Slag

If anything, I touched more games than usual in 2020, but there's a very good reason for that: between Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, and straight up free games in many places, there are so many games I can play nowadays without having to pay anything extra

Isn't that the truth? I think my favorite thing about Game Pass is that I don't feel guilty just bailing on a game if it's not working (Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance being a prime example.). Reminds me of how I used to play when the majority of what I touched were rentals.

I feel totally the same way about Star Renegades, Spiritfarer and Fall Guys

Fall Guys in particular seems like a fun concept design wise, but the visual design, controls and really lackluster music turned me off of it pretty quickly.

44 is a strong number man! I only managed 40 myself

I feel like 40-45 is a pretty good number because you get a lot done but still have the chance to play some longer stuff if you want to. I'm roughly shooting for one big game + 2-3 shorter games / month Kinda looks like you did the same so far (hitman 2 + shorter stuff)

I've always heard SNES Aladdin is better, it's the only one I've ever played so haven't been sufficiently motivated to seek out the Genesis one. Looks that isn't changing based on what you shared!

@imunbeatable80:

Thanks man! I appreciate it, was just a fun exercise to see what I could come up with

I kinda hate that I published the list before I had all the descriptions finished, but I was worried I'd lose everything to a "CSRF Token not found error"

so I've actually barely played QfG 3&4. Both were 90's releases, so eligible and may get slotted in here when I get around to finally playing them (something I've been meaning to do for decades). I bounced off the series with 2 (which I didn't like that much, I loved the VGA remake of 1) and came back hard with 5.

I think your point of view is the general consensus among QfG fans, but I actually really really liked 5. Maybe that would have been different if I had really played 3 & 4. But at least for know what I put up is how I feel about it currently

If you ever make your own version of something like this, let me know! I'm curious to see how you'd rank a bunch of these games

@majormitch:

Exactly. And I might be there right with you on Starcraft 2 if I had ever played Mass Effect 2 (which believe it or not I haven't)

Yes I do think DQ5 is. Probably the best one tbh, especially if you able to view in the context of how it would have felt to play in 1992-3. Unlike DQ8 and 11 which tend to be classics modernized with excellence, DQ5 was forward looking and doing new things at the height of DQ's popularity. Did a few things I honestly haven't seen since either.

I don't say this lightly but I honestly believe if it had come to the states then, We Americans would view FF6 and ChronoTrigger entirely differently.

I think we've talked about this before @sparky_buzzsaw, you agree with me on this don't you?

So Mitch, I'd say if you can only play 1, have access to the DS version and you are still able to enjoy 2d retro JRPGs, I'd recommend DQV hands down over Xi. It's shorter and imo more noteworthy

re: your years list- Very cool man! Gut check on 2020's slate would have me likely place in a similar position (Back of the middle of the pack)

@colonel_pockets:

Right on man, thank you!

Yeah I'm certainly a bigtime fan of some IP, which makes this list a bit unbalanced especially when you are only considering 1 game from each year. But I also feel like part of the reason I'm such a fan of FF is because they did have such an incredible run throughout the 90's.

and hey if you do make one, let me know! I'd like to see what you come up with

@sparky_buzzsaw:

yeah probably not. However! given that there is new ownership, if there were anytime things were to change, I suspect it would be now. If not now, then likely never.

of course there's no evidence of that even being considered, but y'know the possibility exists at least however remote it may be

@bobafettjm:

thanks man! and I really hope you do. Given your deep knowledge of games, I think you really could make an incredible one. And have fun in the process too

It's pretty rewarding to see what this list looks, once you make it

@majormitch:

Yeah heh, I've certainly got a type when it comes to Video games. :)

if I had made this list a few years ago, there would likely have been at least one more (FF Xii) but playing Twilight Princess HD on WiiU changed my opinion of the original game. In this case I feel it's fair to credit the original game, because what I primarily liked more was playing with controller, which I actually could have done in 2006 with the gamecube release since I own an unopened copy. The visual improvements for HD were nice too but were far less material.

what's crazy to me is FF Tactics isn't on this list, a game FF game I like considerably more than a bunch of these that did make it but being a vaunted 1998 release it had to go up against Ocarina of Time.

I still haven't done my ranking of game years thing like you did, but I'm working my towards it. Just haven't figured a great workflow way to make it happen as of yet. Still really impressed with what you put out!

Yeah I agree, I think especially in today's world that sort of functionality is a bare minimum towards making that happen. Been pleasantly surprised to see how many of you agree with me about that hypothetical feature's potential utility

@sparky_buzzsaw: Thanks Sparky! This was pretty fun to do, to see it all laid out like this. If you got yours, I'd definitely like to see it!

Yeah one feature I really wish GB had and I suspect never will for a variety of reasons, was something to notify people when a list gets updated.

I think it'd give people more incentives to keep their lists current etc if they did. Which given how long the site has run for now, could be pretty neat if we had a sub-culture around that.

Dunno about you, but I often to get games so late after release (I'm constantly playing stuff that's 1-4 years old seemingly) that my Goty lists change a lot in the immediate years after.

@sparky_buzzsaw:Yeah that's super easy to do with the 80's given the way games were designed and the way we experienced them.

Several of these Arcade games I had to go look up their names, things I remember playing a lot but since I didn't own them I never learned their names. And I know there's a bunch more I haven't recalled yet. Kinda why I stopped at 75 instead of 100. Feel like I'll need to add a bunch of stuff later

that and frankly there were as many games in 80's as there is now. A whole year of releases might be a month's worth (or less for the early 80's) on Steam alone today

@bobafettjm:

thanks man!

Dude, Number Munchers was so good. I could never decide if I wanted to play that or Oregon Trail. I bet it 100% holds up. Those 2 for sure are how to do edutainment right.

@bobafettjm: Me too man! The top 10 of this is almost all of my top 10 all time.

I find it hard to describe to younger gamers what this era in particular was like. The amount of improvement and degree of quality difference between the best games and the great ones was so huge. Games like Ocarina and Mario 64 were light years ahead of what came before them and what came out around them

these days good games are everywhere, frankly more numerous than they were then, but I don't feel like you have these clear huge sea change games as often today.

Great blog Mitch!

I'll personally take a well told story over a complex story any day

I don't think we will ever see that kind of leap again as we saw with Mario64 and OoT, not unless something like VR takes off.

And that leap is the hardest thing to communicate to fresh to the game players. You can't "unsee" everything that's come after very easily. I'm increasingly running into teen and 20 something gamers who don't really understand why these games were so revered and I can see why.

it wasn't just a tech leap it was a massive leap in game design too as you mentioned re: Z-Targeting. It's really easy to take for granted just how many game design norms every game uses today that Zelda or Mario more or less invented or popularized. From maps, to boss fights, to collectible minigames to camera controls, plot structure etc, those 2 games basically laid the foundation for all 3d games.

I wonder if there's ever going to be a book published about the making of those 2 games. I'd love to know how Nintendo came up with these ideas.