[Question] Top 20 Games of the last 20 Years?

So here's a list of 20 things that kind of influenced how I saw games over the years.

Sonic CD (Sega CD - September 23, 1993)

Yeah, I have to have a Sonic game on the list, pretty much a requirement. While it didn't quite have the speed of the original Genesis games, Sonic CD took the game in a different direction with the time travel element and introduction of rival character Metal-Sonic. We got fucked on the soundtrack for some reason, and while that was kind of a downer it didn't stop how fun and visually appealing Sonic CD was.

Also, Sonic Boom. Sonic Boom greatest Sonic song of all time, I will fight you if you disagree.

Super Metroid (SNES - March 19, 1994)

Skills could probably :words: out about what makes Super Metroid so great better than I could, and I think just about anyone that's familiar with the series knows why this one is constantly pointed to as being the best. Because it kind of is.

Final Doom (PSX - October 1, 1996)

I remember when my older brother got his Playstation, along with Gran Turismo 2. I thought GT2 was neat, but the real fun was sneaking downstairs to his room at night when he was at work and playing Doom. I had never heard of it before and the game scared the shit out of then 10-year-old me, but it was totally worth it. Doom owns, and I'll forever remember going through and beating the game as being one of my favorite gaming experiences.

Ace Combat 2 (PSX - May 30, 1997)

Dawg, let me tell you about this game called Ace Combat. You've probably never heard us talk about it before right? You fly fighter jets in this fictional world called Strangereal to save the Usean continent from the rebel military. Only YOU, the amazing Scarface-1 can do it. Yup. This was the beginning of something awesome, from the soundtrack to the amazing selection of aircraft all the way down to the infamous tunnel run at the end. Ace Combat 2 will forever remain my favorite in the series.

StarFox 64 (N64 - July 1, 1997)

Oh man, StarFox 64. With it's amazingly corny dialogue and voice acting, and even more amazing gameplay experience. I remember sitting down with my friends and trying hard as fuck to figure out what the route to True Andross was. This was of course way before the internet made this kind of stuff easy and you had to use word of mouth and magazines, holy fuck do I feel old. The multi-player was pretty fun too, iirc.

Parappa The Rapper (PSX - October 31, 1997)

There are few games capable of being beloved across multiple generations, and I'll be damned if Parappa isn't one of them. My older brothers, myself, and even my 14 year old sister love the hell out of this game. It's so quirky, fun, and easy to pick up (and infinitely quotable). The graphics don't hold up at all and the choppiness of the actual "rapping" is hilarious, but that's part of its charm. Parappa will forever remain a gem. In the rain or in the snow, got the funky funky flow, bitches.

Brace Fencer Musashi (PSX - October 31, 1998)

The first Playstation game I got from my father back when I was first getting to know him, Musashi was something unlike anything I've ever played before. Running around as a miniature (and extremely rude) version of a Japanese historical figure and saving the people of a kingdom named after food was pretty funny to me. It was also very entertaining, didn't really require you to do any grinding and somehow got progressively sillier without ever killing the fun. That dungeon near the end where you had to use the calendar to figure out what doors to open stumped the fuck out of young me though.


Syphon Filter (PSX - January 31, 1999)

Before the whole third-person-shooter thing got ridiculously out of control, there was SF. A game where you ran around as some dude named Gabe (who had the funniest run animation in all of shooter history) and tasered the fuck out of everyone because lighting people on fire was way more awesome than shooting them. I'd like to think that Syphon Filter kind of opened the door for a lot of what was to come.

Ridge Racer Type 4 (PSX - May 4, 1999)

Oh my god, Ridge Racer. The first racing game I ever sat down and played with my dad, Ridge Racer was the definition of addicting. There were so many cars to unlock, so many different ways to play the Grand Prix, and it all looked so good (for the time) and the soundtrack is to date one of my favorite VGM soundtracks from start to finish. That feeling of drifting around the final corner neck and neck with your opponent to win never stopped being so good.

