PDA

View Full Version : Favorite Games By Year



IMPress Polly
01-18-2015, 09:36 AM
No discussion is required unless you just want to comment. I've posted my favorite five games by year going back to 1992 before, but that was kind of a spontaneous list I made off the top of my head, so I wanted to do one that's based on a more thorough scouring of my 848-game library. I've gone back and searched through all my games, which happen to be organized by year of release anyway, to bring you a considerably revised list of my personal favorites, this time dating back to 1985. If a game on this list was released in North America, I will use its official North American name and year of release. No remakes will be included in this list. (The reason I don't have five games listed for the years 1985 and '86 is because I don't have any games from those particular years other than what you see posted there.)

You may notice that the trend here is in a progressively more story-driven and cinematic direction overall. Those are my favorite sorts of games. My standards for what constitutes a good game can be measured in four categories: theme, storytelling, atmosphere, and game structure. The weighting of each category is subjective. (I consider games, when done well, to be an art form, and accordingly use the same standards of quality that I would use for films, but with the addition of game structure that can apply only to this medium.) You may have noticed that my top preferences for each from 2011 to today are inexpensive downloadables. That's because, in my view, AAA console games reached their zenith of artistic development with the 2010 release of Final Fantasy XIII and haven't really progressed since. It's for similar reasons that the last decade in general sees an increasing number of games for portable systems creeping into my list of favorites. Developing retail games for home consoles is simply too expensive to result in much genuine innovation these days. Skyrocketing development costs ensure that developers of modern console retail games tend to avoid taking risks on a lot of new ideas and instead seek to simply make the game-world equivalent of blockbusters increasingly. I despise that and am accordingly about ready to finally turn my back on the world of console gaming once and for all. A lot of most genuinely creative and thought-provoking games these days are cheap-O downloadables because they minimize the risk to game-makers by, well, having lower development costs. Lots more room there for really clever indie games and so forth.

1985:

1) Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (Commodore 64)
2) Super Mario Bros.

1986:

Ghosts n' Goblins

1987:

1) The Great Giana Sisters (Commodore 64)
2) Guerrilla War (Commodore 64)
3) Kid Icarus (NES)
4) Metroid (NES)
5) The Legend of Zelda (NES)

1988:

1) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
2) Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
3) Dragon Power (NES)
4) Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)
5) Metal Gear (NES)

1989:

1) A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia (NES)
2) Mega Man 2 (NES)
3) Ninja Gaiden (NES)
4) Dragon Warrior (NES)
5) Godzilla: Monster of Monsters (NES)

1990:

1) Phantasy Star II (Sega Genesis)
2) Crystalis (NES)
3) Dragon Warrior II (NES)
4) Final Fantasy (NES)
5) Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

1991:

1) Final Fantasy II (Super NES) *
2) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Game Gear)
3) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
4) Sim City (Super NES)
5) Dragon Warrior III (NES)

1992:

1) Dragon Warrior IV (NES)
2) Out of This World (Super NES)
3) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
4) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
5) The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (Super NES)

1993:

1) Secret of Mana (Super NES)
2) Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD)
3) Ecco the Dolphin (Sega CD)
4) E.V.O.: Search for Eden (Super NES)
5) Lufia and the Fortress of Doom (Super NES)

1994:

1) Final Fantasy III (Super NES) **
2) Heart of the Alien (Sega CD)
3) Illusion of Gaia (Super NES)
4) Breath of Fire (Super NES)
5) Super Godzilla (Super NES)

1995:

1) Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
2) Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD)
3) Secret of Evermore (Super NES)
4) Civilization (Super NES)
5) Breath of Fire II (Super NES)

1996:

1) Wonder Project J2: Josette of the Corlo Forest (Nintendo 64)
2) NiGHTS Into Dreams (Sega Saturn)
3) Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom)
4) Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (Super NES)
5) Tomb Raider (PlayStation)

1997:

1) Mischief Makers (Nintendo 64)
2) Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
3) Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (PlayStation)
4) Harvest Moon (Super NES)
5) Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo 64)

1998:

1) Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega Saturn)
2) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
3) Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus (PlayStation)
4) Breath of Fire III
5) Klonoa (PlayStation)

1999:

1) Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
2) Star Ocean: Second Story (PlayStation)
3) Jet Force Gemini (Nintendo 64)
4) Shadow Gate 64: Trials of the Four Towers (Nintendo 64)
5) Sonic Adventure (Sega Dreamcast)

2000:

1) Battle Ogre 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Nintendo 64)
2) Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64)
3) Jet Grind Radio (Sega Dreamcast)
4) Space Channel 5 (Sega Dreamcast)
5) Ecco: Defender of the Future (Sega Dreamcast)

2001:

1) Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2)
2) Red Faction (PlayStation 2)
3) Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion (Game Boy Advance)
4) Golden Sun (Game Boy Advance)
5) Sonic Adventure 2 (Sega Dreamcast)

2002:

1) Lost Kingdoms (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Red Faction II (PlayStation 2)
3) Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)
4) Way of the Samurai (PlayStation 2)
5) Kingdom Hearts (PlayStation 2)

2003:

1) Beyond Good and Evil (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Final Fantasy X-2 (PlayStation 2)
3) The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Lost Kingdoms II (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Golden Sun: The Lost Age (Game Boy Advance)

2004:

1) Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Tales of Symphonia (Nintendo Game Cube)
3) Siren (PlayStation 2)
4) Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance)
5) Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Game Cube)

2005:

1) Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)
2) Killer 7 (Nintendo Game Cube)
3) Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360)
4) Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Game Boy Advance)

2006:

1) Okami (PlayStation 2)
2) Rule of Rose (PlayStation 2)
3) Chibi-Robo! (Game Cube)
4) Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PlayStation 2)

2007:

1) Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo DS)
2) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)
3) Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (Nintendo DS)
4) Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
5) Portal (PlayStation 3)

2008:

1) Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii)
2) The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS)
3) Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns (Nintendo DS)
4) Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Nintendo DS)
5) Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Nintendo DS)

2009:

1) Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)
2) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo DS)
3) Red Faction: Guerrilla (PlayStation 3)
4) Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS)
5) Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans (Nintendo DS)

2010:

1) Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
2) Ivy the Kiwi? (Wii)
3) Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii)
4) Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (Nintendo DS)
5) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo DS)

2011:

1) To the Moon (Windows)
2) Red Faction: Armageddon (PlayStation 3)
3) Radiant Historia (Nintendo DS)
4) The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
5) Lost in Shadow (Wii)

2012:

1) Papo & Yo (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
2) Dear Esther (Windows)
3) Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PlayStation 3)
4) The Last Story (Wii)
5) Assassin's Creed III: Revolution (Wii U)

2013:

1) Depression Quest (Browser)
2) Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PlayStation 3)
3) The Last of Us (PlayStation 3)
4) Puppeteer (PlayStation 3)
5) Tomb Raider (PlayStation 3)

2014:

1) Child of Light (Wii U downloadable)
2) Bravely Default (Nintendo 3DS)
2) Fantasy Life (Nintendo 3DS)
4) Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
5) Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)

* Objectively this is Final Fantasy IV.
** Objectively this is Final Fantasy VI.

Common
01-18-2015, 02:18 PM
Wow im flabbergasted at your memory Polly. I couldnt remember 1 in each year.

The first video game I played was the first video game created. Pong, dont ask me what year.

I played Duke Nukem, Marior bros, zelda not in that order and I played Wolfenstein, doom then ALL the quakes I think there were 4 all that gaming encompassed many years.

I play worldofwarcraft now, but Ive tried, Aion, Rift, The secret world, Tera, Guildwars2. I always go back to wow.

kilgram
01-18-2015, 03:21 PM
Wow, incredible list :)

My list is going to be shorter and with less games
1997: Age of Empires
1999: Age of Empires II
2000: Baldur's Gate II
Diablo II
2002: The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind
2003: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Neverwinter Nights
2005: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II
2009: The Witcher
Dragon Age Origins
2011: The Witcher 2
Dragon Age II
2013: Tomb Raider
2014: Dragon Age Inquisition

Many games of my list have been played during 2014 :) (It means I discovered them recently)

If you like story driven games you should give a shot to Bioware games. Also the Witcher series are very good. As you see, all my games are story driven.

Also the old games like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights had good stories. Obviously without such cinematographics as modern games, but they were good.

PS: All my games are PC games. I don't own videoconsoles... Well PC Windows is a videoconsole, is not?

The Xl
01-18-2015, 03:22 PM
This seems fun. Will give this a shot when I'm at home on my comp, impossible to do this on a phone

IMPress Polly
01-18-2015, 10:42 PM
Common wrote:
Wow im flabbergasted at your memory Polly. I couldnt remember 1 in each year.

It wasn't from memory, actually. I do have a pretty good memory and I made an earlier analogous list based on that memory, but it was inferior to the one in the OP IMO because my memory failed me vis-a-vis many years. I forgot about a number of my favorites! What you see in the OP was my attempt at making a better faves list based NOT on memory, but on a revisitation of my game shelves. :grin: See, I organize my video games by year of release and by the system they're for (in as far as they're available in hard copy form anyway), so all I had to do to figure out what games were from which year was go back and look at my shelves. Once I did that, it was much easier to come up with a better list.


The first video game I played was the first video game created. Pong, dont ask me what year.

I hate to point this out, but Pong was actually nowhere near being the first video game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_video_game). It was just the first popular one.


The Xl wrote:
This seems fun. Will give this a shot when I'm at home on my comp, impossible to do this on a phone

Please do! I'll be looking forward to seeing your selections. :cool2:


kilgram wrote:
If you like story driven games you should give a shot to Bioware games. Also the Witcher series are very good. As you see, all my games are story driven.

Also the old games like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights had good stories. Obviously without such cinematographics as modern games, but they were good.

