Top Ten Nintendo Games
Super Mario Brothers 2 (J) – The Japanese followup to SMB1 that never made it stateside. It’s a perfect blend of Mario goodness and ridiculous difficulty. It’s lauded as one of the hardest commercial games every made. However, it’s not ‘throw the controller in frustration’ hard, like Shinobi for the PS2.
Super Mario Brothers 1 – No one messes with SMB1. It’s quite easily one of the most recognized games of all time, and its fun factor has been nearly unreplicated in the last 20 years since its release.
Shatterhand – This is one of those little heard of games that I always got a kick out of. Shatterhand takes you through six levels, with the power of the fist, and after collecting three icons, a partner that mimics you with a variety of weapons. Collect the same three icons again and you’re transformed into the ultimate fighter. There are nine combinations of fighting partners, which lends itself to extended replayability (pretty damned good for an 8-bit system!).
Ikari Warriors III – This game wasn’t particularly fun…until… on a day of boredom and random experimentation, one learns that there were infinite continues if you rotated the buttons repeatedly (only on two player). Let the good times roll!
R.C. Pro Am – This is one of those games where you either you loved it or hated it. I loved it until my thumbs turned red, that’s for sure. A racing game where you race R.C. cars (a novel idea then), it required some skill with the D-pad since it was all in a strange isometric view.
Rad Racer 2 – Square used to make games that didn’t start with ‘Final’ and end in a number. Rad Racer is one of them. One of the must have games of the NES system, and hours of fun. Even more fun with the level cheat codes, but who wants to win fairly?
Spy Hunter – The love fest with the Bond car utimately spawned the uber-classic Spy Hunter, a game where you take out the enemy, collect power ups and try to beat the clock. Sounds boring? Considering it moves lightning fast even for today’s standards, it’s anything but boring.
Duck Hunt – Of course one of the best games! Light gun! Laughing dog! What more do you need? Sure, there’s the killing of ducks, but hell, they were asking for it.
Tetris – *The* penultimate puzzle game of our time. And probably our children’s time, and our children’s children’s time.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – This game was unlike the usual TMNT fair, it instead followed the comic book – to a ‘T’ I might add. Hard as hell, and it took emulation with save states to beat – though, in fairness, back in my prime, I nearly beat it before my sister kicked the crap out of our nintendo, which caused the purchase of the Sega Genesis.
Top Ten Sega Genesis Games
I can remember when I first bought my Genesis. It was shortly after my Nintendo died, near Christmas time. The system cost an arm and a leg, but my parents still bought it for me. That very same system sits in the basement of my house, in nearly the same pristine condition when it was first received 15 years ago. Here are my top ten favorite games for the system, in no specific order.
Streets of Rage 2: The penultimate fighting game, hands down. By far better than all the Final Fight games combined (and I’ve played them all) with even better music, a more in-depth fighting system, outstanding enemy and boss characters (Shiva!!!) and vibrant graphics and color. This game was and still is *the* reason to own a Sega Genesis. Jaya and myself have beaten this game in every imaginable mode (including Mania) using all the characters, yet still play this game regularly. It’s *that* good.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: In tune with the previously mentioned games, this one also has fantastic music (no pun intended). Not only that, it has multiple level ending paths, great enemies and level design, and one cannot mention enough the fantastic musical score. Brilliant game, top to bottom – a game I still play frequently.
Gunstar Heroes: The first on this list not made by Sega, but instead by the amazing programmers at Treasure (Guardian Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, just to name a few). A two player side scroller that moves at the speed of lightning, depicted in an anime style world where enemies come in the hundreds. Level design is second to none. The music is forgettable, which is ok, since the on screen action is so fast and furious that you won’t even notice (even in two player mode!).
Joe Montana Football: For most sports game purists (ok, almost all), this is quite easily a terribly made product. Tecmo Superbowl on the Nintendo offered more depth, and even had licensing. Be that as it may, this is my favorite football game and sports title on any system, simply for its sheer simplicity, high speed pacing, and overall fun factor. That, and having my favorite football player of all time sponsoring it (number 16 himself) can’t hurt.
NHLPA Hockey: An Electronic Arts title circa ’94 that also didn’t have licensing, yet my second favorite sports game for any system. High speed gameplay and scoring, very little overhead (in terms of breaks interludes and all that useless nonsense) made this game one of my favorite games of any system, hands down. I spent literally hundreds of hours playing this game, over and over, especially in India, arriving from India, after school, after work, at work…
Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition: The rage of time, SF2:CE solidified the Genesis in the videogame market, which until this game’s release, was lagging behind the Super Nintendo. More modes, faster gameplay and better sound made the Genesis a must own. I can’t put my finger on it why I love this game so much, but I still play this game to death.
