Favorite Games Ever (Besides Ninja Gaiden, Obviously)

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Great list, E-K! I'll go ahead and do a current one for myself, I guess.

Thanks. I really did have a hard time deciding how to rank some of my entries, but at the same time it doesn't matter too much since its always changing. I also know that I left some out that I really wanted to include, but I really need the chance to replay them to really gauge how well they've aged. I especially want to replay Stranger's Wrath one of these days.

Here are my comments on your list:

25. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle- I still need to get a Wii so I can play this game and the first one.

24. Painkiller- I'm not sure why I haven't tried this game yet, as it seems like the type of game that I would love. I think my PC should also be able to run it, but just in case it can't, do you know if the XBOX version is any good at all?

23. System Shock 2- Yet another classic that I need to play.

22. Mass Effect 2- The first game bored me after I played it once, but I'm hoping that this game really improves the actual gameplay mechanics, as this is yet another game that I still need to try.

21. Metal Slug X- I have played at least 1 Metal Slug game, and I'm not sure if it was this one or another one, but it was an awesome game nonetheless. If I haven't played this one, then I need to get around to that soon.

20. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker- This is easily my favorite GC game.

19. Duke Nukem 3D- Thanks for reminding me that I need to continue playing this game. I played a bunch of the PC version on a friend's PC after trying the Duke Nukem Forever demo and gaining some interest in the franchise. It was pretty fun, so I may just download the game off of XBLA when I get the chance.

18. Ninja Gaiden 2 (360)- Holy shit! I just realized that you have this game ranked even higher than I do. But its cool to see it on your list. Admittedly its not something that I'll ever acknowledge as a finished game (if it was truly finished, it'd be one of my top 3 favorite games of all time), however it really is a great game despite all of its flaws. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person on a non NG-related board that appreciates it.

17. Resident Evil 4- Another game I still need to play.

16. Fatal Frame 2- Same as above

15. Thief 2: The Metal Age- I've never even heard of this game, actually. What's it about?

14. Half-Life- Yet another game I have to play. I liked the 2nd game, but its boring segments kind of held it back for me. I hear this game is more consistently pace with the exception of the last few segments of the game. I'll give it a try one of these days.

13. Super Mario Bros. 3- Its not my favorite Mario game, but its a damn great game no matter how you look at it. One of the best 2D platformers of all time.

12. Hitman: Blood Money- I'll give this game a try someday. I still couldn't get into Contracts, but I do appreciate the concept of Hitman so maybe this one might change my mind about the gameplay formula.

11. Max Payne- Easily my favorite TPS game of ever.

10. Super Metroid- I need to play this game with a controller, someday. I tried playing it on an emulator but a keyboard does not fit its control-scheme very well.

9. Yakuza 4- I wish I could get into this series. I could at the very least play the first 2 games if my older brother were willing to let me borrow his PS2.

8. Metal Slug 3- See Metal Slug X.

7. Devil May Cry 3- Absolutely love what I played of this game. It pretty much perfected the DMC formula. It pisses me off that DMC4 was so lazy, though. It brought some noteworthy improvements over DMC3's gameplay, but for every step it took forward for the series it took at least 2 steps back. Nero only having one weapon was a disgrace, IMO, and really showed how lazy Capcom was being with the game's design. If they could give Dante 3 weapons when he had much less play-time in the story than Nero, they easily could have fitted in more weapons for Nero if they actually put some time and effort into fleshing him out some more. His core combat mechanics are fine, but his combat feels SO limited compared to Dante's.

6. Ninja Gaiden (Xbox/PS3)- Fuck you, Foggle! You damn well know that Uncharted should be in this spot you tasteless prick.

5. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando- Awesome game, though my favorite is Up Your Arsenal. The multiplayer in that game was also surprisingly addicting. My friend and I used to play it all day long.

4. Bayonetta- Great game, and easily one of the best in the genre. I don't like it quite a much as NG, but it comes closer to it in quality than any other hack n' slash game that I have played. Kamiya basically re-perfects DMC's formula.

3. Deus Ex- Once again, need to play it.

2. F.E.A.R.- Amazing game, and easily the best designed FPS of all time. Its environments may get stale but it makes up for it with its superb gameplay value. I still have yet to see another FPS with AI close to as good as they are in this game (not counting RTS games, though, since I don't play those).

1. God Hand- I feel bad that I haven't played this game, yet.

[Foggle]

Stranger's Wrath is still amazing. I'd suggest avoiding the PC port, though... It's almost up to par after rigorous patching, but it's optimized like crap and only runs well on hardcore gaming rigs as far as I can tell. It's pretty much the only game that makes me wish I still had an original Xbox. Can't believe it's not backwards compatible.

