Retro Rewind - Be Kind and Lose your Mind!

 Back in the hayday of movie rentals, back when Friday nights were prime time for movie rentals, you were given the keys to the movie kingdom. The joys of going through those sections of your favorite film genres cannot be described in words. You just need to have some coin and a rental membership, and you could discover a new favorite. Of course, you could also find a movie that you turn off immediately because it plays to your worst fears, but those just happen. This game captures the feeling of working at Blockbuster, much like I did in the mid 2000's before its inevitable death. It has all of the charm and only some of the pitfalls. 

You are given your own movie rental store and you need to build it up from scratch. In true simulation fashion, you start with small facilities that can be expanded, and with limited options for decorations. The most important thing in the start is just gathering up as many movies as you can and getting shelves with which to stock them. You start out with horror and drama, but also have the option to purchase adult movies from the strange guy in the back alley. That's not as scummy as it sounds. At first, I thought that dealing with him could land me in some trouble, but I never saw any... well, not directly, but we'll get into that. 

The new release days are some of the best sections of the game. It's just fun to get a good 5 or 10 of them to begin with and see them disappear off the shelf as you gain more and more customers. The more time that elapses, the more genres and new releases that come your way. You need to get at least a few of the new movies on your shelves the day they come out, because customers will ask about them quite often. Once they become regular movies, falling out of their first week, you can keep a couple of them, but it's best to get rid of the excess by putting them in bargain bins. You need to make way for more movies, which will be coming very shortly. 

Designing your store and coming up with the section placement is not very important in any other way than space. With a smaller space, getting the shelves right will open you up to getting more movies and that means more money. You don't need to worry too much about decorations to begin with, because getting five new releases at a time means that you get a poster along with them. As you go along, you are able to play around with the style of each section, giving them a lot of character that goes to your taste. It's very easy to over-decorate, but once you get it right, it will draw more customers.

Customers don't shoplift, thankfully, and I hope that never becomes a mechanic of this title. They will, however, break the movies that you go through in your returns. Some of the movies are late as well, and both of these elements will cause an extra charge to your customers. It is best if you charge every customer for breaks and late returns, because even if they don't end up paying, you will get that money back in some form or fashion. As you go, they will multiply before you know it. You go to sections to recommend movies to them based on genre, age and whether they have a good rating from critics. It's a charming little tidbit to recommend titles, but you also don't need to get too involved with it. Sadly, you're not able to watch the movies other than a small trailer-like video on your decorative TV screens. Even then, it only shows the horror and sci-fi short movies. 

Employees are a mixed bag. Once you get to a certain level, you can employ one person to either work the front counter or movie returns. You want them to handle the cash register, that is definitely one of the more mundane aspects of this game, much like it is in real life. Go figure. These employees could fall asleep and you'll need to wake them up. Sometimes, they'll straight up call in sick and you need to pick up that extra slack. If it gets too blatantly obvious that they're misusing that privledge, it is up to you whether you want to fire them and hire another one. One of the employees actually blackmailed me into giving him a raise or he would tell the police I was dealing in the blackmarket videos in the back alley. He was given the raise, but immediately fired. Whether that was a real threat and they could actually call the cops, I didn't have any repercussions in the whole ordeal, so that's up in the air. 

Along with the movies, you also deal in snacks and drinks. This can be a simple snack shelf at first, but then you get drinks, slushies, popcorn and even cotton candy. All of these things enhance your profit margin. Each is a small hike, but once you put them all together, you see the difference. Selling your previously rented games in the bargain bins will also draw in a nice hefty profit, especially after all of the income from the initial rentals. 

The real meat of the game comes from both the cash register and the movie returns. At first, without employees, you need to shift between these two jobs. You have extra time in the beginning and end of the day to do the returns, but they keep coming throughout as people drop them off. Whether you like sectioning these movies or not will ultimately dictate your enjoyment of this title. If this is your bread and butter, this game can get rather addictive. 

Another great part is how quirky the world is around you. You could see a UFO abduct someone outside your window. On Friday the 13th, there will be weirdos outside and sometimes inside your store, staring in at you with hockey masks on. I think it's a movie reference or something, who knows? The little interesting tidbits like this are a ton of fun to observe while you work. With the weather change and the seasons passing, it can become a nice little ambience game at the same time. It's just all around pleasant. 

There are glitches here and there. Sometimes the word bubbles don't go away and sometimes your employees will walk through you while you're working and screw up your flow. None of this is a deal-breaker. This game is easy to figure out and it's all just fun busy play. It will either resonate with you or it could be a snorefest if this isn't your thing. It could even be fun to stock the sodas and make the slushies, but always remember to drink water.

Helldivers 2 - Eat Democracy Justice Explosions!

 Sometimes, it is interesting to see when a game gets references correct. In this day and age, you wouldn't expect to see a game that brought back the concepts of both Terminator and Starship Troopers. They did this in the same game. This is especially amazing because this is the mid 2020's and this is a Live Service Game! Such a thing should have been cast to the bottom of the pits forever, using the logic we've seen thus far in so many different games that tried the same idea. Well, Helldivers found a way to make co-op gameplay awesome again with a third person horde shooter. How did they do that? Well, let's get into it, shall we?

