My top 10 games on youtube!

[SERGE]

Finally got around to doing my top 10 list of all time it was pretty tough.
Metal Gear 4 still calls me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdck_8c5RHc

http://www.youtube.com/user/HappyConsoleGamer

[Magus]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

It is pretty tough to come up with a list considering how many good games there are, or how many games have affected me. Except for a few constants I can never keep any cohesion between lists over time either. But yours looks like a good, unique list.

I came up with my own Top 10 in April because a friend was eager to know if I could do it. It took about 4 months of thinking and forgetting about it and redoing it and I'm still not really satisfied, but here it is with new notes.

Tim's All-Time Favorite Video Games In No Particular
Order OR
The List Where He Lists The Things He Loves About
Games He Loves
JUNE 2008 EDITION

Chrono Trigger.
Quick combat, onscreen enemies, a simple but
effective tale, memorable characters,
gorgeous colorful graphics, the best work DBZ artist
Akira Toriyama's ever done ... It's perplexing how
little JRPG developers have learned from this title in
the ... jeez, in the 13 years since its release. Even members of
the original Dream Team couldn't repeat success with
Blue Dragon. This is the best Japanese RPG there is.
No contest. You can keep your Xenogears and your Final
Fantasies, this is where it all peaked. Wait, did I
mention the music? Oh my god, the music. Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NITRZK8z0ek
RUNNERS-UP: Final Fantasy III (VIj), Chrono Cross

Metal Gear Solid 3.
I'd put MGS2 here for its reality-bending hifalutin
storyline but MGS3 balances gameplay and story way
better. Besides it's arguably the craziest. Kojima doesn't
even bother with overlong backstories for anybody,
they're just straight-up freaks: spider-limbed guy,
bee grenade guy, ghost guy, old guy who can perform
photosynthesis ... are they metaphors? Or what? MGS3
leaves things ambivalent, mysterious and the double-
and triple-crosses are out-there mindboggling. Every
action movie and spy movie cliche gets exploited and
turned around on its head, inside-out, upside-down.
It's brilliant. And that ending? Man. The story ranks
up there as one of the best prequel "how they came to
be that way" stories ever told. The
mother-son-mentor-student relationship ... The
cyclical history repeats itself stuff. Kojima earned
his auteur status with MGS2. With MGS3 he's perfected
what the MGS story can be. It's startling how good the jungle (OK,
Kojima, sure, jungles in Russia) environments look on
the aging PS2. It's a blast to play and I love taking
my time to sneak through the plants, eat animals and
snipe guards from afar with darts. A lot of people
complained about the overhead camera in the original
version but I didn't mind. I made full use of my
gadgets and first-person mode - I FELT like
Snake. The expansion/re-release, Subsistence, improved
everything - a new 3D camera, new modes, new goofy
self-reflexive cutscenes (the revenge of Raiden!)
and the short-lived online mode was actually pretty
sweet. I miss it. The next game, MGS4, is the only
reason I'd shell out $600 for a PS3.
JUNE 2008 UPDATE: And so, I did. Sigh. Like Serge says, MGS4 is great but MGS3 is still the best.

Vagrant Story.
Yasumi Matsuno. I only know him for his Final Fantasy
work - FFT, FF12, FFTA - but I love this man. He knows
how to craft a solid, insanely deep game with a dark
storyline. Vagrant Story is his OPUS. By
far the best game on the original PlayStation, this
medieval religious/zombie/cult/Memento-esque thriller
takes what works in Parasite Eve, mashes it with MGS
and FFT to form a really, really hard game. Yet it's
so rewarding, even if that random reward roulette
thing after every boss battle is a little goofy.
Crafting weapons and killing impossible bosses
(including giant enemy crabs) is fulfilling
but it's the peerless story and presentation that
keeps pulling me back. Ashley Riot's story is mature
and well-written, a welcome change from teenage boys
and mystical bishounen from RPGs past (and future unfortunately). "Shakespearean" is the word often bandied about when talking about
Alexander O. Smith's translation and I'd say that's
mighty apt. Family, politics, church, death,
resurrection, immortality, redemption - it all
intertwines perfectly and ends just as well. Games
like Chrono Trigger and Vagrant Story are the reasons
I'm so hard on Square these days, and why I'm so eager
to latch onto FF12 and the Ivalice Alliance games.
RUNNERS-UP: Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions,
Final Fantasy XII

