth. During the cutscenes, the villains each speak
in their native language – Meio and the bounty
hunter Solo speak English, the trio of Asian acrobats
speak Chinese, and the Soviet premier (obviously
patterned after Mikhail Gorbachev) speaks Russian,
while Hiryu speaks Japanese. |
15. Ninja Gaiden
|
16. Bionic Commando Rearmed
|
| Ninja Gaiden is the more highly caffeinated cousin
of Castlevania. It borrows its basic formula, like the
sub-weapon system and the status bar, but while
Konami's vampire slaying series is slow and
deliberate, Tecmo's ninja slicing game traverses at a
near-breathless pace. You move fast, and the
enemies move faster still, but the controls are
essentially perfect. Scaling walls is executed by
rapidly jumping back and forth between two
columns, using rad, spinning flips that defined why
every kid in the 80s thought that ninjas were just
the coolest thing in existence. It also demands the
need for split second reflexes, lest you miss a midair
slash and be knocked into a pit for the 30th time
by some infernal bird. The need to push forward is
highlighted by the enemy respawn points, which
can trigger infinitely if you're standing at the wrong
point on the screen. The music is also intense – the
percussion is some of the crunchiest on the NES,
with pounding drum loops and strong melodies that
perfectly suit the game's speed. |
Most action platform games involve running around,
attacking, and jumping. Capcom's daring Bionic
Commando did away with that last bit by removing
the jump button, forcing the player to rappel around
the landscape with a retractable arm. Its original
incarnation was an innovative, yet clumsy arcadegame, but the mechanics were refined and
assembled into a much better package with the NES
version, which is a totally different game.
The inability to jump initially proves puzzling for
overcoming the most simple obstacles. It takes a bit
of time to unlearn the techniques of other 2D
platformers and instead think indirectly, but soon the
snap-swing-go mechanics of the arm become second
nature, and then almost every other game feels
worse for not having it. It requires some split second
reflexes, but flinging yourself from point to point –
like a futuristic Tarzan, feet never hitting the ground
– is some of the most fun you can have in a
platformer. One of the greatest levels is a straight
shot upwards, using all of the skills you've learned at
this point to scale a massive tower. |
17. Gimmick!
|
18. Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood
|
| At first, Sunsoft's Gimmick! looks a lot like a Kirby
game. The hero, Yumetarou, a wide-eyed green
blob with stumpy legs, attacks by throwing glowing
stars. The enemies are all toys that have come to
life, and most of the levels are colorful. This is
deceiving though, because Gimmick! is hard. Very
hard. It's also one of the most incredibly well put
together action game of the era, though.
Like Sunsoft's earlier Batman: Return of the
Joker, Gimmick! was designed to compete with the
early generation of Genesis and SNES titles. In the
end, it ends up surpassing most of them. There are
only seven not-entirely-long stages, but each screen
has an incredible amount of care put into it, often
with superfluous but charming details. Somewhere
in the second stage, there is a motionless enemy
which, if you pick up the second controller, you can
briefly command. If you manage to beat this stage
quickly enough, you can find the level boss taking a
snooze, allowing you to push him off a ledge and
immediately win the level. There's a prevailing
sense that some of the enemies aren't really "bad
guys" per say, they just want to play with you, like
the cat creatures in the third stage that bounce
around then retreat after a few steps. |
Konami's long-running vampire slaying series
features the struggles of the Belmont family, in their
quest to destroy the evil Count Dracula and his
legion of movie monster-inspired villains. It's a
franchise characterized by fantastic music and a
high level of challenge, built upon a foundation of
strong design. Castlevania: Dracula X for the PC
Engine ranks as the best of the classic era of the
series, before it switched gears into a more openended,
RPG direction with Symphony of the Night.
Initially an exotic import, teased mercilessly in
magazines of the 90s, it's become more widely
available thanks to a PSP remake and a Virtual
Console release.