You are the new recruit in the amazing army of Super Earth! You are a Helldiver, an expendable asset of the government sent into warzones to take out the enemy. Now, we can go into the fact that, like Starship Troopers, the idea that these entities are not enemies but harmless races existing on their own planets could be viable. However, this time around, the "automatons" are at least able to perform space travel. So, this time, it is more possible for the robots to go through space. Kill the robots and make sure that they can't go to any other planet. While the bugs can't go through space, logically, kill them too because they're icky. 

The real thing that people love about this game is the comradary you feel when facing down an entire army with just two or four of you. In your arsenal, you possess a main weapon that you choose from the beginning. They give you a small bunch of options for your weapons and supplementary items to help you. Through continuous gameplay and victories, you'll earn more points to get better stuff as you level. 

Now, with an online play comes the inevitability of the troll. You will join games and assholes will do nothing but kill you. The problem with this game is that they do not penalize you for this. So, if you are not the host of the game, you have no choice but to quit the game or continue to be killed by the ones trying to help you. The best thing you can do is find the good players that are actually there to help you complete the mission and NOT just be there to farm for Super Cash, and friend them for future missions. 

Then there is the Super Cash system. The game uses in-game currency such as this, planet samples and your normal money you get paid for completing missions and side missions. This can be complimented with real money from your real pocket and that's really how microtransactions should be done. You can choose to take the short cut to get cool items, or you can just grind the game as much as possible to gain it what many would consider "the right way". So many games such as Shadow of War or Star Wars Battle Front 2 (2017) seemed to miss this concept and worked this into a requirement to get through the game. Battle Front 2 made it to where you either spend your real money, or put in 50 or more hours to get the items or characters you really want. Thankfully, Helldivers 2 doesn't make you grind QUITE that much. There are still commitments, but it's not nearly on that level. 

Helldivers 2 does one thing right in particular. It is fun to play and it is fun to share this experience with your friends. It may need to be online, but you also can solo missions. In the early levels, your best bet is to connect with random users, even with the aforementioned trolls ruining the experience, and gain levels. If you attempt to solo missions at the very beginning, you will probably have a very negative experience in doing so. You need new technology such as improved turrets or what they call "Watch Dogs" which are turrets that float over your shoulder and help you shoot things. 

There are three types of enemies that you can face, and each of these types have very unique qualities that you need to make sure you understand. You can fight the bugs, or Terminids. These are more susceptible to fire and gas attacks that nullify them and burn them up into exploding into bloody green splats. The bots, or Automatons require you use more destructive means like explosions or electricity to take them out. The Illuminates are aliens and those levels are, as far as I'm concerned, the less interesting matches. They are more humanoid and tend to use more alien technology like electric turrets. Each and every single enemy can be viewed as very different in both their means of attack and their means of barring you from your mission. 

We're not getting into the time that Helldivers 2 decided to sabotage their own work by nerfing everything and getting their game banned in multiple territories. They made some very poor decisions and nearly killed their own game that people were already enjoying. They came to their senses and fixed the game before it died, basically painting a perfect picture of when game publishers should back off and let the gamers cook. HD2 is a fun experience, but it can also get a little grating with the difficulty too high and solo gaming when you most certainly need a full team. Even when things get tense and chaotic, though, that can be some of the most fun you have in this title. Getting technology such as combat jeeps with turrets, tanks, or even mech suits to bring into the game is basically a requirement when you get to the higher difficulties. Take the game for what it is: Probably one of the better experiences you'll have in modern gaming. Take this with a grain of salt, but also remember to drink water.   

Dante's Inferno (PS3) - Slash, Burn, Repeat

A lot of people like to toss around the phrase "God of War Clone" but if a game stands on its own merits, wouldn't that just be more of a good thing? Dante's Inferno wasn't exactly an original title, in fact it's based off of one of the oldest stories in recorded history, but it still has plenty of content to sink your teeth into. It's full of fascinating lore and ridiculously grotesque demons through a realm that is not very savory. Hell really looks like Hell, all the way down to the levels you have to go through. All of them are based off of the sins that humans are guilty of. Dante himself is a bit of a "simp" but his heart is in the right place.

Dante is a bit of a badass in some instances, though. He starts off as a soldier in the crusades and ends up dying by some random soldier stabbing him in the back. After dying in such an embarrassing way, though, he automatically owns Death himself and steals his scythe. This scythe is the main weapon you have throughout the rest of the game and you have an entire array of others in your arsenal with which to use. After a lot of upgrades, the shining cross you use as a projectile becomes a little broken and overly powerful, but that plays into a nice power fantasy. There are combinations and different skills you can use to either condemn souls to hell for powerups or forgive souls to help you in the long run. Dante becomes a bit of a divine entity in and of himself because of his enormous power by the end of it. 