I'm familiar with a fair number of Bioware games actually. I have the Mass Effect trilogy and I've taken it upon myself to watch playthroughs of the Dragon Age games now on YouTube. In terms of other games you mentioned, I've also had many occasions to play the various Elder Scrolls games, as I have a friend who's really into them. I also have Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for the Game Cube. :smiley:

All that said, I think we have a different definition of "story-driven". Open-world games that revolve around player choice don't count as story-driven games by my standards. In my mind, that's like describing choose-your-own-adventure books as novels. In my mind, a game with a real story is one that, like a novel, has a strong central narrative, not many weaker narratives. Great storytelling is about the quality of narratives, not the quantity. Dragon Age: Inquisition, for example, is definitely not a story-driven game in my book. It is primarily about exploration.

Open-world formats, in my view, represent a lower level of artistic development than I tend to prefer. To illustrate what I mean, let's take the Castlevania series for example. The two Castlevania games that appear on my list in the OP are there for specific reasons: because they represented the two big structural leaps in the franchise's history. The first Castlevania was a simple, arcade-style action game. The second one though broke out of that by introducing an open-world format, i.e. one wherein the whole game world is directly interconnected as essentially one giant level, with seamless transitions from one area to another. That made for the construction of a gigantic level/world that made the game itself larger and shifted the focus to exploration and collecting items, thus changing the genre of the franchise from action to adventure. This represented an advancement in terms of scale, and subsequent games in the series followed that same core approach. Then, in 2008, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia came around. That game scrapped the open-world format and replaced it with an increased focus on storytelling. The level transitions were no longer seamless in that game, but there were a more diverse range of environments, as one no longer just played in a giant castle, but in multiple smaller castles AND villages AND other outside areas. The art style also shifted from anime-cute teens that didn't match the dark mood of the series to a more mature gothic art style using adult characters. Ecclesia was also the first Castlevania game to have a female lead, so there were a lot of big changes that game introduced to the series, but the result was an all-around maturing of the franchise. Consider that a microcosm of how I see the natural evolution of video games in general: simple, stupid, reflexive casual games with no depth at all represent the most basic kind of game, while open-world exploration represents the next step up from that, and finally the story-heavy approach represents the most advanced level of artistic maturity. What I see in the RPG genre today overall is degeneration from the last of those three developmental stages back to the second, more primitive, exploration-based stage. That's my opinion.

Final Fantasy IV introduced meaningful storytelling and emotion to the RPG genre in 1991 and that franchise led the genre's development for some 20 years thereafter, steadfastly pushing it in an ever more cinematic direction, with the zenith of this being 2010's Final Fantasy XIII, which not only sped up the combat system, but also took the radical step of abolishing side quests to deliver a thrilling, streamlined play experience wherein one progresses directly from plot point to plot point without interruption. All game play in FF XIII is directly related to the plot, not separable from it. In this connection, the game's director Motomu Toriyama explained that his objective was to "create...a new genre" with FF XIII. It was tremendously successful as a game, proving to be the best selling game in the franchise's history. Western reviewers, however, were critical of the linear play structure. Toriyama's criticism of the critics was that they didn't understand his vision. He highlighted that it "becomes very difficult to tell a compelling story when you're given that much freedom", referring to the freedom of open-world play formats. He then gave in. The two direct sequels to FF XIII reintroduce side quests in a big way, and the most recent one is driven by them because it's an open-world game. FF IX is an MMORPG. Everyone has remarked on the major drop-off in storytelling quality that has resulted. The stories are now being told in a self-contained episodic format instead of cinematically! The sales? Terrible, as a direct result. These people (the professional critics especially) don't seem to understand that FF fans don't tend to be Skyrim fans like they are. We expect complex, quality storytelling and high quality visual presentation, and Square Enix isn't delivering it anymore with FF games. As a result, the concluding installment in the FF XIII trilogy, released last year, sold less than 10% as many copies as the original. And FF XV, we now know, will also have an open-world play format. Do you kinda see what I mean about backward directionality resulting from Westernization of the whole genre? Curse you Xenoblade Chronicles for touching off this backward trend in Japanese RPGs!! :angry:

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Skyrim or Bioware games are bad games at all. They're not. They're really good at what they do! In fact, I like Bioware's attitude. They seem to be one of the more progressive-minded game companies out there at present. I'm merely suggesting that these sorts of games represent a somewhat more artistically primitive sort than what usually winds up being among my favorite games these days. I like linear games if they're linear for a good reason, and lots and lots of games are.

PolWatch
01-18-2015, 10:46 PM
uh...honesty forces me to admit the only video game I've ever played was Pacman.

I warned y'all....I'm a dumb phone woman in a smart phone world.

IMPress Polly
01-18-2015, 10:54 PM
lol, well Pac-Man's a classic. :grin:

Trivia: Did you know that the game's creators conceived of Pac-Man as a game for women because, and I quote, "when you think of women, you think of eating"?

Well anyway, if you're looking for newer games of quality, I advise you to avoid the blockbusters. Pick mainly from the downloadables. They're not just cheaper, they're better these days. Today there are games about navigating child abuse, games about dealing with the death of a loved one, even a game that shows people about what it's like to have depression. There are a lot of really thought-provoking games out there these days that deal with highly pertinent matters, but you won't find them in the top 10 best-sellers list, or even as retail console titles at all.

PolWatch
01-18-2015, 11:00 PM
I do remember that they later came out with a Mrs. Pac-Man game.

It was so long ago that the game was a coin arcade on the Miracle Mile, Panama City Beach, Fl ...aka...The Redneck Rivera!

IMPress Polly
01-18-2015, 11:06 PM
Now you know WHY they came out with that sequel. :wink: And also why Ms. Pac-Man is presented so stereotypically.

The Xl
01-19-2015, 01:14 AM
Just got back after a long day and I'm fried, but I'll do this first thing tomorrow, haha.

kilgram
01-19-2015, 03:09 AM
IMPress Polly

I disagree with you. The occidental RPG games are very story immersive and story driven. Obviously as a RPG your actions have effects in the world, and depending of your action has one effect or other affecting to the story. But Dragon Age is a game with a strong focus in the story and with important developing of his characters. The part of exploring is secondary. Obviously you need to explore things to resolve the problems that affect that world and you are free to take some decissions, but there is a story line with strong focus in dialogues.

The story is the main part of the game, the world setting is important but secondary. Continuing with Dragon Age, only the third has a relative open world, the others were pretty lineal.

In occidental rpg in difference to the jRPG is the world setting and how your decissions have bigger impact in your world. It is the great thing of the rpg and the reason that I like. This world can be big or small. In the case of the last Dragon Age, the world is enormous and you have to explore, but that is secondary because the main point is the story, stop the new evil that Thedas (the world of the game) is facing.

By the way, I cannot explain it well just with text. If you have Mass Effect play it. Mass Effect 2 that I must to play it, yet (I have it in Steam but I didn't download it yet) is character driven. This game focus in the story of the characters and develop them.

Going back, in Dragon Age series you have many plots: the main plot, subplots and plots of the characters that develop them.

IMPress Polly
01-19-2015, 04:42 PM
The Xl wrote:
Just got back after a long day and I'm fried, but I'll do this first thing tomorrow, haha.

Oh alright then, if you must delay. :tongue:

CreepyOldDude
01-19-2015, 04:58 PM
1980

1) Zork I

1981

1) Zork II

1982

1) Zork III
2) Deadline
3) Starcross

1983

1) Enchanter
2) Planetfall
3) Suspended, A Cryogenic Nightmare
4) Infidel
5) The Witness (which I had to play on a friend's Atari ST.)

1984

1) Sorcerer
2) Cutthroats
3) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (this was awesome, but far too short)
4) Seastalker
5) Suspect

1985

1) Spellbreaker
2) A Mind Forever Voyaging (the reason I bought a used Atari ST)
3) Wishbringer

1986

1) Ballyhoo
2) Hollywood Hijinx
3) Leather Goddesses of Phobos (I still have some of the feelies for this one)
4) Moonmist
5) Trinity

1987

1) Stationfall
2) Bureaucracy
3) The Lurking Horror


You might notice that these are all Infocom games. I absolutely loved their games.

There were more for the list, but I have a meeting to head to.

The Xl
01-20-2015, 01:14 AM
1985

1. Super Mario Bros(Nes)

1987

1. Mike Tyson Punch Out(Arcade, Nes)
2. The Legend of Zelda(Nes)

1988

1. Super Mario Bros 2(Nes)
2. Dragon Power(Nes)
3. Street Fighter(Arcade)

1989

1. Tetris(Nes)
2. Dragon Ball 3: Goku Den(Japan only, Nes)
3. Mega Man 2(Nes)

1990.

