Top 128: 8/16 - Final Bracket VI

[This Old Neon]

Welcome to the "BEST GAME EVER!!!" Project Top 128 Brackets!

You can vote for 1-4 games in this bracket. Vote carefully—you can't change your votes after submitting them. The top 4 games at the end of the week will advance to the Top 64.

8 - Final Fantasy VI - 1994 - SNES
25 - Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention - 1992 - Genesis/MD
40 - Gears of War - 2006 - X360
57 - Mount & Blade: Warband - 2010 - PC
72 - N++ - 2015 - PS4
89 - Pokémon [Ruby/Sapphire] Version - 2002 - GBA
104 - Pikmin - 2001 - GCN
121 - Doom - 1993 - PC

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

[VictorViper]

Some seriously shining (yuk) genre staples in here. Noting on the side that N++ is the greatest pure platformer of all time.

[Sharecrow]

Only Shining Force is getting love from me here....or support, anyway. Yeah support. I love Doom and, from what little I know of it, FFVI as well...

[SkyPikachu]

Ruby Sapphire
My favorite of the series. It was fresh and new before it become reused like the newer games. The graphics were so much better than gold and silver and as a 10 year old I thought they were amazing. Pokémon just has a special spot in my heart

[Spore]

I appreciate that Mount and Blade is here.

[Humphries90]

Pikmin! My old friend, how far you've come!

Also Final Fantasy VI. My third favourite Final Fantasy game (probably). Although it is slightly marred by all the million hipsters who claim they played it back in the day and it's always been the best in the series.

[Niahak]

Very glad to see Mount & Blade could be a good contender. Best combat in a WRPG, and lots of cool RPG elements to boot in a fantastic campaign mode. Nothing like storming a castle with a horde of huskarls you raised from mere peasants.

Shining Force's entry here makes me a little sad that Warsong isn't around, which is probably my fault.

[Kong Wen]

Final Fantasy VI is excellent (I played it back when it first came out, because I'm super cool), but it's not without its flaws. I actually thought the completely unhinged second half and the ridiculous villain were significant weaknesses. I also didn't like the fact that the huge cast of characters were basically interchangeable pokemon to be collected. It had great music and great style, though.

Shining Force is a lovely tactical RPG with tons of charm. Big, bright sprites and bubbly music give it an atmosphere of fun and adventure not often seen in these types of games (the good ones tend to be serious and dark). The game's style belies a brilliant tactical engine. The maps/scenarios are all brilliantly designed, and the combat is surprisingly tight. There is enough variety in the characters (barring some overlap, especially with the Knights) to make the choices you make seem meaningful. Also, Jogurt the Yogurt!

I spent a lot of time sucking at Doom back in the day. Fun game. Not sure what else I can say about this that everyone doesn't already know!

Finally, I cast a vote for one of the best pure platformers of all time. N++ is brilliant. The stages are brilliant. The controls are pixel-perfect. The physics is perfect. The hidden mechanics are devious. This is one of those games that almost no one will ever master, but there's so much content here that everyone has a fair shake at being able to get good at certain stuff (speed-running, collecting, beating lots of stages, etc.).

I feel really bad about not having been able to cast a vote for Mount & Blade. It's time to rally the SoSZ crowd!

[TheGreatNads]

I'm going to interpret the results so far of this poll as an indication that more people need to play the Mount & Blade series.

[Jordan]

Another round that I have to abstain from despite the fact that I like several of the options here. My reason this time is that I bought M&B but never had a chance to play it. I hear it's great, and it certainly looks great (especially with mods) so I feel like I can't legitimately vote in this without having given it a fair shake.