This is barely even scratching the surface, as the minions of hell are vast and really nasty. This is especially true when you arrive in the Lust Level of Hell, where it's quite easy to become scaroused. The main villain of lust is definitely not for the prudish at heart. She is a sight to behold and if you find yourself finding the Rule 34 for this particular demon, be sure to check into nice pricey therapy because something is AWESOMELY wrong with your brain. 

The mechanics to battle the forces of Hell are also quite vast. This includes being able to take control of huge beasts with which to stomp and smash your enemies before cooking them with fire breath. The boss battles and mini-bosses do get a little heavy with the Quick Time Events, but that's not a huge element of surprise. It's just a passing annoyance to get to some awesome kills. There's even a giant head at the gates of Hell that look after all of the new souls, you end up ripping his head off of the boat over the River Styx before just throwing him in. 

Compare this to God of War all you want, this game still goes hard and is good in its own right. If you play this game first, you'd probably never know it was popularly considered a knockoff. The game goes hard and it does not censor itself for anyone. The cutscenes and the girlfriend are all very NSFW and in the most glorious ways. It can be disgusting at times, especially if you don't want to see demon babies coming at you. You know, they just called them the unbaptized babies that died in infancy and called it a day. There are all kinds of unsettling things like this in the game, it's really just a matter of getting used to it. 

Some of the puzzles are a little tedious. The puzzles aren't hard to figure out, it's just moving everything into place can be seen as a bit of a waste of time, especially when you're just in it to killing the minions with your powerful scythe! Along with the puzzles, there are plenty of platforming sections that are also a tiny bit annoying at times. This is especially true when you are on a timer and the platform continuously falls out from under you. Fire traps and low levels of healing fountains can be a bit of an issue, especially in the middle sections of the game. With the Holy abilities, you can heal yourself through combat and that does sort of get the power fantasy broken elements ramped up. By the end of the game, you're just sort of skating through the minions with very little effort. 

The whole time, you're just looking for your girlfriend, with whom you were unfaithful. She dies and ends up resenting you throughout your journey through Hell. If I'm being completely honest, she becomes sort of a noncharacter as time goes on and her whinging starts to make me skip the cutscenes. The fact that Satan becomes especially interested in her is a bit farfetched. Out of all of the boss battles, Satan's is a bit disappointing, but I won't spoil too much. The game is still a good six or seven hours of bloody tearing through demons without the need to be Doomguy. Dante and Doomguy would be an interesting teamup to take down Hell itself. The demons will keep coming, though, so there is plenty to grind through. Virtua Dismemberment!

Enter the Gungeon - We put Guns in your Guns!!!

What happens when you enter the Gungeon? Do you think you’re ready for what goes on in the Gungeon? Well, you’re wrong! You’re not there to survive, you’re there to conquer! You’re there to kick in the door and throw down! Set your lasers to kill, rain your bullets, and start shooting those bullets that shoot guns! And…wait, what? 

Yes, that’s right, after you very quickly enter the Gungeon, you are transported to a world that is solely based around armaments and firearms. All of your opponents are bullets, shotgun shells and grenades of some assortment. The gameplay is so high octane, if you’re not getting your pulse going, you better do it fast! The game is so fast paced you have no choice but to dunk your head in the deep end and start shooting it up! 

The rules and controls are simple and explained to you using a very quick and easy tutorial. In fact the tutorial is fun and innovative. The humor the game uses is not exactly subtle, but then, neither is the game. It throws you for a loop and starts shooting pretty damn quick. The controls are intuitive and easy to manage, so long as you keep shooting and dodge rolling. 

The guns you pick up is half the fun! Seriously, I was not kidding when I said that there is a bullet that shoots guns. There’s a meat gun that shoots blades, there’s even an AK-47! Well I guess that last one isn’t exactly new, but still! You are given all that you need in the beginning to win this game, so long as you use it right. You will be put through bullet hells, explosions, destruction of all kinds, and come out feeling more awesome because of it. You get better at the game because you want to get better at the game, you want to explore the tunnels of the Gungeon and find out what other guns you can shoot, and what other weird hostiles you will encounter.

As soon as you think you’ve seen it all, BOOM! There’s so much more to see! More bullets, more bombs, more explosives flying all over the place and you’ll even see a bird with a gatling gun! Don’t try to understand it! Don’t think too hard! Logic has no place here! The time you take trying to think is time you should be firing that weapon into your enemy’s face! Every level has its own quirks that you can have a nice chortle at. Not only is it enjoyable from a gamer’s point of view but anyone watching you play can have fun too.

The wild running and gunning gameplay is so charming that you won’t even worry about the graphics, which are more of a new age 16-bit style. If anyone is concerned about the graphics then you are missing the point entirely! The artstyle and environments are so well placed and atmospheric that they do not distract you. Though, that is also a downfall for you, the player. As the background also has pitfalls and water that you either need to jump over or teleport over. If not then you fall down them and lose a life, oh well, this stuff happens.