1. Super Mario Bros 3(Nes)
2. Dragon Ball Z: Kyôshū! Saiyan(Japan only, Nes)
3. Final Fantasy 1(Nes)

1991

1. Final Fantasy 2(4 in Japan, SNES)
2. Sonic The Hedgehog(Genesis)
3. Dragon Ball Z II: Gekishin Frieza(Japan only, Nes)
4. Street Fighter 2(Arcade, Snes, Genesis)

1992

1. Mortal Kombat(SNES, Genisis, Arcade)
2. Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu(SNES, Japan only)
3. Sonic 2(Genesis)

1993:

1. Mortal Kombat 2(SNES, Genesis, Arcade)
2. Doom(Computer, SNES, N64, PS, etc, it was ported like crazy)
3. NBA Jam(Genesis, SNES, Arcade
4. Super Street Fighter 2( SNES, Genesis, Arcade)

1994

1. Final Fantasy 4(6 in Japan, SNES)
2. Super Punch Out(SNES)
3. Killer Instinct(SNES)
4. Doom 2(See Doom)
5. Sonic 3(Genesis)

1995

1. Chrono Trigger(SNES)
2. Mortal Kombat 3(SNES, Arcade)
3. Twisted Metal(Playstation)
4. Dragon Ball Z: Super Goku Den — Kakusei-Hen(Japan Only, SNES)
5. Mortal Kombat 3(SNES, Arcade)

1996

1. Pokemon Red and Blue(Game Boy)
2. Crash Bandicoot(Playstation)

1997

1. Final Fantasy 7(Playstation)
2. Goldeneye 007(N64)
3. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter(N64)
4. WCW vs NWO World Tour(N64)
5. Diddy Kong Racing(N64)

1998

1. Xenogears(Playstation)
2. WCW Revenge(N64)
3. Ken Griffey Jr Baseball(N64)
4. Tekken 3(Arcade, Playstation)
5. Marvel vs Capcom 1(Arcade, Playstation)

1999

1. Final Fantasy 8(Playstation)
2. Street Fighter 3rd Strike(Arcade, Playstation)
3. Tomorrow Never Dies(Playstation)
4. Driver(Playstation)
5. Soul Caliber(Arcade, Dreamcast)
6. Sonic Adventure(Dreamcast)
7. Ken Griffey Jr. Slugfest(N64)

Some of the release dates are the American ones, some are the Japanese. So if there is confusion with a release date, it's probably the Japanese ones.

Sorry for taking so long IMPress Polly. Will Finish the list tomorrow

IMPress Polly
01-20-2015, 07:37 PM
Hey, excellent start, Xl! Looking forward to part 2. :cool2:

And CreepyOldDude, that's a cool list as well, as most of it predates me. Looks like we share an interest in RPGs though!

IMPress Polly
03-03-2015, 08:31 PM
My spring revision to the OP list of favorites is coming soon, just to give everyone a heads up. My tastes change over time as I rediscover old titles that have been collecting dust for a long time, plus I acquire more on a regular basis. For my spring revision, among a significant number of other changes, I'll have finally completed a list of five favorites from 1985 and '86 (and CreepyOldDude should be pleased to learn that some of his recommendations have made the cut :cool2:), a major overhaul of my 2014 favorites, and my first 2015 picks.

CreepyOldDude
03-04-2015, 03:54 PM
My spring revision to the OP list of favorites is coming soon, just to give everyone a heads up. My tastes change over time as I rediscover old titles that have been collecting dust for a long time, plus I acquire more on a regular basis. For my spring revision, among a significant number of other changes, I'll have finally completed a list of five favorites from 1985 and '86 (and CreepyOldDude should be pleased to learn that some of his recommendations have made the cut :cool2:), a major overhaul of my 2014 favorites, and my first 2015 picks.

I just remembered a game my wife and I played back in 1982. It was called Shamus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamus_%28video_game%29), and it was great. We'd take turns controlling Shamus.

Same thing with Zeppelin.

IMPress Polly
03-16-2015, 08:35 AM
SPRING 2015 REVISION:

Alright, below the reader will find my promised spring revision. The new top five favorites lists differ substantially from those in the OP because my tastes change over time as I rediscover old games and because I acquire new titles on a regular basis. Philosophically, I think of late I've come to prioritize a game's themes (particularly what I view as social and/or personal poignancy) somewhat more than the complexity of its narrative and that shift will be reflected in the lists below, which are, as previously, organized by year. To this end, one may notice a distinct drop-off in the degree to which I prioritize Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Mario games, and also fewer games based on movies and TV shows, with some notable exceptions that aren't going anywhere. I've come to prioritize originality more, so you'll notice that more original games made the cut this time around. I have also filled in the years 1985 and '86 this time and, as mentioned above, CreepyOldDude may be pleased to notice that some of his selections for those years made the cut. My lists for recent years though have undergone probably the biggest overhaul, as I'm still completing a lot of games from recent years. The list below also includes my first 2015 picks.

As an aside, as with before, the given titles will be listed according to their original year of release in the United States and according to their official American titles. There is one exception that never made it to this country officially (Wonder Project J2), so I will simply list it according to its year of release in its native Japan. Games will also note the oldest platform I own or originally played the game for, as applicable. Also as with before, there will be no remakes in these lists, although radical re-envisionings will be permitted.

1985:

1) Balance of Power (Windows)
2) A Mind Forever Voyaging (Commodore 128)
3) Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (Commodore 64)
4) Gyromite (NES)
5) Super Mario Bros. (NES)

1986:

1) Trinity (DOS)
2) Leather Goddesses of Phobos (DOS)
3) Moonmist (Commodore 64)
4) Ghosts n' Goblins (NES)
5) Bubble Bobble (Arcade)

1987:

1) The Great Giana Sisters (Commodore 64)
2) Guerrilla War (Commodore 64)
3) Metroid (NES)
4) Kid Icarus (NES)
5) Mega Man (NES)

1988:

1) Hidden Agenda (DOS)
2) Metal Gear (NES)
3) Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
4) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
5) Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)

1989:

1) Tetris (NES)
2) Mega Man 2 (NES)
3) Ninja Gaiden (NES)
4) Dragon Warrior (NES)
5) Godzilla: Monster of Monsters (NES)

1990:

1) Phantasy Star II (Sega Genesis)
2) Crystalis (NES)
3) Dragon Warrior II (NES)
4) The Secret of Monkey Island (DOS)
5) Balloon Kid (Game Boy)

1991:

1) Out of This World (Amiga 1000)
2) Civilization (DOS)
3) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
4) Sim City (Super NES)
5) ToeJam & Earl (Sega Genesis)

1992:

1) Sewer Shark (Sega CD)
2) Dragon Warrior IV (NES)
3) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
4) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
5) Super Mario Kart (Super NES)

1993:

1) Secret of Mana (Super NES)
2) Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD)
3) E.V.O.: Search for Eden (Super NES)
4) Shadowrun (Super NES)
5) ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Sega Genesis)

1994:

1) Final Fantasy III (Super NES)
2) Heart of the Alien (Sega CD)
3) Super Metroid (Super NES)
4) Shadowrun (Sega Genesis)
5) Illusion of Gaia (Super NES)

1995:

1) Solar Eclipse (Sega Saturn)
2) Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
3) Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD)
4) Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Super NES)
5) Secret of Evermore (Super NES)

1996:

1) Wonder Project J2: Josette of the Corlo Forest (Nintendo 64)
2) NiGHTS Into Dreams (Sega Saturn)
3) Resident Evil (PlayStation)
4) Tomb Raider (PlayStation)
5) Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (Super NES)

1997:

1) Mischief Makers (Nintendo 64)
2) Resident Evil 2 (PlayStation)
3) Oddworld: Abe's Oddesee (PlayStation)
4) Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
5) Harvest Moon (Super NES)

1998:

1) Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega Saturn)
2) Xenogears (PlayStation)
3) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
4) Oddworld: Abe's Exxodus (PlayStation)
5) Klonoa (PlayStation)

1999:

1) Drakan: Order of the Flame (Windows)
2) Star Ocean: The Second Story (PlayStation)
3) Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
4) Jet Force Gemini (Nintendo 64)
5) Sonic Adventure (Sega Dreamcast)

2000:

1) Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Nintendo 64)
2) Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64)
3) Jet Grind Radio (Sega Dreamcast)
4) Space Channel 5 (Sega Dreamcast)
5) Ecco: Defender of the Future (Sega Dreamcast)

2001:

1) Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2)
2) Red Faction (PlayStation 2)
3) Civilization III (Windows)
4) Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion (Game Boy Advance)
5) Luigi's Mansion (Nintendo Game Cube)

2002:

1) Lost Kingdoms (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Mega Man Zero (Game Boy Advance)
3) Red Faction II (PlayStation 2)
4) Metroid Prime (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)

2003:

1) Beyond Good and Evil (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Primal (PlayStation 2)
3) Final Fantasy X-2 (PlayStation 2)
4) Kya: Dark Lineage (PlayStation 2)
5) Lost Kingdoms II (Nintendo Game Cube)

2004:

1) Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Mega Man Zero 3 (Game Boy Advance)
3) Tales of Symphonia (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Siren (PlayStation 2)
5) Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Nintendo Game Cube)

2005:

1) Psychonauts (Xbox)
2) Civilization IV (Windows)
3) Killer 7 (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)
5) Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Nintendo Game Cube)

2006:

1) Rule of Rose (PlayStation 2)
2) Okami (PlayStation 2)
3) Chibi-Robo! (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Drill Dozer (Game Boy Advance) <-- This is as close to Grand Theft Auto as I get. :tongue:

2007:

1) Peace Maker (Windows)
2) Aquaria (Windows)
3) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)
4) Folklore (PlayStation 3)
5) Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (Nintendo DS)

2008:

1) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PlayStation 2)
2) Spore (Windows)
3) World of Goo (Wii downloadable)
4) Braid (Xbox 360 downloadable)
5) The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS)

2009:

1) Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)
2) Borderlands (PlayStation 3)
3) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo DS)
4) A Boy and His Blob (Wii)
5) Red Faction: Guerrilla (PlayStation 3)

2010:

1) Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
2) Heavy Rain (PlayStation 3)
3) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo DS)
4) Ivy the Kiwi? (Wii)
5) Civilization V (Windows)

2011:

1) To the Moon (Windows)
2) Radiant Historia (Nintendo DS)
3) Catherine (PlayStation 3)
4) Lost in Shadow (Wii)
5) Where Is My Heart? (PlayStation 3 downloadable)

2012:

1) Papo & Yo (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
2) Spec Ops: The Line (PlayStation 3)
3) Borderlands 2 (PlayStation 3)
4) Dear Esther (Windows)
5) Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PlayStation 3)

2013:

1) Beyond: Two Souls (PlayStation 3)
2) Gone Home (Windows)
3) Depression Quest (Browser)
4) BioShock Infinite (PlayStation 3)
5) Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PlayStation 3)

2014:

1) Never Alone (PlayStation 4)
2) Revolution 60 (iOS)
3) Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (PlayStation 3)
4) Child of Light (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
5) Dragon Age: Inquisition (PlayStation 4)

2015:

1) Life is Strange (PlayStation 4 downloadable)

Other particularly interesting potential 2015 games I'm looking forward to include...

