Leftwich's Top 100 Games of All Time

[Leftwich]

63

Star Fox



Platform: Super Nintendo

Do a barrel roll! One of the most famous lines in history of gaming although it wasn’t even used until Star Fox 64. Star Fox was revolutionary for its time because it was the first game ever released on Super Nintendo to include 3D graphics and a crew of characters that would live in infamy as Nintendo mascots.



Star Fox is a game that wouldn’t have been on my radar as a kid because I was not a big flying game fan. I decided I’d give it a shot by renting it from my local Blockbuster and I couldn’t have made a better decision. Star Fox is more appropriately named a Rail Shooter. You are given a set track to follow along, destroying enemies on the way to end of each stage. It may sounds rather linear but Star Fox accomplishes this in a very immersive and addictive way. It’s nice to see how far 3D graphics have come since this game basically blazed the trail for every game made after it debuted. You take control of Fox McCloud, he’s a fox who talks and can fly a plane. Go figure, it’s Nintendo. Falco, Slippy and Peppy are your squad mates and provide help and banter along the way as you try to take down Emperor Andross who has declared war on the galaxy. You play through each stage as Star Fox shooting enemies and dodging structures all the way to a boss battle. Let me tell you right now, these boss battles were very epic and as a kid frustrating without the help of the internet to guide you through. Most bosses had a blinking area on their body to shoot so you knew where their weakness was. Some bosses were easier than others but you never left a boss battle feeling like you could have done it with your eyes closed. I said that the game was linear but in a way it wasn’t. You had the choice of going a different way through the universe to ultimately take down the emperor. It gave the game a bit of replayability and variation. Unfortunately the game never had a multiplayer system which doesn’t necessarily hurt it but would have been a nice touch. I’m not knocking the game because of it. Star Fox is an amazing achievement by Nintendo and lacking multiplayer is not the reason this game comes in at number sixty three.

Star Fox is one of my fondest childhood memories about gaming. It came out during the hey day of the Super Nintendo and spawned a few sequels… well one of them really isn’t a sequel cause when you take Star Fox out of the plane its not Star Fox. Also Star Fox made appearances in Super Smash Brothers as well. As always a video is posted below.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7TF5evojYA"]Star Fox SNES - Corneria - Courses 1 + 2 - YouTube[/ame]

[KNUBB]

I can definitely deal with that baby game not cracking the Top 50.

Ur face is a baby game

[IamMedellin]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIkJvY96i8w"]Do a barrel roll ! - YouTube[/ame]

[Twigg4075]

I think we should officially change that quote to "Do a DomePatrol!"

[IamMedellin]

I think we should officially change that quote to "Do a DomePatrol!"

ugh...Fuk you Twigg

[Leftwich]

62

Excitebike



Platform: NES



How could such a simple game be so much fun? I can’t answer that. Although this game came out a year before I was born, I have fond memories of watching my dad play it in the living room and when I was old enough to hold an NES controller I had an absolute blast playing it.

The one thing I’ll always remember about Excitebike is the sound. Such a simple array of sounds that was absolutely beautiful to me. Other than the “errrrrrrrr” noise the motorbikes made the gameplay was what really sucked me in. You could play one of 3 ways. You could race solo and try to beat the best time; you could race against the computer and try to come in first or my absolute favorite mode in the entire game was Design Mode. Design Mode was insanely in depth for such a primitive game. I used to put mud, speed bumps and all sorts of crap on the track to make it as hard as possible. I must have spent hour’s just designing tracks knowing damn well that I was going to struggle to actually race on them. Unfortunately that’s about all there was to the game. Only about five tracks to race on and once you came in first on all five you really had nothing else to work for other than building tracks to challenge yourself. The game did end up spawning a sequel on the Nintendo 64 and a half ass game called Excite Truck on the Wii but nothing will live up to the rare fun you get out of such a simple game.

This review may be a little short but Excitebike isn’t exactly the most in depth game but it is still a game I play on my Wii from time to time and that’s saying something for such an old game. As always a video is posted below for you younger guys.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=543dG0EWcYM"]Excitebike - NES Gameplay - YouTube[/ame]

[Leftwich]

61

NBA Street



Platforms: PS2/Gamecube

Oh man, I was never a huge basketball game fan until I played NBA Street. It was the absolute perfect mixture of real NBA players and the street ball culture. If I still owned this game I’m sure I’d still pop it in my PS2 and have some epic 3 on 3’s.



