Top Fifteen List of the Week

Top Fifteen Video Games of All-Time

I've been gaming (seriously, that's what people call it) since I was probably three years old. Over the years, I've had a ton of systems: an Atari 2600, an Atari 5200, an NES, a Super NES, a Sega Genesis, a Sega 32X, a Sega CD, a Sony Playstation, a N64, a Sega Dreamcast, an Atari Jaguar, a Playstation 2, an Xbox, and an Xbox 360. I feel that I'm qualified enough to make a list like this. But I have to warn you, I never was big on RPGs so don't let the absence of Final Fantasy or Breath of Fire or freaking Japanese games that have the words Dragon or Dragoon in them surprise you. Here's my list of my personal favorite 15 video games of all time:

15. Mortal Kombat II (Genesis) - I played this game all the time when I was a kid. It really pushed that M rating, harder than its predecessor. It was a lot of fun and had a lot more characters than the first one as well. Download the ROM

14. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) - One of the few RPGs your going to see on my list, this game was awesome. It was the first time a console had seen Link in years, and he didn't disappoint.

13. Super Mario 64 (N64) - This was the hot ap for the N64 when it came out. A launch game, Super Mario 64 really showed what this new system had to offer by giving us huge environments in full 3D!

12. Tekken 3 (Playstation) - This is my absolute favorite fighting game of all time. Now every time I play a fighting game, they are all compared to the first time I ever played Tekken 3. Nothing ever stacks up.

11. Grand Theft Auto 3 (Playstation) - Controversial and so much damn fun, GTA 3 was a revolution in gaming. The first really big "sandbox" game, it proved that killing cops and stealing cars could be tons of fun.

10. Super Mario World (SNES) - It took Super Mario Bros. 3, and made it better. That's a feat, because part 3 was awesome.

9. WarCraft II (PC) - One of the first games I ever played over the internet, WarCraft II is also one of my all time favorties. I used to be really into RTS games, but nothing was ever as fun to me as WarCraft II. My friend Jim (who lived like 5 houses down) and I would hook up to our 28.8 connections and try to play this puppy about every other day.

8. Resident Evil 2 (Playstation) - The first one was great, but Resident Evil 2 really took it took the next level. We got a lot more of the (really interesting) story and the gameplay really came into its own. RE2 was just so much fun (and remained scary!).

7. Dead Rising (Xbox 360) - Boy, oh boy. The second (and final) zombie-themed game on the list, Dead Rising basically puts you smack dab in the middle of Dawn of the Dead and sets you loose. The game is actually a mixture of Resident Evil and Grand Theft Auto, giving you free reign over a character in a large environment and giving you the ability to kill zombies with anything and everything.

6. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox) - Ah. I can remember a solid week when I was supposed to be going to school at UNT, and instead I was sitting like a zombie, glued to my xbox playing KOTOR. There is no better idea than giving you an action-packed RPG in which you are a jedi choosing the light or dark side. If Dead Rising was a fanboy's dream, KOTOR is his wet dream.


5. The Legend of Zelda (NES) - It's the Legend of Zelda and it's really rad. It's been 20 years (literally, the game came out in 1987) and this is still one of my favorite games ever made. It came in that really cool gold cartridge, and if you beat it you could play it again backwards and all of that other innovative stuff.

4. Halo 2 (Xbox) - For all intents and purposes, the gameplay and graphics were both improved upon for the sequel to Halo. It was an amazing game that (natch) had great multiplayer and was incredibly fun to play. It didn't have quite the same oomph that the first one had however, and that's what bumps it down to number 4 on our list.

3. Tetris (Any Platform) - Tetris may be the only game that I will never get tired of. It's great to have on your cell phone or on the xbox or whereever to can get it. I could play it for hours on end (in fact, I have!) and just keep wanting to play it.

2. Goldenye (N64) - The second greatest shooter ever. In 1997, I would've have sworn that Goldeneye would always be #1. I couldn't get enough of this game. My friends and I played it all the time, hosting mini-tournaments and everything. My brother and I used to bet baseball cards on it. The game was like crack.

1. Halo (Xbox) - What Goldeneye was when I was in middle school, Halo was when I was in high school. It was Goldeneye cranked up to 11. My senior year (and the subsequent year as well) where both so completely dominated by Halo that my graduation party was just a bunch of linked up Xboxes that we used for some 16 player action.


Honorable Mentions:
X-Men (Arcade)
Dune 2 (PC)
Warlords (Atari)
Rampart (Arcade)
Rock N Roll Racing (Genesis)
Age of Empires (PC)
Ateroids (Arcade)
Mario Kart 64 (N64)
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (NES)
Super Mario Bros 3 (NES)
Sonic 2 (Genesis)
Road Rash II (Genesis)
Perfect Dark (N64)

Of course, THIS and THIS might actually be the two greatest games ever.

- Jordan M.
Commerce, TX