2) Final Fantasy XV (PlayStation 4)
3) Broken Age Act 2 (Windows)
4) Crypt of the Necro Dancer (Windows)
5) Splatoon (Wii U)
6) Rise of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One)

The Xl
03-16-2015, 09:24 AM
I forgot to finish my list. I'll try and finish it when I get on the computer later

The Xl
03-17-2015, 02:00 AM
2000

1. Final Fantasy 9(PS)
2. Marvel vs. Capcom 2(Arcade)
3. WWF No Mercy(N64)
4. WWF Smackdown 2: Know your role(PS)


2001

1. Final Fantasy 10(PS2)
2. Super Smash Bros Melee(Gamecube)
3. Grand Theft Auto 3(PS2)
4. Sonic Adventure 2(Dreamcast)
5. Max Payne(PS2)
6. Crazy Taxi(Dreamcast)

2002.

1. Kingdom Hearts(PS2)
2. Dynasty Warriors 3(PS2)
3. Romance of the Three Kingdoms 7(PS2)
4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City(PS2)
5. Dragon Ball Z Budokai(PS2)
6. Dragon Ball Z Legendary Super Warriors(Game Boy Color)
7. NBA 2K3(PS2)

2003:

1. Fire Emblem(Game Boy Advance)
2. WWE Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain(PS2)
3. Dynasty Warriors 4(PS2)
4. Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8(PS2)
5. Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku 2(Game Boy Advance)
6. ESPN NBA 2K4(PS2)

2004

1. Romance of the Three Kingdoms 9(PS2)
2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas(PS2)
3. Pokemon FireRed(Game Boy Advance)
4. Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3(PS2)
5. Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku 3(Game Boy Advance)
6. NBA 2K5(PS2)

2005

1. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney(DS)
2. NBA 2K6(PS2)
3. Smackdown vs. Raw 06(PS2)
4. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones(Game Boy Advance)
5. Romance of the Three Kingdoms 10(PS2)



2006

1. Kingdom Hearts 2(PS2)
2. Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus(PS2)
3. NBA 2k7(Xbox 360)
4. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007(Xbox 360)
5. Saints Row(Xbox 360)


2007

1. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations(DS)
2. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All(DS)
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare(Xbox 360)
4. NBA 2K9(Xbox 360)
5. Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3

2008

1. Call of Duty: World at War(Xbox 360)
2. Grand Theft Auto 4(Xbox 360)
3. Super Smash Bros: Brawl(Nintendo Wii)
4. NBA 2K9(Xbox 360)
5. Saints Row 2(Xbox 360)

Got home late tonight, will finally finish this in the morning. Almost there, lol

IMPress Polly
03-17-2015, 10:37 AM
XI wrote:
Got home late tonight, will finally finish this in the morning. Almost there, lol

Well it is kind of a project, I understand. :laugh: Anyway, I really like the diversity of titles on your lists so far. It's only so often that one sees a Pokemon game, a sports game, and a Grand Theft Auto installment listed as top favorites for the same year, accompanied by a fighting game and a serious role-playing game. :grin: You seem a very broad-minded person.

As for my personal tastes, I LOVE the Kingdom Hearts and Romance of the Three Kingdoms games, and the Phoenix Wright games aren't bad either, and you KNOW I still collect the DBZ Budokai titles to this day! Super Smash Bros. is probably my favorite fighting franchise too. I like a lot of those sorts of games: really good titles that make fun of genre and game world trends. I've got some of those on my lists as well (especially the newly-revised version). Mario Kart and Drill Dozer come to mind. The old Clay Fighter games would be another classic example, although I couldn't actually justify any of those beating out games like Illusion of Gaia and such. And there are similarly other titles on my own lists that aren't satirical in nature, but nonetheless revolve substantially, or even entirely, around criticisms of trends in video game development, like Spec Ops: The Line, Braid, The World Ends With You, and, to a lesser extent, World of Goo (which is more of a much broader social commentary that includes criticisms of Silicon Valley).

Anyway, I look forward to seeing your selections for recent years!

The Xl
03-17-2015, 11:18 AM
2009

1. Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Sayians(DS)
2. NBA 2K10(Xbox 360)
3. UFC Undisputed 2009(Xbox 360)
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2(Xbox 360)
5. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010(Xbox 360)

2010

1. Red Red Redemption(Xbox 360)
2. Civilization 5(PC)
3. UFC Undisputed 2010(Xbox 360)
4. NBA 2K11(Xbox 360)
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops(Xbox 360)

2011

1. LA Noire(Xbox 360)
2. NBA 2K12(Xbox 360)
3. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3(Xbox 360)
4. Saints Row: The Third(Xbox 360)
5. Mortal Kombat 9(Xbox 360)

2012

1. Max Payne 3(Xbox 360)
2. NBA 2K 213(Xbox 360)
3. UFC Undisputed 2012(Xbox 360)
4. WWE 13(Xbox 360)

2013

1. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies(3DS)
2. Fire Emblem: Awakening(3DS)
3. NBA 2K14(Xbox 360)
4. Grand Theft Auto 5(Xbox 360)
5. Dynasty Warriors 8(Xbox 360)

2014

1. NBA 2K15(Xbox 1)
2. EA UFC(Xbox 1)
3. WWE 2K15(Xbox 1)
4. Super Smash Bros(3DS)

The Xl
03-17-2015, 11:22 AM
Off the top of my head, I forgot to list Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core(PSP, 2008) and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney(DS, 2008)

Haven't gotten a game yet in 2015, but I'm looking to grab DBZ Xenoverse within the week or so.

The Xl
03-17-2015, 11:29 AM
Well it is kind of a project, I understand. :laugh: Anyway, I really like the diversity of titles on your lists so far. It's only so often that one sees a Pokemon game, a sports game, and a Grand Theft Auto installment listed as top favorites for the same year, accompanied by a fighting game and a serious role-playing game. :grin: You seem a very broad-minded person.

As for my personal tastes, I LOVE the Kingdom Hearts and Romance of the Three Kingdoms games, and the Phoenix Wright games aren't bad either, and you KNOW I still collect the DBZ Budokai titles to this day! Super Smash Bros. is probably my favorite fighting franchise too. I like a lot of those sorts of games: really good titles that make fun of genre and game world trends. I've got some of those on my lists as well (especially the newly-revised version). Mario Kart and Drill Dozer come to mind. The old Clay Fighter games would be another classic example, although I couldn't actually justify any of those beating out games like Illusion of Gaia and such. And there are similarly other titles on my own lists that aren't satirical in nature, but nonetheless revolve substantially, or even entirely, around criticisms of trends in video game development, like Spec Ops: The Line, Braid, The World Ends With You, and, to a lesser extent, World of Goo (which is more of a much broader social commentary that includes criticisms of Silicon Valley).

Anyway, I look forward to seeing your selections for recent years!

I guess I'm all over the place with my genres and whatnot. But like you said, I'm pretty broad minded, entertaining is entertaining, and I'm as much nerd as I am jock, lol.

I like your list too. Did you just get around to playing Xenogears for the first time, what's the story with that? Good choice either way.

nic34
03-17-2015, 11:30 AM
You forgot one from 1987 Polly:

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Leisure_Suit_Larry_1_-_Land_of_the_Lounge_Lizards_1987

I first played this on an IBM PC with an Intel 286 processor.

Good times. :grin:

Dragonborn Herald
03-19-2015, 02:35 AM
You should've said computer games. I was think pen and paper games.

IMPress Polly
03-19-2015, 05:44 AM
XI wrote:
I like your list too. Did you just get around to playing Xenogears for the first time, what's the story with that? Good choice either way.

Thanks! And actually, you can credit yourself because it was when I saw it ranked #1 for 1998 on your list that I remembered how awesome a game it was. I went back and replayed a little of it and realized how much deeper it was than I remembered because, now that I've had some philosophy and psych classes, I get all the numerous allusions to Niezsche's and Jung's work. I especially liked the game's conclusion and how it dealt with the topic of religious faith vs. doubt. It can't be said that I see a comparable depth to any of Sakaguchi's subsequent Xeno games, but, interestingly enough, even though I'm not really a subscriber thereto, there are, in fact, several games inspired at least in part by Nietzsche's thinking that I've found particularly awesome over the years, and Xenogears is just one of them. Another, Beyond Good and Evil (circa 2003) is easily one of my favorite games of all time. It's a lot more expressly political than Xenogears though and I think that's been much of the reason for its appeal to yours truly. More recently, the Dark Souls dungeon-crawlers (2011 and 2014 respectively) have served as additional examples of obviously Neitzsche-inspired titles that really play well and provoke critical thought. (As you know, I'm all about video games advancing as an artistic medium.)


Dragonborn Herald wrote:
You should've said computer games. I was think pen and paper games.

Sorry for the confusion, DH!


Nic wrote:
You forgot one from 1987 Polly:

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards

Whoops, my bad! :wink: ...:laugh:

The Xl
03-21-2015, 01:42 PM
Just got DBZ Xenoverse. Will play the shit out of that as soon as I workout then eat.

IMPress Polly
03-27-2015, 05:06 PM
So...what's the word, XI? On a scale of 1 to 10 (weighted to account for DBZ fandom :grin:), what would you give it?