NBA Street came out before the Xbox did when I only had my Playstation 2 so I’d imagine it would have probably looked slightly better on the Xbox but we’ll never know. Anyway back to the game. NBA Street was 3 on 3 basketball. You could pick three players from any NBA team and go against any other team you felt like. As a Wizards fan I tended to stray away from them because they did not have the talent like the Lakers, Sixers or Spurs. Those were the best teams in the game in my opinion. NBA Street did feature “Street Legends” although they weren’t real players they were based on some former players and Legends in the NBA. But the pinnacle of this games fun comes from the “story” mode. You create your own baller and you go around the country recruiting random people, NBA players or street legends after you beat them of course. I was the best white boy to ever take it to the streets. The street moves were for the most part easy but they could get complex depending on how much you want to fill up your gamebreaker meter. The more points you acquired through fake outs or whatever your move was you would inch closer and closer to getting your gamebreaker which in the first NBA Street was guaranteed points. Some of them were freaking amazing and the best thing was it added points to your scoreboard and subtracted from the opponents. Before I end this I have one last thing to say. NBA Street had an ok soundtrack but they did something I’ve never seen in a game before. As the pace sped up or slowed down so did the music and it really sucked you in… it’s hard to explain but if you’ve ever played the game you would understand.

NBA Street pretty much took the arcade style from NBA Jam and improved it for the next generation. It paved the way for games like NFL Street and FIFA Street as well. As always if you’re looking for a video it is posted below.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmmL02YycEA"]NBA Street Gameplay 1 - YouTube[/ame]

[IamMedellin]

NBA Street Vol.2 better be in the top 50 as it's gameplay and soundtrack blew its predecessor out of the water in terms of gameplay,graphics style, AND soundtrack...

[Guest]

Nothing beats the original NBA street. I got so many hours out of that game.......and I just checked and I still have it.

[Leftwich]

60

Fable II




Platform: Xbox 360

Some people would say that Fable II was a letdown but I consider it to be a very good game that didn’t fully live up to expectations. I still enjoyed the hell out of the game because of the refined gameplay, the story and one of the few early Xbox 360 games to take full advantage of DLC.

Fable has the unfortunate moniker of failed promises but head designer Peter Molyneux learned from his mistakes the second time around by not promising the moon and just keeping his mouth shut. Fable II takes place a half a millennium after the original events of Fable and as always you take control of an unnamed hero. It’s evident that the game takes place much further in time by the introduction of guns. Guns do take a prominent role in this game but you can still choose to use a sword, bow or magic. Hell you could use all four if you wish. Fable II is a very story driven game and if you are a gamer like me it takes a toll on your heart when a lot of things that are unexpected in this game happen. I won’t spoil them for you but if you haven’t played this game and you are a big story fan I highly recommend it. Fable II has a definitive hero and villain which is common in games but Fable II did it in an old school way. Become a hero of your people and take down a truly evil villain. A nice addition to the game is the introduction of your Dog who helps you out a lot on your way be it digging spots or assisting you in taken down enemies. The sound in this game makes you feel like you are truly in a mystical land from the soundtrack to the spot on sound effects when you are casting magic or something as simple as opening a door. Albion, the land you play in, is expansive and makes you feel like you’re in a real world. Although the graphics aren’t exactly revolutionary, they did give you the feel of being in a fantasy land which is something a lot of adventure games don’t get right now a day.



Fable II in my opinion was a landmark game that should have been a killer app on the Xbox 360 but with the failed promises for the first game a lot of former Fable gamers would be turned off from it. If you haven’t experienced the adventures in Albion I recommend you watch the video below to tell for yourself if it is a game for you.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTVzJZCVVV4"]Fable 2 - Official Trailer - YouTube[/ame]

[hackett]

Excitebike - Hell Yea!!! Just dl'ed and played Joe Danger today for the first time. My son went to build mode within the first hour. Made me think of my days of playing Excitebike. Thanks for including on your list.

[Leftwich]

40 Games down and i'm happy i have such a great following for this thread. I appreciate all of your guy's comments and criticisms. Hell there may be more lists after this one. Top 100 Heros, Villians and stuff like that.

[Houston]

How long did it take you to make this list? I don't know if I'd be able to come up with 100 different games that I've really played.

[Leftwich]

How long did it take you to make this list? I don't know if I'd be able to come up with 100 different games that I've really played.

I came up with the initial list in one drunk/high night. I woke up to find it open in Word on my computer and had no idea what it was. So i looked over it for about a week making changes to it.

About a day later i started writing it. It took me roughly 3 weeks to finish it in its entirety. I spent a lot of time taking shits and writing it. I read over everything before i post it and either make changes or post as is. Some games like GTA Vice City keeps moving down my list. It was initially 69 but still hasn't been posted yet.

[Len B]

So much win in this thread with Pitfall, Skitchin', Double Dragon.

Now if only River City Ransom made the list...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfwLBk1zvrw"]River City Ransom (NES) - YouTube[/ame]