These are the “Some Of My Favorites” Games
These are some of the greatest games I’ve played! No joke, I truly love the following games:
100) Left 4 Dead
It is an absolute blast to get a group together and survive the zombie hoards together. It’s as simple as that.
99) Unravel
This game is truly emotional and I wanted dearly to help Yarny through the bad times and get to the good. A beautiful story of life while you do sick jumps by swinging on yarn.
98) OverBlood 2
There is a tremendous amount of problems with this game, but it’s very captivating in a way that only something so shoddy could be. The ambition of this title reaches for the stars and you’ll find yourself doing something new in every part of it. I have become accustomed to the jank and now warmly embrace it. This is one of the best worst games.
97) Mario Kart DS
There is a bit of trouble with the balancing in this game since there is definitely a specific character and method to play that will almost always lead you to victory. I like Mario Kart DS for the whole package. The tracks are stellar most importantly, but there is also a lot of cool stuff done with the Challenges Mode. They even got Battles mostly right!
96) Snatcher
This is my favorite story Kojima has told. Hitting the streets of Neo Kobe City as the plucky goofball, Gillian Seed, with his robot partner Metal Gear is always a fun time. I love hearing their banter as they try to solve the big mystery or just want to try some pizza in soup.
95) Mirror’s Edge
Parkouring around the city feels great and the options to play the game entirely with no kills is a great challenge. It genuinely feels great to platform in first person and a lot of games have trouble with this.
94) God of War (2005)
The game that started one of my favorite PlayStation franchises is one of my favorites for the grand temple you find yourself going through and build up to learning who Kratos is and what he has done. Most of the games that follow were just about how angry he was.
93) New Super Mario Bros. Wii
The first time you could play Mario with four players simultaneously proved why you maybe shouldn’t do that, but it was a very fun time regardless. Fighting all the Koopalings and getting all of the gold coins in each stage are a fun time. They could have stopped here with the NSMB series.
92) Prinny: Can I Be the Hero?
The stiff challenge makes use of all 1,000 lives you get to start the game. It does come down to how hard you can mash at times against particular bosses, but it’s always a thrilling battle. It was my favorite PSP game.
91) Red Dead Redemption
Given my past with Rockstar games I assumed I wouldn’t ever finish this, but most of the missions had me hooked to find out what happened next even if I knew things were never going to end well for John Marston.
90) Perfect Dark
This isn’t even here because of the great single player content, the missions for every gun, can play the story mode two player as a team or with player 2 as the henchmen, or the very nifty ability to wander the institute to find all sorts of neat things. This game has amazing multiplayer with great maps (the best ones lifted from Goldeneye), incredible CPUs, great weapons to work with, and dozens of battle challenges you can attempt with friends.
89) MegaMan 6
Adding the Rush adapters open this game up so much in a very refreshing way. The weapons, stages, and bosses are all quality once more.
88) DuckTales: Remastered
There is some new content here that is definitely fun to play and getting all of the cartoon’s voice actors despite some of them being over 90 at the time is very impressive work.
87) DuckTales
Something about the original cannot be replaced. The controls feel just a touch snappier here and while cutscenes are nice in the remaster it becomes a hassle to button through them every single time you play.
86) Rocket League
I love playing this game even if I can never defend a ball that is slightly above my head going into the net. It has gone through a lot of changes from time to time and while I don’t particularly like any of the different modes they’ve tried the original concept is bliss.
85) Donkey Kong Country
Compared to the other Country games this one is a little bare bones. However, the level designs are among the best in the series as there are always engaging challenges awaiting you. It’s definitely the most “in the country of Donkey Kong” of the Donkey Kong Country games.
84) New Super Mario Bros.
The DS title that revived 2D Mario gets overlooked, but the power-ups are incredible. I wish they would bring back the Tiny Mario and Shell Mario power-ups because they’re my favorites.
83) MegaMan 3
There is a lot to be said about the additions to MegaMan 3. Sliding, reoccurring fights with ProtoMan, bringing back bosses from the second game in revamped versions of stages you have played earlier. It’s all very good.
82) Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope
It is a shame that I haven’t looked at the other allegedly fantastic campaigns of Shovel Knight because the first one is amazing. Everything just feels right about bouncing on your foes and gathering money. The checkpoint system was always tempting to smash for more money even if it made for a more grueling situation.