Half-Life 2 + Episode 1 & 2
Simplicity. Valve knows more than any other FPS
developer (Bungie attempts with Halo) what it takes to
make an engaging game with only a few
choice gameplay components. Shoot, dodge, solve the
occasional physics-based puzzle with the Gravity Gun
(usually weighing things on a scale), maybe drive a vehicle,
repeat - with various implementations and differences.
It's like Mario. He can jump, shoot a fireball
sometimes but throw in new environments, new enemies,
new weapons... it's escalation at its finest. The plot
and atmosphere does a lot for me too. The dystopian
aesthetics (graffiti, masked guards, Eastern
European architecture) and subtle barely-there
storytelling do a lot to pull me into the Children of Men-esque world. The
new extra episodes keep getting better and better, too.
Under the direction of a less talented crew these
installments might have been cheap cash-ins. Luckily,
they may be even better than their parent game. Paced
perfectly, they return some of the emphasis to horror
and the action is even more intense. I rarely gasp at
games (RE4 must have been the last time ... scratch
that, it may have been Gears of War or Halo 3. Hm. OR
PHOENIX WRIGHT 3. ARGH) so that's definitely a plus in
Episode 2's favor. Brilliant fun.

Starcraft.
You know a game's a big deal when you start dreaming
about it. Night after night. Starcraft must be the
digital age version of chess ... it certainly feels
like it's lasted as long. Each unit has its own
counter, predicting your opponent's strategy and
adjusting to his maneuvers is as integral as managing,
expanding and defending your base. This is WAR. I
Ching, Sun Tzu, Tom Cruise (Collateral anybody?) it's
all there, it's cerebral, it gets under your skin, it
conquers an entire Asian nation and it frustrates the
**** out of me. I'm not very good at it but to this
day I can't stop playing. I can't get RID of it. There
is so much to control and take in and decide. The
amount of balancing must have been staggering.
Blizzard, please: Take all the time in the world to perfect
Starcraft II.
JUNE 2008 UPDATE: Er, it has been several weeks since I last played Starcraft. {:3

Super Mario World.
It may be difficult for most people to pick their
favorite Mario game. Not for me! I replayed this
recently and the choice is easy now. Mario World
ushered in perhaps the greatest era of gaming. It was
never Sega vs. Nintendo for me back in the day, I got
both the SNES and Genesis the same miraculous
Christmas morning so it was always a cozy coexistence.
However... it was the amazing color palette, perfect control,
huge world (Star Road is still a daunting
discovery) and tons of new abilities that made me play
Mario World more than Sonic. Sonic's great, or, he was
anyway, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles may have made it on a
longer list but, man. It truly is a MARIO World. The new inventory
system - pressing Select for that reserve Cape Feather
or Fire Flower - is sorely missing from Mario's new
games. Hell, POWER-UPS are. Bee suits? Timed Ice
Flowers? What the hell? Why must Mario Galaxy LIMIT me
so much? Mario World does this so well, Halo saw it
fit to give Master Chief only two weapon choices too.
The levels are the perfect length with tons of secrets
in each one. The A button spin-jump (you can evade
Boos easily this way!), YOSHI, Yoshi's abilities, the
Koopa kids!! It's the perfect Mario game, maybe the
perfect platformer. Yoshi's Island MAY be better
gameplay-wise but as far as classic MARIO games go
(not baby Mario) you cannot top this. And it was still
possible for Luigi to rescue Princess Toadstool - er,
Peach.
RUNNERS-UP: Contra III: The Alien Wars, Yoshi's
Island: Super Mario World 2, Super Castlevania IV,
Mega Man X, hell the whole SNES library

