#5 - Mario kart. All of them.
Developer: Nintendo EAD and Intellegent systems.
Platforms: SNES, N64, Gameboy Advanced, Gameboy DS, Nintendo WII
Release dates: 1992, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2008.
By all of them I mean all of them on a home console, none of this arcade shit.
I have played these games since the beginning, and I've been loving them since!
Back in the day you didn't have gothem racing, Grand Terismo or Burn Out, no all we had was mario kart, F zero and Micro machines for a good racing game. As fun as micro machines was and as fast as F Zero was they didn't have princess Peach throwing a red homing shell at Bowser.
Lets just think about that for a moment. A Princess throwing a red turtle shell, thats homing, at Bowser, a giant fire breathing demon Kooper (seriously, the original Japanese name is great demon king Koopa), and your in karts! Thats just the most absurd thing I've ever written, and yet its been put so far into our conscious that we don't actually realise how stupid all this sounds. But damn are these fun games!
Not only are these games fun, but there also extremely frustraiting. You might think you've mastered these games, you think you can win everytime, you think you have the skills, but no! Mario Kart doesn't like you having skills or being good at it. The moment it senses your getting a bit too big BOOM, red shell! And if your hoping for a red shell while in 2nd place forget it, there's more chance of you ending up 6. And they've only got more unfair as they've progressed with the introduction of the blue shell, and bullet bill. Its almost suggested you spend the majority of the games in last.
But thats where the fun lies, not actually knowing if today will be your lucky day. And when relying on luck you know that 9/10 your fucked!
#4 - Pokémon Red & Blue (specifically blue)
Developer: Gamefreaks
Platform: Gameboy
Release date: 1999
Fuck yeah! Pokémon! I totally beat the fad on this one. I was playing Pokémon way before the massive knew what a pikachu was back in '99. I discovered it while food shopping with my dad, while browsing the magazine section of Tesco's I came across one with a yellow mouse thing on the front. Intregued I decided to take a ganders inside. I didn't put it down the whole way round the super market and a few weeks later I had saved up enough money to buy it!
Pokémon's a game that combines my love of animals with my love of violence (and my love of capturing animals small enclosed spaces, also my love of pissing of PETA), the pokémon designs are pretty awsome and the fact I can cause a fissure in the ground to swallow up my enemies is fricken awsome!
I suppose the story line isn't exactly going to be getting any ... prizes for writing (I don't know what the award is for writing), you collect pokémon and foil team rocket from using pokémon for crime, but its captivating in its simplicity. The thing that'll keep bringing you back for more is a strange compulsion to do well, to collect pokémon, to beat the elite four and to name pokémon funny names.
#3 - Super Smash Brothers Melee.
Developers: HAL Laboratory
Platform: Nintendo Gamecube
Release date: May 24, 2002
It wasn't a matter of if but when for melee. I'm sure there was no doubt in any of your minds that it would be here and here it is at number 3.
Like Mario Kart, Melee has princess beacj battling it out with Bowser, this time litrally. Yes you get to litrally beat the shit out of nintendo characters. Its very satisfying to beat the shit out of Bowser with a baseball bat. Its very funny to see Princess Peach beating Mario with a golf club.
But the enjoyment of this game isn't just in the gimmick of it all, its generally a very entertaining game. Its essentially a fighting game, but good. You don't just stand a metre away from each other in a one on one fight, nor will you win by simply button mashing, yes this is a fighting game where you HAVE to do more than press left and right abit while just continuously pressing the punch button.
The vast levels means you have to leap voer obsticles and dodge bombs before you get into combat with your adversery, and then just simply pressing the same button probably wont get you far due to them being able to flee, so you'll generally get in a few good smacks before your opponent is across the other side of the map so you have to then think of a new strategy. Or is your Roy just press up and B =D.
And then there's the clincher, the money maker, the creme de le creme: 4 players playing at once!