IMPress Polly
06-06-2015, 07:46 AM
SUMMER 2015 REVISION

Well it's that time again: time to update my list of top five favorite video games by year! I do this seasonally. There have been a number of changes spanning the years represented, but this time the most significant ones are concentrated in my lists for years from the late 1980s, as expanding my '80s game library has been a significant focus of this year for me so far. I've acquired a number of new games from the second half of the 1980s this year and some of them have definitely been good enough to make this list, including a pair of true hidden gems! More broadly, I continue to focus on increasing the number of original games appearing on this list and that's been made easier by the discovery of some additional hidden gems from more recent years of late. In addition to these changes, I've also been able to add a proper top five list for (early) 2015 now that I have ten games released this year. (Speaking of my 2015 list, wow, four of my top five favorites for the current year are digital distribution titles. I think as much reflects my perception that modern retail games by and large are totally stuck in a rut.) As always, I'm listing the oldest versions of these titles I have (or have played, as applicable), using their North American titles where applicable, and dating them according to the time of their North American release where one applies. Enjoy!

Note: To simplify your quest a little, @The Xl (http://thepoliticalforums.com/member.php?u=865), and also to advance the general knowledge of all on the array of quality games about girls and women, female-centric games making my list will appear in purple this time around. For our purposes here, a female-centric game is defined as a title wherein either 1) the lead character is female, or 2) if more than one lead applies, then a game wherein most of the lead characters are female.

1985:

1) Balance of Power (Amiga 1000)
2) A Mind Forever Voyaging (Commodore 128)
3) Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (Commodore 64)
4) Gyromite (NES)
5) Super Mario Bros. (NES)

1986:

1) Trinity (DOS)
2) Leather Goddesses of Phobos (DOS)
3) Moonmist (Commodore 64)
4) Ghosts n' Goblins (NES)
5) Bubble Bobble (Arcade)

1987:

1) Guerrilla War (Commodore 64)
2) The Great Giana Sisters (Commodore 64)
3) Metroid (NES)
4) Dungeon Master (Amiga 1000)
5) Kid Icarus (NES)

1988:

1) Phantasy Star (Sega Master System)
2) Hidden Agenda (DOS)
3) Metal Gear (NES)
4) Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
5) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)

1989:

1) Tetris (NES)
2) The Guardian Legend (NES)
3) Mega Man 2 (NES)
4) Ninja Gaiden (NES)
5) Dragon Warrior (NES)

1990:

1) Phantasy Star II (Sega Genesis)
2) Clash at Demonhead (NES)
3) Crystalis (NES)
4) The Secret of Monkey Island (DOS)
5) Balloon Kid (Game Boy)

1991:

1) Out of This World (Amiga 1000)
2) Civilization (DOS)
3) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
4) Sim City (Super NES)
5) ToeJam & Earl (Sega Genesis)

1992:

1) Sewer Shark (Sega CD)
2) Dragon Warrior IV (NES)
3) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
4) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
5) Super Mario Kart (Super NES)

1993:

1) Secret of Mana (Super NES)
2) Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD)
3) E.V.O.: Search for Eden (Super NES)
4) Shadowrun (Super NES)
5) ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Sega Genesis)

1994:

1) Final Fantasy III (Super NES) <-- My second-favorite game of all time.
2) Heart of the Alien (Sega CD)
3) Super Metroid (Super NES)
4) Shadowrun (Sega Genesis)
5) The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey and Minnie (Super NES)

1995:

1) Solar Eclipse (Sega Saturn)
2) Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
3) Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD)
4) Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Super NES)
5) Secret of Evermore (Super NES)

1996:

1) Wonder Project J2: Josette of the Corlo Forest (Nintendo 64)
2) NiGHTS Into Dreams (Sega Saturn)
3) Resident Evil (PlayStation)
4) Tomb Raider (PlayStation)
5) Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (Super NES)

1997:

1) Mischief Makers (Nintendo 64)
2) Resident Evil 2 (PlayStation)
3) Oddworld: Abe's Oddesee (PlayStation)
4) Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
5) Harvest Moon (Super NES)

1998:

1) Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega Saturn)
2) Xenogears (PlayStation)
3) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
4) Oddworld: Abe's Exxodus (PlayStation)
5) Klonoa (PlayStation)

1999:

1) Drakan: Order of the Flame (Windows)
2) Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
3) Star Ocean: The Second Story (PlayStation)
4) Jet Force Gemini (Nintendo 64)
5) Sonic Adventure (Sega Dreamcast)

2000:

1) Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Nintendo 64)
2) Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64)
3) Jet Grind Radio (Sega Dreamcast)
4) Space Channel 5 (Sega Dreamcast)
5) Ecco: Defender of the Future (Sega Dreamcast)

2001:

1) Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2)
2) Red Faction (PlayStation 2)
3) Civilization III (Windows)
4) Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion (Game Boy Advance)
5) Luigi's Mansion (Nintendo Game Cube)

2002:

1) Lost Kingdoms (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Mega Man Zero (Game Boy Advance)
3) Red Faction II (PlayStation 2)
4) Metroid Prime (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)

2003:

1) Beyond Good & Evil (Nintendo Game Cube) <-- My third-favorite game of all time.
2) Primal (PlayStation 2)
3) Final Fantasy X-2 (PlayStation 2)
4) Kya: Dark Lineage (PlayStation 2)
5) Lost Kingdoms II (Nintendo Game Cube)

2004:

1) Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Mega Man Zero 3 (Game Boy Advance)
3) Tales of Symphonia (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Siren (PlayStation 2)
5) Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Nintendo Game Cube)

2005:

1) Psychonauts (Xbox)
2) Civilization IV (Windows)
3) Killer 7 (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)
5) Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Nintendo Game Cube)

2006:

1) Okami (PlayStation 2)
2) Rule of Rose (PlayStation 2)
3) Chibi-Robo! (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Drill Dozer (Game Boy Advance)

2007:

1) Peace Maker (Windows)
2) Aquaria (Windows)
3) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)
4) Folklore (PlayStation 3)
5) Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (Nintendo DS)

2008:

1) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PlayStation 2) <-- My #1 favorite game of all time.
2) World of Goo (Wii downloadable)
3) Spore (Windows)
4) Mirror's Edge (PlayStation 3)
5) The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS)

2009:

1) Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)
2) Borderlands (PlayStation 3)
3) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo DS)
4) A Boy and His Blob (Wii)
5) Flower (PlayStation 3 downloadable)

2010:

1) Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
2) Heavy Rain (PlayStation 3)
3) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo DS)
4) Ivy the Kiwi? (Wii)
5) Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PlayStation 3)

2011:

1) To the Moon (Windows)
2) Radiant Historia (Nintendo DS)
3) Catherine (PlayStation 3)
4) Sword & Sworcery EP (iOS)
5) Lost in Shadow (Wii)

2012:

1) Papo & Yo (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
2) Thomas Was Alone (Windows)
3) Spec Ops: The Line (PlayStation 3)
4) Borderlands 2 (PlayStation 3)
5) Dear Esther (Windows)

2013:

1) Beyond: Two Souls (PlayStation 3)
2) Gone Home (Windows)
3) Depression Quest (Browser)
4) BioShock Infinite (PlayStation 3)
5) Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PlayStation 3)

2014:

1) Never Alone (PlayStation 4)
2) Revolution 60 (iOS)
3) Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (PlayStation 3)
4) Child of Light (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
5) Dragon Age: Inquisition (PlayStation 4)

2015 (so far):

1) Life is Strange (PlayStation 4 downloadable)
2) Broken Age: Act 2 (Windows)
3) Crypt of the Necro Dancer (Windows)
4) Splatoon (Wii U)
5) Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PlayStation 4 downloadable)

maineman
06-06-2015, 09:14 AM
2004: Game four of the ALCS ;)

The Xl
06-06-2015, 09:24 AM
SUMMER 2015 REVISION

Well it's that time again: time to update my list of top five favorite video games by year! I do this seasonally. There have been a number of changes spanning the years represented, but this time the most significant ones are concentrated in my lists for years from the late 1980s, as expanding my '80s game library has been a significant focus of this year for me so far. I've acquired a number of new games from the second half of the 1980s this year and some of them have definitely been good enough to make this list, including a pair of true hidden gems! More broadly, I continue to focus on increasing the number of original games appearing on this list and that's been made easier by the discovery of some additional hidden gems from more recent years of late. In addition to these changes, I've also been able to add a proper top five list for (early) 2015 now that I have ten games released this year. (Speaking of my 2015 list, wow, four of my top five favorites for the current year are digital distribution titles. I think as much reflects my perception that modern retail games by and large are totally stuck in a rut.) As always, I'm listing the oldest versions of these titles I have (or have played, as applicable), using their North American titles where applicable, and dating them according to the time of their North American release where one applies. Enjoy!

Note: To simplify your quest a little, @The Xl (http://thepoliticalforums.com/member.php?u=865), and also to advance the general knowledge of all on the array of quality games about girls and women, female-centric games making my list will appear in purple this time around. For our purposes here, a female-centric game is defined as a title wherein either 1) the lead character is female, or 2) if more than one lead applies, then a game wherein most of the lead characters are female.