Resident Evil 4.
The perfect action-horror-adventure movie. Akin to
Half-Life 2, it's a never-ending string of explosive
setpieces. It's also one of the best examples of
"escalation" in a console adventure game. Y'know how
RPGs always start out with the boy in a village woken
up by his mom? Or in Ninja Gaiden, Ryu starts out as a
rookie (in his village) and in the end, he's fighting
his dragons and demons and his own master ... in Hell?
RE4 is similar. It constantly throws you (LEON!!) new
locations, new enemies, new weapons, new scenarios.
OK, you got a village. All right, something's weird
going on. Jesus, there's A GIANT FISH IN THE LAKE.
DOGS WITH TENTACLES!! I honestly had to pause the game
twice to catch my breath - once, when the first
villager head popped to reveal ... a THING, and again
when the village chief revealed his true form. No,
wait ... the game surprised me many more times than
that. Playing through it the first time that first
week of January 2005 was truly special. I had a
constant companion by my side late at night enjoying
the game as much as me - and she was just watching!
It's fun as hell, especially taking turns at the
unlockable, addicting Mercenaries minigame. RE4 also
set the new action shooter standard: Gears of War,
Dead Space, the new Alone in the Dark ... um. Resident
Evil 5? I'm sure there are many more but I think this
game was really the one to start the "new-gen." The
current cycle. Yeah, the story is dumb as hell and the
dialogue is corny but it's all part of that Resident Evil appeal. The
game's got a sense of humor. Collecting bottle caps
that make voice samples ("YOU'RE small time!") in a
sideshow shooting gallery should be proof enough. And
that's not just the mark of a great, memorable
Resident Evil title - a series that needed a kick in
the ass since RE3 - it's the mark of a great,
memorable GAME. I already own the Gamecube and PS2
versions. It's only a matter of time before the Wii
version's mine as well.
JUNE 2008 UPDATE: The Res Evil 4 Wii is still not mine.

Pokemon Pearl.
I think I knew Pokemon Pearl was one of my favorite
games when my body reacted with a surge of ecstasy
upon completing the perfect move set for my Staraptor.
I. Felt. GOOD. If that sounds like some dirty teenage
confession, well, it is. It is dirty. It's dangerous.
It's overkill honesty. Pokemon, a game and fad I've
lambasted and ignored since 1998, has linked itself
directly to the pleasure centers of my brain. Ten
years later the fad has evolved, let's say, into one
of Nintendo's most important totems, here to stay for
good, and it turns out the game is as addictive and
deep as those unwashed weirdos and young kids playing
the TCC would have you believe. The customization is
endless. Getting your team together, deleting their
moves, remembering them, the rock-paper-scissors style
of planning and strategy in battle ... and the style.
It's just. Too. Cute. It's irresistible. =(
RUNNERS-UP: Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
(portable character building gameplay strikes me as
very similar)
JUNE 2008 UPDATE: I got Deoxys. Lord, help me, I got Deoxys.

Ico/Shadow of the Colossus OR Mega Man X OR Zelda: A
Link to the Past OR Super Metroid