The PC Engine is known for its colorful palette,
and despite the dark overtones that come with
gothic monster slaying, Dracula X has a bright and
peppy look that makes it distinct from other
Castlevania titles. The character designs are straight
out of an early 90s anime OVA, with dramatic voice
acting to accompany it. The music is also fantastic,
with remixes of classic songs and several excellent
new ones, all with an upbeat, poppy feel. |
19. Demon’s Crest
|
20. Mega Man X
|
| Capcom was on a roll in 1994, becoming renowned
for the striking animation and bright visuals in
games like Mega Man X, Darkstalkers, and Street
Fighter Alpha. It's actually understandable, then,
why a game like Demon's Crest would slip under
the radar. It's a big departure for Capcom, with a
very dour tone and a darker look than anything else
the developer had put out (Resident Evil would not
appear for another two years). An SNES successor
to Capcom's Gargoyle's Quest games, Demon's
Crest eschews most of the previous installments'
role playing elements in exchange for something
structurally closer to Mega Man X.
Players guide Capcom's popular red gargoyle,
Firebrand, through different areas, earning new
weapons to use against the game's many bosses
and enemies. While his animation isn't quite as
smooth as that found in other Capcom games of the
time, most of his abilities involve him taking on a
completely different form, each with its own unique
sprite. Demon's Crest's aesthetics fully deliver on
the visual details, too. Backgrounds have little
animation and minimal parallax, but they’re very
colorful and, more importantly, each of the game's
six areas sport completely different graphics. |
There's much debate as to which is the best MegaMan game out of the franchise’s many subseries,
but almost everyone who's played the first Mega
Man X would agree that it’s one of, if not THE best.
Set many years after the original games in a dire
future, where mass-produced "replicate androids"
(Reploids) fight against each other, X and his
partner Zero attempt to take down Maverick leader
Sigma. Despite the darker setting, its level structure
is still classic Mega Man, where you pick your stage
order between the eight Maverick leaders.
Instead of just being "Something Man," the
bosses are all modeled after animals with interesting
designs, with names like Chill Penguin, Spark
Mandrill, and Armored Armadillo. It’s a testament to
the artistry that it can make innocent looking
creatures seem intimidating. Even the normal
enemies exhibit personality, like lumberjack-bots
who chuckle if they hit you, and living robot torsos
on an assembly line. As the very first Mega Mangame not on an 8-bit system, Mega Man X takes
full advantage of the SNES's graphical capabilities,
with smooth animation and gorgeous backgrounds. |
21. V?lgarr the Viking
|
22. Shovel Knight
|
| This much is certain – there’s definitely no shortage
of independent releases trying to bring back the
magic of old 8- and 16-bit 2D games. V?lgarr theViking is special, though, because it not only lives
up to its inspirations, but surpasses most of them.
V?lgarr is not pretty. The sprites were
obviously created with a lot of care, but the
careless resizing makes them look messy. The
backgrounds are just downright ugly, too. However,
dismissing the game based on its looks would be
one the most tragic misjudgments any fan of classic
action games like Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Castlevania, or
Ninja Gaiden could ever commit. |
It's always a risky prospect to lean on nostalgia, as
it can come off as insincere pandering if executed
poorly. Such is the case with some independentgames inspired by the 8-bit NES days, but ShovelKnight completely avoids any accusations by simply
being a well-made product. When an ominous tower
appears, Shovel Knight, who rather comically wields
a deadly digging instrument, is motivated to find out
what happened to his old partner, Shield Knight.
This leads him into battle against The Enchantress
and eight other knights in her employ, called "The
Order of No Quarter," |
23. Prince of Persia
|
24. Another World
|
| Prince of Persia may be one of the most famous
games ever, considered a hallmark of visual design
for its time, and creating the cinematic platformer
subgenre. Building off of the rotoscoping technology
first exhibited in Karateka, Jordan Mechner created
a more ambitious game involving as much
platforming as combat, giving it an Arabian flair
that’s particularly influenced by 1001 Nights. The
Prince must attempt to escape the 12-stage
dungeon and defeat the evil vizier Jaffar to save the
Princess. The infamous one-hour time limit,
requiring you to not die much in order to rescue the
Princess before she is slain, makes it one of themost difficult games to conquer even today. The
realistic movements and weight of the character are
interesting, but take time to learn, and the many
deceitful traps and increasingly difficult enemies
ensure that an under-an-hour victory won't come
without much practice. |
Another World (also known as Out of this World
and Outer World) is one of the most recognizable
examples of the cinematic platformer genre, with all
its usual elements: rotoscoped graphics, realistic
movement (which includes jumping which is, like in
real life, quite difficult to control), and a strong
focus on puzzle-solving.
