19 Sonic and Knuckles 3
"Sonic and Knuckles 3" is not even the proper title for this game. This is Sonic the Hedgehog 3 with one of the first expansions in console gaming. It's at least the most popular expansion in the industry. This opened up all kinds of new gameplay options for the original Sega Genesis Sonic games. With the addition of a new character, you can reach new areas with his gliding skill in different ways. It also gave Sonic 3 a new layer of greatness, as Knuckles opened up all new content overall for the game. They finished the game itself and had no time to impliment Knuckles, so they just sold off that portion as a separate cartridge attachment. This was a genius move for the time, but it was a double edged sword when it came to the idea of paid DLC in gaming.
18 The House of the Dead 2
When it comes to the Dreamcast, this one hit number one after hours and hours of gameplay. There came a time when all of the secrets came unlocked and the urge to kill zombies increased to brand new levels. The graphics, the co-op play, the badguys and tons of features were improved and added to The House of the Dead. There are new bosses and returning bosses, but they did everything they needed to make it a unique gaming experience all around. The terrible voicing for the English version is parallel in greatness with the original Resident Evil and gave it that slice of cheese that made it so entertaining.
17 Metroid Prime
The Gamecube, in all of its greatness, reached its peak early on as far as I'm concerned. You are put into the armor of Samus and throughout the game, you are given access to all of her weapons! This includes the ability to turn into a ball and plant bombs in three dimensions. The combat shines in first person, especially for a console game, and it does so with such an amazing style. The graphics really pushed the envelope for the GC and showed off its true capabilities from the very start. 3D adventuring and exploring while dodging deadly aliens has never felt so awesome before this title and that really is saying something.
16 Metroid
It's hard to beat the original. The Metroid title for NES killed it with exploring and getting lost in levels while surviving pitfalls and listening to such an amazing and memorable soundtrack. Enhance Samus's armor, or even put in the code to give her no armor, which revealed that she was a woman in the first place. This blew our minds as kids, but it did nothing to take away from the experience. Samus is amazing and this game is where her journey began. Platforming in this game brings you to new heights in 8-bit gaming and it has earned its place in gaming history.
15 Katamari Forever
When you want a nice satisfying collect-a-thon game where you go from tiny as a softball to the size of an entire planet, this is your sauce. With a catchy music lineup and the simplest graphics, this game brings both the old and the new of Katamari to the forefront and gives you that sensation of being a tiny little giant that can roll up the entire cosmos. The king is annoying, but that only makes it better when you prove his negativity wrong and show him that you can score with the best of them. It's fun to collect all of the characters and get all of the collectibles for your shrine. Not to mention, it even has a two-player mode! If you have heard anything about this franchise and need a place to start, here you go!
14 X-men Arcade
This was a hard choice, but if I had my pick of the Konami Triforce beat'em ups, this one beats TMNT and the Simpsons. None of these games buckle under the pressure, and all of them are great in their own way. This one has the Colossus roar, though, and it is just all kinds of fun to use the X-men's many powers. Wolverine's slicing power is a close second favorite, but all of them are fun to play to some extent. The levels are memorable and Magneto's stupid dialogue has reached iconography. This is a satisfying experience and this game has gone through so many efforts to save it from obscurity, even when it was only on the arcade cabinet for the majority of its existence. It is just too valuable to lose.
13 Panzer Dragoon II
People will disagree with me up and down about this favorite in the Panzer Dragoon franchise, but the experience and the fun that this game gave me with my original Sega Saturn is something to behold. It is a wonderful experience that is only compounded as your dragoon continues to grow and evolve throughout the playthrough. The graphics are grungy and beautiful, with enviroments that show off the true 32 bit nostalgia. All three of the Saturn titles are great in their own way, but this is my piece of the pie for a very good reason.
12 Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart has stood the test of time for a reason, and this is where the franchise peaked in absolute greatness with the simplest elements. The graphics are fantastic without being overblown and the gameplay keeps itself without overburdening itself with flab. There are just too many characters to choose from at this point with Mario Kart 8, but 64 kept itself at a core roster. This bore some of the best levels and some of the most memorable tracks. This was such a huge improvement over the first game on the SNES, it basically eclypses it in every sense of the word. The Wii version and WiiU version were still awesome, don't get me wrong. This one is just what it needed to boost the franchise to greatness.
