50) Assassin's Creed 2 (Xbox 360)
We start off this list with a game I have only recently conquered. What this game does best, I think, is translate a fascinating world from recorded history, and successfully recreate it for an exciting digital adventure. Renaissance-period-Italy was rich in culture, intrigue, mystery, beauty, darkness, and creativity. AC2 captures this aspect completely, both in its setting, and the characters that inhabit it.
Bringing that to the forefront is Ezio Auditore, the main character. I think he makes for a great main character. He starts off kind of generic, looking for revenge and whatnot. But then he progress as a person, trying to finish what his father started, instead of merely trying to finish off his father's murderer. Combine that with a beautiful world, the freedom presented with the freerunning gameplay, and the sci-fi twist in the story, and you get a rich, immersive game. (Take note, this is the only game on the list that I have only rented, instead of owned.)
49) Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)
Here is a game that some would consider a true classic. Many young gamers of today started liking games thanks to this classic. And for good reason. For its time, Super Mario 64 was a complete revolution, starting a chain reaction of gaming that would be recreated and improved upon by almost every game that has come out since. We owe much of what games have become today thanks to SM64.
Some things I will always remember about this game are the worlds trapped in paintings, the always-catchy music, sliding down slides on Mario's stomach (because that's faster than his butt), and being scared of that giant eel that's deep in the waters of Jolly Roger Bay. Having said all that, all of those nostalgic thoughts can't cover up the fact that this game has aged badly. Nowadays, the level design is too simplistic, the controls are inaccurate, and the camera is uncooperative. None of those things make the game bad, but I can't deny that this gem has lost a little of its sheen.
48) Tetris Attack (SNES)
A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, right? Well, that's what Shakespeare says. In this case, he's right. This game's name refers to Tetris. But the thing is, the gameplay actually has very little to do with Tetris. The game was conceptually created under the Japanese name of Panel De Pon. It starred cute fairy girls, and other things that don't catch my fancy. But, when the game was brought to the United States, Nintendo decided to change a few things. They made the game star Yoshi and his friends, gave the game some atmospheric music, some of which was remixed Yoshi music, and they tacked the Tetris name on the box, since Americans were quite familiar with Tetris by now.
If this had happened in the modern day, I would actually be against it. But for its time, the changes worked. The music was great, the action was fast-paced and challenging, and gameplay was simple and addicting. Tetris Attack was a great game back then, and it's still great now. Make sure to play with your friends and family, that's what makes this game so great!
47) Mario Kart 64 (Nintendo 64)
“Wel-a-come to Madio Kart-a!” That's one of the first things I remember about this classic racing game. (No, I'm not talking about bad Mario impressions.) The next thing I remember is how great this game is with friends and family. This is something you've got to play with other people in order to really have fun. And by fun, I mean chaos. This game was a blast of crazy fun. Racing against up to 3 other opponents, rolling over floating rainbow boxes, tossing shells at each other like heat-seeking missiles, and dealing with dozens of crazy hazards. This game was the bomb (sometimes literally-speaking). And yeah, the races were fun.
But the real competition was in the 4 player battle arenas. Trying to keep your 3 balloons safe around your kart, while doing your best to pop everyone else's balloons as quickly as possible. Even if you couldn't do it, losing almost became fun, as you would transform into a little bomb-on-wheels, and do your best to get revenge on the guy who took you down. While I can't say this game has aged perfectly, it's still a great racing game. Just don't take it seriously, you might kill someone.
46) Super Mario Bros. 3 (SNES)
As far as I can tell, this game is usually everyone's favorite Mario game ever made in 2-D. Well, I'm not one of those people. But this game's still pretty great. I've still got the majority of secrets and pathways memorized. This game probably has some of the best Mario power-ups ever made. Who doesn't love the Hammer Suit, or the Tanooki Suit (whatever that is)? It's also got a great amount of levels, and variety. One level has you swimming around jellyfish and squids, while the next has you hopping in the clouds. My favorite world was Giant Land, when little goombas and koopas became big bullies with a heart of gold. Wait, they never had hearts of gold...Oh well.
The reason this didn't make it to a higher tier of my list is because I think some of the secrets are a little obtuse. For example, have you ever heard of the white Toad House? No, not the yellow one. Believe me, they're hidden. And the game never tells you about them, or gives the slightest hint. But hey, I've gotta give this game credit for introducing the Koopa Kids. Bowser's troublesome offspring have always made for fun bosses, and they wouldn't be here without SMB3. For introducing this, and many other things that would become traditional to Mario games, I have to give this game props.
45) The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Gamecube)
This is the largest and most recent of Link's adventures. And what a great adventure it is! I had some truly great experiences with this game. It's got just about everything a Zelda game needs: Great music, awesome dungeons to conquer, really cool items that are useful, and plenty of things to do and collect. It even had a great story to go along with everything. It wasn't just a take-over-the-world attempt from Ganon, it had more stuff going for it, and even a little character development. Yeah, that last part is in reference to Midna. I would say she's probably one of the best side-characters ever created in a Zelda game. She's mysterious, funny, strong, and even displays unusual character traits for a game girl, like dominance, ferocity and control (Link better be a good boy). She made a good story even better.