The game's main character, Lester Chaykin,
gets transported to an alternate reality as a result of
a failed science experiment, and that's all the
backstory we're given. The whole game is spent in
this world, trying to survive – with the help of a
friendly alien – and features encounters with both
its hostile inhabitants and the local fauna. It's quite
a minimalist setup, but the game makes the best of
it by eschewing dialog and telling the story through
gameplay, animations, backgrounds, and music. |
25. Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap
|
26. Super Metroid
|
| Wonder Boy III begins as you play out the ending of
its predecessor, Wonder Boy in Monster Land.
Things go a little awry when, upon navigating the
castle and defeating the evil Meka Dragon, the hero
is cursed with an inhuman dragon form. Throughout
the journey to change back into a human, the hero
gains the ability to turn into other animals – beyond
Lizard Man, the fire breathing form you start out as,
you can become Mouse Man (to fit into small
spaces and climb on certain surfaces), Piranha Man
(to swim), Lion Man (to break certain bricks), and
Hawk Man (to fly). |
Metroid, released on the NES in 1986, is a dark,
confusing, frightening game. As bounty hunter
Samus Aran, clad in a robotic suit of armor, you
roam through countless, nearly identical dark
corridors of the planet Zebes, hunting down the evil
Space Pirates and the energy sucking aliens known
as Metroids. After a Game Boy sequel, the series hit
astounding heights with its SNES entry, SuperMetroid. It is still a lonely, oppressive game, though
its atmosphere comes from incredible design rather
than technical limitations. |
27. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
|
28. Cave Story
|
| Symphony of the Night marks the generational
transition of the Castlevania series, changing from a
linear side-scroller to an exploratory action-RPG.
With a structure and map screen that seems directly
borrowed from Super Metroid, it's the best video game of all time that
coined the "Metroidvania" term. The change was
not unprecedented, considering that Castlevania II:
Simon's Quest for the NES was similar, albeit more
obtuse in the way that so many 8-bit RPGs are. From a story standpoint, it's the direct sequel
to Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood for the PC
Engine, |
Independent 2D, sprite-based action-platformers
seem as common today as grapes in a vineyard, but
before any of them was Cave Story. Created as an
unassuming personal project by Daisuke "Pixel"
Amaya in his free time, Cave Story gradually
received notice and became the prototype for the
incoming best indie video game of all time zeitgeist for the new
millennium. The premise is simply named for
starting in a cave and telling a story, but the plain
title belies a tale fraught with several dark and
twisted turns, despite its ostensibly cute art style. |
29. Rogue Legacy
|
30. Dust: An Elysian Tail
|
| The indie revolution in the early 2010s brought
about a number of Metroidvanias and Roguelikes, so
it makes perfect sense to mash them together. The
result is Cellar Door's Rogue Legacy is the best video game of all time, which takes
the basic action and exploration of Castlevania:
Symphony of the Night, and combines it with a
randomization element that changes both your
player character and the layout of the castle.
You play as a family of warriors hell-bent on
making it to the end of Castle Hamson in order to
uncover its mysteries. There are four areas to
conquer, each with a boss, before the door is
unlocked that leads to the final encounter. The first
member of the family, at level 0, will probably meet
their maker relatively quickly. However, your
fortune and your equipment are bestowed upon the
next generation of heroes, allowing you to forge
new gear and build up the skill tree, which in turn
strengthens the heroes, offers new abilities, and
unlocks extra character classes. |
Dust: An Elysian Tail is a beautiful 2D wonder,
created largely by a single man, Dean Dodrill. Dean
is an animator by trade, only taking up best video game
development on a whim. It’s a gorgeous piece of
work, with high resolution, hand-drawn characters
and backgrounds, in a fantastically vibrant world.