The thing that makes melee better than the other two games is simple: Its pretty much as good as it can be! As Brawl shows adding things don't mean it'll be a better game. The things that were added in Brawl are mainly just a sprinkling of hun
#2 - Chrono Trigger
Developer: Square
Platform: Super Nintendo, Nintendo DS
Release date: March 15, 1995.
Chrono Trigger is a game made by square, that follows the adventures of a mute boy names Crono 5 other cast members as they travel through time, putting right what once went wrong, hoping that the next leap will be the leap ... home. The fact I'm pretty sure thats not a bad over view of Chrono Trigger scares me slightly ...
Anyway the is basically a romp around time saving ... yourself mainly. And evenually the world as you take on a being known as Lavos that is being summoned in the past, which will change the future into a post apocolyptic waste land.
Chrono Trigger is a pretty damn amazing RPG, released in 1995 its sprites were amazing, the battle system is probably one of the best battle systems of any Square RPG, an extremely complex and amazing story, some pretty damn decent characters and a neat musical score.
So enjoyable is Chrono Trigger that you wont need to think about going through it again in plus mode (play from the start but your characters are all the same level as when you completed the game), you WILL go through it in plus mode!
Its hard to really say much about Chrono Trigger beyond its pretty much the pinicle of RPG gaming, but thats about it. ITs an excellent game. Plane and simple.
#1
Final Fantasy IX(9)
Developers: Square
Platform: Playstation
Release date: Febuary 22, 2001
I don't think this'll come as a big surprise to people, but if it does; diddums.
Final Fantasy IX was the first fantasy Final Fantasy I had actually played, Final Fantasy VII being more of a sci-fi fantasy. And it was everything I wanted in my fantasy! Knights, swords, magic, kingdoms and airships made of wood! Sure some people would say there are better medevil RPG's out there, but none of them will bring on the sense of nostalgia quite like Final Fantasy IX. Just watching the intro clip gives me tingles.
Final Fantasy IX revolved around the exploits of a strange fellow named Zidane as he tries to stop the end of the world with a cast of outcasts (see what I did there?); A disgraced knight captain; a small boy without a face, just glory yellow eyes; a dragoon knight determind to only return home once she's strong enough; a young girl thats the last of her kind, a ... thing that ... wants to eat ... everything ... yeah; a bounty hunter that sucks and a young princess thrown into a war against her mother. And then there's Zidane, a teenager with a monkey tail and an ambiguous past.
The underlying theme of the game is identity, and this means that at some point all the characters have a part of the story inwhich you get to see their character grow. Except Quina ... Infact Quina largely stands outside of the events of the game. It's kinda like the last episode of season 4 of Buffy where they have freaky dreams and there's that cheese guy (I wear the cheese, it does not wear me), its apparently supposed to be just something random thrown in to break up the seriousness of the episode. Quina is Final Fantasy IX's cheese guy. Square obviously felt that the game ended up being too serious, so decided to through in Quina to bring up the drama. And it fricken works! I mean look at it:
Thats enough to break you out of a coma, let alone drama! Quina and Eiko aside, Final Fantasy IX has a great cast of characters.
The story and the characters pull you into the game and then its backed up with a pretty simple battle and leveling systems that are fun enough to not get annoying but also not too difficult, or tedious to be frustraiting (like having to buy the licence for weaponry and magic THEN buy it!) letting you to just enjoy the game.
While I do believe Final Fantasy to be one of the best games I've played, its definatly one of the most nostalgic. Which I take as a sign that I've enjoyed it the most. I also believe the 1st disc of Final Fantasy to be the single best moment of gaming I've ever played. I simply love it. Sure it kinda gets a bit silly near and rushed at the end, but the fact I've had so much fun in the first disc means I forgive it for any and all flaws. Even Quina.
Of course there's also the strawberry on the top of the sundae: It has the best music in any game ever!
And there we go. My top 10 of gaming. Screw you if you disagree!
