• Top 100 Video Games

  

  Written by Zeromage 226 Comments
  Last Updated:: February 1, 2009

  70. Doctor Mario (NES)

  If you are anything like me, you played this game a few times and tossed it off as a Mario version of Tetris. People would say Dr Mario is great and you’d laugh smugly to your self, because these must be the people who never seen the big rockets in Tetris, right? Oh, man was I wrong. The two player version of this game is about the most exciting, eye drying, time defying game I’ve ever played. I currently play this more than any other game in rotation. You think you’re taking it easy, low speed, level 10, music chill, then your peripheral vision catches the score. How the hell does she have 29 viruses when I have 33? My game is flawless!! Then you hear it…the musical chime of your enemy clearing multiple lines. Randomly coloured half-pills drop from the top of the screen and you wait with rage for them to land while your nemesis continues to crush you. I lose at this game often. I’d say I win approximately 2% of the time, and that is a huge stretch. It’s great to show up to work red-eyed the next day and hear people comment on your disposition: “Oh man, long night of drinking?” “Nope, pills…”

  69. Soul Blazer

  With the amount of great RPGs that came out for the SNES during the 90’s it was easy to forget some classics. Squaresoft was making timeless RPGs once a month it seemed for a time. One of these games that may have been forgotten was Soul Blazer. Anyone who has not played this game and is a fan of RPGs should do themselves a favor and enjoy the adventure that is about to surround them. You will not be able to put down your SNES controlled when playing this game. As you walk land to land saving the life of the accompanying towns by fighting your way through danger areas, you realize that your addicted to this RPG more than anyone you have ever played. The music is absolutely memorable. The music of every town will be in your head way after the duration of the game. The gameplay is flawless with smooth controlling. Soul Blazer, like Secret of Mana and Illusion of Gaia, was not a turn based RPG but an free moving RPG where you had complete control of your character. Any fan of those earlier games will see Soul Blazer as being just as timeless as those games.

  68. Blades of Steel

  Blades of Steel is still the most fun hockey game in the video game market and it came out for the NES! Blades of Steel is the first time a hockey game saw real life fights. The winner of these fights got to stay on the rink while the loser was left to the benches being screamed down at by burly home fans. Who could ever forget the announcer saying “flips the pass” after every pass! Who could forget the halftime mini games that you could play? Who could forget the difficult tournament bracket that was reserved for only the best Blades of Steel players?This game was simple, entertaining and full of the kind of 2-player fun missing from modern games. This game could be played forever.

  67. X-Men

  X-men was a massive arcade game. It was not only massive in gameplay, but also the actual size of the machine. The screen itself was a whooping 50 inches wide. You could play with up to six players. If there was ever a game that embodied comradery, it was X-men the arcade game. Many a nerd friendship would be created from the endless quarters being popped into this machine. Comradery would shine even when things got too crowded with six people all huddled around this beast. The game itself was filled with illustrious graphics, a perfectly moderate difficulty level, and the best characters. The player who was able to use Cyclops was always luckiest though, as Cyclops had the best power using his vision laser (unlike in the comic books where the guy is a tool). The avid arcade gamer was always excited when walking into an arcade and seeing the side of X-MEN with Wolverine crossing his arms. They knew that if the right game players were in the arcade at the moment, then they could conquer one of the best multi-player arcade games of all time. The actual X-men arcade game machine was one of the few machines that actually attracted the arcade gamer into playing it in the first place. It was welcoming when the game itself lived up to the color and size of the machine.

  66. Double Dragon (Arcade)

  What first started as the best fighting game in all of coin-op hideouts around the globe, became the standard for all console fighting games. All fighting games after Double Dragon had the same theme. Kick the crap out of people you don’t know because they kicked the crap out a girl that you may or may not have been with, or maybe just wanted for yourself. This game is also one of the first times a game was more fun being played by 2 players, as you could double team the bums on the street, and hit 2nd player on the screen, often starting a double dragon fight outside the game itself! Fresh characters at every corner, lush scenery of the outdoors and the sempiternal Bolo smashing through walls to bear hug you made this a game of pure addiction. All fighting games owe an allegiance to double dragon.

  65. Rygar (NES)

  More often than not, Rygar is claimed to suck. That would be because the game player sucks. This is NOT “Ghouls and Goblins”, or a “Top Gun” with feats that can’t be overcome. At first, it does seem hard because of the lack of life you have and the inordinate amount of enemies that come from both sides on the screen, but once you get the hang of it, and realize that if you just stay alive for long enough, your power will increase to a level where it’s difficult to die, you will enjoy this game like no other. The mythological references to Greek beast gods and Greek architecture proved to be the game for the historian proper. How frightened were you when you first entered a temple with a wise man sitting Indian style above you on a pillar? You were so frightened that you got angry and decided to jump and attack him…then died…How excited were you to get the grappling hook and reach places that were once not reachable? How fun was it to glitch the game 10 minutes into playing and somehow arrive at the last boss of the game? There is a certain definite identity to this game that is felt more than most games. When you play this game, you know this game. You know the music, the sounds of your weapon, the sound of drinking potion…You know the sound of Rygar. The levels were always different ranging from 3D style fighting to traditional side scrolling, then mountain climbing with the grappling hook. This game is the best glimpse into what the life of a Greek warrior like Achilles would have been like; fighting monsters in front of a massive backdrop of a setting sun, and visiting old wise men to guide you on your way. In Rygar, myth comes alive; don’t listen to anyone else except Old-Wizard regarding the quality of this game.