Gameplay-wise, Dust is a platformer with some
light RPG elements. The influences of Super Metroid
and Castlevania are obviously felt in the non-linear
level design – there’s even an item named
“mysterious wall chicken” – but there's still plenty
about the game to make it all its own. Dodrill and
co-writer Alex Kain really did something right when
they created the world of Elysia. The story opens
with the main character, Dust, waking up in a
magical meadow with a talking sword, a flying furry
sidekick named Fidget, and no memory of who he
is. That all may sound rather clich?, but Dust is not
your typical sword-wielding, amnesiac badass. |
31. Legacy of the Wizard
|
32. The Guardian Legend
|
| The world of Legacy of the Wizard is a true
labyrinth; almost every screen is filled with multiple
secret walls, blocks you can push around, hidden
items, and hordes of monsters running all over the
place. Like Metroid, you explore and find upgrades
to let you progress further, but here you get to play
as and regularly switch between four different
members of the Drasle family. Each one controls
differently, and also has a selection of things to find
in the dungeon that let them complete different
parts of the game.
The game's challenge doesn't come just from
the combat or making a map, but from figuring out
who is best to use in each area and how to get
them there. The game has three unique features to
help you out. First, each area is designed for a
specific person and has a different musical theme
(composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Mieko Ishikawa),
so you know to start looking for those quirks in the
areas that only a certain family member can handle.
Second, there are the blocks themselves. |
The Guardian Legend is one of the coolest games
on the NES. While looking at screenshots could
make you dismiss Compile's 1988 greatest adventure video game of all time
as a Legend of Zelda rip off, it's much more
ambitious than a cheap imitator, and it definitely
stands on its own.
When starting the game, you’re greeted with a
fast overhead shooter area similar to Compile's
previous NES game, Zanac. These shooter stages
move impressively fast at times, and the titular
Guardian, Miria, fights through several of them
throughout the game. Miria herself isn't human, but
rather a heavily armed android that can transform
into an equally heavily armed spaceship.
The opening level ends with Miria landing on
the planet Naju, an artificial world that transforms
and corrupts all life it passes by, set into motion by
an unnamed alien race long ago for reasons
unknown. |
33. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
|
34. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
|
| Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is often regarded as
the bastard child of the series (though not
necessarily the worst). Most of the game is viewed
from a side-scrolling perspective, with only a simple
overworld to travel between locations. There are
numerous towns with villagers to talk to, and you
gain experience points and levels from defeating
enemies. Like many others, it was very obviously
inspired by Dragon Quest and the wave of RPGs
that were finding great success on the Famicom.
Nowadays, Nintendo is seen as such a friendly,
cuddly company, it's easy to forget that their early
8-bit titles like Metroid and Nazo no Murasamejou,
were brutally difficult. Zelda II falls into that same
category, especially with its sprawling dungeons.
You get three lives, but with bottomless pits, and
the constant threat of being knocked into them, you
can go through these quickly. The final dungeon is
expansive, and coupled with the journey required to
reach it, you can lose an hour or more if you screw
up and lose all your lives. |
Much of the Game Boy library ran parallel to the
early days of the NES, offering exclusive sequels to
8- or 16-bit games that were not only portable but,
offered their own unique experiences. Their efforts
were usually great, but didn't match up to their
console big brothers – almost no one would pick
Super Mario Land 2 over Super Mario World. That
is, except for one case – The Legend of Zelda:Link's Awakening. Descended from A Link to the
Past for the SNES, long held as the best of the 2D
series, we have a devout preference for the portable
title, in spite of its lesser technology.
For starters, Link’s Awakening is just really
weird and silly. The entire game takes place with
Link shipwrecked on the island of Koholint, far
away from Hyrule, and with only barely a mention
of the titular Zelda. The goal is to find eight
instruments to awaken the Wind Fish, which is the
only way Link can return home. Link comes across
a number of strange people during his journey, |
35. Terranigma
|
36. Seiken Densetsu 3
|
| Terranigma stars a mischievous boy, named Ark by
default, who one day breaks open a forbidden door
and discovers a strange creature in a magic box.
