Round 5: Cupid's Bracket

[This Old Neon]

Round 5: Cupid's Bracket

You can vote for 1-4 games in this poll. Vote carefully—you can't change your votes after submitting them. The top 4 games at the end of the week will move on to Round 6.

1981 - Galaga - Arcade
2002 - Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 - GBA
2002 - Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII - PS2
2004 - Katamari Damacy - PS2
2005 - Shadow of the Colossus - PS2
2008 - Fallout 3 - Multiplatform
2010 - Trainyard - Mobile
2012 - Etrian Odyssey 4: Legends of the Titan - 3DS
2012 - XCOM: Enemy Unknown / Enemy Within - Multiplatform
2014 - Legend of Grimrock II - PC

You are encouraged to discuss your choices and your reasons for selecting the games you did.

[The Shoemaker]

Question: Are we considering the GBA version of Yoshi's Island different from the SNES version, or was the SNES version never nominated?

[Kong Wen]

Question: Are we considering the GBA version of Yoshi's Island different from the SNES version, or was the SNES version never nominated?

The SNES version is in here somewhere as a separate game, too.

[VictorViper]

Galaga deserves top 50. Fallout 3 is glorious and will get my support deep. X-COM should get some vehement support among the strategy fans in here. I'm short on time at the moment, but there should be serious gushing for this game, it's absolutely fantastic.

[Sharecrow]

I went with Galaga - a game I played before I could read and still enjoy immensely to this day.

I'm saddened a little that Shadow of Colossus isn't getting more love. Seriously, yall, this is one of the best games you've never played if you're not voting for it.

[Humphries90]

Sticking with RotTK VIII of course. Adding Shadow of the Colossus too. Breath taking game that I still can't believe was made.It seems like a game out of time, more of a passion project than a game designed to sell.

Oh and Yoshi's Island. I'm not sure why the GBA is considered a separate game, it's just a poor port of an otherwise overrated game.

[Kong Wen]

Oh and Yoshi's Island. I'm not sure why the GBA is considered a separate game, it's just a poor port of an otherwise overrated game.

To be quite frank, I think it's because it's always been that way and no one has said anything to the contrary.

[Kong Wen]

Man, I had my work cut out for me in this bracket.

I started with Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII, which is a strategy-RPG masterpiece.

I also had to give a vote to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which is simply one of the best strategy AND tactical games I've ever played. It somehow achieved a perfect blend of overall strategy without getting bogged down in minutiae of micromanagement and engaging tactical combat, with player-created characters that you could actually begin to relate to throughout the course of your battles. The character upgrade system is natural and fun, and the combat itself is really flexible and exciting. The stakes are high, but you always feel like there are multiple ways to approach a given situation. Toss in different objectives like rescuing civilians or capturing technology. It even has an optional multiplayer mode that I didn't put too much time into, but Kiwi and I had a few hilarious games in the trainyards.

I also voted for Fallout 3 again. I put a lot of hours into this game. I loved the flexibility with character creation and development. I loved finding and hoarding equipment. I loved exploring endlessly and running into random encounters. I can't say too much about these complaints about the lore not connecting to the other games well, but as a stand-alone product, it's great. The Capital Wasteland is a cool place.

[The Shoemaker]

Shadow of the Collosus was great. A Game that was all about atmosphere. A story that tells itself through the eyes of the player.
I'll vote for Yoshi when the SNES version pops up.

[Jordan]

I just voted for ROTK VIII.

I like quite a few of the games in this bracket, but I like ROTK VIII the best. I'm a massive fan of that game and series. For me, it's in a whole 'nother tier.