LK's Top 30 Games of All Time #25-21

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Added by LK on April 23, 2009

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25. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)

A Zelda game that could surpass Ocarina of Time was a hefty feat, and though Majora’s Mask did not live up the unreachable expectation, it is still a pretty amazing game, from start to finish. Nintendo not only tried to flip the franchise around, they absolutely succeeded, and the outcome was clever, but not nearly as fun as past games. You still have the majority of the game being similar, but instead of dungeons progression with the number being around 7 or so, Majora’s Mask has 4 main dungeons, but tons of side quests.

Majora’s Mask’s story however, is still the best of the series, no doubt in my mind. Instead of the whole, Link saves Zelda from Ganon type of deal, Nintendo totally mixed up the formula, and ends up being one of the best Zelda stories to date. When you start the game, Link is riding Epona to try and find Navi, his missing fairy from Ocarina of Time. Epona gets startled, and knocks Link right off his back, knocking Link out cold, and while knocked out, a little child with a weird mask on his face steals Link’s Ocarina.

From there, Link eventually gets his Ocarina back, but the game has only begun after that. The moon is falling from the sky ever so slightly, and Link has 3 full days to beat all 4 dungeons and stop the kid responsible: Majora. But the game forces you to be quick, because you have to beat each dungeon in a time limit, and if you don’t get it done, the town will be crushed by the moon, and Link will ultimately fail. Luckily, if Link plays the song of time, time will reverse to the dawn of the first day with nothing in his pocket besides his major items like swords, shields, and items.

Better than Ocarina of Time?

The game’s biggest flaw is the 3 day limit, and though it can be slowed down to half the speed, it’s still pretty difficult to accomplish. It really turned off a lot of gamers and critics alike, and overall got a lower reputation that the game that preceded it. Still, Majora’s Mask didn’t change the formula too much in terms of gameplay. You’ll find a lot of the same enemies, with some new ones here and the there. Termina is a lot different from Hyrule though, but different in a totally good way.

Visually, Majora’s Mask was one of the top tier looking games of the generation, and it had another amazing soundtrack to boot. It took everything that made Ocarina of Time special, kept it, but evolved the genre to go to places never seen before in an action adventure game, let alone a Zelda game. It’s too bad lots of fans of the series skipped it because of its basic idea, but I highly suggest to anyone that has liked a Zelda game to try it out. It’s harder than most Nintendo games, but should be tried by anyone anyways. Majora’s Mask is an amazing game, and is my 25th favorite game ever made.

24. Rock Band (X360, PS3)

I was never into the whole Guitar Hero craze. Sure, I thought the games were fun, but they weren’t amazing me like it was with other people. But my opinion on the second Guitar Hero is very strong considering I have played the game one time. Still, I bought Guitar Hero III, and I still didn’t think it was that amazing. But when Harmonix split, and decided to go a whole new way, I was interested. And when they finally announced that the new game, Rock Band, would not only a guitar and bass, but drums and vocals as well, I was stoked, and couldn’t wait.

Even though I had to wait to the early goings of 2008 to actually first play the game, when I first started wailing on the drums like a Rock Star, I knew I was experiencing something special. But the drums weren’t the thing that really sealed the deal for Rock Band however, because playing the game with a bunch of other people on one band is where the real magic happened, and is one of the best multiplayer experiences I have ever had. But what made the multiplayer so special was the Band World Tour mode that had your band doing gigs to gain more and more fans to ultimately be inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The songs selection for Rock Band was one of the best seen in a rhythm game. With bands like Nirvana, The Who, Iron Maiden, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Aerosmith, Boston, Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead, and much, much more, the selection covered a wide variety of difficulties, and a wide array of genres. What made the game just that much better was the ability to buy songs online on the Xbox 360 and PS3 to have an unlimited amount of songs to choose from, including some free bonus songs along the way.

Jammin'

Rock Band really appealed to me from the very beginning. Though the guitar parts of the game aren’t nearly as polished as the Guitar Hero charts, and the Vocals could definitely be a bit tighter, adding them all together with the drums and bass made the whole game just a blast to play. The drums are especially the biggest selling point of the game to me, and since I started on medium on day one, I have gotten past all of the songs on Expert (including Run to the Hills and Wont Get Fooled Again), and I can safely say that I am an Expert at the drums.

But all I can say about Rock Band is that it’s my favorite music game ever made, and I enjoy the hell out of it, even to this very day. I literally play the game every single day, toning my drums skills, and trying to beat my own scores for the worldwide Leaderboards (currently 75th on Rock and Roll Star!). Rock Band is the pinnacle game for local cooperative multiplayer, and if you still haven’t tried the game, I highly suggest it to anyone that loves music, and anyone that loves video games. Rock Band is my 24th favorite game ever to be released.

For Rock Band, I’m strictly talking about the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 versions because of the Band World Tour Mode, Customizable Characters, Downloadable Content, and the HD Graphics that both the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions do not have.

23. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN)

When Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 was released in the late goings of the Nintendo 64, it was a hit. I loved Smash Bros., it had a great charm to it, and it is one of the best games I go back to for nostalgic reasons. But the sequel was made and released only 2 years later, and could it stand up to the allure that the first game had? The short answer is yes, oh yes, because Super Smash Bros. not only became one of my most favorite games of all time, but it stands as the greatest fighting game I have ever played.

Some people will turn they attention elsewhere after reading the above paragraph, but I simply have never played a better fighting game that has had more effect on my life than Super Smash Bros. Melee. Pitting Nintendo characters up against each other doesn’t sound like a very great idea on paper, but after Smash Bros. proved it could be done, Melee showed that it can be done very, very well. The fighting engine was fascinating in the first Smash Bros., it was unique as hell, but it was also fun as grass is green, and Melee not only improved the formula, but absolutely perfected it, and is used across the globe as a real tournament hotspot for competitive video gaming.