1985:

1) Balance of Power (Amiga 1000)
2) A Mind Forever Voyaging (Commodore 128)
3) Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (Commodore 64)
4) Gyromite (NES)
5) Super Mario Bros. (NES)

1986:

1) Trinity (DOS)
2) Leather Goddesses of Phobos (DOS)
3) Moonmist (Commodore 64)
4) Ghosts n' Goblins (NES)
5) Bubble Bobble (Arcade)

1987:

1) Guerrilla War (Commodore 64)
2) The Great Giana Sisters (Commodore 64)
3) Metroid (NES)
4) Dungeon Master (Amiga 1000)
5) Kid Icarus (NES)

1988:

1) Phantasy Star (Sega Master System)
2) Hidden Agenda (DOS)
3) Metal Gear (NES)
4) Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
5) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)

1989:

1) Tetris (NES)
2) The Guardian Legend (NES)
3) Mega Man 2 (NES)
4) Ninja Gaiden (NES)
5) Dragon Warrior (NES)

1990:

1) Phantasy Star II (Sega Genesis)
2) Clash at Demonhead (NES)
3) Crystalis (NES)
4) The Secret of Monkey Island (DOS)
5) Balloon Kid (Game Boy)

1991:

1) Out of This World (Amiga 1000)
2) Civilization (DOS)
3) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
4) Sim City (Super NES)
5) ToeJam & Earl (Sega Genesis)

1992:

1) Sewer Shark (Sega CD)
2) Dragon Warrior IV (NES)
3) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
4) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
5) Super Mario Kart (Super NES)

1993:

1) Secret of Mana (Super NES)
2) Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD)
3) E.V.O.: Search for Eden (Super NES)
4) Shadowrun (Super NES)
5) ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Sega Genesis)

1994:

1) Final Fantasy III (Super NES) <-- My second-favorite game of all time.
2) Heart of the Alien (Sega CD)
3) Super Metroid (Super NES)
4) Shadowrun (Sega Genesis)
5) The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey and Minnie (Super NES)

1995:

1) Solar Eclipse (Sega Saturn)
2) Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
3) Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD)
4) Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Super NES)
5) Secret of Evermore (Super NES)

1996:

1) Wonder Project J2: Josette of the Corlo Forest (Nintendo 64)
2) NiGHTS Into Dreams (Sega Saturn)
3) Resident Evil (PlayStation)
4) Tomb Raider (PlayStation)
5) Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (Super NES)

1997:

1) Mischief Makers (Nintendo 64)
2) Resident Evil 2 (PlayStation)
3) Oddworld: Abe's Oddesee (PlayStation)
4) Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
5) Harvest Moon (Super NES)

1998:

1) Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega Saturn)
2) Xenogears (PlayStation)
3) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
4) Oddworld: Abe's Exxodus (PlayStation)
5) Klonoa (PlayStation)

1999:

1) Drakan: Order of the Flame (Windows)
2) Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
3) Star Ocean: The Second Story (PlayStation)
4) Jet Force Gemini (Nintendo 64)
5) Sonic Adventure (Sega Dreamcast)

2000:

1) Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Nintendo 64)
2) Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64)
3) Jet Grind Radio (Sega Dreamcast)
4) Space Channel 5 (Sega Dreamcast)
5) Ecco: Defender of the Future (Sega Dreamcast)

2001:

1) Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2)
2) Red Faction (PlayStation 2)
3) Civilization III (Windows)
4) Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion (Game Boy Advance)
5) Luigi's Mansion (Nintendo Game Cube)

2002:

1) Lost Kingdoms (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Mega Man Zero (Game Boy Advance)
3) Red Faction II (PlayStation 2)
4) Metroid Prime (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)

2003:

1) Beyond Good & Evil (Nintendo Game Cube) <-- My third-favorite game of all time.
2) Primal (PlayStation 2)
3) Final Fantasy X-2 (PlayStation 2)
4) Kya: Dark Lineage (PlayStation 2)
5) Lost Kingdoms II (Nintendo Game Cube)

2004:

1) Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Mega Man Zero 3 (Game Boy Advance)
3) Tales of Symphonia (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Siren (PlayStation 2)
5) Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Nintendo Game Cube)

2005:

1) Psychonauts (Xbox)
2) Civilization IV (Windows)
3) Killer 7 (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)
5) Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Nintendo Game Cube)

2006:

1) Okami (PlayStation 2)
2) Rule of Rose (PlayStation 2)
3) Chibi-Robo! (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Drill Dozer (Game Boy Advance)

2007:

1) Peace Maker (Windows)
2) Aquaria (Windows)
3) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)
4) Folklore (PlayStation 3)
5) Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (Nintendo DS)

2008:

1) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PlayStation 2) <-- My #1 favorite game of all time.
2) World of Goo (Wii downloadable)
3) Spore (Windows)
4) Mirror's Edge (PlayStation 3)
5) The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS)

2009:

1) Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)
2) Borderlands (PlayStation 3)
3) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo DS)
4) A Boy and His Blob (Wii)
5) Flower (PlayStation 3 downloadable)

2010:

1) Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
2) Heavy Rain (PlayStation 3)
3) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo DS)
4) Ivy the Kiwi? (Wii)
5) Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PlayStation 3)

2011:

1) To the Moon (Windows)
2) Radiant Historia (Nintendo DS)
3) Catherine (PlayStation 3)
4) Sword & Sworcery EP (iOS)
5) Lost in Shadow (Wii)

2012:

1) Papo & Yo (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
2) Thomas Was Alone (Windows)
3) Spec Ops: The Line (PlayStation 3)
4) Borderlands 2 (PlayStation 3)
5) Dear Esther (Windows)

2013:

1) Beyond: Two Souls (PlayStation 3)
2) Gone Home (Windows)
3) Depression Quest (Browser)
4) BioShock Infinite (PlayStation 3)
5) Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PlayStation 3)

2014:

1) Never Alone (PlayStation 4)
2) Revolution 60 (iOS)
3) Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (PlayStation 3)
4) Child of Light (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
5) Dragon Age: Inquisition (PlayStation 4)

2015 (so far):

1) Life is Strange (PlayStation 4 downloadable)
2) Broken Age: Act 2 (Windows)
3) Crypt of the Necro Dancer (Windows)
4) Splatoon (Wii U)
5) Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PlayStation 4 downloadable)

That's a smart and useful way to differentiate them.

The Xl
06-06-2015, 09:26 AM
So...what's the word, XI? On a scale of 1 to 10 (weighted to account for DBZ fandom :grin:), what would you give it?

I'd say an 8.5 or a 9, I had a lot of fun with it. Unique story with new characters not previously introduced to the series, fun gameplay, solid online play, takes a good while to beat, decent replay value.

IMPress Polly
06-06-2015, 11:24 AM
XL wrote:
That's a smart and useful way to differentiate them.

Glad I could help!


I'd say an 8.5 or a 9, I had a lot of fun with it. Unique story with new characters not previously introduced to the series, fun gameplay, solid online play, takes a good while to beat, decent replay value.

I think I'll had to pick it up this month then. :cool2: Before E3 I mean. I'm gonna be distracted during that period obviously. :wink:

Common
06-06-2015, 11:37 AM
Well polly left out some of my favorites and NO I dont remember the years lol and not in order

Wolfenstein the original about 1988-89
Doom
Quake
Quake 2 & 3
Duke Nukem
Halo
Farcry

kilgram
06-08-2015, 07:54 AM
Well polly left out some of my favorites and NO I dont remember the years lol and not in order

Wolfenstein the original about 1988-89
Doom
Quake
Quake 2 & 3
Duke Nukem
Halo
Farcry
Have you played Shadow Warrior?

IMPress Polly
09-26-2015, 09:23 AM
Alright, it's time for my seasonal update to the favorites list. It's mostly unchanged from before, but some new acquisitions (like Baseball Stars, Shining Force III, Bastion, Wolfenstein: The New Order, and Beyond Eyes) and just changes of opinion about some games have resulted in some changes spread across the list. As always, this list doesn't include remakes, uses the American game titles and release dates (where applicable), and lists only the oldest platform on which I have the given game. I'll also add a list of my current top ten favorite games of all time to throw in something new.

Note: As before, I'm listing the female-centered games in purple. I have changed Final Fantasy 6 (listed here as Final Fantasy 3, as I'm using the American titles) in purple as well this time because I've decided to apply Anita Sarkeesian's criteria for what makes a game female-centered: it's primarily Terra's story.

Top 10 All-Time Favorites:

1) Final Fantasy III (1994) <-- Properly FF 6; I'm using the American title.
2) Beyond Good & Evil (2003)
3) Beyond: Two Souls (2013)
4) Gone Home (2013)
5) Never Alone (2014)
6) Papo & Yo (2012)
7) To the Moon (2011)
8) Beyond Eyes (2015)
9) Depression Quest (2013)
10) BioShock Infinite (2013)

I guess one takeaway is that I sympathize with the struggles of children a lot, while another might be that I place a premium on stories that promote empathy (and that those types of games usually have female leads). Clearly I'm an artsy kind of person when it comes my entertainment, as I'm not sure anyone else's list of favorites would resemble this. And obviously I've realized just how awesome the year 2013 in particular was for the artistic development of gaming as a medium. Anyway...

By Year:

1985:

1) Balance of Power (Amiga 1000)
2) A Mind Forever Voyaging (Commodore 128)
3) Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (Commodore 64)
4) Gyromite (NES)
5) Super Mario Bros. (NES)

1986:

1) Trinity (DOS)
2) Leather Goddesses of Phobos (DOS)
3) Moonmist (Commodore 64)
4) Ghosts n' Goblins (NES)
5) Bubble Bobble (Arcade)

1987:

1) Guerrilla War (Commodore 64)
2) The Great Giana Sisters (Commodore 64)
3) Metroid (NES)
4) Dungeon Master (Amiga 1000)
5) Kid Icarus (NES)

1988:

1) Phantasy Star (Sega Master System)
2) Hidden Agenda (DOS)
3) Metal Gear (NES)
4) Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
5) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)

1989:

1) Tetris (NES)
2) The Guardian Legend (NES)
3) Mega Man 2 (NES)
4) Ninja Gaiden (NES)
5) Baseball Stars (NES)

1990:

1) Phantasy Star II (Sega Genesis)
2) Clash at Demonhead (NES)
3) Crystalis (NES)
4) The Secret of Monkey Island (DOS)
5) Balloon Kid (Game Boy)

1991:

1) Out of This World (Amiga 1000)
2) Civilization (DOS)
3) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
4) Sim City (Super NES)
5) ToeJam & Earl (Sega Genesis)

1992:

1) Sewer Shark (Sega CD)
2) Dragon Warrior IV (NES)
3) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
4) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
5) Super Mario Kart (Super NES)

1993:

1) Secret of Mana (Super NES)
2) Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD)
3) E.V.O.: Search for Eden (Super NES)
4) Shadowrun (Super NES)
5) ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Sega Genesis)

1994:

1) Final Fantasy III (Super NES)
2) Heart of the Alien (Sega CD)
3) Super Metroid (Super NES)
4) Shadowrun (Sega Genesis)
5) The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey and Minnie (Super NES)

1995:

1) Solar Eclipse (Sega Saturn)
2) Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
3) Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD)
4) Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Super NES)
5) Secret of Evermore (Super NES)

1996:

1) Wonder Project J2: Josette of the Corlo Forest (Nintendo 64)
2) NiGHTS Into Dreams (Sega Saturn)
3) Resident Evil (PlayStation)
4) Tomb Raider (PlayStation)
5) Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (Super NES)

1997:

1) Mischief Makers (Nintendo 64)
2) Oddworld: Abe's Oddesee (PlayStation)
3) Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
4) Harvest Moon (Super NES)
5) Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo 64)

1998:

1) Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega Saturn)
2) Shining Force III (Sega Saturn)
3) Xenogears (PlayStation)
4) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
5) Oddworld: Abe's Exxodus (PlayStation)

1999:

1) Drakan: Order of the Flame (Windows)
2) Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
3) Star Ocean: The Second Story (PlayStation)
4) Jet Force Gemini (Nintendo 64)
5) Sonic Adventure (Sega Dreamcast)

2000:

1) Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Nintendo 64)
2) Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64)
3) Jet Grind Radio (Sega Dreamcast)
4) Space Channel 5 (Sega Dreamcast)
5) Ecco: Defender of the Future (Sega Dreamcast)

2001:

1) Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2)
2) Ico (PlayStation 2)
3) Red Faction (PlayStation 2)
4) Civilization III (Windows)
5) Luigi's Mansion (Nintendo Game Cube)

2002:

1) Lost Kingdoms (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Mega Man Zero (Game Boy Advance)
3) Metroid Prime (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Kingdom Hearts (PlayStation 2)
5) Way of the Samurai (PlayStation 2)

2003:

1) Beyond Good & Evil (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Primal (PlayStation 2)
3) Kya: Dark Lineage (PlayStation 2)
4) Final Fantasy X-2 (PlayStation 2)
5) Lost Kingdoms II (Nintendo Game Cube)

2004:

1) Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Mega Man Zero 3 (Game Boy Advance)
3) Tales of Symphonia (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Siren (PlayStation 2)
5) Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance)

2005:

1) Psychonauts (Xbox)
2) Killer 7 (Nintendo Game Cube)
3) Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)
4) Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Civilization IV (Windows)

2006:

1) Okami (PlayStation 2)
2) Rule of Rose (PlayStation 2)
3) Chibi-Robo! (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Drill Dozer (Game Boy Advance)

2007:

1) Peace Maker (Windows)
2) BioShock (Xbox 360)
3) Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
4) Aquaria (Windows)
5) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)


2008:

1) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PlayStation 2)
2) World of Goo (Wii downloadable)
3) Spore (Windows)
4) Mirror's Edge (PlayStation 3)
5) The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS)

2009:

1) Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)
2) Borderlands (PlayStation 3)
3) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo DS)
4) A Boy and His Blob (Wii)
5) Flower (PlayStation 3 downloadable)

2010:

1) Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
2) Heavy Rain (PlayStation 3)
3) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo DS)
4) Ivy the Kiwi? (Wii)
5) Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PlayStation 3)

2011:

1) To the Moon (Windows)
2) Radiant Historia (Nintendo DS)
3) Catherine (PlayStation 3)
4) Sword & Sworcery EP (iOS)
5) Bastion (Windows)

2012:

1) Papo & Yo (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
2) Thomas Was Alone (Windows)
3) Spec Ops: The Line (PlayStation 3)
4) Hotline Miami (Windows)
5) Dear Esther (Windows)

2013:

1) Beyond: Two Souls (PlayStation 3)
2) Gone Home (Windows)
3) Depression Quest (Browser)
4) BioShock Infinite (PlayStation 3)
5) Papers, Please (Windows)

2014:

1) Never Alone (PlayStation 4 downloadable)
2) Dragon Age: Inquisition (PlayStation 4)
3) Child of Light (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
4) Wolfenstein: The New Order (PlayStation 4)
5) Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (PlayStation 3)

2015 (so far):

1) Beyond Eyes (Xbox One downloadable)
2) Life is Strange (PlayStation 4 downloadable)
3) Crypt of the Necro Dancer (Windows)
4) Broken Age: Act 2 (Windows)
5) Splatoon (Wii U)

Common
09-26-2015, 11:10 AM
Have you played Shadow Warrior?

no i havent kilgram, never heard of it to be honest.

Common
09-26-2015, 06:38 PM
No discussion is required unless you just want to comment. I've posted my favorite five games by year going back to 1992 before, but that was kind of a spontaneous list I made off the top of my head, so I wanted to do one that's based on a more thorough scouring of my 848-game library. I've gone back and searched through all my games, which happen to be organized by year of release anyway, to bring you a considerably revised list of my personal favorites, this time dating back to 1985. If a game on this list was released in North America, I will use its official North American name and year of release. No remakes will be included in this list. (The reason I don't have five games listed for the years 1985 and '86 is because I don't have any games from those particular years other than what you see posted there.)

You may notice that the trend here is in a progressively more story-driven and cinematic direction overall. Those are my favorite sorts of games. My standards for what constitutes a good game can be measured in four categories: theme, storytelling, atmosphere, and game structure. The weighting of each category is subjective. (I consider games, when done well, to be an art form, and accordingly use the same standards of quality that I would use for films, but with the addition of game structure that can apply only to this medium.) You may have noticed that my top preferences for each from 2011 to today are inexpensive downloadables. That's because, in my view, AAA console games reached their zenith of artistic development with the 2010 release of Final Fantasy XIII and haven't really progressed since. It's for similar reasons that the last decade in general sees an increasing number of games for portable systems creeping into my list of favorites. Developing retail games for home consoles is simply too expensive to result in much genuine innovation these days. Skyrocketing development costs ensure that developers of modern console retail games tend to avoid taking risks on a lot of new ideas and instead seek to simply make the game-world equivalent of blockbusters increasingly. I despise that and am accordingly about ready to finally turn my back on the world of console gaming once and for all. A lot of most genuinely creative and thought-provoking games these days are cheap-O downloadables because they minimize the risk to game-makers by, well, having lower development costs. Lots more room there for really clever indie games and so forth.

1985:

1) Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (Commodore 64)
2) Super Mario Bros.

1986:

Ghosts n' Goblins

1987:

1) The Great Giana Sisters (Commodore 64)
2) Guerrilla War (Commodore 64)
3) Kid Icarus (NES)
4) Metroid (NES)
5) The Legend of Zelda (NES)

1988:

1) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
2) Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
3) Dragon Power (NES)
4) Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)
5) Metal Gear (NES)

1989:

1) A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia (NES)
2) Mega Man 2 (NES)
3) Ninja Gaiden (NES)
4) Dragon Warrior (NES)
5) Godzilla: Monster of Monsters (NES)

1990:

1) Phantasy Star II (Sega Genesis)
2) Crystalis (NES)
3) Dragon Warrior II (NES)
4) Final Fantasy (NES)
5) Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

1991:

1) Final Fantasy II (Super NES) *
2) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Game Gear)
3) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
4) Sim City (Super NES)
5) Dragon Warrior III (NES)

1992:

1) Dragon Warrior IV (NES)
2) Out of This World (Super NES)
3) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
4) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
5) The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (Super NES)

1993:

1) Secret of Mana (Super NES)
2) Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD)
3) Ecco the Dolphin (Sega CD)
4) E.V.O.: Search for Eden (Super NES)
5) Lufia and the Fortress of Doom (Super NES)

1994:

1) Final Fantasy III (Super NES) **
2) Heart of the Alien (Sega CD)
3) Illusion of Gaia (Super NES)
4) Breath of Fire (Super NES)
5) Super Godzilla (Super NES)

1995:

1) Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
2) Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD)
3) Secret of Evermore (Super NES)
4) Civilization (Super NES)
5) Breath of Fire II (Super NES)

1996:

1) Wonder Project J2: Josette of the Corlo Forest (Nintendo 64)
2) NiGHTS Into Dreams (Sega Saturn)
3) Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom)
4) Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (Super NES)
5) Tomb Raider (PlayStation)

1997:

1) Mischief Makers (Nintendo 64)
2) Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
3) Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (PlayStation)
4) Harvest Moon (Super NES)
5) Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo 64)

1998:

1) Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega Saturn)
2) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
3) Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus (PlayStation)
4) Breath of Fire III
5) Klonoa (PlayStation)

1999:

1) Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
2) Star Ocean: Second Story (PlayStation)
3) Jet Force Gemini (Nintendo 64)
4) Shadow Gate 64: Trials of the Four Towers (Nintendo 64)
5) Sonic Adventure (Sega Dreamcast)

2000:

1) Battle Ogre 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Nintendo 64)
2) Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64)
3) Jet Grind Radio (Sega Dreamcast)
4) Space Channel 5 (Sega Dreamcast)
5) Ecco: Defender of the Future (Sega Dreamcast)

2001:

1) Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2)
2) Red Faction (PlayStation 2)
3) Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion (Game Boy Advance)
4) Golden Sun (Game Boy Advance)
5) Sonic Adventure 2 (Sega Dreamcast)

2002:

1) Lost Kingdoms (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Red Faction II (PlayStation 2)
3) Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)
4) Way of the Samurai (PlayStation 2)
5) Kingdom Hearts (PlayStation 2)

2003:

1) Beyond Good and Evil (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Final Fantasy X-2 (PlayStation 2)
3) The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Lost Kingdoms II (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Golden Sun: The Lost Age (Game Boy Advance)