You have several classes to choose from in the beginning, and half the fun is trying to find one that suits your type of gameplay that you enjoy. Try them all, or try one if it suits your needs, it doesn’t matter. All these classes do is promote replayability, and that is important when you look at purchasing a game. Each one of them have their own perks, pros and cons that you can use to your advantage. The game is also a rogue-like, so anytime you die and come back to a level, the entire level has changed and you're back to square one. Every time you get to the boss, the boss has changed and they get rather ridiculous in their punny names. It's all so childishly charming, you can't help but laugh at a few of these weird moments.

If you haven’t noticed, this game is awesome on pretty much all levels. It controls well, it’s colorful, it’s high intensity, it’s challenging, funny, and just all around a great time. It involves guns and explosions but it is not gory or overly violent. Anyone can play it. So wait, since you’re still reading this review, that probably means you haven’t bought this game yet. What are you waiting for? If you haven’t gotten this game you are missing out on a pulverizing piece of powerful punch that you don’t want to pass up! In fact, you’ll need to start practicing your ambidexterity right now, so open a new tab, and get on steam while still reading this review in a different window! Get the game! Get the collector’s edition!  

Mortal Kombat Special Forces (MK Legacy) - Metal Arms that Bore

 Believe it or not, there was a time where Mortal Kombat was at a very low point. Before the 3D PS2 era, there was a time when Ed Boon and John Tobias parted ways because the franchise was holding on by a thread. This was brought into clear focus when Annihilation hit a box office crater and Mortal Kombat: Subzero met with overall mixed to unfavorable reviews. They tried to bring this title into the new era of 3D by putting Special Forces on an isometric view and added combos via Jax's metal arm attacks and even gave him guns and explosives. Try to hold your surprise when I tell you: It didn't pan out well. 

This game was included in the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection, thankfully, giving me a chance to play through it. I say "thankfully" because it gives me a chance to review it. What I wasn't so grateful for was the game itself and how it played. This game is beyond boring. The levels are whirly and nonlinear, which isn't always a bad thing, in fact it can be a very good thing when you look at Doom. With the implimentation of keys and elevators, Special Forces pads out its runtime by making you explore every room and look for ways to unlock the way to the next section of the level. 

The combat is one of the worst parts about the game. Trying to avoid damage is nearly impossible in several cases, especially when the opponents have guns. The combinations you receive through leveling up are hardly worth the trouble when you have three or four opponents all at once. You get better results from just using the heavy kick attack and causing them to pause from pain. This grows especially tiresome. The hits lack any sort of impact and the blood is not plentiful enough to make it a rewarding experience. 

This was brought about in the very early era of 3D gaming, so the lack of graphics can be excused. The highly mundane backgrounds and uninteresting levels just add to the woes. When you're stuck in a certain part of the level and are forced to look through every single nook and cranny, you start to think about how awesome another MK title is. This is especially true when this came with titles like the arcade original Mortal Kombat and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. That menu to turn off the game starts to look very attractive, as it can let you escape this horrid title. 

It's obvious that they were wanting to explore different avenues in the series. Like Subzero's N64/PS1 title, this game wanted to give you a different experience and a vehicle to introduce new characters. This is the introduction of both Tremor and Jarek, before Jarek was in Mortal Kombat 4, which is its own can of worms. Even with some influence on the series, it's obvious that several things went wrong in the development. John Tobias did his best with what he had, trying to bring about technology which was still in the experimental stages with a group that had very little experience in 3D game programming. In their duct tape and bubblegum, they tried to paste together a good game and sadly, the good intentions did not create a banger. 

Sadly, this was the title that caused Tobias to leave the franchise entirely. Boon carried it on and brought about the trainwreck they eventually made the series, but there were several titles that came along the way. Some of those titles included Mortal Kombat 9 and X, so it's hard to say that they weren't working. They were obviously doing what they could to make the franchise a success again. The experimentation may have brought about little gems like Shaolin Monks and Deception, but the road can hardly be considered smooth by any meaning of the word. Jax's character suffered for it, but all can be forgiven. Tobias lost out on a grand old time because of a rough patch and it is to lament. Still, at least he didn't have a hand in making Mortal Kombat 1. Virtua Burn!!!

Warhammer 40K Boltgun - Rip the Heretics!

Brutal Doom, while the creator can be seen as controversial, had a very large impact on the FPS genre in several different ways. It brought about brand new life to one of the greatest games ever made and showed people that there is gold within thar hills. This apparently caught the eye of Games Workshop and had them imbue it with their own property. The result is Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun to the delight of many. There is more to this game than just big creatively crafted weapons, big explosions of blood from enemies, and low demanding graphics that still look stylistic and beautiful. There are a lot of great features in this game that will allow gamers to return again and again. 

The levels can be considered more linear than Doom, but even then, they are still smooth to play and fun to look at. Whether it be a sinister looking metal forge or a winter land temple, this game has it down pat. The enemies can be a little hard to see in some instances, especially when they are tiny and hard to shoot. That is more a feature than a glitch, but it is worth noting. When you see a bridge that's blown out, you can still jump from platform to platform while blasting your boltgun and shotgun into enemies' faces while doing so. There are secrets (though some of them are rather obvious) and there are plenty of places to explore while trying to dodge fire from entire hordes of foes. 

