I got this idea from facebook; I’m friends with a lot of writers, most of whom can talk intelligently about their favorite book and why it had such an impact on them. I’ve had my share of good reads, but video games have had the greatest impact on me. The ability to immerse yourself in a virtual world and become a hero (or villain) is amazing to me.
I’ve played a few hundred games in my life, some stick out more than others. I wanted to take a little time and list the top ten games that have had the biggest impact on me, and why. Love it, hate it, here it is.
-Honorable Mention-
These are all great titles, some of them are timeless, but they didn’t leave the same impact on me as those on the top ten list. Still, they deserve a shout out.
Tetris (Jaleco)
Ms. Pac-Man (Namco)
Dr. Mario (Nintend0)
Tekken 3 (Namco)
Art of Fighting 2 (SNK)
Xenogears (Squaresoft)
Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
Metal Gear Solid {the entire franchise} (Konami)
Parasite Eve (Squaresoft)
And now, without further ado, my top ten favorite video games of all time.
10). Yars Revenge (Atari 2600) (Atari)
Back in the day, this game was something else. The game actually spawned an LP (ten points if you know what that is). Basically, peaceful, mutant flies had their sister planet destroyed by the Quotile. You took control of a small squad of yars (one at a time) and tried to take revenge. Hence the title.
You spent a lot of time dodging the heat-seeking destroyer missile and the quotile itself when it came at you, but the game was the first action experience I ever played. You summoned the Zorlon Cannon (by eating the Quotile’s shield or touching it). You waited for the Quotile to turn into a swirl and come at you. You fired the Zorlon Cannon. You go the hell out of the way. Destroying the Quotile in this way earned you the most points–and made you feel mad cool.
9). Gargoyles Quest (Game Boy) (Capcom)
I’m pretty sure this was the Game Boy’s first action RPG. You played Firebrand, throughout an extensive campaign to free the ghoul realm from King Breager, who was locked away by your predecessor centuries ago.
This was the most expansive game I’d ever played on the Game Boy. There were literally hours of exploration ahead of you, many ways to beef up and customize Firebrand, a rousing soundtrack, and graphics only Capcom could produce on the dot matrix scream. Some of these battle were just plain scary. It also followed through with an epic final battle and a satisfying ending.
8). Fatal Fury Special (Neo-Geo) (SNK)
Okay, this may be more for nostalgia than anything else, but I’d be loathe to list a top ten that didn’t include Terry Bogard somewhere. This game wasn’t phenomenal by any stretch, it was just very, very good. The hype was that you got to play any character from the Fatal Fury franchise (Richard Meyer is absent, however), but what I remember the most was how big these characters were and how hard they hit. Every punch, kick, and slam to the turf was beautifully orchestrated by SNK’s sound team. They sounded painful, and they sound even better on the XBLA version.
7). X-Com: UFO Defense (PC/PS1) (Microprose)
I’d never played an RTS before this game, and I’m still not into the genre, but this game was awesome. You took complete control of an elite armed forces whose sole duty was to repel alien invasions. I mean complete control; you built bases, bought ships, recruited troops, the whole nine. You even micromanaged your troops, who always began as scrubs and then turned into crack shots. You had to answer to the United Nations every month; if you weren’t doing your job, the project was canned, and your game ended. Eventually, you had to journey to the aliens’ (and there were so many aliens) homeworld and take them out at the source. I’m hoping this comes to XBLA, because it won’t play on Vista…
6). Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis) (Sega)
Sonic the Hedgehog was good. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was what a sequel should be. It gave you the option of a partner, and you could turn him off—or play him solo. Two player co-op could’ve used a little work, but the competitive play was stellar. It could get brutal on the special stage, which was all a matter of timing, and knowing where the rings were. My favorite aspect of this game was that the chaos emeralds finally had a point; when you collected all of them, and grabbed fifty rings…
5). Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Sega Genesis) (Sega)
Despite not having Yuzo Koshiro at the helm, this game boasted one of the best scores of the era, a soundtrack I still listen to today (listening to right now, in fact). Sega went ridiculously above and beyond with this game; you spent levels leaping from rock-to-rock as a cliff fell, hanging hundreds of miles from the Earth under an airship, and inside a mutant factory. The controls were responsive and made dispatching your enemies fun, rather than frustrating. It had the most inventive boss I’d ever seen at the time, actually reversing your controls at time. I bought the Sega Genesis pack for the 360 almost exclusively for this title.
4). Star Ocean 2 (PS1) (Square-Enix)
Another game fondly remembered for its epic soundtrack. When Enix said there were eighty possible endings, they weren’t kidding. You could sit down for six months with this game and probably not uncover everything. I went through it twice before I had to go back to work.
Another thing that set this game apart was the character interaction. You actually separated from your party in towns and developed relationships with them by speaking and making choices. This is one of those games I can go on and on about, but I have to move on…
3). Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1) (Konami)
It was a tough decision to put this game at number three. It could’ve been number one. Castlevania’s first outing on the Playstation turned out to be one of the greatest games to hit the system, maybe of all time.
At the peak of 2D animation, you played as Alucard, Dracula’s son, who invades the castle to tear it apart. You recap the events of the last game (which was on the turbografx-16. Ten points if you remember that, but if you do, you’re really old) before launching Alucard’s campaign. You start the game as a bonafide bad-ass, but just when you think this is easy, in one of the game’s well-voiced cutscenes, Death robs you of your abilities, and then this game gets interesting.
This is arguably the greatest game in the series. The artwork and animation are breathtaking, the controls fluid and responsive, the soundtrack is award-caliber. The game is also long and deep—it takes about twelve hours to find everything. I love this game so much I actually own it on two systems—and if they come out with an iPod version, I’ll get that one too.
2). Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (Arcades) (Capcom)
I think the series peaked out here. Fairly-balanced, competitive gameplay, new animations, the introduction of super moves and one hidden, bad-ass mofo that was harder than hell to get to, SSF2 Turbo was the defining title of the Street Fighter 2 era. And yes, the soundtrack to this game was excellent.
1). Final Fantasy VII (PS1) (Square-Enix)
One of the hallmarks of a great game is its ability to draw players in who otherwise may not be interested. Final Fantasy VII put RPG’s on the map; it made us see what the rest of us were missing. I succumbed to the hype and almost lost my job to this game. Sefiroth may be the greatest villain to grace a video game, simply because you knew you couldn’t beat him. Aerith’s death may forever stand out as one of gaming’s best moments; for the first time, a lot of us cried playing a video game, including yours truly. For a game to pull you that much into its own world that you develop emotional connections to its characters is nothing short of greatness.
A friend of mine asked me tonight, when I was putting this list together; “Aren’t the Final Fantasy’s boring?”
Yeah, I used to think so. The story of Final Fantasy VII was its real selling point; never boring, always compelling, you had to know what was happening next. Squaresoft crafted a beautiful world that was plausibly on the brink of disaster and you really felt like it was your presence that made a difference. No game did that to me before, no game has done it to me since.
So that’s it, my top ten favorite video games of all time. I hope no one was offended; I wasn’t trying to discount any titles, I could only go off of the games I know.
Here’s to all the great titles coming out in the future! Thanks for reading, God bless and be safe!
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