Video Games, I chuffing love them I do. I’ve loved them from a very young age. They excite me, they frustrate me, they entertain me and they enchant me. Some of the warmest and fuzziest memories of my youth are related to playing games, either alone or with friends. Such was my love, I decided to write a blog post about my 20 favourite games of all time.
Please note that this is about my own personal favourite 20 games, not a list of what I consider are the best of all time. These are just the games that, for whatever reason, I’ve had the most joy playing over the past 20 years or so. With that caveat firmly in place, let’s let the worms out of the can and begin, controversially, with number 20.
Number 20: Goof Troop (Super Nintendo)
This might be seen by some as a strange choice being that this game is essentially just a Zelda knock off using a Disney franchise that never really set the world on fire. Goof Troop was serviceable Saturday morning entertainment that never truly wowed or could match up to other Disney shows of the period.
The game itself has a pretty silly premise, but at least one that lends itself well to entertainment. While out fishing, Goofy and Max’s pals are abducted by pirates, leaving the Goof Family as their only source of salvation. Thus follows 5 levels of pirate fighting mayhem across a chaotic tropical island.
The gameplay is nothing especially unique. You defeat the pirates by throwing objects like barrels at them or by pushing them into the ocean with a grappling hook. There are some notable highlights on hand though. For example, one of the levels involves you traipsing through a haunted castle, which is both atmospheric and genuinely fiendish in regards to some of it’s puzzles. Suits of armour stand upright but suddenly spark to life at a moments notice to chase you around the room. A young me found that genuinely unnerving when I first experienced it.
The reason the game makes the list though is quite simply for the sheer fun I had playing it with my mate Jim back in our younger days. The game encourages team work and also patience, especially when dealing with some of the puzzles. One of the main puzzle types involve kicking concrete blocks into place to open doors. For an example of how frustrating, and in-turn hilarious, this can be I suggest you search out the Game Grumps video where they play the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0IqCzvN_FE (Game Grumps Link)
Complaints about the game would be that the enemies can sometimes be overly cheap and the fact that it blatantly rips off Legend of Zelda. Still, if you’re going to pay homage to another game, it might as well be a good one. The fact they eventually made a co-op Zelda game highlights that this game has it's merits.
Top fun this one, especially when played with a friend, hence why it makes the top 20.
Number 19: Super Mario World (Super Nintendo)
Some of you may think this is too far down the list, but considering the hundreds of games I’ve played over my lifetime, being my 19thfavourite of all doesn’t seem as much of a slight to me as it may be to others reading this.
This game is outrageously good of course. I’ve played it all the way through many a time and I always like coming back to it now and then for another go. The graphics are bright and colourful, the gameplay is both fun and perfectly weighted in regards to difficulty (Aside from Tubular, I lost hours of my childhood to that bloody level!) and the music is both enchanting and eternally catchy.
This was the biggest Mario game yet, with branching over world design, new power ups and the debut of Yoshi as a Dinosaur pal that you could ride like a green, jovial stead into battle. For a young me this was Earth shattering brand new stuff and it blew my tiny little mind.
This game is true classic, a genuine triumph of design and an absolute delight to play. It was a warm nostalgic blanket for Generation X and a chance for those of us in Generation Y to dip our toes in the Mario ocean and realise that the water was lovely.
Number 18: Tomb Raider (X-Box 360/Playstation 3)
The original Tomb Raider games on the PC and Playstation were revolutionary releases that I was absolutely awful at. I remember struggling as far as level 5 in Tomb Raider 2 before I got so enraged with the difficulty that I flung the disc across my living room in disgust. The original Tomb Raider games were absolutely merciless and I was one of the many intrepid gamers that were forced into submission by their destructive difficulty.
As a result, I grew to think of Lara Croft with nothing but contempt. I think I played Tomb Raider 3 a grand total of once at a mate’s house, got killed in about 15 seconds on the first level and promptly gave up on the campaign. I did enjoy locking the butler in the freezer though, that was always a laugh.
So when I heard that Lara was getting dug out of the mothballs for a Next Gen outing, I was sceptical that I’d be interested. Indeed, when the game first came out I passed on it entirely. However, I started hearing murmurs that this was a very good game and when I saw it cheap in Grainger Games I decided to take the plunge and give it a go. I didn’t regret it.
This game is excellent stuff. It wastes no time in kicking the ever loving fudge out of poor Lara, and if the game were real she probably wouldn’t even make it past the first set piece. There are a barrage of villains and wild animals to deal with and the difficulty curve is nicely weighted.