FOR NOW: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
This game represents Zelda the most to me and had a
lot to do with my personal growth. It's the template
for the future installments of the series (Twilight
Princess could've culled more from the Light/Dark
stuff) and that cinematic opening still impresses me:
the rain, the prophecy, the MUSIC ... it's the perfect
way to start an epic adventure. And the Dark World.
Man. So bleak, so threatening and this was way before
Symphony of the Night would do the Inverted Castle. I
played this game at a formative time (2nd grade, 8
years old or so). The game taught me new words, got me
interested in mythology and heroes, got me talking to
other kids playing the same game (gaming can be a
hobby?!), talking about it, sharing secrets and rumors
... I got my first player's guide for this game, and
I'm sure, along with the instruction's manuals for the
Mario games, it got me drawing. It really got my
imagination going. And the game's still a ton of fun,
great to look at, a breeze to play and the dungeons
are still a challenge (****in' Ice Palace, man). Others may think of Gorons and
Tingle when they think of Zelda but for me it's always
been Ahganim, Sahasrahla, the Ocarina Kid, the thief
that turns into a shrub, and the Seven Maidens of um,
Yore? Anyway, a stellar game.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
The ultimate party game, the best reason to own a Wii.
This game is pure multiplayer bliss and it was well
worth the wait. If Brawl wasn't out yet then Melee, a
game that went on strong nearly 8 years after its
debut, would've been in its place. Tons of characters
with differing playing styles, various different
stages to fight in, a gargantuan soundtrack that's
customizable, loads of modes and items ... it's the
perfect Nintendo game mixing heritage, fanboyness and
deeper-than-it-looks gameplay. If only Nintendo woke
up and made the online mode a fully realized community
with, uh, actual communication. A big ugly blemish on
an otherwise marvelous game that's really fit to be
played on the couch with friends, drinks, chips and
plenty of trash talk.
JUNE 2008 UPDATE: I acknowledge the game's wonky physics and randomness but the game's so customizable and fun, naysayers be damned.


IF THE LIST WAS LONGER:
Most of the SNES library - Super Metroid is in many
ways the perfect game. So far ahead of its time -
exploration, action, music, atmosphere, barely-there
story that still affects, effective backtracking,
speed-runs (can play the game however you want), sense
of scale and exploration (Kraid!) marvelous design.

Contra III- stupid fun Michael Bay bull**** but it's
fantastic. Challenge is bone shattering.

Mega Man X - brilliant evolution of a
character/franchise that's grown stale after 6 or 7
titles. Perfect shooting package. Nothing quite like
dashing, jumping and holding a buster charge at the same time.

Secret of Mana - Multiplayer. Easy as hell but fun and
charming.

Final Fantasy III (VIj) - My first RPG. Vast cast of
characters, interesting scenarios - splitting into
three teams. Wonderful soundtrack, memorable.

Gears of War - Takes notes from Half-Life 2, RE4 and
Halo and makes an excellent shooter that's even better
to play with a pal. Controls are spot-on, graphics are
among the best, and the situations (Berserker! Hammer
of Dawn!) and accompanying guitar riffs are
pulse-pounding. With a sequel on the way the
inevitable improvements (hopefully less vehicle
sections and walking-around-with-finger-in-ear
cutscenes) should make for an even better experience.

Halo - Halo 3 is definitely the best entry but the
first one captured me and my pals with its addictive
multiplayer mode. It's tough to go back to the
now-antiquated GoldenEye after playing this with 3
other pals, "Duel of the Fates" blaring on speakers
near by. Master Chief is a pretty cool new addition to
the video game icon lexicon as well.

Ninja Gaiden - Still a fantastic game. Legendary
difficulty, polished gameplay with ultra-responsive
controls. True the camera mucked up more than it
should have but it's a rewarding experience
altogether.

Silent Hill 2 - Cinematic, lyrical, symbolic, painful
and frightening as all hell. Survival horror peaks
here. A serious contender for the "games as art"
argument - perhaps the ur-text. Also: Pyramid Head.

Resident Evil 2 - My entrance to survival horror. The
graphics are still awesome, the puzzles still
challenging, memorable characters, awesome/terrible
dialogue, plot ripped straight off from Aliens - so
much to love. Remake please, Capcom?

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Engrossing
gameplay, beautiful graphics and music. There's so
much to do in this once-unique platformer-RPG hybrid.

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lion - Addictive as
hell. Beautiful translation and graphics, fantastic
soundtrack, really challenging difficulty. I can't put
this down. FFTA was brilliant too (with a bittersweet
meta storyline) and one of the games I spent the most
time on.

Phoenix Wright 3 - The first game is best but the
third's revelatory last case, and the tragic cool
Godot character, makes for a fantastic finale.
JUNE 2008 UPDATE: Just started the final case of Apollo Justice. It's close to beating out this one.

Katamari Damacy - Unique and zany as hell. Cheap too.
One of the true phenomenons. When I came back home
from college in winter of 2004 I didn't have to
explain this game to anyone. You all knew and loved it
and you were right to do so.

