The Next 10 Games that Didn't Make the Top 10

Allow me to start off by saying that I stand by the Top Ten list that I released last week. Those games all belong where they are at and this list isn't mean to change that. This list are a list of 10 games that were really close, but ultimately didn't make the cut and why they didn't make it. Hopefully this will clear up some comments as to why certain games weren't on the list. Keep in mind that if you include all the games I've played and all the different iterations and platforms of those games, I've played over 1000 (over 700 unique) video games in my life, so narrowing that down to the top 1% isn't an easy task. That all being said, here are 10 games (in no particular order) that didn't quite make the cut.

 

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

The best Legend of Zelda game, period. Nostalgia kind of helps me say that, but I still feel that Zelda was at it's best when it was a top-down game. Sure, adding the third dimension gave the world depth and made it much more accessible visually, but I can't help but feel that the games have also slowed down considerably since that transition. Zelda games used to have a much faster pace and really kept you on your toes. Plus, with two huge and very different worlds to explore, you never felt like there wasn't something to do, not to mention that there were dozens of secrets to find in the game world. Where this game ultimately fell down and doesn't make the list is probably an issue with the Zelda franchise in general, which is that after 25 years of Zelda, the formula has gotten kind of stale. That's probably not fair to knock down older games based on failures of later ones, but that's exactly what happens. A couple of bad movies can ruin a franchise, similar things can happen to games. If you asked me to build this list last year, this would've probably made the list, but time forever changes how you look at things.

Fallout

Fallout presented us with a bleak future, one in which the world as we know it has been horribly and irreversibly changed by nuclear war. The game had a deep story with a vast number of ways to play the game and required you to remember things that were said and be intelligent about how you approached situations in order succeed. This isn't a game where the most effective strategy is to shoot your way to victory, making friends with the right people or groups was critical. Ultimately, the reason this game couldn't crack the top ten is because of how many ways you could simply fail the game, leaving you in a situation where you couldn't complete it at all. I'm okay with being presented with a challenge, but having to repeat over 20 hours of gameplay because of one mistake is pretty brutal. Still a great game with a fantastic tactics-driven combat system.

  

Final Fantasy VI

This game comes really close to Final Fantasy IV whenever I'm asked what my favorite Final Fantasy game is, but never quite beats it. Which is shocking considering Final Fantasy VI had a story that truly invested you and presented you real thoughts that you might be in a battle you cannot win. No other Final Fantasy game before this raised the stakes to this level, and it was supported with challenging boss battles, an excellent antagonist, a great cast of characters, and a true WTF moment in the game's narrative. The reason it never quite eclipses IV, though, is that this is the first game in the series that basically took away each character's uniqueness. Most characters can use all the best weapons, any character can learn any magic or use any summon, and as a result, no matter who is in your team, you usually use the exact same strategy for how you fight. Also, the game does bog down a bit when you first get to the World of Ruin. Still a great game, just not on the top 10.

Super Metroid

I know I mentioned that Super Metroid basically laid the groundwork for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which probably makes it odd that this didn't make my list. Super Metroid took the concepts established in Metroid on the NES and added a map system, new abilities, and much larger areas. It presented a large world and did not hold your hand, you had to figure out where you needed to go on your own. The map system made that concept much easier than earlier games, but it still lead to several situations where you would revisit the same place multiple times until you found out the new area you could access with the most recent power you got. The game is still excellent, although it plods a lot more than Symphony of the Night did. I recommend playing this, however, if you are a fan of the more modern side-scrolling Castlevania's or games like them.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Blasphemy. I believe that's the word that popped into my wife's head when I listed my top ten. No Zelda? No Ocarina of Time? How many times have you beaten that game? The fact is, Ocarina of Time is a fantastic game. However, as I prefaced this post, trying to sift hundreds (and hundreds) of games into a top ten is not easy, and SOMETHING has to get left off. Ocarina of Time is a great game, but it's not even the best Zelda game, in my opinion, so it had no chance of making it to the actual Top Ten, but I'd easily say it was close. The first time that Link went into 3D to save Hyrule was Ocarina of Time, and the game gave a fantastic representation of the Zelda world. The visuals were great for their time and the story was actually quite well done. Ultimately, what holds this game back are some of the annoyances that really creep up on you when you've played the game multiple times. The biggest one is probably the Water Temple, but the Shadow Temple is up there as well. When I hit those two parts of the game, it just drags for me, because I don't want to be there. The rest of the game is fantastic, but that blemish stopped it from entering the top ten.

Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie took the platforming 3D that Super Mario 64 started and expanded on it greatly. The game took some of the things that frustrated people about Mario 64 and sought to fix them, while also creating a fun game world with an interesting story, entertaining characters, and some really creative level design. Banjo-Kazooie is a game that really stands out today, showing you don't need hyper-realistic graphics, fantastic CGI cutscenes, or even multiplayer to make a really fun game. I was ecstatic when this game got re-released through the Xbox Live marketplace, because when it comes to 3D platforming, it's hard to find a more enjoyable game than this. The reason it didn't make the list? 3D platformers are fun and all, but they don't rank high enough on my gaming list to get this into the top ten. Also, this game suffers from the same problem pretty much all 3D platformers do: the camera is actively trying to kill you.

Super Mario Bros. 3

Well, yeah. This game HAD to be close, because while I said that Super Mario World is the best 2D Platformer and the best Mario game, Super Mario 3 is just a hair beneath it. However, I didn't feel right having both Mario 3 and Mario World on my list when there were so many other great games that I felt belonged. I don't think I need to spend any real time here explaining why Mario 3 is so great, so I'll just say that if you've either forgotte
n or don't know how good it is, go and play it immediately.

Final Fantasy VII

I know, blasphemy to have this as my 3rd favorite Final Fantasy, but that's how I feel. Final Fantasy VII was a huge step forward from Final Fantasy VI, taking the idea of a more futuristic environment even further, adding guns, huge machinery, and evil corporations into the mix. Once again you had a very good antagonist in Sephiroth, and you had another WTF moment with one of the biggest video game character deaths ever. Final Fantasy VII makes a very strong case for itself, but ultimately it gets held back by a couple of different factors. One, the game goes even further down the path that Final Fantasy VI started, and characters as a result have no unique characteristics in battle besides their "Limit Breaks," which aren't very frequent, especially in the end game. Since characters can equip almost any armor and accessory, and weapons only control attack power and how many "materia" you can equip, all characters a built the same, generally. Also, while Sephiroth is good, he's not as good as either Kefka (FFVI) or Golbez (FFIV). Ultimately, as great as VII was, it just didn't quite measure up to it's predecessors.

Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land

Another game that my childhood nostalgia probably moves higher up than most people would expect. Wario Land was (and actually still is) probably my favorite Game Boy game. Considering the time when this came out, it was one of the largest games on the system, and also featured a multitude of secrets to find within the levels. Hell, there was an entire hidden world in this game! Plus you had levels that would be changed as you finished other levels, which was pretty unique at the time. You could shut down the water flow on a mountain, which would open up a hidden path in an earlier stage. That kind of creativity was really cool, and finding all the secrets when I was younger (well before the internet was available) really makes this game stand out. It also established Wario as a Nintendo franchise and led to several great games, including the WarioWare series and the Wario Land sequels, plus the fun 3D romp of Wario World on the Gamecube. Overall, a great game that ultimately didn't make the list because, as I said before, not every great game can make the list. I didn't have anything specific that held this one off, I just didn't rank it in my top 10. Hopefully they'll release this on the 3DS Virtual Console soon so that I can relive my nostalgia again.

Red Dead Redemption

Leaving this game off was tough, since I had it between this and Deus Ex Human Revolution. I have never played a game that captured an era quite like Red Dead Redemption captured the wild west (although L.A. Noire also shines at this.) This game learned a lot of really good lessons from Grand Theft Auto IV, the game the preceded it. This game presented you with a huge open western world complete with all the perils you'd expect. It also presented you with tons of side-missions, activities, and plenty of beautiful landscape to check out. The activities could range from playing poker, to capturing bounties, to collecting herbs, to skinning animals. The game had an incredibly engaging story with fun characters. Hell, the game even managed to include an expansion based around a Zombie apocalypse, which ended up being more fun than I would've ever expected. The game if phenomenal, and is probably Rockstar's best game (with Grand Theft Auto Vice City right there with it). I would recommend this game to anyone who likes the wild west, because you won't find anything that will immerse you in it's world quite like this.