"I have a favour to ask of you. I wish to be kidnapped... right away!" - Garnet
"I shall hereby do my best to kidnap you!" - Zidane
Release date: March 15, 1995.
Chrono Trigger is a game made by square, that follows the adventures of a mute boy names Crono 5 other cast members as they travel through time, putting right what once went wrong, hoping that the next leap will be the leap ... home. The fact I'm pretty sure thats not a bad over view of Chrono Trigger scares me slightly ...
Anyway the is basically a romp around time saving ... yourself mainly. And evenually the world as you take on a being known as Lavos that is being summoned in the past, which will change the future into a post apocolyptic waste land.
Chrono Trigger is a pretty damn amazing RPG, released in 1995 its sprites were amazing, the battle system is probably one of the best battle systems of any Square RPG, an extremely complex and amazing story, some pretty damn decent characters and a neat musical score.
So enjoyable is Chrono Trigger that you wont need to think about going through it again in plus mode (play from the start but your characters are all the same level as when you completed the game), you WILL go through it in plus mode!
Its hard to really say much about Chrono Trigger beyond its pretty much the pinicle of RPG gaming, but thats about it. ITs an excellent game. Plane and simple.
#1
Final Fantasy IX(9)
Developers: Square
Platform: Playstation
Release date: Febuary 22, 2001
I don't think this'll come as a big surprise to people, but if it does; diddums.
Final Fantasy IX was the first fantasy Final Fantasy I had actually played, Final Fantasy VII being more of a sci-fi fantasy. And it was everything I wanted in my fantasy! Knights, swords, magic, kingdoms and airships made of wood! Sure some people would say there are better medevil RPG's out there, but none of them will bring on the sense of nostalgia quite like Final Fantasy IX. Just watching the intro clip gives me tingles.
Final Fantasy IX revolved around the exploits of a strange fellow named Zidane as he tries to stop the end of the world with a cast of outcasts (see what I did there?); A disgraced knight captain; a small boy without a face, just glory yellow eyes; a dragoon knight determind to only return home once she's strong enough; a young girl thats the last of her kind, a ... thing that ... wants to eat ... everything ... yeah; a bounty hunter that sucks and a young princess thrown into a war against her mother. And then there's Zidane, a teenager with a monkey tail and an ambiguous past.
The underlying theme of the game is identity, and this means that at some point all the characters have a part of the story inwhich you get to see their character grow. Except Quina ... Infact Quina largely stands outside of the events of the game. It's kinda like the last episode of season 4 of Buffy where they have freaky dreams and there's that cheese guy (I wear the cheese, it does not wear me), its apparently supposed to be just something random thrown in to break up the seriousness of the episode. Quina is Final Fantasy IX's cheese guy. Square obviously felt that the game ended up being too serious, so decided to through in Quina to bring up the drama. And it fricken works! I mean look at it:
Thats enough to break you out of a coma, let alone drama! Quina and Eiko aside, Final Fantasy IX has a great cast of characters.
The story and the characters pull you into the game and then its backed up with a pretty simple battle and leveling systems that are fun enough to not get annoying but also not too difficult, or tedious to be frustraiting (like having to buy the licence for weaponry and magic THEN buy it!) letting you to just enjoy the game.
While I do believe Final Fantasy to be one of the best games I've played, its definatly one of the most nostalgic. Which I take as a sign that I've enjoyed it the most. I also believe the 1st disc of Final Fantasy to be the single best moment of gaming I've ever played. I simply love it. Sure it kinda gets a bit silly near and rushed at the end, but the fact I've had so much fun in the first disc means I forgive it for any and all flaws. Even Quina.
Of course there's also the strawberry on the top of the sundae: It has the best music in any game ever!
And there we go. My top 10 of gaming. Screw you if you disagree!
"I have a favour to ask of you. I wish to be kidnapped... right away!" - Garnet
"I shall hereby do my best to kidnap you!" - Zidane
