This Old Neon Forum

Round 6: The Nemean Lion

You can vote for 1-5 games in this poll. Vote carefully—you can't change your votes after submitting them. The top 5 games at the end of the week will move on to Round 7: The Top 128 Qualifiers.

1993 - Secret of Mana - SNES
1994 - Sonic 3 & Knuckles - Genesis/MD
1997 - Fallout - PC
2001 - Luigi's Mansion - GCN
2004 - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - GCN
2007 - Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 [FES] - PS2
2008 - Fallout 3 - Multiplatform
2012 - XCOM: Enemy Unknown / Enemy Within - Multiplatform
2014 - Ultra Street Fighter IV - Multiplatform
2015 - Crypt of the NecroDancer - PC

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

You guys, Paper Mario and the Thousand Year door is so good. It was such a cleaver idea to make the entire game feel like a preformance. The audience while you fight encourages you to do better and actually plays a role in the fight once in a while. It's such a cleaver idea that I want to see it again, but I don't think Intelligent Sytems would go back to an old idea like that.

The game's environments are really good. At one point you're on a murder mystery train going through the desert, another you're fighting for a WWE championship in the sky. It set the bar really high for Mario RPG's.

The thought that the excellent Persona 3 could lose to a game as forgettable as Luigi's Mansion is a little depressing. For now, though, it's at least beating the game against which I'll hold an eternal grudge, Fallout 3.

The Shoemaker wrote:You guys, Paper Mario and the Thousand Year door is so good. It was such a cleaver idea to make the entire game feel like a preformance. The audience while you fight encourages you to do better and actually plays a role in the fight once in a while. It's such a cleaver idea that I want to see it again, but I don't think Intelligent Sytems would go back to an old idea like that.

The game's environments are really good. At one point you're on a murder mystery train going through the desert, another you're fighting for a WWE championship in the sky. It set the bar really high for Mario RPG's.

I totally echo all of these opinions. It's probably my favorite of the Mario RPGs.

I feel almost guilty for voting for Persona 3 even though I've only played it for about 5 hours. But I know it's great, I just haven't had a chance to commit to the experience yet. It won't progress anyways, so I don't feel too bad.

There are games I'd support here. There are games I might have even nominated if not for my tight restrictions. Just the same, I relish the opportunity to vote for Crypt of the Necrodancer and no others. An easy entry among my personal top 10.

Wow, Persona 3's in pretty rough shape! I do actually prefer the PSP version, simply because it runs so much faster than the PS2 version (and only one or two cutscenes were really that good, anyway).

I remember being (pleasantly) surprised when Persona 3 came out, since I enjoyed the first and the second flew *way* under the radar (the half that was actually localized, anyway). Hopefully we see another set of JRPGs comparable to the PS2 era sometime.

Also voted for Paper Mario, Fallout, and XCOM. All fantastic games.

I voted for Secret of Mana. It's one of my favourite games of all time. I think my nostalgia is boosted by the fact that I had the immense privilege (little did I know just how much of a privilege this was at the time) of the majority of my play time with this game, through multiple play-throughs, being multiplayer. My brother used the boy, and I used the sprite. I love the music in this game.



And look at that cover art! So lush and huge and beautiful. That's what the whole game felt like.

I also put in a vote for the Fallouts (yes, both of them), and XCOM, which is a brilliant modern strategy game. Brilliant. A took many of you through my journey with me in that game, and some of you didn't make it (RIP).

Fallout, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and Ultra Street Fighter IV will advance to the final qualifying round!

A tie-breaker between Secret of Mana and Luigi's Mansion will be posted shortly.