81) Earthbound
I really liked all of the creative ideas this game went for. It’s definitely not very ordinary and it shines in those moments where you have no idea what will happen next.
80) God Hand
The absurdity of this game is an important part of what makes God Hand so good. Juggling opponents with your over-the-top attacks is never not fun and this game does it so well.
79) Paper Mario
It will eventually be refined in the sequel, but this system established here of playing mostly as Mario with the aid of a partner of your choice adds a lot of fun combat while mainly focusing on just one character. I do appreciate simplicity in my RPGs and this is a great way to keep the fun of a Mario game while having a lot of options in combat that don’t overwhelm.
78) TimeSplitters 2
The challenges and game modes here are enough to fill out any evening with fun for all those on the couch, and that’s how many evenings went with TimeSplitters. The amount of things to do and ways to play on top of a game that just feels great.
77) Bastion
This game is gorgeous. Everything feels so good and having it all narrated by that amazing voice actor makes it feel that much better.
76) Rayman Origins
I have no affinity for Rayman, but these origins of his are stellar. The vibrant graphics and genuinely cheerful music set a great atmosphere for me as I grabbed every single collectible in this game, which I feel like was quite a lot. It was pure platforming joy.
75) Rayman Legends
They turned the dial to up 11 on Rayman Origins and then put those levels in this game. It can be a little much at times, but the special moments, especially the musical chase stages, are some of my favorite levels in gaming.
74) Gitaroo Man
It took some time for this game to click with me, but shredding the guitar by tapping buttons to the beat is one of the coolest gaming experiences. The music has to be great for this kind of thing to succeed and I have definitely listened this soundtrack many times.
73) Bomberman 64
The many different ways you have to manipulate the bombs in order to obtain the secret outfits or golden cards make for an exciting adventure, but the boss battles are even more thrilling. Not the best multiplayer on a Bomberman game, but it suffices.
72) TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
The map editor in this is one of my first experiences with such a thing and me and a friend were able to play an entire “story” of our own design. That’s just one of the cool things that can be done in this, the best TimeSplitters game.
71) Super Mario Bros.
There is a lot of respect deserved to this game. I appreciate it mostly for how great it still feels to jump your way through the Mushroom Kingdom even if the game itself is 35 years old.
70) MegaMan X
By giving MegaMan a lot more mobility and making everything more extreme they’ve made a foundation for exploring so many more possibilities for the MegaMan franchise. A lot of great games have come thanks to this excellent title.
69) Castlevania
Everything is placed with such precision that if you hesitate or make an errant decision you are thoroughly punished for it. The action is so well designed and it’s got a lot of fun Halloween monsters in it too so you can’t go wrong.
68) Ninja Gaiden
When you’re firing on all cylinders and are able to never stop moving as you slash through enemies then this feels like one of the best games. The end of the game gets particularly painful, but once you see the path through you can slice your way through.
67) Super Smash Bros. Melee
The single player modes are some of the finest in the series despite having almost 15 years to improve upon them. Many would argue about the untapped potential still to this day for the high-level combat shows what an amazing game Melee is, but I don’t care about all that personally. I respect it a lot.
66) VVVVVV
The game is incredibly simple looking and that’s what makes it truly shine. All you can really do is flip and the game pushes this to great extents. Vin Vidi Vici is one of my favorite game challenges.
65) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
The amount of content in this game is so wonderful. There are so many tracks that are old and new as well as so many characters and ways to drive. You can tweak your vehicle in so many ways and it’s cool that you can have so many different styles for each racer. The anti-gravity stuff works amazingly and it never feels like a tacked on gimmick but rather the way all future Mario Kart games could be.
64) Hollow Knight
I’m a sucker for thick black lines in my art in this game pops so beautifully with that in mind. The theming is great with so many friendly bugs and horrific insects lurking in the depths. Once you get some of the movement options it is a blast to wander around in the land of Hallownest. It’s tough as nails at times but persevering is a big reward.
63) MegaMan 2
The best of the MegaMan classic series earned its crown with thrilling boss encounters, great music, and memorable stages such as dropping through Quick Man’s instant-death beams or clearing the huge pit of lava by jumping with those timed blocks. This collection of weapons you get is one of the best arsenals to have access to in the entire franchise where almost all of the weapons feel very useful.
62) Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
Combat isn’t the most fulfilling outside of boss fights, but the temples are fun to solve and the world is very vibrant. It never becomes much of a challenge, but it is a delightful experience for it.
61) DOOM (2016)
The pure joy of blasting through rooms of enemies as you make your way through hell-infested halls is one of the best FPS experiences. The way the Doom Slayer disregards everyone for their goal of killing every demon or obstacle towards killing demons is simply great. The game is never a breeze but never feels too difficult. It is perfect for those who just want to go on a power trip as they blast everything that moves.
60) Ultra Street Fighter IV
This fighting game has enough depth to feel like you’re doing amazing things while also being very friendly to newcomers. I should know as this was the game that helped me make the leap from a casual player to someone who could cancel attacks into other attacks and then try to mix-up my opponents. I don’t entirely understand all the terms, but I do know it feels great to FADC into Ultra 2.
59) Parasite Eve
The combat system is a delightful mix of real-time combat and turn-based combat. It allows you to actively move to avoid attacks while you position to unload your mitochondrial powers or just start blasting with your guns. The story never reaches a point where it is incomprehensible and grounding it in reality makes me feel more invested in what is basically Lethal Weapon, but with ancient evolution magic. The final encounter filled me with a deep dread that was exhilarating but I never want to experience that feeling again. In a good way.
58) Final Fantasy VII
What can really be said about Final Fantasy 7 besides that it has earned its place as one of the greatest ever. That’s probably because of the fun cast and fascinating ways to manipulate your magic/abilities to overcome your obstacles.
57) Super Mario Galaxy
The focus on gravity made some truly amazing platforming scenarios. I really enjoyed the fun worlds they were able to create with this in mind, but when those challenges would show up to the different stages then the game really shined.
56) Super Smash Bros.: Ultimate
The most impressive part of this entry to the Smash Bros. series is that it is like a museum of video games especially with their ability to get so many video game icons all in one game. Recreating characters or scenarios from various games with the spirit battles and World of Light campaign was filled with wow moments especially when I had essentially relive the end of Metal Gear Solid 3 or face the cast of Super Mario RPG. These cool moments are worth celebrating, but you need to also remember they have made a more competitively viable game with stronger fighting-game mechanics and balanced over 80 characters around that.
55) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The adventure that the young Kokiri boy goes on is a legendary adventure. The various temples are solidified in the memory of many gaming fans and while this world of Hyrule isn’t particularly vast it still feels great to explore it and the many things it has to offer.
54) Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
On a technology level this game was incredibly impressive. Ice cubes melt individually, you could shoot strings of a tarp off to make it hit your foes, and magazines off a rack. The story is a bit hard to follow, but it’s still an amazing game.
53) Battletoads
As a soul who has decided to know this game I am well adapted to the unfair nonsense. What I am here to tell you is that despite the game being made in a way that you’ll die many many times because you didn’t decide to memorize exactly where the spikes will be that this is a brilliant game. The variety in stages keeps you on your toes and almost all of the concepts work very well once you are familiar with them.
52) Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Perhaps the purest form of Sonic is here where his only abilities are having the spindash and having a good friend. Many of the stages here are forever imprinted into my brain.
51) Zelda 2: The Adventures of Link
The black sheep of the main Zelda titles is one of my favorites because I find the combat to be very engaging. Sure, you can jump slash at a lot of opponents, but there is still an interesting depth to be had there especially when you’re weilding your spells, learning new sword attacks (err, directions to use the sword), and battling your shadow self.
50) Splatoon
On top of an amazing multiplayer mode that made a first person shooter not really about shooting the enemy this game has a great single player story that is succinct and full of great moments. The music is the huge cherry on top of this gem.
49) Bioshock
The big twist in the game along with the haunting atmosphere and imaginative abilities made this game something important to experience.
48) Batman: Arkham Asylum
Everything feels so well designed such as sneaking around, taking down enemies without them every knowing, battling 20 guys surrounding you, and searching for clues. This is such a well crafted game.
47) Bayonetta
While I had my frustrations with this game at times there is no denying the incredible fun I had with this stylish action game. The ridiculousness of some of the scenarios are extremely enchanting and I wish I could experience that final sequence again for the first time.
46) Tetris Effect
The music from the first stage is beautiful and sets the tone for the rest of the game. I really want to play this in VR one day because even without it my eyes were absolutely glued to the screen. I was in a trance and it was the best Tetris experience of my life, which is to say Tetris is already amazing and they absolutely nailed it with this game.