Fightin'

The game is like the first game in the series, but with added content, a better more realistic look, and just an overall better presentation. The menus were far more slick, the graphics were enhanced dramatically, and the character roster was doubled. The Nintendo lovables returned like Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, and Donkey Kong, but after the basics were added in the first game, the more in depth characters were added afterwards. Bowser, Peach, Zelda, Ganondorf, Falco, and Mewtwo were added as well as new franchises to the series like the Ice Climbers, Mr. Game & Watch, and the two Fire Emblem characters, Marth and Roy, which first introduced the North American audience to the Fire Emblem franchise.

Melee introduced a ton of new game modes, a ton of new stages, and just a ton of great content, mixed with awesome visual, and an amazing soundtrack. Melee is easily one of the best games of the amazing year that was 2001, and Melee is easily one of my favorite games of all time. The fighting engine had me hooked for years, the visuals only recently got dated, the soundtrack is still one of the best ever, and the overall game just amazes me every time I think about it. If you love fighting game, pick this animal up, you wont regret it, I assure. It has great value, even for a game with absolutely no online. Super Smash Bros. Melee is my 23rd favorite game of all damn time.

22. Gears of War (X360, PC)

Gears of War was the big game for Microsoft’s console in 2006, it was its killer app, and though it wasn’t Bungie, Epic Games still made not only a pretty damn good game, but a freaking amazing game. Gears of War is a 3rd-Person shooting game with a pretty good single player campaign that can be played not only in single player, but in on co-op as well. The cooperative campaign is Gears of War was brilliantly done, and I wouldn’t want to play the game any other way. The cooperative campaign also made the game what it is, and without it, the game wouldn’t have been as good.

But what made the campaign so good you ask? Well, if shooting Locust with your friends wasn’t enough, the ways to get to different areas, like splitting apart, letting someone use a valve so you can get to the next area and vice-versa really made it fun, but adding this in with a great cover and shooting mechanic made it amazing. Gears of War really stressed the idea of taking cover before shooting, and it was a necessity in every difficulty level. Almost anything in the environment can be hidden behind, and shooting is as easy as holding the left trigger to aim, and the right trigger to shoot.

The campaign features a story, but it’s not the reason why you’d play. But the game also feature a somewhat-robust online multiplayer mode, but ends up a disappointment overall. It takes a lot of shots to kill someone, and even if you shoot them enough, you have to run up to them and finish them off. The modes were also scarce, and usually they were 3 on 3, never all for one and one for all. Still, it was blast to play, even though it’s definitely not as deep as something like Halo or Call of Duty.

Chainsawin'?

The best part of the game has to be its graphics though, because Gears of War is easily the best looking game I have ever played. Gears of War’s visuals are just an example of what HD graphics look like, and it couldn’t look better. The models are detailed as ever, the draw distance is just amazing, and the effects are perfect. The only weird part of the visuals are the colours, grey is the most predominant colour, and the others are barely used, like red for blood. Still, just looking at the game in motion is just a treat, especially while playing the game in High Definition.

Gears of War, even though it had some faults, is still one of my favorite games of all time, and easily stands as my 22nd favorite game of all time. It has the best graphics I’ve ever seen, it has an amazing cooperative campaign (a good single player one to boot), and it also had fun online modes, though they were shallow. You may wonder, this game doesn’t sound amazing, I faulted the online play, the colour scale of the visuals, and the single player campaign, but it doesn’t change the fact that once you start playing, you wont want to stop.

21. Super Mario World (SNES)

A lot of people hail Super Mario Bros. 3 the greatest Mario game ever made, saying that it had the best overworld, the best stages, and the best power-ups of the series. Though I think Super Mario Bros. 3 is a fantastic game, I believe that the next step in the franchise was not only better, but one of the best Mario games ever to be released on any console, ever. It had amazing visuals that were smooth, colourful, and above all else, clear. It was amazing to watch the game in action for the first time, it was really a site to behold. Mixing the visuals with the amazing sound and the classic Mario gameplay really ended up being fantastic overall.

One of the biggest gameplay additions was the ability to hop on Mario’s new sidekick, Yoshi, and take him for a ride, sort of like a power-up. Yoshi could eat enemies, he could jump high, and he could stretch his tongue out for extra length. Super Mario World gave birth to the Yoshi character, and really jump started it for what it is today. But Super Mario World played extremely similar to the past three NES Mario Bros. games, but modernized for the 16-Bit era. Mario could soar and fly into the air with his Cape, he could swim underwater, climb on clouds, and shoot fireballs.

Best Mario Overworld

The level design and the overworld map was really a site to behold however, because it was amazing for its time. There was tons and tons of levels with multiple ways of beating them for multiple ways of exploring the overworld. At some instances, you could go underwater, or you could go around the lake visiting a Haunted House on the way. The overworld was lush and colourful while also having a very catchy tune. The soundtrack also made Super Mario World special, because it was kick ass.

Super Mario World will always be in my heart as one of the best platforming games ever, and one of the best Mario games ever to be released. It had the old-school platforming from the past game perfected, while also introduced new gameplay elements like Yoshi and the Cape. It had an unbelievable overworld that looked beautiful, as the whole game did, as well as a great soundtrack, which yes, the rest of the game did too. Super Mario World is my 21st favorite game of all time.

Related to: Super Mario World, Gears of War, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Rock Band, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

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