SuperPhillip's Top 100 Games of All Time

The end of the workweek is upon us, so it's time for five more of my favorite games of all time. I'm at the roadblock for next week as I really need to play some past titles that I've heard and read are great, but I've yet to play them. I don't really want to leave games like that out of my list, so I'm going to have to play some of them and see how much I appreciate them. I'm talking about games like The Orange Box, Shadow of the Colossus, God of War 2, Uncharted, Sly Cooper, Metal Gear Solid 4, Okami, and the list goes on. So if you don't see the list continuing, it's not because I've quit it. It just means I'm playing some more great games to possible add to the Top 100! Now without further ado...

As always:

The first ninety games are in NO particular order. For someone with OCD, compiling a list of 100 games in order would drive me absolutely crazy. There's a good mix of titles from multiple consoles, developers, and genres. Hope you leave this list with some fuzzy memories and good times.

- Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS)

Came the Dawn

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was the first Castlevania I was introduced to. It is also the very first Castlevania of the DS trilogy of games featuring Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and the upcoming Order of Ecclesia. DoS showcased a beautiful mix of 2D and 3D graphics, wonderful action-platforming, great RPG mechanics, a masterful soundtrack, and a very addicting soul-catching interface where fallen enemies may sometimes leave their soul. Their soul gives you a certain power such as their attack strategy like a Skeleton's bone-throwing or extra defense and speed. I imagine if Symphony of the Night would have been my first Metroidvania-styled Castlevania game that it would be my personal favorite. However, Dawn of Sorrow takes that prestigious crown.

- Mega Man X2 (SNES)

Now With Midair Dash!

My favorite Mega Man series is the Mega Man X franchise. It took the action of the classic Mega Man, made it faster, made it more action-packed, and made it more difficult even with the luxury of being able to scale walls, gain new armor upgrades, and earn four refillable sub-tanks to restore X's health at any time. Mega Man X2 had more to do than the original. There were, of course, your standard collectible items such as the aforementioned sub-tanks, life-increasing heart tanks (one hidden in each of the eight Robot Masters' stages), armor upgrades such as the, then at that time, revolutionary midair dash which added a whole new dimension to the game. There was also three of former resistance hunter, Zero's parts to gather if one wanted to. Earning these was done by defeating each of three X-Hunters (Agile, Serges, and Violen) in random locations at random times in the Robot Masters' stages. Collecting all three would net you the good ending as opposed to the okay ending of the game. MMX2 remains one of my favorite Mega Man titles simply because it has excellent and inspired level design, a fantastic soundtrack, cool bosses, and a lot of replay value.

- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GCN)

Don't let the awesome look fool you.

Goodness gracious! It's yet another Zelda title on this list! I guess it's no secret that I love The Legend of Zelda franchise, is it? This time we're looking at The Wind Waker, and my, did it have a lot of controversy. Correct me if my memory is eluding me, but Spaceworld 2001 we saw a fully three-dimensional confrontation on Gamecube hardware between Link and the main villain of the series, Ganondorf. A year later and we get a new trailer. How awesome will this next trailer look? Would it be another scene from the same graphical style of last year? Not on our lives. What was shown was a cartoon cel-shaded version of Link portrayed an articulate, wonderfully animated face. Obviously, the fanbase was torn apart. There are some to this day that hail The Wind Waker's art style as a blemish on the series while others love it and wish more games in the series showcased more unique art styles. I'm in the latter camp.

To get the cons out of the way, the ocean was fun to explore but too big for its own good, and the triforce quest at the end of the game was ill-conceived. Other than that, this version of Hyrule was more expressive, felt more like a real world than any other Zelda game past or present. The animation of Link himself is magnificent and ranks as high as what you'd see in a Pixar film. It was just amazing and still is to this day. Everything was vibrant, colorful, the effects were fantastic, the models were lively, and the level design was brilliant. I'm making myself want to go back to play this masterpiece!!

- Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GCN)

Snake? Snake?!! SNAAA-- Oh, there you are.

The original Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation One was a fantastic albeit flawed game. The Gamecube remake, The Twin Snakes, developed by Silicon Knights (now infamously known as the company that is behind Too Human) made the game even better. Updated graphics, new voice acting, kickass cutscenes supervised by Hideo Kojima (wah, Snake ain't Jet Li, wah), new unlockables and easter eggs, and new play mechanics such as the first-person move and the ability to drop down floors-- a move pulled out of MGS2. It's difficult to listen to some criticisms from fanboys as their beefs are usually fueled from Snake reappearing on a Nintendo system and their irrational hatred for gaming and Nintendo, but others such as the game being a bit easier than the original (from more reasonable critics) are notable. I think the game is less difficult, but it certainly does NOT make it any less fun.

- Dead Rising (X360)

We're having a sale on zombies.

Dead Rising still is my favorite Xbox 360 game. Sure, you adrenaline-junkies and acne-faced, racial slur-spitting, asshole-portraying males from ages 8-25 can enjoy your Gears of Wars and your Halos and your Bald Marines With Guns Shooter Part 57, but I will escape to Williamette Mall, don a trenchcoat, grease my already oily hair, load film into my camera, and bash some zombie brains with my good old friend, Frank West, from our war-covering days.

Dead Rising is hit or miss it seems with some gamers. Some love the time-limit, some hate it. Some are okay with the idiotic "I need babysitting" survivors, some think it's completely asinine. Some people like continuing to demolish horde after horde of flesh-craving zombies while others hate the repetition the game offers. I thoroughly enjoyed almost every minute of my time with the game. The story was compelling, the psychopaths were disturbing, the characters were interesting enough, and the gameplay was spot-on most often than not. A Wii version will be coming out this winter, but who knows if taking the time limit out and putting the game on a less capable machine will make the game work as well or at all? Rest assured, I'll be there with a full review!

We'll see if we'll see the Top 100 next week! Stay tuned for week-daily updates!