17th August 2005, 6:59 PM
Or, pointless post done in order for me to waste my time doing something fun like making a list!
Gamespy has another mostly pointless Top 25 GC Games list ( http://cube.gamespy.com/articles/639/639689p1.html )... these things are always so tricky... I'm never sure how to rank games. Do you go by overall quality judged as objectively as you can? By what you like the best? Based on
just what you've played? Based on what you've heard about games as well?
... I always have a hard time making lists... for PC I have one, since I came up with it years ago and have mostly stuck to it, but consoles... not so much. Somewhat for each console I have, but not as well thought out as my PC list...
Anyway... hmm.
Awards:
-Best GC Sports Game: I haven't played any, unless SSX3 counts as a sports game... it doesn't, of course, so I haven't played any. :)
-Best GC Racing Game: XGRA. Though this may change once the GC gets a copy of Rush 2049 in Midway Arcade Treasures 3... but for now this game is the clear winner. So much more fun to play than F-Zero GX (which is a great game, but just not as good as this...)! Burnout and Wave Race don't even come close.
-Best GC Fighting Game: probably Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO. This is also almost certainly my most-played GC game, as me and my cousin have spent many hours playing it... not to mention all the time I've played it in single player. :) SSBM? Got boring after a few days. Soul Calibur II? Too luck-oriented, and you do too much damage -- fights are too short (which just boosts the luck element). And 3d means less precision. No, CvS2 is better... and besides, it has a FANTASTIC selection of characters...
Best GC RPG: Skies of Arcadia - Legends. Tales of Symphonia was pretty fun, and Paper Mario 2 is cool, but neither matches the greatness of Skies of Arcadia. Oh, I enjoyed ToS... but in the end it didn't leave me quite satisfied in comparison. I beat it in 55 hours and have only put in a little more than that (in the offered replay-with-minor-changes). PM2 I haven't finished... it's good, but SO similar to the first game that that might actually be a downside... the first one is one of the best games on the N64, but for some reason I just didn't love this one as much... but SoA? Fantastic. It was amazing on Dreamcast as is just as great on the GC...
-Best GC Strategy/Sim Game: Pikmin 2... simplistic, but fun, and without the timer it's much more enjoyable. Multiplayer helps too.
-Best GC Action/Adventure Game: Ah... hmm... um... I don't know... like with the overall winner, it's either Eternal Darkness, Zelda - WW, or Metroid Prime, but offhand I can't decide which should be which winner... Nintendo makes so many great games in this category. ED is one of the best games ever, but WW is Zelda and despite not being the best Zelda ever is still Zelda... its only other competition would probably be OoT/Master Quest, of course, but I don't have OoT/MQ for GC and haven't played the port, so I can't comment other than to say OoT is my favorite console game ever. :)
-Best GC Platformer: Mario Sunshine... I guess. Though I'm very, very tempted to give the award to Mega Man Anniversary Collection.
-Best GC Shooter: Smash TV on Midway Arcade Treasures 1... Ikaruga and Rogue Squadron II or RSIII (an underrated game, and it has that complete 2-player version of the RSII campaign too if you preferred that one and have a friend...) are behind this classic. You could also mention Alien Hominid for this category too, but it's not the winner...
-Best GC Game: Umm... can I pass on this one? :) (that is, is it MP? WW? ED? I'm not sure... ED was my first choice, but that was before I played those others...) Eh, okay, I'll give the best game award to Eternal Darkness. Why not... so I guess Metroid Prime wins 'Best Action/Adventure' and WW doesn't get anything except a mention. :)
Special Awards:
-Best 2d-gameplay GC game (this allows 2d gameplay with polyagonal characters): Tie between CvS2 EO and Viewtiful Joe... sorry Alien Hominid, honorary mention perhaps?
-Best multiplayer game: CvS2 EO, SSB:Melee, XGRA, or Wario Ware: Mega Party Minigames, depending on the tastes of who you are playing with... hmm, or maybe Zelda: FSA... that's pretty fun with four people and GBAs. :)
For equality, I'll make (smaller) lists for some other consoles... 'best game I've actually played on "a real (not emulated) console of this type"'... which shortens the list of potential games -- and consoles -- considerably. :)
X-Box: Metal Slug 3! Good! Play! (awesome rental, though level 5 is BRUTAL. Seriously oldschool you-lose-five-hundred-times brutal.) Halo 2? Bah, I just don't care very much... if I had an X-Box I'd get a bunch of SNK Neo-Geo ports, but NOT Halo 1 or 2. :)
PS1: Star Ocean: The Second Story is fantastic and I really want to play it more, preferably sooner as opposed to later... :(
Genesis: MKII I guess... though Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the best platformer.
Dreamcast: Skies of Arcadia. No question.
N64: OoT... with Mario 64, Rush 2049, Wipeout 64, and F-Zero X rounding out the top five. :)
SNES: Super Mario World... others are great, but that's the best. (Mario Kart, Super Star Wars, and Tetris Attack are also really fun games though... I'd also mention Super SFII, but it's been completely outclassed by Capcom vs SNK 2...
NES: Mario 3! ... followed by Zelda.
Turbografx: that 2d shooter I played the one time I ever played one, in a demo display in Lechmere or Toys R Us or something...