X-Men: A game so high in demand I had to put it on reserve two months prior. Incidentally, the day I bought this game (my birthday) was the day my sister got the Nomad (one may argue she got the better of the deal; I doubt it). X-Men was decried by some as a really terrible game, others found it to be amazing. Obviously I’m in the latter camp; it’s the first game to have a decent story line involving the X-Men (excellent even), involved many of the enemies in the Marvel Universe, and put teamwork (in two player mode) and mutant abilities on the forefront. Even the side scrolling beat-em-up “Marvel’s X-Men” didn’t have that kind of pedigree. This game was simply all around put together, and even though graphically inferior to X-Men 2, was still much better in terms of fun, over X-Men 2 and even most games.
Shinobi 3: Shinobi is one of the greatest games of all time, period. The gameplay is number one in my book. The game requires the most serious of finesse and coordination; playing this game is an art-form. The game stressed stealth, speed, and style – traits games these days are sorely lacking. The musical score is still brillant to this day, and sets the mood for each level perfectly. Speaking of which, level design is out of this world. If you have not played this game, you must at the very least download an emulator and try it.
NBA Jam TE: What is there to say about this game that hasn’t been written hundreds of times over? It’s a ridiculously fun basketball game, for anyone and everyone who likes playing videogames, even if you don’t like basketball. How can you beat the team of Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (as myself and Jaya teamed up as so frequently)? Or foul line 360 Tomahawk Jams? This game is off the wall; games these days can’t even hold a candle to the fun factor of simply putting the cart in the system, let alone the actual gameplay.
Shining Force: The only RPG that I’ve played more than once. The storyline is engaging, and the gameplay is considered strategic – you have to raise levels for your armies and strategically attack enemies who are almost always stronger than you. It’s since been ported to cell phones, Gameboy Advance, online stores…
Top Ten PC Games
My first computer was an Apple IIe. Ah, those were the days, with a monochrome display and 640k of RAM. Did I mention it was green monochrome? One can only wonder how much radiation these poor eyes sucked in staring at that screen for hours at a time. Shortly thereafter my parents got a real PC, and real gaming in short order commenced (thanks wholly to shareware gaming and happypuppy.com, which I think is still around). Here are my top ten games on the PC, in no particular order.
One Must Fall 2097: Forever and always on top of my list of favorite games ever, OMF2097 is a little known game by Diversion Entertainment in Flordia. I can’t begin to stress how many *years* I spent playing this game, and I mean the demo alone. The game was two parts – an arcade fighter and a fighter with RPG elements. The latter was and still is addictive (I have an older PC set up simply to play that game). You fight and buy parts for your machine, unlocking a deep story, as well as other machines. I could go on and on about this game, but will instead simply suggest you download the now free game at www.omf.com.
Grim Fandango: Lucas Arts’ last foray into the dying Adventure genre was a fantastic one. Grim Fandango, based on Mexican folklore, created an unparalleled world of crime and corruption… in the land of the dead. One of my favorite games of all time for any system, Grim Fandango weaved a story that grabbed hold and never let go – with a tremendous musical score and amazing story, this is the greatest game that no one has ever heard of.
Need for Speed 2 – The Untouchables: The best racing game for the PC, and arguably any system. Unsurpassed in it’s fun factor, NFS2 focused on high speed concept cars. The levels and the music make for great ambience – the cars are simply amazing. Two players on the now defunct 3DFX still makes for great eye candy. Artic Pass – what a fantastic course.
Deus Ex: Game of the Year winner, and an amazing cyber punk game. How good is this game? After I beat it the first time, I played it through again, where I changed my technique to see how it affected the game. Then after beating it, I played it through again for a third time, but I used codes so I could thoroughly explore every single secret. It’s a first person shooter, but you are required to kill only one person; according to the developer, even that was a design that they wish they could’ve avoided. There are few, if any, games that hold a candle to this one.
Jet Fighter 2: The best flight sim of the yesteryear, and this millenium. Why? The graphics were passable enough to know that you were flying a plane (compared to Spectrum Holobyte’s highly lauded Falcon 3.0, also a great game but much to much a simulator for my liking) and the controls were simple enough to play for hours on end. There are have been three iterations of this game following JF2, yet they still haven’t managed to capture the fun factor of this crowning achievement.