The graphics need to be praised for several reasons. It is amazing that, with the most minimal use of a computer's storage, they stylized this in the vain of Brutal Doom and pulled it off in spades. We've run into huge 3D games that take up 50 to 100 gigabytes of space while not having even half of the charm of this one title. The controls and the aim of your weapon are fluid. If you are being killed, you feel like this is you failing to kill your enemies, not something that the game did wrong or a glitch that killed the experience. Sure, you can argue that they copied a small Doom mod and thus already had an prototype to work from, but the fact that they used it and did so with such craftsmanship, just goes to show that they know what they're doing. Anyone can try and copy a game's merits, looking at the dollars it made, and still fail to capture what people liked about it in the first place. 

The boss battles are quite bullet spongy, but they are also awesome to look at. They are also a great deal of fun to kill. There are a lot of tiny enemies to kill around them, more often than not, but that is just when you hunker down and find a strategy to bring them down. This includes running, hiding, grabbing the health drops and sneaking hits on them as you circle strafe. That's what those mechanics are there for. 

There are some amazing weapons on display here. The saw sword is used to amazing effect and it's the first weapon you have from the very beginning. It is also the right mouse button, so you only need to target a single enemy and power up your chain blade to whir them into a puddle. The boltgun, which the game is named after, packs a serious punch. The sound quality and the impact of the enemy's bloody chunks make this a very rewarding experience. 

The flame spouter is not the greatest. Honestly, it should have more of a flamethrower quality with a bit more damage to enemies. You need to target enemy vehicles or fuel barrels before its use becomes warranted. The plasmagun and the grav gun are fun to use, and it's a lot of fun to see the amount of damage it punishes the enemies with. There are a lot of weapons to go into, but out of all of them, my favorite has to be the Vengeance Launcher. They could have just given you a random grenade launcher, but instead, they give you something that fires dark matter explosives. This will destroy anything it touches, or even gets fired close to their proximity. They will explode and you just feel warm all over. That may be radiation, you might want to get that checked out.

The very idea that all of this came about from a hardly 3D game is baffling. Obviously, a sequel is planning to come out. It has already been scheduled on the very specific date of 2026. If they keep to its roots and give people the weapons, gore and captivating settings, it can be an even better title than this one. Will that happen, well, probably not, but it would not be a terrible thing to be more of what we like. Boltgun attracts a specific fanbase and if you please the FPS crowd, you have your potential Game of the Year practically in the bag. Other gaming coporations, take note. We all know you won't. Virtua Bankrupt. 

Top 160+ Favorite Games of all time! (Pt 6)

This is getting to the real meat of favorite games throughout the ages. Are they perfectly in order? Not so much. Do they all belong on this list? Oh, yes, they do. You'll notice as you go along, a lot of the games come more and more from the 1990's. That is not an accident and it will not be brought with an apology. This is still a very definitive list. Whether they be 2D or 3D, they are still great in my eyes. We're chugging on through this list, so hold onto your hats!

59 Daytona USA

I have heard plenty of shade thrown at the Sega Saturn version of this game, but I still stand by the fact that it is far better than the Championship Edition. The soundtrack itself gives it a long lasting life by itself, and it's just an all around good racing game. Yes, there are graphical lag problems here and there. That doesn't really take away from the gameplay all that much, though, as you still are able to race efficiently enough to keep up. The pit stops are useless, yes, and are probably just there as an extra mechanic to perk up the difficulty. If people give this game a try, it will show that the game devs knew what they were doing, even with all of the horrible limitations they were given. With the Sega Saturn version, no quarters or checkpoints needed. Just have fun.

58 Final Fantasy VI

Everyone points to FFVII as the greatest game in the series, but I very much disagree. Lacking in graphics, probably, but it doesn't let that limit it. The story is where this game flies like an eagle and gives us something more than worth while. The locations are vast and diverse and the characters are truly relatable. You want to see these people succeed and become involved with the rest of the group. If you have love for a good story in your video game and even more so, a Final Fantasy fan, then I can't imagine why you haven't played this yet. Pick it up, it's on basically every console they could throw it at.

57 Wolfenstein: The New Order

A fantastic return to form after the great Return to Castle Wolfenstein and the divisive 2009 title. This one is very heavy with the story and that works both to its favor and against it. BJ starts in battle against the Nazis and unfortunately, in this reality, we lose against them. Well, now we need to join the resistance with our new friends and take down the third reich. The love story between BJ and his former nurse is probably one of the more relatable elements here, but the weapons, the strategies, items and missions are definite highlights of this game. It's just plain fun to traverse through the very detailed maps and get your spy information to infiltrate their base. You go to the moon and you keep fighting Nazis, even against their giant mechs and robot wolves. Yes, it gets rather weird, but give it a try!