Zelda: 4 Swords Adventures - One of Nintendo's most
ambitious and criminal experiments (4 GBA/GC link
cables and 4 GBAs, ugh) but like Voltron or Gunbuster,
once all the components were in place maximum fun was
achieved. The competitive/cooperative gameplay took
the Zelda formula to fresh new places, and the Link to
the Past style of play/visuals/sound put a huge grin
on my face. I hold an iota of hope that Nintendo tries this again
with the wireless and friendlier Wii and DS.

Ico/Shadow of the Colossus - More "games as art." The
environment plays a huge part in both games - tiny
insignificant loners in massive, threatening
spaces. With little story to work with the games still
manage to garner great sympathy for the characters and
their plights. The Wanderer's resolve? Yorda's
sacrifice? Heartbreaking.

Street Fighter III/Project Justice/Marvel vs. Capcom 2
- Capcom makes the best 2D fighting games and these
are the best fighting games out there. Project Justice is 3D but
acts mainly on one plane. Plain. Dimension. Thing.
These are fantastic games but I'm too casual (read:
bad) a fighting game player to list them as the all-time greatest.

TIE Fighter/Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight/The Dig - Once
upon a time Lucasarts was a really cool company
putting out really cool games based on really cool
licenses. They turn out a decent game every once in a
while now (Republic Commando) and the new next-gen
Star Wars game looks like it could make or break my
faith in good things (Force Unleashed). But TIE
Fighter? Holy crap. What a complicated flight sim. And
Darth Vader is my wingmate?! I'M THE EMPEROR'S CHOSEN
PILOT?! OOHHH MY GOOOD. And Jedi Knight was the first and only successful game to make me feel like a, well, a Jedi Knight. It was also my first online multiplayer game. And
The Dig had me solving life-or-death-or-eternal-life
puzzles on a haunted, ancient alien planet with a storyline that was so cool to me as a kid I ran out to get the novelization. Fond, memorable
gaming experiences all.

[d2king10]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

I honestly think Secret of Mana > Chrono Trigger

[Loki]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

You're crazy.

[John Mora]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

No, the girl's name is Wanda. x3

[LunarWingCloud]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

I got Deoxys. Lord, help me, I got Deoxys.

[gray]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

and then wanderer killed rathalos

[Biggie]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

Dude, I'm right with your there on Shenmue.

Why is everyone else so stupid?

[Red Dragon]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

So is Happy Console Gamer a play off of Angry Video Game Nerd?

[SERGE]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

Ico/Shadow of the Colossus didn't even enter my mind for my top 10
I am not a huge lover of either game and I own them both.
Everyone loves different things that's why no top 10 list would please everyone.
I would be curious about Mr Moras top 10 though.

So is Happy Console Gamer a play off of Angry Video Game Nerd?

Totally but I don't have the luxury of bashing games only praising ones I like so it is a "nice" show, which is the opposite of me.
Wait till you see my outtakes that I am gonna put up later this week lol

[Caciss]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

I'm glad Magus mentioned Starcraft.

[Vanilla Iced Tea]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

The Dig was fantastic.

It sounds like fun to put together a list of my top 10 games; I think I'll try it.

[Chad]

Just a note, I've been writing this since 8:52 AM.


10. Yakuza

The fighting is good. It's a gem of a game. The protagonist revives swearing as something cool to do. It made me cry a little at the end. My mind is kind of blanking on games I like better than this, but there definitely could be something I'm leaving out. The load times were annoying, and the regular battles got tiresome at the end, but otherwise I enjoyed this game immensely.

9. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

The game is awesome. The writing is charming. It's fun as hell. This first one wins over the second one because of the fifth case they added with the touch screen elements. Those were totally cool. The only reason this game is so low is because it really has such little replay value. Even years after playing the original, I fear I'd start to remember all of the logical next steps to take.

