Booxatron's Top Ten

Let me first preface this list by saying that it is impossible, absolutely impossible I tell you, to put these in any sort of order, to place one game any higher than any other. So they're presented in the order in which I thought them up. Perhaps that means something?

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence - I'm a huge Metal Gear fanboy, ever since the first one made it to the NES (even though I sucked at it and never got very far in). Hell, the only reason I have a PS3 in my living room right now is because of this series. Metal Gear Solid blew my mind when it was released in 1998. It took everything that was great about Escape from New York, quite possibly the greatest movie ever, threw in great stealth gameplay, unforgettable characters, and just the right amount of Japanese (read: bizarre, absurd, wacky) quirks. It was tough to choose just one game out of the series, but MGS3 won in pretty much every important category (story, gameplay, presentation). MGS2 was a little less fun to play, as a game (and Rose was a whiny bitch), but it gets huge points in my book for the postmodern masterpiece that it is.

Super Mario World - If I HAD to choose a number one, this would probably be it. Throughout the ages, no character has ever controlled as smoothly and intuitively as Mario, and SMW was the pinnacle of this. The level design was perfect, the controls were perfectly tuned, the difficulty was never too much but the game was never boring (it was perfect), sound and music were perfect for the setting, perfect, perfect, perfect. Perfect pretty much sums it up.

Castlevania: SOTN - This should be on everyone's top ten list, and I don't even need to say why. Okay, maybe I do - just when you reach 100% completion, the freaking castle flips upside down and you realize you have another 100% to complete. Realizing way, way after the fact that ALUCARD is DRACULA spelled backwards made me feel both stupid and even more infatuated with the game.

Contra - Here's what I have gathered about Contra's story based solely on the game itself: You are two American mercenaries, codenames Mad Dog and Scorpion. Commies are bad. The Vile Red Falcon are a bunch of commies, and they need to die. They've managed to recruit an alien race, consisting mostly of giant scorpions, mouths stuck to walls, and an enormous human heart, to fight for their cause. You must save the universe. The greatest thing about this game is that despite the fact that I can beat in under twenty minutes, I've spent scores of hours playing it.

Final Fantasy Tactics - I love tactics style games, and this one defined the genre. Nothing has come close, and nothing ever will. The story, though it took me a couple playthroughs and a Wikipedia (I love you, Wiki) summary to fully pick up, is one of my favorites.

Final Fantasy VI - ion ray says it all. A FREAKING YETI. Not to mention the Magic Half-Beast lady, the "treasure hunter", the old man, the wild plains boy, or the mime...thing. Best characters ever.

Chrono Trigger - If any game came even close to giving FF6's characters a run for their money, it would be this game. Seriously, a medieval frog knight (named Frog, natch), a robot from the distant future, a brainy genius, and a prehistoric cavewoman all in the same party? With the ability to trip through time? Yes, please. The gameplay was very innovative for its' time and it's still a blast to play.

The Legend of Zelda - This was a tough choice between the original and Link to the Past. There was more to do in LttP, but the first LoZ just felt so much more epic, even after LttP. Maybe I just never got into the lore, but I feel like the introduction of text and other NPC's into the series just ruined the experience. Not that I didn't enjoy the other games in the series, but I never gave a crap about anyone but Link, Ganon, and Zelda. Even then I didn't want to hear them talk to each other. All I ever needed to know about the Legend was "The princess is in trouble, save her" and whatever helpful tidbits the characters felt like writing on their floor when I walked in.

Tetris Attack - I've put more hours into this game than I've put into a lot of RPG's. Addictiveness is a quality you can't quite measure but you can always tell is there, mostly by looking at the clock and seeing that six real hours have passed in the span of twenty in-your-head-minutes. The crack cocaine of puzzle games.

Secret of Monkey Island - I must admit here that I have never played Day of the Tentacle, or Full Throttle, or a lot of classic adventure games that I should have played (and will, whenever "one of these days" hits). But I did play Secret of Monkey Island, and let me tell you, I found love on that day. Between the blind watchman, the insult swordfighting, the rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, and the ghost pirate whose only vulnerablility is being sprayed with root beer, I can't say enough good things about this game.