This freezes all inhabitants of his village deep inside
the earth, except for him and the elder, who tells
him to conquer five towers to free his friends. Each
tower has the side effect of reviving one continent
on the planet surface, and when the deed is done,
Ark is sent above ground to bring back civilization
to the world. This mythical task is framed in typical
action-RPG terms – Ark frees the souls of living
beings by defeating monsters, then proceeds to the
next part of the world by interacting with the
newborn plants, animals, and finally humans. |
The Mana series used to be something truly special
in Squaresoft’s catalog. Koichi Ishii’s magical world
was more than just Final Fantasy’s more colorful
cousin. Merging Dungeons & Dragons-style fantasy
at least halfway towards Peter Pan, the third game
exhales an atmosphere of childlike wonder and
mysticism, just as much as high adventure. It opens
with a swarm of birds soaring into the sky from the
enormous, ancient Mana Tree. They are followed by
four sparkling fairies, whose journey across the
clouds is then traced, accompanied by a fast,
thrilling variation on the previous game’s rather laidback
theme. |
37. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
|
38. Ys: The Oath in Felghana
|
| The Zelda series has fallen into an uneven
alternation between titles that are just gradually
expanded retreads of the same core concept – A
Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess
– and interesting experimental adventures. Majora’s
Mask may look a lot like Ocarina of Time for using
the same engine and some of the same assets, but
under the hood, it’s one of the wild ones. By the
numbers, the game seemed like a disappointment –
You only get to play as child Link? Only four
dungeons in a Zelda game? Majora’s Mask stretches
out in a different way, though, namely over three
days. More precisely, the three final days of the
dying world Termina (it’s never really explained how
exactly Link ended up here), which end with the
creepy moon crashing down to the earth. |
Few companies do action-RPGs as well as Falcom.
Their mechanics are so well-defined, so satisfying,
that you could strip away all of the role playing
elements and still have a fantastic arcade action
title on your hands. While the Ys series was long
famous for its divisive (but incredibly fun) bump
combat system, where you attack enemies by
crashing into them at the proper angle, Falcom
changed things up with the fifth game, introducing
both a jump and a proper attack button. While
uncharacteristically clumsy, they greatly refined this
with Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, which utilized 3D
graphics, but kept the same style of top-down
action. The follow-up, Ys: The Oath in Felghana, is
based on the same engine, but is vastly improved. |
39. Mega Man Legends
|
40. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
|
| By the end of the millennium, Capcom had two
series with the brand name "Mega Man" on them,
and they decided to add on a third take of the bluearmored
hero with Mega Man Legends. While Mega
Man X had similar gameplay and story ties to
classic Mega Man, Legends is very far removed
from the other two, and feels more like Capcom's
take on a Zelda game. In a really distant future,
Mega Man Volnutt travels with his team to explore
ruins and excavate treasure, but he has to deal with
the double threat of the Reaverbots who guard the
ruins, and the Bonnes, rival pirates who wish to
steal the treasure for themselves. He eventually
comes across a dark secret which may spell doom
for Kattelox Island. More than likely, anyone who
saw this game would have wondered where the
Robot Masters were at, why Mega Man doesn't
steal anyone's weapons, or why he's walking
around an overworld in a third-person camera,
instead of avoiding spiky pits on a two-dimensional
plane. |
When Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain debuted on the
PlayStation in 1996, there was nothing like it.
Superficially a Legend of Zelda clone, it stars a
bloodthirsty undead sociopath, traveling the world
in an attempt to undo his curse and avenge his own
death, no matter the cost. Blood Omen's striking
gothic atmosphere and flowery, excellently voice
acted script earned it a strong cult following,
leading to the release of its sequel, Soul Reaver. It
changes the viewpoint from an overhead 2D game
to a fully 3D one, to great effect.