56 Unreal

If you were there back in the Quake era when 3D games started taking over, Unreal was something of a need-to-play. We still knew it as a Doom Clone, even if it was actually a Quake Clone, but the strange thing about it is that the normal game with the normal story is actually one of the low points. Where this game shines is the arena shooting mechanics that allows you to go through bot matches and fight against other players. You go through some of the most awesome weapons in FPS history, even if the shotgun isn't great, the 8-ball rocket launcher is amazing. The Mini-gun slices through enemies like butter and the flak cannon is DEVASTATING when shot up close. Take down Sky Troopers and don't miss out on Deck 9! With the advent of Unreal Gold on new computers, there is no excuse to not play this gem!

55 Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

My favorite RPG on the SNES was very close to being FFVI, but then I'd be forgetting a place where you can play both Mario and Bowser while fighting an evil blacksmith named Smithy. If you love to follow a long story with interesting explorations through strange and interesting worlds, this game has what you want in spades. You start simple enough, saving Princess Peach, but then Peach starts fighting with you and you fight anything from Power Rangers knockoffs to Boos and Goombas. This game is rather long, but it never really gets boring or monotonous. There is some grinding involved, but it's an RPG, if you didn't expect that, what are you doing with your life?

54 GoldenEye 007

If you love this game more than Perfect Dark or whatever else on the N64, do not let people tempt you otherwise. I don't know where the stigma that this game was overrated came from but it was completely unfounded. No other game will ever replace the GoldenEye parties, the rocket matches and the search for the Golden Gun. A lot of people think that the best way to win is to pick the shortest guy because he's the hardest to hit. They don't seem to know that you can very easily lean your gun downward, making this a moot point. What you need is an AK-47 or an automatic pistol to take down anyone who stands in your way. 

53 Ghostbusters (2009)

If you are a Ghostbusters fan, this is now a sacred staple in our collections for a vast number of reasons. Not only did they get the proper pandering down, but they made this FEEL like a Ghostbusters property. Just playing it brings back those beautiful feelings of watching the original films back on VHS. Harold Ramis made this his final appearance as Egon Spangler (as a voice) and that by itself make this game irreplaceable. All of the main cast came back for this, sans Rick Moranis, and that is another gigantic reason this game rules! The graphics are not the greatest, but they're great enough to keep the game going and even when the game glitches, it still proves that this stands the test of time. Take down the librarian from the first movie and even take down Slimer! It doesn't matter, this game rules.

52 Crazy Taxi

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah! Crazy Taxi is 90's nostalgia released when the 1990's were leaving out the door. It encapsulates everything we love in an arcade driver. The controls are very sensitive, but that's mostly because you're trying to go at top speed toward a taxi stop and sometimes need to make a sudden U turn. This game is hard, that much is for sure. Trying to get a Grade A or Grade S when you're first starting off is a chore, but just sitting and playing the game is among some of the best experiences on the Dreamcast or the arcade. You've got this many CRAAAAAZY minutes to get this game and start the chaos on the road!

51 The Simpsons Arcade

Among the Konami triforce and the greatest arcade games of all time, The Simpsons came out of nowhere and showed us what we didn't know we needed. The story is dead simple, Mr. Burns sends Smithers to get a diamond, Maggie has it in her mouth so he kidnaps her and now you must play one of the Simpsons to get her back in an arcade-style beat'em up. This game is among the greatest beat'em ups for a very good reason. You get all kinds of Simpsons cameos from the show and working together as a team to take down the boss battles like the hot air balloon or a boxing body builder. If you love the Simpsons and random silly violence, your ship has arrived!

50 Wolfenstein 3D

This is quite the fitting #50 spot. Wolfenstein 3D started me on the FPS genre, as it did many before me. I still play this game whenever the bug hits me and I still love it unconditionally. As stated before, my father, brother and I completed this entire game 100% after around a year or so of playing. We'd beaten it before, but playing it to absolute completion is a serious accomplishment, as any fan will tell you. Killing Hitler, Hans Grosse, and the fake fireballing Hitlers has to be on the forefront of the experience. The mutants suck and hinder the game quite a bit, but they can be conquered with enough willpower and gunpower. The more you kill Nazis, the better the world gets. So, have at it.

49 Warcraft II

Another game that is easily accessible on current PC's, but good luck finding it at a decent price on Sega Saturn or even PS1 for that matter. This is probably my favorite RTS, but I do also very love Warcraft 3. this game was an overall improvement over the first Warcraft, and it's honestly a shame that people remember this game series because of World of Warcraft. It runs by its own merits and came up with several of the mechanics we know and love today. The Death Knights with their Death and Decay, the Ogre Mages with Blood Lust and so many other tropes of Azeroth we know today started right here. This was an amazing addition of the series and it deserves another look.