Alright, that about covers everything, I think. I'm not going to do any more supplemental lists, but I think my next project will be to do the 10 worst games I've ever played. So, that should be something. Until next time!

-Justin

My Top 10 Video Games of All-Time (as of June 2012)

These lists are really hard to put together. Every time in my life I've tried to put together my top-10 video games, I always get hung up on order, and what criteria am I using, and I eventually just scrap the entire project. But for whatever reason, I decided to knuckle down, think really hard, and put together a list of my Top 10 Favorite Video Games, so here we go.

10 - WWF: No Mercy

No Mercy is often held as the holy symbol of wrestling games, and it's hard to argue. Simple controls, huge movesets, easy character creation, and tons of match types meant it was really easy to pull some controllers out and have an evening with friends doing nothing but playing this game. Honestly, I don't think that another wrestling game will ever have the same level of both enjoyment and acceptance (No Mercy was played by people who didn't like wrestling at all) as No Mercy did, but that's how the times change. It will always be great to remember weekends spent with friends playing this game.

9 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex has not only an awesome aesthetic to it, it also is an incredibly gripping game that truly allows you to play to your own style. If you want to sneak in and out of places undetected, you can do it. You want to go in gun's blazing, there's an option for that. You want to talk your way into places you shouldn't be in, then hack their systems from within, also an option. Also, unlike many RPG games where you are penalized (usually through money and experience) for bypassing encounters, you are rewarded equally for any method you use to settle a conflict, as long as you succeed. The shooting mechanics and cover system are also very well implemented, making this a fantastic example of how good gaming has become. The only knock on this game is that the boss fights are considerably harder, but you are provided enough tools in each fight that you can win with a little bit of patience.

8 - Diablo II

This one will probably seem controversial, but it's hard to find another game that fits into this genre that is as good or fun as Diablo II. A game where the story isn't overly important, what makes this game fun is a combination of the random nature of the game, and the fun of playing with people online. Diablo II was one of the first games that I actively played online, and I absolutely loved it. Trading gear with people, forming teams to fight bosses, and just experiencing all the vastly different environments in the game all made this one a blast no matter how often you logged in.

7 - Half-Life 2

It's hard to argue that any one game truly changed an entire genre, but that's what Half-Life 2 did to first-person shooters. Despite not having a very relatable protagonist and not having much of a story, the mechanics, graphics, and different scenarios found in Half-Life 2 would forever change how companies look at shooters. Many will say that Halo started this transition, which would be accurate, but where Halo 2 continued the same path, Half-Life 2 presented you with an environment that was every bit as deadly as your guns were, physics based puzzles, and always rewarded you for your exploration and diligence. A great game that should be played by all shooter fans.

6 - Mass Effect 2

It's not easy to make a game that is completely accessible to both shooter fans and RPG fans, but Mass Effect is quite possibly a perfect blend of the two. The Mass Effect series is probably the only full-voiced game where every action you take has actual effects on the story. Not only that, but the acting and graphics are both stellar and will often pull in you as if you were watching a movie. The game's gunplay is also very competent and provides enough of a challenge to make you strategize. A game that is riveting from beginning to end.

5 - Final Fantasy IV

I have bought Final Fantasy IV five times. Super Nintendo, Playstation, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PSP. And no matter which version of the game it is, I absolutely love it. Final Fantasy IV (or II as it was released on the Super Nintendo) is Final Fantasy at it's best. Each character serves a purpose, as opposed to later games where each person could fill whatever role you wanted, and as a result you become more attached to the character, as their strengths and weaknesses in battle were often also reflected in their dialogue and how they handled situations. The game's story is pretty stock, but it is told incredibly well. This also marks the series first example of the trademark, "The final boss isn't actually mentioned until halfway through the third act" reveal. This became quite common in later games. Overall, this is truly the best Final Fantasy, followed close being by Final Fantasy VI.