11 Quake
This is the final game that was made by the majority of the original crew at ID. After this title, John Romero was gone from the company. As much of a disappointment it was for the developers, it was a dream come true for gamers. Death Matching, rocket jumping and 3D gaming in general was brought to this peak from the very beginning thanks to the hard work of our Doom makers. Quake is gothic, and beautiful in its simplicity, even if there weren't a lot of vibrant colors. Even if the levels look very similar, they don't play the same by any means. This was not always a great thing, and sometimes you can really feel the limitations on the number of monsters, especially compared to Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. While the solo game is still great, it was the multiplayer Death Matching that made this title truly great.
10 Doom Eternal
It's not surprising to see how many Doom titles are on this list. Doom Eternal came when it was needed the most and it delivered on its promises to give us an experience very close to Doom 4. The graphics are astounding with just the right amount of spice and detail. Killing the demons by blowing meat off of their bones with a shotgun is so satisfying, especially when you get to rip their heads and limbs off with your armored hands. This was all brought to a head with the return of the Icon of Sin, who was beautifully implimented! It's not perfect, but even with some of the more irritating parts of the game, it's a wondrous fight through Hell and Earth.
9 Doom
The advent of Knee Deep in the Dead was met with such a rousing success, it put video gaming on the map. With such an iconic title, everything after was just gravy on the taters. Thy Flesh Consumed didn't do such a great job of ending the Ultimate Doom collection, but everything within is still amazing to behold. Killing demons and creating a blood bath took what Wolfenstein 3D did and brought it to brand new heights with new capabilities in elevations and lighting graphics. Doom was a milestone in gaming, like ID would cause over and over throughout their early career. This title is still iconic, and people continue to make new levels for it to this very day as the Doom Mapping community is still running very strong. May they make until forever. Rip and Tear!
8 Spider-man
Spider-man 2 for the PS2 and Gamecube walked so that Spider-man for the PS4 could run. Coming out after Batman Arkham Asylum only made this game that much greater with its own take on such a great combat system. This game has the story, has a likeable Peter Parker, and even makes you want to 100% the whole thing for all of the spider suits. Swinging on the web feels crisp and nastural. Finding and fighting the Sinister Six feels like you're coming right out from the comics. The sequels may not be as great, but this game stands on its own merits of greatness. It's replayable, especially with New Games + and you're a webhead with some extra awesome points if you do!
7 Resident Evil 7
The loss of P.T. was terrible, but it did inspire Capcom to make this game first person and scary. The story and progression had some hiccups and the ending of the game isn't as great, but overall, this is a beautiful title. Playing this game gives you some real fear, especially when you're running from a maniac with a shovel! It's so satisfying to finally meet him in the subsequent boss battles, especially with a chainsaw fight! This game has some very memorable moments, even some that I wouldn't mind going back and playing over and over again. That's how you know you have a gem on your hands.
6 Doom (2016)
Somehow, the reboot to the franchise jumped its way up my favorites totem. It game when it was needed and it did everything it set out to do. The experience was new but also very nostalgic. The vast majority of the awesome guns were back and so many of the demon roster returned so you could put your fist through their faces! They thought that the multiplayer Quake 3 Arena type shooter and the map creating capabilities were going to be the selling point, but it was proven that the singleplayer won out tenfold! The Doom Slayer demon voice clips and the soundtrack all became iconic and this game made the power fantasy real and fun, also real fun.
5 Sonic the Hedgehog 2
This game came free with Sega Genesis 2nd Gen, and changed Sonic's fortunes forever. This game was leagues above the first title and made platforming legend comparable to the Super Mario Bros franchise! Sonic and Tails became household names and Sega truly had their mascot set in stone. Sonic 2 even threw a bone to the younger brothers in 2nd player, making sure they could help without getting in the way and local multiplayer exploded! The soundtrack, the gameplay and the level designs became iconic and this franchise was boosted to the point where Sonic games had a brand new standard to reach.
4 Virtual On
This game got 3D fighting right on so many levels. Getting great at this game is not exactly hard, but it does require a good deal of sharpening. It's just fun all around and offered a free wielding style that made you feel like you were a mech pilot trying to destroy the mech suit in front of you. This is compounded when you take on bigger machines and truly tests your mastery of the controls and maneuverability while using your unique set of weapons. You need to think fast and get accurate, so learn your machine and have a ball while doing it. This game is awesome on both Sega Saturn and Dreamcast.