48 Super Mario 64

So few games capture the essence of the original platformers of old while also bringing about the future of gaming through the third dimension. Many games tried but Mario 64 blazed the trail for all others to follow. It brought the goombas, boos, bones, koopa troopa and even Bowser! You couldn't ask for a better introduction to both the 3D realm and the Nintendo 64 than this. The music is iconic to the Mario franchise and the level designs are absolutely gorgeous! From high flying with the wing hat to the bottom of the sea with the metal hat, this game's got it. It has been ported to the DS and to the Switch through Mario 3D All Star. This game answered everything just in time to become a legend. 

47 Mike Tyson's Punchout

When you fight against Glass Joe, you may think that you've got this game down pat. Well, I've got news for you, after fighting King Hippo and Great Tiger, even then you've only scraped the surface. From someone who never got past Soda Popinski, I can tell you that this game gets hard. The boxers become faster and more disorienting with different techniques to take you down, no matter how much you think your control skills are the greatest. Good luck putting in the cheat code to get straight to Iron Mike Tyson himself. If you can best him in a fight, you deserve a title. For real, though, get ready to get knocked down more than once.

46 Super Street Fighter II Turbo

This is Street Fighter II but faster! Your control of the situation becomes null when going against these fighters. The roster is bolstered and your options are bigger, but the game itself gets tough. This is the game that started the modern fighting game along with Mortal Kombat and it is the bar that every fighting game wished they could reach. M. Bison is rough to fight in this game, but for some reason, more than that, Sagat is ridiculous! This series needs very little introduction and it is a go-to for so many gamers who just want a solid fighting game experience. 

45 D

The horror puzzle games are nothing new, even when this game came out. However, the atmosphere, the point and click adventure through a haunted mansion with the Sega Saturn at the reins really elevates this to an experience. It's not a long game, especially if you know what you're doing with it to begin with, but there are some scares that are real. If you're playing through it for the first time, or even after a long stint away from it, it can surprise you in the best way. Horror games could really benefit from trying the creepy vibe this game gives you. Just remember that you've got a flintlock pistol and all evil should beware!

44 Saints Row 2

A game series that has been celebrated on this very site on several occasions. This game is where it started. GTA 3 boosted up the 3D sandbox and Saints Row had a rough start, but this title catapulted them to true gamer stardom. Saints Row 2 gave you brand new options for guns, vehicles and missions of every sort. You can go on killing sprees and sometimes you NEED to go on killing sprees! Finding ways to blast through entire missions using your own skills and hardware you collected along the way became the name of the game throughout this entire slugfest. Creating your own gang boss to play and seeing you bring your posse back to relevance through blood and sweat of your own is just a rewarding experience all its own. 

43 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

The best Mortal Kombat in 2D, bar none. Between this and Trilogy, you're looking at the best 2D roster and the core of what MK truly stood for: Awesome fighting mechanics and extreme amounts of blood. Gore became Mortal Kombat's boon and the fans ate it up! This game came about because of the mistake that was Mortal Kombat 3. While the original third iteration had its own strengths and fans, this game was the correction that sparked greatness. Through the arcade and Sega Saturn, this became my absolute favorite in the early franchise. With the code CRAZYCYRAX, you can unlock a TON of extra content, i.e. Cooking with Scorpion! 

42 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

As terrible as both Star Wars and Bioware have it now (like being dead), this has to be the peak of both. Not only do you get to customize your own light saber and fighting style, but now you can choose which side of the force you want to be on. Whether you go into the light side or dark side completely changes the story and the gameplay! Where some interactions would have been peaceful and over with a bit of talking, now you piss them off and kill every single one of them with or without mercy. The choice is yours! This level of morality was very rare to see in any game and KOTOR brought it all with amazing gameplay. It really feels like Star Wars at its true summit. 

41 Tetris

You really cannot get simpler than Tetris. The theme song is iconic to retro gaming, the gameplay is satisfying while also being very challenging. Hell, no one truly beat this game until a child made it cry just by slamming the shapes into place instantly and made the game completely freeze! This game is HARD as you climb through the levels, and it is a true test of your concentration along with your hand-eye coordination. With twenty million clones and even 3D iterations, you are looking at one of the cornerstones of being a gamer geek. Now make them disappear!!!

40 Batman: Arkham Asylum

When no one asked about Batman games, Batman games came to us in the form of Rocksteady. We got a beat'em up game with pure Gotham City DNA and you really feel like Batman traversing Arkham Asylum and fighting the inmates as they come. The plot is so simple and yet the gameplay make stealthing and using Batman's gadgets feel as natural as spring water. Arkham became its own universe and had a series that captivated Batman fans and gamers alike. While the last "title" in the series did everything wrong, we at least got three or four games that did it with Bat Style. Fly down from the ceiling or pop up from a trap door and break a criminal's face. You're Batman, now act like Batman! 

Super Smash Brothers - Every Toy in the Box!

If there is one thing that gamers have grown accustomed to, especially Nintendo Gamers, it is that Super Smash Brothers will find a way to include any character. It started off modestly enough on the N64, and even with a limited character selection, the game was a gigantic hit. The games, it seemed, only got more and more awesome as they went through each generation of Nintendo game consoles. After the 64, the Gamecube took up the mantle, and Smash Brothers Melee became the favorite for a lot of fans, even today! 