Taking place long after the events of the first
game, Soul Reaver begins assuming players chose
the bad ending in Blood Omen, with Kain ruling over
a dying world overrun with his vampire
descendants. Taking place long after the events of the first
game, Soul Reaver begins assuming players chose
the bad ending in Blood Omen, with Kain ruling over
a dying world overrun with his vampire
descendants. |
41. Okami
|
42. Shadow of the Colossus
|
| Okami is the most gorgeous looking video game
ever made. The world of Capcom's mythological
Japan is rendered as sumi-e ink paintings, with thick
brush strokes used as cel-shading, and a filter
applied to make it look like a painting in motion. As
the sun goddess Amaterasu, reincarnated into a
white wolf, the central theme is nature. The lands
are dark and cursed, until you destroy the demons
that infest them and restore the world's beautiful
form, with flora spreading over the landscape
literally as a wave of multi-colored life. Amaterasu
dashes with leaves created in her wake, and sprouts
greenery by touching the ground. When fighting
enemies, the serene Japanese traditional music of
the overworld gives way to the fierce pounding of
taiko drums, with the battlefields burning with
intensity, and flames encasing the combatants. The game is structured as an action-RPG, very
similar to the 3D Zelda games, right to the slightlyannoying
companion that complements the silent
protagonist. |
A good boss battle can be quite memorable, but a
bad one can sour the entire game. Shadow of theColossus foregoes regular enemies altogether, and
consists almost entirely of 16 unique and amazing
boss battles.
The player controls Wander, a boy who has
journeyed to "The Forbidden Lands" to retrieve the
soul of Momo, a girl who was sacrificed for having
a cursed fate. He meets a mysterious being, known
as Dormin, who tells Wander that he can resurrect
Momo if the 16 Colossi that inhabit the plains are
slain. Wander isn't a strong, muscle-bound beefcake
who laughs at the concept of stamina, though —
he’s actually a rather average looking guy. His run is
wild and unrefined, he gets both visibly and audibly
tired after running, and he grunts while pulling
himself up a ledge. Wander isn't alone in his quest,
though, and is accompanied by his mare, Agro. |
43. Nier
|
44. Bloodborne
|
| Cavia's final game, Nier, is both their best original
work and the most fleshed out. Rather than
focusing on the non-stop pessimistic carnage found
in their Drakengard games, Nier is structured more
like a typical action-RPG. The tone of the game is
less violent and more successfully melancholy than
what was seen in Drakengard. Part of this is due to
the writing, but part of it is also from the much
more laid back structure and atmosphere. Rather
than rushing from place to place only to kill, the
protagonists have several towns to stop at where
simple side missions can be found, along with
plenty of conversation. Areas are also connected by
open, outdoor expanses that are accompanied by
music, triumphant and often with beautiful vocals,
that is much more sweeping and hopeful than
anything in Drakengard. Nier opens up with the eponymous protagonist
protecting his daughter, Yonah, from otherworldly
specters in a post-apocalyptic landscape. |
While it doesn't have "Souls" in the title,
Bloodborne is the most ambitious game so far to
carry the DNA of From Software’s challenging
action and atmospheric role playing series. The
director of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, Hidetaka
Miyazaki, is back for this installment, and the game
definitely bears his mark. Much like how the prior
games combined concepts from Shadow Tower,
King's Field, and Eternal Ring, Bloodborne presents
a merger of everything good from their previous
Souls games. It has the large, interconnected world
of Dark Souls; the intricate, winding level design of
Demon's Souls; and a focus on beastly humanoids
like Dark Souls 2 (though Bloodborne keeps this in
the realm of werewolves and Lovecraftian horrors).
One of game's most interesting features is a
stat keeping track of your character's Insight. |
45. Shenmue II
|
46. Yakuza 4
|
| The original Shenmue was released in 1999 for the
Dreamcast, the first chapter in hero Ryo Hazuki’s
quest to avenge the death of his father. Though
tedious at points, it did a fantastic job of replicating
the texture of a small city in 80s Japan.
Shenmue II, released two years later, successfully
fixes every issue with the original while also
delivering an excellent experience. The biggest
change is the sheer size of the game, with Ryo
exploring large parts of Hong Kong instead of just
his home town in its predecessor. Players also get
to use the game's fun combat system much more.
The soundtrack is greatly improved as well, feeling
reverent to Ryo's situation and surroundings
without coming across as overdone. |
Sega’s Yakuza series (also known as Ryu ga
Gotoku) is known for its beautiful and faithful
replications of modern Japan. Though not on the
scale of Shenmue, they have more immediately
rewarding storylines, and gameplay that melds a
Japanese RPG with beat-em-up action.