24. Painkiller- I'm not sure why I haven't tried this game yet, as it seems like the type of game that I would love. I think my PC should also be able to run it, but just in case it can't, do you know if the XBOX version is any good at all?

The first time I ever played it was on the Xbox, actually! I bought a copy of OXM at the store around the time the port got released, and there was a demo for it on the included disc. I've only played the full version on PC, but from what I remember, the Xbox version is just as good.

22. Mass Effect 2- The first game bored me after I played it once, but I'm hoping that this game really improves the actual gameplay mechanics, as this is yet another game that I still need to try.

The first game has not aged well. It's not bad, and never will be, but it has very little replay value, poor pacing, and awful side-quests. Mass Effect 2 is less RPG and more TPS, which really improved it IMO. They also hired a much better writer, which greatly improved the dialogue and conversations in general (I'm not a fan of QTEs, but I get way too excited every time I get a chance to do a Renegade interrupt). The game is fun all the way through and is immersive as hell, making it really easy to get lost in the world. Make sure to play Lair of the Shadow Broker if you ever get it, btw. The rest of the DLC is fun but skippable; Shadow Broker is by far one of the best missions.

20. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker- This is easily my favorite GC game.

Same here; it's also my favorite Zelda game overall (closely followed by Ocarina, Majora, and Link to the Past). It'd be a lot higher on my list if it weren't for the damned Triforce hunt near the end.

19. Duke Nukem 3D- Thanks for reminding me that I need to continue playing this game. I played a bunch of the PC version on a friend's PC after trying the Duke Nukem Forever demo and gaining some interest in the franchise. It was pretty fun, so I may just download the game off of XBLA when I get the chance.

I suggest skipping Lunar Apocalypse when you do play more. The level design is boring compared to the other episodes and it's needlessly difficult at times.

15. Thief 2: The Metal Age- I've never even heard of this game, actually. What's it about?

It's a stealth game where you play as a total badass named Garrett and sneak around a bunch of really cool medieval-steampunk locations grabbin' loot. I know that's not a very good description, but it's an excellent game. Very open and fun level design like in Deus Ex and Hitman. The Dark Project and Deadly Shadows are also great games, though the former is damn near impossible to get working properly on modern computers and the latter is a bit too linear compared to the first two. Deadly Shadows was also released on Xbox and is backwards compatible (with a few non-game-breaking bugs), so you should check that one out!

12. Hitman: Blood Money- I'll give this game a try someday. I still couldn't get into Contracts, but I do appreciate the concept of Hitman so maybe this one might change my mind about the gameplay formula.

Blood Money is more accessible and sensible than the others in the series, but it's not dumbed-down at all. It's far better than Contracts, for sure.

5. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando- Awesome game, though my favorite is Up Your Arsenal. The multiplayer in that game was also surprisingly addicting. My friend and I used to play it all day long.

Oh man, the Up Your Arsenal multiplayer. I remember playing that shit split-screen all the damn time back in 2004/2005. Deadlocked was a bit lackluster compared to GC and UYA, but the co-op campaign couldn't be beat.

[gunswordfist]

Just like with the classic Sonic games, its been ages since I last replayed those as well, save for the demo of the first level of SA1, so I can't properly judge those games until I see how well they hold up (the last time I played them was about 4 years ago).

I remember when you said the 3D Sonics are better than the 2D ones.

Nice at having Max Payne in top 5. Only game on your list that's also on my top 10

[gunswordfist]

Lovely list Foggle. I am surprised Mass Effect 2 made it. It probably wouldn't make my top 30 list. If you haven't noticed, I trolled the fuck out of you in regards to our little conversation about the game.

I'll make my list but it'll have no Mario games. I don't think I've ever beaten one and I had a falling out with my old favorite, 3. The way too many way too short levels just rubbed me the wrong way. That was a few years ago though.

Only 2 games this gen are guaranteed to make the list. One is my favorite game, the other is a game in my video game series. Both are top 5 if not top 3...yeah, top 3. Mass Effect 2 has a bit of a chance of making it and I am still on my long first playthrough of Bayonetta.

[talonmalon333]

Same here; it's also my favorite Zelda game overall (closely followed by Ocarina, Majora, and Link to the Past). It'd be a lot higher on my list if it weren't for the damned Triforce hunt near the end.

I must be one of the only people who ADORES that section...