The concept is ridiculously simple. You fight one to three opponents in a match where it's either limited by time or by falls. You fight them to knock them out of the arena once they've reached a percentage of damage. Honestly, the percentage of damage has been a bit of a point of confusion for a lot of fans, because sometimes you can get mega hit when you're at 110% damage and not get knocked out, but the same hit will send someone with 59% out of the ballfield. Each character has their own unique (ish) set of skills with which to fight each other. Some of them are amazing to the point of being over powered, like Marth or Link. Some of them are just terrible moves with a long span and very little damage like Cloud or Sonic. 

It really depends on your playstyle. A lot of people say that Ganondorf is way too difficult to use, but yet there are tournament winners who mained Ganondorf from the start. There has been character rosters that reach ridiculous heights. Smash Brothers Ultimate from the Switch was a huge success, having the biggest roster in the series but when you look at the unlockable characters (or DLC characters), it was lacking in the wanted challenge. All of that, and the fact that Cloud was one of the final characters to get made it a lackluster experience in the long run. 

The main gameplay we all know and love is the Free For All or 2v2 but there were also plenty of platformer levels or bonus levels where you jump and run around to find bullseye targets. Some of these even come in the form of a makeshift boardgame where you find levels to fight enemies, go on platformer levels and even have some boss battles. Boss battles can come in the form of multiple forms of Kirby or even metal mario characters. The biggest one everyone remembers is the Master Hand. Your basically a toy fighting the hand that controls you in the form of a kid or something. I can only imagine the little kid wearing bandaids and having scratches all over his hand once you beat the entire single player campaign. 

This is also one of the few game titles that brings Sonic and Mario into the same game. Many fans loved this little feature, especially the trailer where Sonic smashes his fist into Mario and knocks him out of the arena. Then again, that's the fun of the game in a nutshell. Many of these characters have never met before this whole thing. Even when Mario and Sonic had the Olympic games, they didn't have a smash down knockdown dragout fight like in Smash Bros. Now, you can bring in Cloud from FFVII, Kirby, StarFox, Pikachu, Mr. Game  & Watch, Ryu from Street Fighter, Samus from Metroid in several forms and even Isabelle from Animal Crossing! There are so many games that are not even in the Nintendo library, they just wanted a piece of the pie! 

Sony also wanted a piece of the pie. They wanted it so badly that they created an entirely "different" game that had a lot of the same... "ideas". Playstation All-Star Battle Royale was already a terrible title to begin with. I literally had to look it up by typing in "Sony Smash Bros Knock-off" and Google knew exactly what I was talking about. This game was abysmal in more ways than one. Not only did it have the second-hand characters from other franchises that Sony owned, but its gameplay was so complicated, it ruined the entire experience. Dante from Devil May Cry was already in Smash Brothers, so they couldn't even use their own character. So what do they do? They use the emo knockoff from DmC, which was rather fitting when you step back and look at the forest for the trees. 

You've got the Big Daddy, Sly Cooper and Jak from some interesting Sony properties, but there was no real draw from any of them. They had Raiden!... from Metal Gear Solid.... Yeah, there wasn't much to see here at all. It already had the problem of being two or three generations too late to the party, but now they're putting in complicated gameplay on what should be a simple concept. There is a sequence you need to follow to knock someone out of the ring, instead of just smashing them to a certain damage point and knocking them out with a well-placed strike. No, you actually need to build up Action Points and then execute a proper special move in order to actually knock someone out of the ring. Rinse and repeat. So, you've got a knockoff game with half the roster star power and an over-complicated fighting mechanic that makes the game take longer and become more monotonous. Nothing strange there! 

That's not to say there weren't more knockoffs of Super Smash Brothers, but this one was the most glaringly obvious and highest budget attempt. The idea of having a character stew of several intellectual properties all mashed together is not even close to being an original one. The Marvel vs DC or X-men vs Street Fighter crowd has always gravitated toward these types of games and for very good reason. Sometimes, the character roster can be really daunting, but there are plenty of characters for everyone with fandoms and fighting styles that you're more accustomed to. 

As fighting games go, it has a solid set of mechanics. Sometimes, the screen can get overly busy and your characters can get overly small to where you lose them. That has happened more than once and it can screw up the gameplay. It's still a perfect game to get some friends over and beat the snot out of each other. Whether you have current game consoles or retro game consoles, Smash Brothers is a great fit for you. The Wii and the Wii-U versions are no slouch when it comes to solid gameplay, and it was the Wii version that was still available when the Sony Battle Royale was released, so it still romper-stompered that whole idea into the earth, never to be seen again. When it comes to fighting entire groups and absolute carnage in the fighting arena, Super Smash is as good as it gets. Looney Tunes has tried it, Cartoon Network has tried it but none of them even come close to the greatness of Smash. Remember to Smash responsibly and knock your opponent into the water!! They need a little drink.