45) ZeroRanger
The developers do a lot with the four levels you can play in this excellent “shoot ’em up,” but they all hit so incredibly hard. If you’re reading this you’re probably one of my mutuals that know about this game already. If you aren’t, I cannot say another word about it and you really should play this game.
44) Space Channel 5: Part 2
The quirkiness of Ulala’s news reports are always fun, but tapping buttons to the rhythm of great jams with a fun story that really goes places (like meeting Space Michael or having a battle of the bands) is an absolutely delight.
43) Super Mario Maker
Creating an accessible and powerful tool to create some of my wildest ideas in Mario is a surefire success, but I never knew the depths of possibilities there were for Mario until I played levels from around the world.
42) Super Mario Maker 2
While the making isn’t as good without the Wii U Tablet the did an amazing job adding so much more to work with. Patches that added acceptable online multiplayer with friends and the ability to put your levels together in a world really made this game outstanding.
41) 1001 Spikes
There is a simple joy in how difficult a game can be. This game throws so many interesting challenges at you in such a beautiful difficulty curve that will leave you feeling amazing as you find a way to cross all thousand and one spikes successfully.
40) Portal 2
The narrative and voice acting are top notch. Every scene is memorable and these characters propel and already great puzzle game to new heights. Co-op puzzles are incredibly fun to solve with a friend.
39) Resident Evil 5
This game is so wonderfully stupid, but it is also some of the best cooperative action around. I’ve played this campaign about 20 times with around 10 different people and I’d gladly play it another 20 times.
38) Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
This is one of my favorite “platforming exploration” games as the range of abilities and weaponry combined with a great castle to explore and so much to do within it made it my favorite DS game.
37) God of War (2018)
This franchise did not need a new entry, but I am very glad it got one. The gameplay is new for this series, but I personally had little to experience playing games that feel vaguely like Dark Souls when I played this game. I feel like it was the most friendly introduction to that game style I’ve experienced. They also made Kratos into a character rather than the embodiment of anger.
36) Portal
The original Portal knocked it out of the park with the introduction to the portals and all the things that can be done with them. The times when it finally clicks for you is like nothing else and the first game is the purest distillation of that. Succinct and incredibly intelligent.
35) Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil was never really my thing until this game. They got everything right with this one including the most important thing of chilling out with the story that was getting out of hand in the prior entries. This could be its own standalone game with no relation to anything else and it truly shines as a very creepy and well put together game of a man trapped in the middle of an infested European countryside.
34) Rocket Knight Adventures
This is one of those platformers that tries a lot of ideas and they all work. One of my favorite stages goes from shoot ’em up to puzzle solving to racing to the bottom before the enemy does to escaping the crushing tower to a giant robot fight against your nemesis.
33) StarFox 64
The whole game is brilliant, but I’ve never played a game that has recreated the excitement of when Star Wolf’s squad rolls in suddenly and now you’re having the absolute coolest dogfight while four awesome jerks taunt you the entire time.
32) Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles
With three playable characters that each have their own style the developers did a fantastic job keeping all of the levels unique for each character. For a long time this was the best Sonic game by a mile and the only game to surpass it was a game 25 years later that was inspired by S3&K’s ideas.
31) Left 4 Dead 2
All of the additions such as more guns, more enemies, more utility, more ways to progress, and even letting you play all of the original game’s levels in this superior sequel made for one of my favorite four-player games of all time.
30) MegaMan 9
After waiting for about two decades the revisit to classic MegaMan came together beautifully. All of the bosses and stages are a thrill to fight and it had the perfect blend of difficulty and innovation that makes it feel like the most complete MegaMan game.
29) Sonic Mania
Nostalgia hits like a ton of bricks in this game as they masterfully remixed old levels and turn them into new levels entirely in their second acts. The brand-new stages included are also amazing, but to take those classic concepts and improve on them is such an impressive feat. The entire game is the perfect love-letter to Sonic.
28) Marvel’s Spider-Man
It has been a long time since I’ve 100%’d a game, but I couldn’t resist given how great of an experience it was to find all the hidden things and beat down all the criminals of New York. They managed to take a very predictable story and turn it into something emotional. It’s cliché to write, but it feels great to be Spider-Man swinging through the city.
27) Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
While it’s not the most conventional platformer that’s what makes it shine to me. The egg-throwing mechanic is something that opens a lot of possibilities to really cool trick shots and ways to approach challenges. Not to mention the incredible aesthetic, collectibles that unlock extra areas to play, and great fortress stages.
26) Bloodborne
I fell off this game so hard on my first try, but after a four year hiatus I came back to it and oh my goodness what a game. I had a lot of fun trying to get my way around some absolute terrors and while at times I found the mechanics frustrating it all built up to an extremely satisfying experience that I will definitely be coming back to.
25) Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
This is the perfect ending to Uncharted and I absolutely loved Nathan Drake’s final adventure. It’s a very touching and emotional story about family. It isn’t quite as bombastic as Uncharted 2 or 3, but that’s probably for the best. The amazing moments come in little touches and these characters feel like they’re on a genuine journey together rather than a string of Hollywood events.
24) Metal Gear Solid
There are so many interesting ideas used in this exciting espionage mission. Snake is always just a cool customer and in fact really the whole game is just cool.
23) Undertale
Rather than tell you about a game everyone knows I’ll just highlight my favorite moment, the quiz show that Mettaton puts you through. Quirky battles like this make Undertale such an exciting time. The music is great as you dodge ridiculous attacks and try to answer questions that you actually have no chance of getting all correct. The entire charade is hilarious and well written and it’s moments like this that make Undertale a must-play game.
22) Rhythm Heaven Fever
The rhythm games here are all very easy to pick up and play. It’s a very cohesive experience that is full of some amazing songs and great art.
21) Rhythm Heaven MEGAMIX
Putting many of the rhythm games from all prior entries is absolutely delightful and this game added a way to track how close you were to hitting the buttons perfect that I often used to adjust my timing mid-song. Not all of the old rhythm games are great, but I also enjoyed the progression and trimmings around this title. I find it very hard to say which of MEGAMIX and Fever I like more, but at the time of writing I guess it’s just barely this one.
20) Kirby Super Star
All the different abilities and jumping around like a fool with a partner is great fun. The eight games inside this package are perfect in length and while they’re for all intents and purposes the same kind of game they offer a fun variety that is fun to breeze through.
19) Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
I love this game with my heart and soul. It isn’t the best as far as gameplay goes and does tend to be a bit janky at times, but also for a short amount of time I would have called this my favorite game of all time just because of everything it has to offer: great music, exciting gameplay, tons of things to do outside of the stages including raising a little monster child, and of course the characters.
18) Super Mario 64
I cannot count the amount of times I’ve played this game, but it is always exciting to go down the secret slide or scale Tall Tall Mountain. The small sandboxes of each world have so much personality and good platforming.
17) Super Mario Bros. 3
This is definitely the purist Mario experience where great level designs reign even with a plethora of interesting power-ups and something always new in each level.
16) Super Mario World
And this is definitely the other purist Mario experience that I flip flop on which is better sometimes, but the branching paths, secret exits, inventive worlds and great boss battles have me liking this game a little more at the moment.
15) Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Paper Mario’s adventures span mysteries, hunting down your own body, battling in grand arenas, and more. It’s a very charming game and you can do so much weird stuff with the BP. One of the best RPGs for me.
14) Cave Story
My first indie game experience was a doozy even if I messed up getting the true ending like 5 times in a row. It was a pleasure to play through such a well designed game that much.
13) Super Mario 3D World
The amount of sass I can feel from Bowser in this game is part of why this game is so good. Excellent platforming and techniques that all feel amazing especially when they get pushed to their limits in the final bonus area as well as a lot of fun side things such as fun contained levels that have fun with Mario Kart or adventuring as the non-jumping Captain Toad.
12) Final Fantasy IX
I love this cast of characters so much. The journey they take me on as they true to find their purpose in life is filled with great battles and a great return to the classic Final Fantasy form in its abilities, settings, and scenarios. Steiner and Vivi should have a spin-off.
11) Super Mario Odyssey
The great variety for things to do in order to unlock the Moons are almost as fun as the weird outfits you wear or objects you possess in order to get them.
Next up: Let’s look at the games I like the least! The Bottom 10!
Table of Contents:
• Introduction
• #500-#401
• #400-#301
• #300-#201
• #200–#101
• #100–#11
• The Bottom Ten Games
• The Top Ten Games