Sanitarium: Another of the long since dead point and click adventure genre; the game is dark and morbid in it’s plot (you find yourself in a Sanitarium/asylum, with no recollection of who you are or how you got there). You’re required to unlock the mystery of your identity through warped realities (or are they dreams) before you find yourself forever trapped…
Raptor – Call of the Shadows: I don’t like shooters, but I loved this game. Not insanely hard like it’s contemporaries, but insanely fun. The basic premise to collect as much money as possible as a bounty hunter, and add weapons to your fearsome jetplane of death. Graphically unsurpassed even now, the game is simply a joy to play.
Grand Theft Auto 2: GTA2 encapsulates everything about all the games that I thoroughly enjoy of the series (and is lacking in some of the games of the series) – fantastic missions, great graphics, bad@$$ weapons, outstanding vehicles, and the perfect difficulty. GTA1 was too annoying in that level three bumping the car in front of you brought out the police – GTA3 and GTA4 suffered from being too freaking easy (incidentally, GTA4 was much too story line driven). The game is installed on my laptop and desktop machine, and is my method of procrastination and instant gratification through my hours of boredom (when I’m lucky enough to be bored).
Myst: I accidentally acquired this game many many years ago – I purchased it for my cousin as a Christmas gift, but he couldn’t run it on his PC, so it became mine by default. I did not realize what kind of world the game was about to open for myself and my sister – Myst was and still is one of the most immersive games I’ve ever played.
FX Fighter: Essentially the first 3D fighter ever and the first 3D fighter for the PC, this game had absorbed many hours of my childhood. One fond memory is my cousin and I playing this game eight hours straight in versus mode – it was and still is that good. Realistically compared to newer games, it looks and plays fairly dated – but the fun factor cannot be denied.
Special Mention:
Doom: My first shareware game, and still a long standing PC favorite. Doom is a no nonsense first person shooter – you against them all, a game that revolutionized the gaming industry and at the same time raised the awareness of violence in videogames. Among those who play, this game requires no description. A PC hall of famer… hell, it made the hall of fame.
Traffic Department 2149: An adult driven story line with several interesting twists, this game would get top honors had I ever finished all three parts of it – unfortunately, it being shareware, it’s one of those games I never got to finish.
Samurai Shodown: Another fighter… another fighter? Absolutely not! Samurai Shodown is the anti Street Fighter – there are no absolutely killer/cheesy long range attacks or short battles – SS by SNK focused on the art of fighting with weapons to perfection. Coupled with great storylines for each character (something which is still lacking with the Street Fighter universe) and just an amazing battle engine, this is one of the all time greatest games you don’t have for your PC. Genjuro vs Sieger would go on for hours, I tell you!
Blackthorne: A game that shortly followed Prince of Persia but was infinetly better, both in storyline and graphically. I loved and still love this game for its sheer awesomeness… that’s as well as I can describe it, I suppose.
Warcraft 2: A strange pick, since this genre isn’t really my kind of game, and I have difficulty playing this kind of game for any length – except for WC2. That in and of itself is an achievement for the ages. I game I surprisingly played and continue to play often, this strategy game requires proper utilization of your armies as well as your resources, all the while holding off the enemy while trying to finish your mission. A brain buster, for sure.
Solar Winds: An old game that started off with a fantastic story, but ended with only a little more than a whimper; towards the end of the game it simply required you to fly from one point in the galaxy to another (without hyper drive, it literally took *hours* to do – while living in NYC I left the game on, allowing the plane to fly from point to point while I did chores… or went out to the park).
Stunt Driver: Any game that features the 1966 GT 350 Shelby Mustang is an instant favorite; this game not only featured it but made it the prominent machine. This driving game not only offered a ton of maps but it also had a map editor and IPX head to head gameplay. Given how often I played it, you’d think it’d be in the top 10 – however, the AI for opposing drivers was terrible. Not only that, since the game had copy protection wasn’t sold in huge quantities, I never had a chance to play against anyone else. But, that map editor…
Stunts: Many would say it’s much better than Stunt Driver, since it offered more cars, more tracks, and infinite replayability – however, crashing into a wall at 1MPH causing the game to end was an insurmountable fatal flaw.
GTA1, GTA3, GTA:VC, GTA:SA: GTA1 is the game that started it all, but at the time it was a little known and unpopular. I found this gem shortly after getting to college, and was and still am hooked. Mandarin Mayhem is the greatest map of the series, but the rest of the game is severely lacking to be placed in the top ten. GTA3 is immensely fun, but was much too short and too easy for my top games of all time (including achieving 100%). GTA:VC and GTA:SA are both fun until you’re trying to complete the game 100%, at which point the game becomes ‘tedious’ and ‘unfun’. GTA:SA, however, is the most fun of all three 3D GTAs made for the PC.