  64. Mega Man X (SNES)

  Mega Man made his transition to the 16 bit medium flawlessly. How many question marks were there when Mega Man would be part of a totally new series? Who could have thought that Mega Man X was as good of a game as Mega Man 2? The new techy feel of the Mega Man X game did nothing to deter the game away from its main message of saving the world from a nefarious villain, this time in the name of Sigma. The bosses were more creative than the original Mega Man series and Mega Man had many more weapons to use throughout the duration of the game. The landscapes were filled with detailed backgrounds and the music was one of the best for the Mega Man series which always prided itself on superb music. Mega Man X is simply an unforgettable game.

  63. Twilight Princess

  When the Zelda series first went to the 3D medium, the avid Zelda fan questioned whether Zelda could make a successful transition into this new-age platform. While Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask were good games, its not until the release of Twilight Princess for the Gamecube and Nintendo Wii that there is a truly great Zelda game set in in three dimensional space. The map is large like every Zelda game before, and the storyline is far superior to most games to be released in the modern era. Solving expertly designed puzzles and traversing a wildly variable topography gives Twilight Princess it’s rightful place on this list. With Twilight Princess the Zelda series proves that it will be successful no matter which system it’s played on.

  62. Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader

  Being a big fan of both flight simulator games and Star Wars, I was really looking forward to the release of Rogue Squadron 2 when it first came out with the launch of the Gamecube. I might catch some flack for saying this, but I think this is the best Gamecube launch title. The graphics are stunning for a Gamecube title, and much more importantly the gameplay was simply amazing. The game controls themselves are great, and every craft feels different to pilot. There are also several different views (inside cockpit, just behind fighter, far back of fighter, and bombing view for those fighters that are capable) and each viewpoint has its own advantages and disadvantages. The game is fun and sometime challenging, and some of the different missions included ssituations where you had to do some genuine tactical thinking to get out alive (protecting convoys, destroying targets, etc). Overall Rogue Squadron 2 is one of the best flight simulation games ever made, and well deserving of its placement on this list.

  61. Little Nemo The Dream Master

  Little Nemo Dream Master may have used a protagonist small in stature, but the creativity in gameplay was as big as a Zelda game. Going through all those levels and picking up all those keys was not the simple 2D act of Nemo. Throughout his journey, he had to feed animals which would then give Nemo their animal power (talk about mythical symbolism!). Some of these abilities would be needed to conquer the game and other would simply make the game easier. Each level was not a mere 2D level, but were pixelated dreams that felt like actual dreams. Play the Flower level (level 2) and you’ll see what we mean. Each level was big too. The game felt like one big dream where you had the freedom to control your actual dream rather than being the recipient of something you couldn’t control. This game was innovative on many levels but for some reason is never considered among the great games.

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226 Comments

1. #1 Bladerunner says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 4:09 pm

   Terrible list imo.I realise this list is your opinion, and i respect that. Im just pointing out that my opinion differs from yours vastly

   1) Its a whore-fest of old games, lots of true modern classics were ignored. No half life 1,2, gta, resident evil, call of duty, fallout, civilization? Seriously???!!

   2) Toe jam and earl? give me a break….

   3) Not a single fricking N64 game? Majoras mask?! Mario 64?! Goldeneye?! Perfect dark?! OCARINA OF TIME?!!!!!! sheesh

   3) Just ONE ps2 game in the entire list? no shadow of the colossus? no okami? no gran turismo? no god of war? OMG

   4) Correct me if im wrong, but i dont think i saw a single racing game in there… wtf?

   I do agree with most of the top 20 though. Chrono trigger, Castlevania:SOTN, Zelda LTTP…. epic games
2. #2 Dopeycunt says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 9:36 pm

   Seems like the author does not have a whole lot of experience playing catalogs of games on different systems, and probably stuck to Nintendo systems when he was a kid. Only the big-name (obvious) Sega titles are here, and a distinct lack of PSX, XBox, and PC games.
3. #3 Wolf says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 10:12 am

   …dodgeball beat DigDug?
   already bad things happening and im only on page 1
4. #4 Wolf says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 10:20 am

   Ducktales made the top 20?…
5. #5 dude says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 12:19 am

   while this list may not be well rounded (at all), it makes for a pretty good reference on which old roms I should be investing my time in.
6. #6 pd says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 9:45 pm

   so your saying nhl 94 and a dodgeball game are better then say castlevania iv and contra 3 bullshit and there two games off the top of my head.
7. #7 Justin says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 3:45 am

   I didn’t know N64 was such a crappy system.LOL.What an ass list and an ass website. Terrible what you are putting into these viewer’s heads.
8. #8 Justin says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 3:50 am

   Oh and I also forgot to LOL @ having Madden 2004 on there without NFL 2k5.Props for putting Star Craft on there though,best game ever made.
9. #9 Azelfknight says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:44 pm

   Zelda 2 is the worst Zelda ever…just saying.

   This list is okay, but with way to many old ripoffs of each other in the platforming department. A link to the past is one of my favorite games and glad others recognize it too, but so many good game aren’t on this list that it makes me shake my head. Here are games that deserve more credit, in no order, Halo, Ocarina of Time, Fallout 3, WOW, Mario Kart 64, and more…
10. #10 pelham123 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 11:05 pm

    It’s nice to see a more personal top 100 list for a change, an enjoyable read. Cheers!
11. #11 Fedricco Rabaya says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:31 pm

    Hey people can someone tell me the Mario game when the story is about a dream of Mario? There are 4 characters to choose from: MArio, Luigi, Princess and the Mushroom kid.
12. #12 Salo says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    Super Mario 2.
13. #13 nick says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:56 pm

    good list, but you guys really need to play golden sun.