What I enjoyed most about the game though was how it felt like I was playing a genuine Hollywood blockbuster. Scenery collapses around you as you try to outrun toppling mountains and crashing planes. It is an unmistakable thrill ride and completely immersive. One scene in the game is literally just Lara climbing a gigantic radio tower in order to send out a message. With nary an enemy in sight, Lara has to assail the massive structure. What could very easily be a tedious process is actually a very rewarding one. When Lara finally makes it to the top after such an agonising climb, you genuinely feel like you and her have achieved something together.
This game took me completely by surprise and I can only applaud it for transplanting Lara back to the forefront of gaming. For a long time it had seemed like the Tomb Raider franchise had become a relic of a past age, something that Lara herself would be searching a dilapidated hillside to find. But now it’s back, only to flush away all the goodwill it captured by becoming an X-Box Exclusive. Ah, the gaming industry.
Number 17: Street Fighter II: Turbo (Super Nintendo/Mega Drive/Arcade)
God I loved Street Fighter. It must have been the bane of my parent’s existence. If we passed any arcade that had it (Arcades, remember them?) I would immediately beg them to let me play it. They’d normally say no of course, but that didn’t stop me asking. Every. Single. Time.
I just loved this game. I’ll never forget the thrill of completing it for the first time and then seeing one of the cut scenes. Such things were new to me at the time. I still remember completing it with Ken and then watching as he got married and just thinking it was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen. This wasn’t even full motion video either.
Beat-em-ups are a bit of an acquired taste, especially now that they are all about ridiculous combos and seemingly every franchise has just got sillier and sillier as time has progressed. Back when this game came out though, it was a simpler time. Ryu was the good guy who could throw fireballs and Bison was the bad guy who could fly across the screen. Everyone in the game hated him for one reason or another and they were all lining up to kick his arse in a Street Fighting Tournament. Nice, simple and easy to comprehend.
The gameplay in the earlier editions of the series was built about knowing when to time your block and how to avoid the insane cheapness of some of the opposing fighters. Fighters like Sagat would throw both high and low fireballs at you, so you’d diligently dodge them only to walk right into a Tiger Uppercut. Sagat would then laugh at your pathetic broken carcass. Ah, memories.
If you ask me, the more simplistic Street Fighter experience was the one I enjoyed the most. Who cares about wacky combos that cause the screen to flash and change colour? Street Fighter II: Turbo made you think tactically. You could be stuck in the corner with literally no health, biding your time for that one Hadouken or flying punch/kick that you needed to win. Waiting patiently as Vega climbed the cage so you could catch him with an uppercut at just the right moment when he leapt down to attack you is still one of the most satisfying things you can do in a video game.
And if you had friends, this game could potentially last forever. This is my childhood, hear it roar!
Number 16: Grand Theft Auto V (X-Box 360/Playstation 3/X-Box One/Playstation 4)
The most recent game to make the list and it more than earns its place. You talk about immersion in video games, well look no further than GTA V. The PS4 version takes an already stacked game and just makes it even bigger.
The city this game is set in actually feels alive. There are thousands of computer generated people, cars and animals, all getting on with their own existence as you survive through your own whilst playing as one of the three central characters.
As you stroll down by the beach, people are walking their dogs or are chatting on their phones. I randomly passed a gruff middle aged black man who was in the middle of a phone call with his wife blaming her for his erectile dysfunction. This actually happened, they paid an actor to come in and read the lines for this, on the 1000/1 off chance that someone might randomly hear it.
The level of detail to the little things in this game is both incredibly impressive and also a little bit terrifying. I’ve spoken to people who don’t even bother with the story missions. They just boot up the game and go for a drive in the Los Santos sun. I spent a good 20 minutes during one play session just going for a walk and taking pictures.
When you can tear yourself away from the scenery, the game itself is excellent. The game is built around three crooks who are looking to complete a number of heists in order to make ends meat. Michael has been forcibly retired for nearly a decade, but is getting the itch to get back in. Franklin is a young wannabe gangster from the streets who is looking for his first big job. And then there’s Trevor. I don’t think I can adequately explain just how bizarre Trevor is, you’ll have to play the game. The man is freaking cucaracha though and no mistake.
All in all, this game will eat into your free time. No matter how late it is or how long you’ve been playing, it’s very hard to fight the urge to complete just one more mission. Top stuff.
That's enough for now I think. I'll be back soon with 15-11
