This Old Neon Forum

On my mind at the moment, and these are ones that I should not have to justify, as they are all gems in my opinion:

Super Mario Bros 3 / nes
Super Mario World /nes
Super Mario 64 /n64
Super Mario Galaxy /Wii
Super Mario Galaxy 2/Wii
New Super Mario Bros /DS

Star Fox 64 / n64

Ocarina of Time /n64
Majoras Mask /n64
Banjo Kazooie /n64
Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! /nes
Tetris /nes/game boy
Wind Waker /both GC and WiiU HD
Mario Kart 8 / WiiU
Mario Kart 64 /n64
Diddy Kong Racing /n64
Donkey Kong Country 2 /snes

Sonic the Hedgehog 2/SG
Sonic the Hedgehog 3/SG /with Knuckles?
Sonic CD /SCD

Batman Arkham Asylum /multiple
Batman Arkham City /multiple

No More Heros /wii
World of Goo /wii

My nominations so far:

Robotron 2084 (arcade) - The greatest videogame of all time. If I was to pick one, this is it. Overstimulating, chaotic, rife with second-to-second risk/reward choices, there is nothing that tops it before or since. Bliss.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (all platforms) - A very short game (~3h), this is nonetheless the most emotionally affecting game I've ever played by a country mile. I wept at this thing, and took a week hiatus from gaming afterward, such is its impact. That the creators achieved this without words is all the more impressive. Level progression is exceptional, and without spoiling anything, I'll state that this marks the first time a game has physically affected me as well.

Bloodborne (PS4) - I'm surprising myself a little with this nomination because it might keep me from nominating Dark Souls. Bloodborne feels unfinished in some key areas, but the core gameplay, story, setting and level design showcase From at the top of their game.

...more to come.

Yoshi (NES) - I found this to be a real hidden gem of the NES, just a good puzzle game, great on the 3DS.
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS) - Really great series, this one is definitely one of the best.
Ace Attorney: Pheonix Wright (GBA) - Only game I`ve played in the series, but I enjoyed it and think it deserves a spot.
Rune Factory 4 (3DS) - Like Rydia said, doesn`t excell in anything, but offers a fantastic package.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong (GBA)
Okami (PS2/Wii) - Fantasic 3D adventure game, on par with Zelda.
Punch-Out!! (NES)
Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) - Really good 3D portable Mario adventure.
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA)
DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure (SNES) - Japan only SNES platformer, a lot of fun. Art style is really vibrant with a relaxing/mystical soundtrack.

Wow sorry about the long list.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)
Banjo-Kazooie (N64)
Cave Story+ (Steam/PC)
Donkey Kong 64 (N64)
Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (SNES)
Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Wii U)
Earthbound (SNES) (Even though I havn't played the SNES version I assume the Wii U version is the same)
Final Fantasy X (Do I have to pick between HD and PS2?)
Halo: Combat Evolved (PC)
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS2)
Kingdom Hearts 1 Final Mix (Do I have to pick between HD and PS2?)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Wii U)
Little Big Planet (PS3)
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)
Mario Kart 64 (N64)
Mega Man Battle Network (GBA)
Mega Man X (SNES)
Mirror's Edge (Steam/PC)
NBA JAM (SNES)
NHL 09 (XB360)
Plants vs Zombies (Steam/PC)
Pokemon FireRed/Leafgreen (GBA)
Pokemon Gold/Silver (GBC)
Pokemon Red/Blue (GB)
Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire (GBA)
Pokemon Emerald (GBA)
Portal (PC)
Portal 2 (PC)
Ratchet and Clank (PS2)
Rayman Legends (Wii U)
Rayman Origins (PS3)
Red Dead Redemption (XB360)
Skate 2 (XB360)
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (Do I have to pick between HD and PS2?)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (PS3)
Splatoon (Wii U)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 (PC)
Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U)

Planescape: Torment (PC)
Star Control II (PC)
Marathon (Mac)
A Mind Forever Voyaging (PC)
Jagged Alliance 2 (PC)
The Magic of Scheherazade (NES)
Uncharted Waters: New Horizons (SNES)
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)
Sword of the Samurai (PC)
Uplink (PC)

There are games out there that I like more than some of the games on this list, but I know the games here aren't going to get the recognition they deserve. Except maybe Lufia II.