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I didn't adore it, but I certainly didn't have a problem with it either like most people do. People complain that its tedious but it really isn't. As long as you decipher the clues well enough you won't have to go searching the seas for hours hunting them down like some people claim. The whole thing took me about 2 hours to complete on my first time through the game, and that was without me relying on a strategy guide or anything of the sort, and I was also taking my time trying to find the pieces myself. I also must say that I loved the part where you had to wait until a certain type of moon-phase in the night to be able to get the one on the ghost ship. That was a really awesome adventure element that I just love about this game.

[Foggle]

I also must say that I loved the part where you had to wait until a certain type of moon-phase in the night to be able to get the one on the ghost ship. That was a really awesome adventure element that I just love about this game.

That part was really cool, yeah. But you don't want to know how long it took me to do the Triforce hunt without a guide on my first run...

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I suppose I'm a bit quicker with puzzles in Zelda or something, then. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but a lot of my friends pointed out to me on my first time playing OoT (my friends from back when I was a kid originally got me into the series) that I was really good about solving puzzles that took them forever to figure out without a strategy guide. I'm not sure why, but something about Zelda's gameplay formula just clicks with me and makes sense to me very well, and I kind of feel very in-tune with each game's design for the most part, so I don't usually have much trouble figuring out how to do some of the tougher puzzles.

That said, there are of course at least a few notorious puzzle sections in each Zelda game that even I have a hard time with. In fact I'd be downright disappointed if there weren't a single puzzle that had me stumped in a Zelda game.

[talonmalon333]

The reason I love it is because you have absolute free roam of the sea during the Triforce hunt. So when I'm searching for them, I don't just find the Triforce shards. I find EVERYTHING.

I also must say that I loved the part where you had to wait until a certain type of moon-phase in the night to be able to get the one on the ghost ship. That was a really awesome adventure element that I just love about this game.

The Ghost Ship is awesome, period. I especially love sailing at night and seeing it in the distance unexpectedly.

[gunswordfist]

25. Sweet Home
24. Phantasy Star IV
23. Legend Of Zelda Link's Awakening
22. Burnout Revenge
21. SSX Tricky
20. MGS3
19. The Warriors
18. Timesplitters 2
17. Sonic The Hedgehog
16. Astro Boy Omega Factor
15. Super Smash Bros. Melee
14. Einhander
13. Max Payne 2
12. Metal Slug 2
11. Metal Slug 3
10. Mega Man 4
9. Mega Man 3
8. Mega Man 2
7. Contra Hard Corps
6. Max Payne
5. Sonic The Hedgehog 2
4. DMC3
3. DMC4
2. Devil May Cry
1. MGS4

Sorry about the shameless amount of sequels. The only two Nintendo games I beat are probably literally the only two I listed, I am behind on beat em ups and there's tons of other games I haven't beaten or even played yet, including many from this gen and countless others I haven't played in years. Also, Metal Slug got omitted because I kind of forgot what it was like. Curse it's sequels for retaining its graphics.

PS GET SWEET HOME! IT'S THE GREATEST NES RPG!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Jesus fucking Christ

Sigh.

I'll try constructing a complete list of my own later if you want... But this really let me down. Again.

[Foggle]

24,000 copies across BOTH consoles!? Are you fucking kidding me!?!?! Even No More Heroes 2 sold more than that!

This is unbelievable. The game gets critical fucking acclaim, was obviously made with love, and it does worse than goddamn ShellShock 2: Blood Trails? Disgraceful. Fuck this gen up the ass, and fuck EA, too. Today's gamers and publishers don't deserve developers like Suda and Mikami.

[Geezer]

15. Sonic the Hedgehog
14. Grand Theft Auto II
13. Crash Bandicoot
12. GoldenEye 007
11. MVP Baseball 2005
10. Super Mario Bros. 2
9. NBA Jam: Tournament Edition
8. Half-Life
7. Donkey Kong Country
6. Super Smash Bros. Melee
5. Mario Kart DS
4. Super Mario Bros. 3
3. NFL 2K5
2. Doom
1. Super Mario World

Damn, I have weird-ass taste.  Mostly platformers, with a couple FPSes, one top-down shmup, and a couple sports games... but you really can't top NBA Jam TE, MVP '05, and NFL 2K5 in that genre.  Boomshakalaka!

[Commode]

Grand Theft Auto II?  Huh, that's an interesting one, you don't see many people who have actually played the game much, never mind would be willing to list it as a favorite.

[gunswordfist]

Lowest numbers I have ever seen. My God