2 Mega Man 2
With one of the most iconic soundtracks, levels and boss robot battles, Mega Man 2 is hailed as the greatest Mega Man game of all time. The weapons you get, like Metal Man's band saws and Wood Man's leaves, are just flat out fun to play throughout the game. Even when Mega Man X hit the market, this is still held up as the best in the franchise. The game can get frustrating in the Dr. Wiley levels and in the Quick Man stage, but that's all just par for the course in terms of an 8-bit game. Even Mega Man 11 couldn't reach this level of greatness, just think about that for a moment.
1 Dragon Warrior
The word "simplicity" has been used a lot on this list and that is this game's greatest strength. It is a simple story with an open world map that gives you quests in order to beat the Dragon Lord. Dragon Quest's humble beginning aged like a fine wine and made its way to the top of this list. Rescuing the princess, defeating the first green dragon and axe knight, all of it is chiseled in legend. You're put in the place of a true hero and you fight your way through slimes, metal men and all forms of magical beasts trying to kill you. Search out the fabled metal slime to get lot's of experience points and look for Erdrick's ultimate weapons to defeat the most powerful foes in the final dungeons beyond the rainbow bridge. Nostalgia goggles be damned, this game wins.
So, there you have it. It took me a solid year, but I'm glad I finally got all of these lists out for one big grand ranking of my favorites. As said in the first post, this is not a perfect list and there are some games who can interchange between rankings. It's still a very complete list, even if there are a few titles that deserve an honorable mention because either I didn't think of them for the master list or I've played them since the list was originally created. Here's a nice short list of those games.
Doom The Dark Ages
A solid addition to the Doom franchise, despite the lack of notable demons and the employment of a pale BFG replacement. The shield and the weapon roster is still solid for the gameplay and it is still a fun time all around. The story doesn't really spark any inspiration, but it frames the demon killing fine. It can wrestle Doom Eternal for one of the higher spots on this list, more because it doesn't have all of the unnecessary platforming and lore heavy items throughout the entire runtime. Many will disagree, as usual, but those are my thoughts.
Retro Rewind
Management games are just plain fun work. This one, however, hits home with a wondrous return of the VHS rental store that you can customize and decorate to your own tastes. This is just busy work with a good deal of interaction with customers and time management. It's very easy to gain up to level 20 and you can even work toward 100% achievements without a lot of effort. The movie titles are a lot of fun to see and it's a joy to get new releases that are obvious stand-ins for some very iconic movies.
No Man's Sky
It's hard to earn back the trust of your customer base, but the game devs for this title battened down and did just that over years of development after its official release. The space exploration is relaxing and you can pump up the difficulty by fighting space pirates and drones. This is not a free pass to screw up your launch and patch it after the fact, but if you're going to do it, earn your communities respect by patching it for free and listening to what they're saying. Now, you can explore new galaxies and planets, naming them and building your own base on their surface. There's a lot to do and craft throughout the game and you could do worse than giving it a look now that it's fixed.
Helldivers 2
A game that is fun to play and fun to advance. The trolls and the unhelpful players in the game can dampen the experience, as can some of the difficulty of taking on an entire army by yourself. Still, when you get into the groove, you can be killing Terminators and Starship Trooper bugs while finishing your primary missions. Get it done, kill the opposition and extract yourselves back to your own giant ship. Make Democracy proud.
Plants vs Zombies
What started as a simple PC/Mac game ported to every other system and took the tower defense community by storm. While the franchise would kill itself with greedy microtransactions in later sequels, the first game remains a solid experience that you can poor hours into. It's just fun to experiment with plants and powerups to get the most effective build in your rows to take down the zombie opposition. It's fun to see all of the plant options you can build, as well as how they affect the many types of zombies. It's just mindless fun you can play wherever for super cheap. The franchise sadly never reached this level of greatness afterward, but it's still good to have such a great title.
So, yes, I went through just over 160 games I would consider my favorite. Why did I do this? That's a fairly good question. Who really knows? Maybe I'll post another list if there's another 10 or 20 titles that make it to the list some how. Either way, this was just a lot of fun to think about and finish in exactly a year. You'll probably never agree with the rankings and that's fine. These are games I grew up with or just took a shine to as they worked their way into my constant play list. Do yourself a favor and start a tier list, you may be surprised at what you think of. Be true to yourself and don't forget to drink water.
