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My Top 11 Games Of All Time
Top games of all time mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. To me, I look at not only the quality of the game, but how the game made me feel and what impact it had on my life. Sadly, many of the early 2600 games like Adventure, don’t make this list, but they certainly are a big part of the gamer I am today.
#1 Metroid
Yes, Super Metroid is better. But this game changed my life. It’s an RPG without words, an action game with exploration , an epic that gave the world around the character meaning, it’s just the video game that defines me as a gamer. I love it from beginning to end for its brilliance.
#2 Super Metroid
All of the above, but better, and not first.
#3 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
There really isn’t much you can say, but this game is further proof that the Super Nintendo is the greatest gaming system ever.
#4 World of Warcraft
I’ve been a gamer since I could hold a joystick. I’ve played ridiculous amounts of games on every system since Pong (I’m talking Odyssey, Fairchild, RCA Studio II, Colecovision, on up), and no genre of games captures my attention like massively multiplayer online games. I remember the first time someone showed me Meridian 59 and I was absolutely blown away. That game basically stunk, but it, like Ultima Online, are where this genre started, but World of Warcraft simply does it better than all the rest, in my humble opinion.
#5 Everquest
I would never go through the experiences I had with EverQuest again, but this game was simply amazing. There weren’t instances. There was ONE dragon every week for every single person on the server to fight for, and I played 20 hours a day to make sure that my avatar and my guild were there to conquer all. Multi-day camps to get boots, dragons, and loot weren’t the oddity, they were the weekly grind, and while I would never do it again, my time there was truly glorious.
#6 Final Fantasy Tactics
I love (most) of the Final Fantasy RPGs, but Tactics was a challenge to me unlike any other. The battles were intense, long, and most of all, extremely gratifying. Before MMOs took over my life, I had never played a game as much as I played Tactics, and I doubt there will ever be a single-player game again that will garner as much time and love as I put into Tactics.
#7 Ico
There is just something about the world and characters in Ico that really spoke to me. I not only felt like I was in an alien time and place, but the characters moved and interacted in a way that made me feel as though I wasn’t playing a game, I was playing a piece of art. Whenever, the video games are art debate comes to light, I can’t help but feel sorry for the people that don’t believe video games are art, as that means they never played Ico and saw the game for what it truly was: an amazing journey. And yes, I cried at the end. Sue me. This game is the Old Yeller of my video game life.
#8 Tetris Attack
When I first played the game that would become Tetris Attack, then known as Panel de Pon on my Japanese Super Famicom, I fell in love. Sure, Tetris was great, but this puzzle game simply blew me away. Maybe it relates to how my brain is wired, but I could simply see the connections, and I have been playing it ever since. I still consider this the king of all puzzle games.
#9 Galaga
As a kid, I used to ride my bike daily to the arcades to blow quarter after quarter on the latest and greatest games, and Galaga was part of my daily routine. Sure, I mastered many an arcade game in my past, but no game says arcade to me quite like Galaga. It’s the perfect arcade game in my mind.
#10 Metal Gear Solid
There has been enough said about Metal Gear over the years. Kojima inspires me and frustrates me at the same time (particularly with his later entries), but there is no denying the power of the original Metal Gear Solid. Amazing story, fantastic bosses, and gameplay that simply defied the norm.
#11 Resident Evil 4
I tried to get into the early editions of Resident Evil, and I simply was always frustrated by the lack of ammo and the tank controls for your character. Enter: Resident Evil 4. This game gave me everything I ever wanted from a horror game. In fact, the game is almost too good.
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