Rob

Final Fantasy Tactics (Square & Sony, 1997)

Perhaps my favourite game of all time. This came out at a great time in my life and I beat it over and over again. It somehow managed to do everything I like about tactical RPGs perfectly: a nice job system, good-sized maps and nice terrain layouts, good music, a good story, etc. Pretty much hit all of the sweet spots in a genre that I already liked (thanks to games like Shining Force and Warsong and the Gold Box games) and took my love of TRPGs to the next level. Nothing that's come since has matched it.

Portal (Valve, 2007)

Simply the finest first-person puzzle platformer in existence. Great writing is the icing on the cake. Speaking of cake, the first time I played this game was the week before my wedding. My sister and I were up late eating chocolate cake together while I was playing, and you know. You know that cake stuff. Anyway, we were pretty freaked out. Ended up beating the game in one sitting. One of my favourite memories.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms II (Koei, 1989)

I was already into Romance of the Three Kingdoms before this—my brother and I played a lot of Destiny of an Emperor and the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms (both NES) in his basement, and I was already into strategy thanks to the aforementioned Gold Box games and Civilization. This game remains probably the purest example of old-school high strategy. It's the perfect mix of high-level kingdom management, excellent tactical battles, and the kind of barebones rough edges you expect from an early SNES game. There's not so much going on that it's overwhelming, but just enough that you actually have some strategic options.

Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention (Climax Entertainment/Camelot Software/Sega, 1992)

Remember what I said about Final Fantasy Tactics? Yeah, this game was my predecessor to that. It's a colourful, cheerful game with a great cast of characters. The battles are all fun and laid out in interesting ways. The game doesn't get too bogged down in mechanics. I think the sequel felt too long and poorly balanced.

Super Meat Boy (Team Meat, 2010)

This is the perfect platformer. Perfectly-tuned controls. Great level design. Excellent challenge & balance. Wonderful concept and execution.

Slurmee wrote:Final Fantasy X (Do I have to pick between HD and PS2?)
Kingdom Hearts 1 Final Mix (Do I have to pick between HD and PS2?)
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (Do I have to pick between HD and PS2?)

I don't think so; those are all just HD upscales/remasters of the original versions of the game.

Lets get started:

Final Fantasy 6 (SNES/GBA/crappy PS1 version)

It was the first game that managed to get me emotionally involved in the events, largely due to two aspects. First, it's sprites, which were very expressive for it's time. Capable of displaying e.g. anger, sorrow, surprise and in this regard were easily superior to the polygon marionettes in it's sequels, which 'just' performed pantomime.
Secondly, I blame the soundtrack for this effect, in particular the individual theme of each character.
Example, this optional scene:

Spoiler

M.U.L.E (Atari 400, C64 and it's other ports incl. NES)

Four alien species have interest in the newly found planet Irata, the galactic council will give control of the planet to the race who can get the most out of it within a certain timeframe. Each player takes control of an alien to attempting to produce the 3 basic resources (Energy, Food, Ore) and simply make the most money. Each month starts with the distribution and auctioning of plots, followed by each players individual turn, in which you e.g. buy Multiple Use Labor Element (Get it?) and install them to produce, catch the Wumpus or gamble at the casino. At the end of each month random events will occur and you buy/sell your stuff (or not) to maximize your profits.
M.U.L.E is incredibly simple to learn and understand, dynamic (thanks to a healthy dose of supply & demand), and tons of fun to play with friends. While there have been a few games going into the same direction (e.g. Subtrade), this genre has been getting very little attention.

Wow. No limit on the amount this time? That's unexpected.

EarthBound
Mother 3: Haven't played this series at all during the last BGE, but I've since played them all. EB and M3 are the only two games I've ever played that truly lived up to everything I've read about them. They are both masterpieces.

Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate 2: Still though, the Baldur's Gate games are much closer to my heart. I adore the story, and no RPG has ever immersed me as much.

Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario World
Super Mario 64: What would gaming be today without Mario? I'm specifically going to talk about SM64, though. As a standalone game, I'm really not a big fan. But I'm a big believer than SM64 shaped the entire 3D platforming genre. Sure, it's a genre that's seen better days, but it's important to gaming.

Super Mario Sunshine
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario 3D Land
Super Mario 3D World: Can't ignore SM64's successors.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars: Best soundtrack in gaming, in my opinion. Square did a bangup job turning the Mario universe into an RPG for the first time, which also lead the groundwork for the Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi series.

Paper Mario
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Super Paper Mario: I love the Paper Mario series. Even SPM. (Sticker Star doesn't exist. I can't hear you. Lalalalalalala.)

Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Mario and Luigi: Dream Team: These are the three M&L games worthy of anyone's time. Dream Team is a little longer than it needs to be, but it's still a great game. I can't recommend Partners in Time, though. It just didn't work for me as well as the others. Baby gameplay was pretty sloppy.

Super Mario Kart
Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart: Double Dash
Mario Kart 7
Mario Kart 8: Gotta love the MK series. I can't vote for DS, as I've never really played it. MK8 is probably the very best in the series, surpassing DD at long last.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Super Metroid: Getting some obvious Nintendo ones out of the way here. Not a fan of the Metroid Prime series.

Ratchet and Clank
Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal
Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in TIme
Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One: Can't ignore this precious series. I've played very few of these around the time of the last BGE, but went through all of them that are available on the PS3. I can't bring myself to vote for some of them, but these are the deserving games.

Jak and Daxter: This is the only game of the series I enjoy.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time: While the second game in the series is probably the best, this is probably my favourite of the PS2-era Sony mascots. Absolutely love them. Sly 4 fit like a glove, too, even with a different developer.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot: Warped
Crash Team Racing: These are the three ND Crash games worthy of anyone's time. They are all terrific. I can't recommend the original, though, as it aged horribly, and had a lousy save feature that is detrimental to its gameplay.

Crash Nitro Kart (PS1/GCN/XB version)
Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced: Vicarious Visions built on the ND formulas better than any other developer, and they are all great games in their own right.

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage
Spyro: Year of the Dragon:: The two Insomniac sequels were the best of the Spyro the Dragon games. I will go so far as the saying YotD is my favourite PS1 game.

Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs: A GBA game with almost RPG-like qualities. It's very underappreciated, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Spyro: A Hero's Tail: Probably the best Spyro game outside of Insomniac. While it doesn't come close to Spyros 2 an 3, I would recommend it over Spyro 1. It's not perfect, but worthy of a nomination.


....I'll nominate more games later.

I have a genre bias so my answers are skewed

Obviously #1 is Final Fantasy VII (Playstation) -Holy crap I cried so much in this game and not just when I lost the 80+ hours I already put in, to a shitty 3rd party memory card. On a side note, I got a little choked up watching the remake trailer at E3 for PS4. CAN'T WAIT!!!
ICO (PS2) -not only was this game beautiful but the story was amazing and the puzzles were tough. All around great game. Oh and the music!
Skyrim (PS3) -ummm dragons, badass music, non linear world and magic. yep. fun. I haven't finished it yet but can you ever really finish Skyrim?
Tekken 3 (PS2) - probably like this one just 'cause I got really good at the game and bowling. Who doesn't want to bowl with Panda Kuma?
Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64 & 3DS) -super cute, has a horse, good music and story but I swear to God I wanted to punch Navi in her little fairy mouth. "Hey, Listen" *SMACK* Fuck YOU! Don't tell me what to do!
Bubble Bobble (Nintendo) -that moment when you figure out the level code for level 99 by accident and you're like "I'm not ready for this!" but then you kill it! Ah, childhood.
The Last of Us (PS4) -click, click, click

I have more but I should probably work for a bit.