The fourth installment is a huge step for the
franchise. Rather than just playing as reformed
yakuza Kazuma Kiryu, players get to use four
different characters, each with completely different
attacks, stories, side quests, and mini games. It also
accomplishes the impossible, in that it takes these
four seemingly unrelated characters and manages to
weave a single story that draws them together. |
47. Red Dead Redemption
|
48. Contra: Shattered Soldier
|
| Red Dead Redemption is often described as "Grand
Theft Auto in the Wild West", which isn't entirely
inaccurate. It does acknowledge pretty much every
problem of the GTA games and irons them out,
though, creating the absolute best game of
Rockstar's library.
The story focuses on John Marston, a former
outlaw, coerced by the government into taking
down his old boss. As a reticent hero with a
taciturn demeanor, Marston is easily the best
protagonist found in any Rockstar game. GTA has
always been saddled with stories about sociopathic
criminals – it's suggested in the name. As the title
implies with Red Dead Redemption, however, the
driving force is reconciling John's past. This comes
not only by hunting down his former gang, but also
by improving the lives of everyone in the frontier.
This gives more weight to your decisions if you
choose to play an outlaw – with an honor and a
fame system, you can lose respect, offsetting any
of the good deeds you've done in the main story, as
well as sticking a bounty on your head. Grand Theft Auto often attempted to satirize
American culture, and while occasionally funny, it
was just as often moronic. |
The Contra series has been a household name for
action game fans since the late 80s. A rapid fire
pastiche of futuristic arsenals, deadly robots, and
alien monsters inspired by various films of the time,
its fast action and challenging design created a
legacy that influences game design to this day. With
new installments released on consoles during the
90s, the series had no trouble staying in the public
eye. However, after 1998’s lackluster C: TheContra Adventure (created by an outside developer),
many assumed the series was dead.
Four years later, Konami revealed a true sequel.
Known as Shattered Soldier overseas and Shin
Contra in Japan (as it was the first "true" entry
developed by Konami itself for some time), this
game was rightly promoted as the real deal. It's a
flawless sequel that incorporates the franchise’s
familiar weapons and scenarios with a significant
amount of new enemies and scenery. It also serves
as an ultimate refinement of what made Contra a hit
in the first place. There are no overhead stages, no
3D levels there aren't even any power ups. |
49. Turrican II: The Final Fight
|
50. Gunstar Heroes
|
| Best action games of all time on old home computers often aren’t
taken seriously, and not only among those who
grew up with consoles. The lack of hardware
specialization often leaves them with bad controls
and middling performance. Games like the Turrican
series, however, show that it doesn't always have
to be like that. The Commodore 64 originals by
Manfred Trenz are programming masterpieces, but it
was the Amiga versions, by German studio Factor
5, which demonstrated that home computers did
not need to hide from consoles when it comes to
fast-paced action. Smooth and responsive gameplay
combine with beautiful sprites and stunning effects
to make Turrican II the killer app for the Amiga.
In contrast to most Japanese offerings of the
time, which were usually tightly arranged and
straightforward, Turrican's stages are vast, multileveled
areas with multiple paths. There are
countless secret areas to find, and even merely
getting to the exit often requires an extensive
search. The closest equivalent on consoles,
structure-wise, might be Sonic the Hedgehog, if he
could mow down enemies with massive firepower. |
Treasure's 16-bit classic obviously takes after
Konami titles, particularly Contra, but its philosophy
is much, much different. In Contra, the rules are
rigidly defined – use the right weapons for the right
situation and memorize the enemy patterns so you
don't get hit. That last part is particularly important,
considering a single tap on the shoulder by an
enemy would immediately kill you. Gunstar Heroes
tosses all of that out by granting a large life meter,
providing for a fairly wide margin of error. It allows
the game to be surprising without punishing the
player for not anticipating its every move.
As a result, Gunstar Heroes is a playground of
destruction. One level is a long expanse filled with
enemies and the simple instruction to "Destroy
them all!". Through a weapon customization system
involving four element types, there are 20 different
weapons you can create and switch between explosive fire bullets, auto-targeting lasers, short
range light swords, rapid fire machine guns all
sorts of stuff. Additionally, there are a number of
melee attacks, ranging from slides to body tackles,
and you can even pick up enemies and flying bombs
in order to throw them at one another. |