8. Silent Hill 2

I can say only one thing. Frightening. It was successful in it's goal as a survival horror game due to countless things. Everything adds to this game. The atmosphere, the camera, the enemies. Hell, it was even an ingenious move to drop the player into battle without any kind of tutorial. When you encounter that first monstrosity in that cramped area with nothing but a 2 x 4, you panic. Admit it, the first time you played the game you were actually in fight or flight mode trying to figure out how to kill it.

7. Shadow of the Colossus

Wow. This is one beautiful game. I love how each fight isn't only an epic, but it's somehow about exploration and discovery. It's easy to figure out a bosses weakness, but exploiting it is another matter. Trying to figure out how you reach a certain bosses head or how to get him to expose this or that part is just a fraction of the battle. I thought the twist that they put on the whole save the princess cliche was righteous.

6. Rock Band

Honestly, when I first played Guitar Hero I was completely captured. I love the whole idea, the whole experience. I'm terrible at the real guitar. I am a slow learner when it comes to music. This game made me feel like I was a rock god, and instantly. When you start nailing some of the solos on expert you just feel good. Rock Band is the best iteration of this franchise in my opinion. It provides variance on the gameplay by providing all of the instruments to help spice up the game when you start to tire of an instrument. The endless barrage of DLC doesn't hurt it, either.

5. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

The battles aren't even really that awesome. Lightsabers are the only way to go. Combat ends up as one drilled down technique. You use your favorite move, attack until it recharges, rinse, repeat. It's all pretty average by the end, but damn it, for some reason it kept me enthralled enough for one 40 hour session. I got up only to go the bathroom. There's really something to be said when I find the conversations and story that enthralling I'd completely ignore the repetitive nature of the main game elements.

4. Phantasy Star IV

This is my favorite traditional RPG. I might even go so far as to say it's Final Fantasy VII done right. An amazing blend of sci-fi elements, guns and swords co-existing, a great cast, and some emotional backing in the story. What really made this game awesome for me was when I first discovered combination attacks. Oh, it was sweet. Just seeing Blizzard all of a sudden and not knowing what happened. I think that's why I liked combos in Phantasy Star IV much more than Chrono Trigger. There was a sense of exploration, research, mystery, what have you. It was infinitely more rewarding than just learning it and having it be a selectable option in battle. You had to get the timing just right. There were some damn rewarding battles, too. I think this is one of the only traditional RPGs where I felt genuinely challenged without it just being a cheap-ass boss who can take you down to 1 HP.

3. Shenmue

Oh my. This is the game of games. I totally pop two or three ****** every time I think about this game. The first time I played this game, I thought that the story was very emotional. As I played through it more I realized it's not really the story or the premise, it's the journey that makes this game so awesome. The game has just the right balance of direction and free-roaming. At any time you can ask the people around you or check your journal to get back on track, but you also have the liberty of going to the arcade and playing some old arcade games (Space Harrier? Yes, please!), collect capsules from all the vending machines, and more. The environments were so beautiful, everything about the game was just simply beautiful. The fighting was stellar, too. Screw Virtua Quest, this is what an action / adventure / fighting / RPG Virtua Fighter game should be.

2. Final Fantasy Tactics

This game completely changed my taste in games. Just all facets of the game result in awesome. Being able to customize my characters to such a deep level was just completely awesome. The story was awesome. The strategy aspect was awesome. After I played FFT I instantly searched out for strategy RPGs. I still search and buy those over all else.

1. Tecmo Cup: Soccer Game (Captain Tsubasa)

This is, like Phantasy Star, a bit of nostalgia. It's a really tight game, though, and I'd argue that it was the first RPG that I ever played. Also the first sports game I ever played. It's based on the anime by the same name in Japan. Hell, I wrote about it before here. In short; it was a blast to play with my friends, the music is awesome and "8-bit catchy," and I'm naming my first child Robin Field.

[Red Dragon]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

I would write a top ten, but 1-5 would just be the Quest for Glory games.

[Jeroak Nelave]

Re: My top 10 games on youtube!

I'd do a top 10...but i think certain people may be shocked at the results, and i dont want anyone to die of a heart attack.