Leaving out the Gameboys because I have some nice solid lists for GB and GBC... haven't changed recently for the most part (from the versions on my website), but this post is long enough already... so handhelds go later. :)
Gamespy has another mostly pointless Top 25 GC Games list ( http://cube.gamespy.com/articles/639/639689p1.html )... these things are always so tricky... I'm never sure how to rank games. Do you go by overall quality judged as objectively as you can? By what you like the best? Based on
just what you've played? Based on what you've heard about games as well?
... I always have a hard time making lists... for PC I have one, since I came up with it years ago and have mostly stuck to it, but consoles... not so much. Somewhat for each console I have, but not as well thought out as my PC list...
Anyway... hmm.
Awards:
-Best GC Sports Game: I haven't played any, unless SSX3 counts as a sports game... it doesn't, of course, so I haven't played any. :)
-Best GC Racing Game: XGRA. Though this may change once the GC gets a copy of Rush 2049 in Midway Arcade Treasures 3... but for now this game is the clear winner. So much more fun to play than F-Zero GX (which is a great game, but just not as good as this...)! Burnout and Wave Race don't even come close.
-Best GC Fighting Game: probably Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO. This is also almost certainly my most-played GC game, as me and my cousin have spent many hours playing it... not to mention all the time I've played it in single player. :) SSBM? Got boring after a few days. Soul Calibur II? Too luck-oriented, and you do too much damage -- fights are too short (which just boosts the luck element). And 3d means less precision. No, CvS2 is better... and besides, it has a FANTASTIC selection of characters...
Best GC RPG: Skies of Arcadia - Legends. Tales of Symphonia was pretty fun, and Paper Mario 2 is cool, but neither matches the greatness of Skies of Arcadia. Oh, I enjoyed ToS... but in the end it didn't leave me quite satisfied in comparison. I beat it in 55 hours and have only put in a little more than that (in the offered replay-with-minor-changes). PM2 I haven't finished... it's good, but SO similar to the first game that that might actually be a downside... the first one is one of the best games on the N64, but for some reason I just didn't love this one as much... but SoA? Fantastic. It was amazing on Dreamcast as is just as great on the GC...
-Best GC Strategy/Sim Game: Pikmin 2... simplistic, but fun, and without the timer it's much more enjoyable. Multiplayer helps too.
-Best GC Action/Adventure Game: Ah... hmm... um... I don't know... like with the overall winner, it's either Eternal Darkness, Zelda - WW, or Metroid Prime, but offhand I can't decide which should be which winner... Nintendo makes so many great games in this category. ED is one of the best games ever, but WW is Zelda and despite not being the best Zelda ever is still Zelda... its only other competition would probably be OoT/Master Quest, of course, but I don't have OoT/MQ for GC and haven't played the port, so I can't comment other than to say OoT is my favorite console game ever. :)
-Best GC Platformer: Mario Sunshine... I guess. Though I'm very, very tempted to give the award to Mega Man Anniversary Collection.
-Best GC Shooter: Smash TV on Midway Arcade Treasures 1... Ikaruga and Rogue Squadron II or RSIII (an underrated game, and it has that complete 2-player version of the RSII campaign too if you preferred that one and have a friend...) are behind this classic. You could also mention Alien Hominid for this category too, but it's not the winner...
-Best GC Game: Umm... can I pass on this one? :) (that is, is it MP? WW? ED? I'm not sure... ED was my first choice, but that was before I played those others...) Eh, okay, I'll give the best game award to Eternal Darkness. Why not... so I guess Metroid Prime wins 'Best Action/Adventure' and WW doesn't get anything except a mention. :)
Special Awards:
-Best 2d-gameplay GC game (this allows 2d gameplay with polyagonal characters): Tie between CvS2 EO and Viewtiful Joe... sorry Alien Hominid, honorary mention perhaps?
-Best multiplayer game: CvS2 EO, SSB:Melee, XGRA, or Wario Ware: Mega Party Minigames, depending on the tastes of who you are playing with... hmm, or maybe Zelda: FSA... that's pretty fun with four people and GBAs. :)
For equality, I'll make (smaller) lists for some other consoles... 'best game I've actually played on "a real (not emulated) console of this type"'... which shortens the list of potential games -- and consoles -- considerably. :)
X-Box: Metal Slug 3! Good! Play! (awesome rental, though level 5 is BRUTAL. Seriously oldschool you-lose-five-hundred-times brutal.) Halo 2? Bah, I just don't care very much... if I had an X-Box I'd get a bunch of SNK Neo-Geo ports, but NOT Halo 1 or 2. :)
PS1: Star Ocean: The Second Story is fantastic and I really want to play it more, preferably sooner as opposed to later... :(
Genesis: MKII I guess... though Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the best platformer.
Dreamcast: Skies of Arcadia. No question.
N64: OoT... with Mario 64, Rush 2049, Wipeout 64, and F-Zero X rounding out the top five. :)
SNES: Super Mario World... others are great, but that's the best. (Mario Kart, Super Star Wars, and Tetris Attack are also really fun games though... I'd also mention Super SFII, but it's been completely outclassed by Capcom vs SNK 2...
NES: Mario 3! ... followed by Zelda.
Turbografx: that 2d shooter I played the one time I ever played one, in a demo display in Lechmere or Toys R Us or something...
Leaving out the Gameboys because I have some nice solid lists for GB and GBC... haven't changed recently for the most part (from the versions on my website), but this post is long enough already... so handhelds go later. :)