Unfortunately, the game makes quite a few shortcomings, which shouldn't happen in a sequel. The overworld wasn't nearly as interesting, the cool, useful items quickly became useless hunks of junk after you beat the dungeon you got them from, and some plot threads were disappointing (hello Zant). Some might also call the controls into question, if they played the Wii version (I've played both, gamecube is actually better). However, as you will soon find out, I love every single 3-D console Zelda game, and that includes this fantastic twilight adventure.
44) Wario's Woods (SNES)
The second puzzle game on my list, Wario's Woods is probably even less well known than Tetris Attack/Panel De Pon. Wario's Woods was released on both the NES and the SNES. Some things to know about it include the fact that Toad, that crazy mushroom dude was allowed to be the main character, for some reason. It was his job to use colored bombs to destroy monsters of the same color. A vertical or horizontal line of 2 or more monsters was required to make a match, and destroy the monsters. The helper in the game, for some reason, was Birdo from Super Mario Bros. 2. Only this time, her name was Katherine. Crazy? Yes. Then comes Wario. Yeah, he was in this game, and he functioned as the final boss. He was causing all of the monster trouble in the forest...for some unimportant reason I forget.
The entire reason I like this game, besides its addicting gameplay, is for the memories it helped create between me and my mom. We have played this game for hours. And then we've played it some more. It's simple, competitive fun. There's not much more to say about this game, but I recommend it to mostly anyone who could get their hands on it. I'd like to see a sequel.
43) Sonic Advance (Gameboy Advance)
This is the first Sonic game on my list, and many of you probably don't know about this game, or its two sequels. Well that's just a darn shame! Lots of people think Sonic hasn't had a good game since the Sega Dreamcast. There's even an extreme case that thinks he hasn't been good since the Sega Genesis. Well that's just wrong! And this game proves it. If you actually played it, you'd realize this game was Sonic 4 before there was a Sonic 4! It had everything: different playable characters, cool levels, special stages with chaos emeralds, and classic gameplay. No, really, it barely did anything new. But it was so fun, that didn't matter. While I tend to think the 3rd Advance game was the best of the trilogy, the original is my favorite, and gives off the most nostalgia, so that's why it's here.
The last thing I'll mention about the game is how each playable character added something to the gameplay. Sonic was the fastest, of course, and could ride grind rails to new areas. Tails was there, and could fly to higher areas. Knuckles came along as well, and could do his awesome gliding and climbing, and even tread water. What's different about this game, was Amy became a playable character for the first time. She was fun to play as, surprisingly enough. Her hammer allowed her to pound springs for extra high jumps, which led to great shortcuts. All in all, Sonic Advance is a fun Sonic game that deserves higher praise and recognition.
42) Time Splitters 3 (Gamecube)
This is a fantastic game, and one of the most unique FPSs I've ever played. Right off the bat, I've gotta commend this game for its story. The cutscenes and writing are just funny as all get out! Sgt. Cortez makes for a great character, and is better than your typical space marine hero. Another great thing about this game is all of the content. You've got a big campaign to enjoy, a great challenge mode, some awesome multiplayer (complete with bots, which more games could use), many customizing options, and on top of that, a map maker! Yeah, make your own levels, and junk! Do you know how many characters you can unlock for multiplayer? 150! Yes, that many. Granted, a few of them are just reskins, or different colors of the same guy...but it's still amazing.
Then you get the weapons, as well. You get to use typical FPS weapons, and a few special ones. Some that come to mind include dual-wielding mini-guns (which seems really heavy), a gun that shoots laser beams meant for ghosts, and a monkey gun (yeah, I know). Whether with friends, or by your lonesome this game was worth having. We desperately need a new sequel!
41) Soul Calibur 2 (Gamecube)
What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is my favorite fighting game ever created! What an exciting and strategic game! Me and my friends hacked at each other for so many months. It was great. What's funny, is that only a few things about the game stand out, and everything else doesn't really matter. Stages are simple; they're either made for ring-outs, completely caged in, or a mix of the two. Sure, they looked good at the time, but they're barely memorable. The same generally goes for the characters. You get girly-men, burly men, and tons of sexy ladies with boobs the size of large pieces of round fruit. Then we get my favorite characters. The first is Nightmare. Part knight, part monster, he wields a sword called Soul Edge, which has eyeballs in it.
The other favorite character is obviously going to be Link. You see, this was the first Soul Calibur game to feature guest characters, each character different for each console. The Gamecube version got the best character, IMO, Link from Zelda. And he definitely brought his A game to the fight. Not only was he a versatile, fast, and strong character, he could also get ring-outs like nobody's business. Now, I've played the later sequels, and they simple didn't keep the tight gameplay, or the perfect modes of play. They always changed things up, and made things worse in the process. (Star Wars, what?) Soul Calibur 2 will always be my favorite tale of swords and souls, eternally retold.
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