Quake III Arena (Dreamcast - October 22, 2000)

I remember when I first got this game and discovered the joy of online play, holy fuck. I would stay up way past bedtime with my little DC controller and keyboard, running around with rockets and shotguns. It was multi-player insanity at it's finest. It's also the first time I remember playing cross-platform with PC fuckers who would fuck us hard with the railgun. I didn't care, the game was too much fun. I had even joined a clan (NO RECOURSE 4 LYF) and everything. God the memories.

Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast - November 13, 2000)

JRPGs and I have never gotten along well, but Skies of Arcadia turned all that around. This was of course long before I became tired and jaded about how tedious random encounter systems could be, but that's beside the point. Skies of Arcadia was visually stunning, had an interesting cast, sported a great combat system in the ship battles, and who can say that they've never wanted to be a pirate? SoA had you covered man. Moonstone Cannon forever.

MechWarrior 4: Vengeance (PC - November 23, 2000)

MAD CAT MARK II WAS HERE SKILLS IS A LOSER

Grandia II (Dreamcast - December 6, 2000)

Talking Pet Eagle. Noriyuki Iwadare soundtrack. Okay so the end battle was the most retarded thing I've ever witnessed in my life but everything else about Grandia II was pretty great as far as JRPGs go.

Shantae (GBC - June 2, 2002)

The only game on the list I played long after its release, but it definitely deserves mention. WayForward's swan song of the GBC is a wonderful, wonderful game that shows how much love was put into it's creation from the moment you boot it up. It's not perfect (those god damn pitfalls that would start you back at the beginning of the travel areas arrgh) but it's about as close as you could get.

Warcraft III (PC - July 3, 2002)

I remember when this game swept over GFF like a fucking tsunami. We were all hyped for the beta, hyped even harder for the retail release, and I can't think of a PC game I've sunk more time into with this place. It was unbalanced as hell at first but we played and played and kept playing as long as we could because we didn't care. There was something great about completely crushing your opponents 3v3 or 4v4, and we had some pretty amazing tactical leaders on our side (Jenneriku come back ;___; ) that made the game all the more engrossing to play. And that's not even starting on the impact Warcraft III would have on the future of Blizzard releases and DOTA and all that shit.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GC - October 17, 2005)

Fire Emblem has, and probably will always be, my favorite SRPG. From the very day I played the first one on the GBA I was hopelessly hooked. PoR represents a high point in the series, with an epic overarching story, some huge maps/scenarios in the latter part of the game, and of course the best main character of all time Ike, who will always fight for his friends. RNG can still fuck off forever though.

Gears of War (Xbox 360 - November 7, 2006)

Love it or hate it, there's no denying what GoW and all of it's "EVERYTHING IS VARYING SHADES OF BROWN" did to the shooter genre. All of the overly muscled, alien fighting chainsaw gore will forever go down as something I look back on fondly.

Halo 3 (Xbox 360 - September 25, 2007)

I was torn between this one and ODST, but I think 3 is the point in the series was Halo was at it's best both story and multi-player wise.

Bastion (XBLA - July 20, 2011)

If I had to choose a representative for that whole "games as art" thing, Bastion would be it. Absolutely gorgeous visuals, solid narrative (I could listen to the narrator all day), and fluid gameplay all make for an experience that I think everyone should play at least once, even moreso than Machinarium which I gave Bastion the nod over for this list.

Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS - February 4, 2013)

I had to think a bit on what to close the list out with, and this seems like the most appropriate choice especially given Fire Emblem's shaky standing in the States. Awakening was going to be the last hurrah for the series if it didn't do all that well (Shadow Dragon kind of opened up Nintendos eyes to the fact that the series was on the decline) and Awakening blew everyone out of the fucking water. They brought back some elements from the older titles (most important being the marriage system), threw together a plot that you actually cared about, and through some kind of strange magic managed to make a title that was even better than the Gamecube offerings.

Awakening pretty much kicks ass in all of its categories, from writing to visuals to soundtrack, and I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out. Buying a 3DS if only for this game alone would have been totally worth it. Thankfully the 3DS has more to offer these days, but Awakening needs to be on everyone's list regardless of if you're a newcomer to the series or not. This is an SRPG at its absolute finest and I hope Intelligent Systems can keep this level of production up.

Jam it back in, in the dark.