4 - Super Mario World

I can't think of another game that nailed the platformer concept better than Super Mario World. This is a game that learned from everything it had done in the past to become a game that shines in every regard. Upbeat and fun music, challenging levels, multiple secret paths, challenging bosses, and a huge world to explore. Super Mario World also introduced several concepts that would later become Mario staples, such as the ghost houses, the sub-fortresses, and many different environments that returned in later games, most notably Super Mario 3D Land. This is Mario at his side-scrolling best, and shouldn't be missed by anyone!

3 - Fallout 3

When I learned that they were going to take Fallout and put it into a first person shooter, I was really skeptical. Fallout was a very deep game that relied on a tactical game engine to make sure you knew that every decision you made was important, even in combat. However, those fears were quickly alleviated once I popped Fallout 3 into my Xbox 360. This game captured Fallout's universe perfectly. You truly felt like you were wandering in a wasteland, and the whole world seemed hostile. It's tough to put a finger on the feeling you get the first time you emerge from the vault and the wasteland is spread out before you, but it is truly a wonderful feeling. I never once got bored or frustrated with this game, and never felt like I was being forced to take a specific path. The game world is completely open and you can play it any way you choose, which already separates it quite far from most other games. Additionally, the game nailed one of the trademarks of the Fallout series, the futuristic 1950's aesthetic, perfectly. Also, I don't know of any other game that gives you the power (see also: is evil enough to allow you) to detonate a nuclear bomb in the middle of a city and watch it from atop a tower.

2 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Remember how many times I mentioned I bought Final Fantasy IV? I've bought Castlevania: Symphony of the Night at least 4 times: Playstation (twice, broke it once), PSP, and Xbox 360. I had never played a game quite like Symphony of the Night before this, but I think the closes game was Super Metroid. However, Symphony of the Night is much more of an RPG than Super Metroid was, where you actually gained experience to level up your stats, as well as had a pool consisting of over 1000 different pieces of equip with which you can outfit yourself. Plus, despite all this, the game still very much felt like a Castlevania game, from the excellent soundtrack to the different enemies you face, to the difficulty found in fighting the bosses. The game is also full of secret areas and even has an alternate game mode that lets you play through with Richter Belmont, basically changing it into a classic Castlevania game, removing the RPG elements completely. This is a game that that should be played at least once by everyone, because this game basically invented an entire genre, and it's the reason why games like Shadow Complex, the DS Castlevania games, Outland, and Fez exist today.

1 - Chrono Trigger

I would hope by now that seeing this game on anyone's top ten list shouldn't be surprising. I mean, it is often looked at as the the greatest Role-Playing Game of all time. It harkens back to a simpler time, when games didn't need twenty different mechanics in order to be considered "deep enough." Chrono Trigger took a very different approach, even for it's time: it tried to tell a really good story. And it succeeded at doing just that. Chrono Trigger is a great coming-of-age tale that utilized time travel. There are twists, strong character development, and a huge world to play in. Also, this is one of the only RPGs I have ever played that didn't require you to spend time leveling up your characters in order for you to be strong enough to play. Even if you move through the game fighting only when you have to, the boss fights are all possible with the right amount of patience and strategy, and that's something you don't see very often today. For it's time, the graphics also were awesome looking, having lush environments and also was one of the only turn-based RPGs where you didn't enter a special "battle scene" during combat. You almost always could see your enemies on screen (as opposed to Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest's random encounters) and you fight right where you see them. Also, this is one of the few games that uses the battlefield in combat. Many characters have area-of-effect abilities that are best used if you enemies all cluster together. Also, this game allows your characters to team up and combine their powers to unleash whole new attacks, something that was very innovative in 1995. Overall, Chrono Trigger is a game that I have visited well over 50 times, from beginning to end. It's also another game that I've bought 4 different times, because it is by far my favorite game of all time. Also, it was the first RPG that I ever beat completely on my own (I was 11), which means its going to stick with you for a long time.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little trip through a part of my brain. Got any views or opinions on this list? Leave 'em in the comments! I'd be happy to hear them.

-Justin