2004:

1) Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Tales of Symphonia (Nintendo Game Cube)
3) Siren (PlayStation 2)
4) Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance)
5) Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Game Cube)

2005:

1) Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)
2) Killer 7 (Nintendo Game Cube)
3) Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360)
4) Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Game Boy Advance)

2006:

1) Okami (PlayStation 2)
2) Rule of Rose (PlayStation 2)
3) Chibi-Robo! (Game Cube)
4) Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PlayStation 2)

2007:

1) Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo DS)
2) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)
3) Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (Nintendo DS)
4) Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
5) Portal (PlayStation 3)

2008:

1) Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii)
2) The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS)
3) Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns (Nintendo DS)
4) Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Nintendo DS)
5) Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Nintendo DS)

2009:

1) Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)
2) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo DS)
3) Red Faction: Guerrilla (PlayStation 3)
4) Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS)
5) Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans (Nintendo DS)

2010:

1) Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
2) Ivy the Kiwi? (Wii)
3) Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii)
4) Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (Nintendo DS)
5) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo DS)

2011:

1) To the Moon (Windows)
2) Red Faction: Armageddon (PlayStation 3)
3) Radiant Historia (Nintendo DS)
4) The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
5) Lost in Shadow (Wii)

2012:

1) Papo & Yo (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
2) Dear Esther (Windows)
3) Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PlayStation 3)
4) The Last Story (Wii)
5) Assassin's Creed III: Revolution (Wii U)

2013:

1) Depression Quest (Browser)
2) Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PlayStation 3)
3) The Last of Us (PlayStation 3)
4) Puppeteer (PlayStation 3)
5) Tomb Raider (PlayStation 3)

2014:

1) Child of Light (Wii U downloadable)
2) Bravely Default (Nintendo 3DS)
2) Fantasy Life (Nintendo 3DS)
4) Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
5) Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)

* Objectively this is Final Fantasy IV.
** Objectively this is Final Fantasy VI.


Your memory is incredible so incredible its scarey lol

The Xl
09-26-2015, 06:42 PM
Your memory is incredible so incredible its scarey lol

For real. I need Google to both refresh my memory and remember the year of certain games

IMPress Polly
09-27-2015, 05:13 AM
Common wrote:
Your memory is incredible so incredible its scarey lol

History teacher. Names and dates are my specialty. :grin: Plus both my shelves and downloads are organized by year.

Anyway, I appreciate your Thanking the OP today. :cool2: I update my list of favorites seasonally to reflect new acquisitions (I buy a lot of games) and changing tastes. Here's the latest version of my list (http://thepoliticalforums.com/threads/37933-Favorite-Games-By-Year?p=1271268&viewfull=1#post1271268).

IMPress Polly
12-09-2015, 06:53 AM
Alright, time for my seasonal update to this list! Fall being the season of major game releases, I've focused the bulk of my resources lately on acquiring new games rather than older ones, so there's not that much to update here beyond rearrangements of the existing items I'd previously selected for a number of years, though I have added all-new entries for the years 1995, 1998-2000, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2014, and 2015. Now as you've seen my top five picks for the current year (2015) detailed at some length in a recent thread (here (http://thepoliticalforums.com/threads/54681-The-Best-Worst-Games-of-2015)), I've decided to give you some value-added material for bothering to visit this simple list and extend my 2015 picks to cover my top ten favorites rather than just the top five, and have also added a list of the top five games I'm most looking forward to for next year.

As always, I'm using the American titles and release dates for games (where applicable), the system I got the game for first or plan to get it for first (as applicable), and will color games with female leads in purple for XL's continued convenience.

By Year:

1985:

1) Balance of Power (Amiga 1000)
2) A Mind Forever Voyaging (Commodore 128)
3) Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (Commodore 64)
4) Gyromite (NES)
5) Super Mario Bros. (NES)

1986:

1) Leather Goddesses of Phobos (DOS)
2) Trinity (DOS)
3) Moonmist (Commodore 64)
4) Ghosts n' Goblins (NES)
5) Bubble Bobble (Arcade)

1987:

1) Guerrilla War (Commodore 64)
2) The Great Giana Sisters (Commodore 64)
3) Metroid (NES)
4) Dungeon Master (Amiga 1000)
5) Kid Icarus (NES)

1988:

1) Phantasy Star (Sega Master System)
2) Hidden Agenda (DOS)
3) Metal Gear (NES)
4) Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
5) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)

1989:

1) Tetris (NES)
2) The Guardian Legend (NES)
3) Baseball Stars (NES)
4) Ninja Gaiden (NES)
5) Mega Man 2 (NES)

1990:

1) Phantasy Star II (Sega Genesis)
2) Clash at Demonhead (NES)
3) Crystalis (NES)
4) The Secret of Monkey Island (DOS)
5) Balloon Kid (Game Boy)

1991:

1) Out of This World (Amiga 1000)
2) Civilization (DOS)
3) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
4) Sim City (Super NES)
5) ToeJam & Earl (Sega Genesis)

1992:

1) Sewer Shark (Sega CD)
2) Dragon Warrior IV (NES)
3) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
4) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
5) Super Mario Kart (Super NES)

1993:

1) Secret of Mana (Super NES)
2) Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD)
3) E.V.O.: Search for Eden (Super NES)
4) Shadowrun (Super NES)
5) ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Sega Genesis)

1994:

1) Final Fantasy III (Super NES)
2) Heart of the Alien (Sega CD)
3) Super Metroid (Super NES)
4) The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey and Minnie (Super NES)
5) Shadowrun (Sega Genesis)

1995:

1) Chop Suey (Macintosh)
2) Solar Eclipse (Sega Saturn)
3) Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD)
4) Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Super NES)
5) Secret of Evermore (Super NES)

1996:

1) Wonder Project J2: Josette of the Corlo Forest (Nintendo 64)
2) NiGHTS Into Dreams (Sega Saturn)
3) Resident Evil (PlayStation)
4) Tomb Raider (PlayStation)
5) Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (Super NES)

1997:

1) Mischief Makers (Nintendo 64)
2) Oddworld: Abe's Oddesee (PlayStation)
3) Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
4) Harvest Moon (Super NES)
5) Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo 64)

1998:

1) Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega Saturn)
2) Oddworld: Abe's Exxodus (PlayStation)
3) Xenogears (PlayStation)
4) Parasite Eve (PlayStation)
5) Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

1999:

1) Drakan: Order of the Flame (Windows)
2) Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
3) Star Ocean: The Second Story (PlayStation)
4) Jet Force Gemini (Nintendo 64)
5) Pokemon Snap (Nintendo 64)

2000:

1) Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Nintendo 64)
2) Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64)
3) Jet Grind Radio (Sega Dreamcast)
4) Space Channel 5 (Sega Dreamcast)
5) The Longest Journey (Windows)

2001:

1) Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2)
2) Ico (PlayStation 2)
3) Red Faction (PlayStation 2)
4) Civilization III (Windows)
5) Luigi's Mansion (Nintendo Game Cube)

2002:

1) Lost Kingdoms (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Mega Man Zero (Game Boy Advance)
3) Metroid Prime (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Kingdom Hearts (PlayStation 2)
5) Way of the Samurai (PlayStation 2)

2003:

1) Beyond Good & Evil (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Kya: Dark Lineage (PlayStation 2)
3) Primal (PlayStation 2)
4) Final Fantasy X-2 (PlayStation 2)
5) Lost Kingdoms II (Nintendo Game Cube)

2004:

1) Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Mega Man Zero 3 (Game Boy Advance)
3) Tales of Symphonia (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Siren (PlayStation 2)
5) Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance)

2005:

1) Psychonauts (Xbox)
2) Killer 7 (Nintendo Game Cube)
3) Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)
4) Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Civilization IV (Windows)

2006:

1) Okami (PlayStation 2)
2) Rule of Rose (PlayStation 2)
3) Chibi-Robo! (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Drill Dozer (Game Boy Advance)
5) Super Princess Peach (Nintendo DS)

2007:

1) Peace Maker (Windows)
2) BioShock (Xbox 360)
3) Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
4) Aquaria (Windows)
5) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)


2008:

1) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PlayStation 2)
2) World of Goo (Wii downloadable)
3) Spore (Windows)
4) Mirror's Edge (PlayStation 3)
5) The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS)

2009:

1) Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)
2) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo DS)
3) A Boy and His Blob (Wii)
4) Flower (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
5) Wolfenstein (PlayStation 3)

2010:

1) Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
2) Heavy Rain (PlayStation 3)
3) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo DS)
4) Ivy the Kiwi? (Wii)
5) Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PlayStation 3)

2011:

1) To the Moon (Windows)
2) The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (First Chapter) (PlayStation Portable)
3) Radiant Historia (Nintendo DS)
4) Catherine (PlayStation 3)
5) Sword & Sworcery EP (iOS) 2)

2012:

1) Papo & Yo (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
2) Thomas Was Alone (Windows)
3) Spec Ops: The Line (PlayStation 3)
4) Hotline Miami (Windows)
5) Dear Esther (Windows)

2013:

1) Beyond: Two Souls (PlayStation 3)
2) Gone Home (Windows)
3) Depression Quest (Browser)
4) BioShock Infinite (PlayStation 3)
5) Papers, Please (Windows)

2014:

1) Never Alone (PlayStation 4 downloadable)
2) Child of Light (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
3) Dragon Age: Inquisition (PlayStation 4)
4) Fantasy Life (Nintendo DS)
5) Wolfenstein: The New Order (PlayStation 4)

2015 Top 10:

1) Clouds Over Sidra (Gear VR)
2) Beyond Eyes (PlayStation 4 downloadable)
3) Life is Strange (PlayStation 4 downloadable)
4) Her Story (Windows)
5) Pillars of Eternity (Windows)
6) The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (Second Chapter) (PlayStation Portable)
7) Crypt of the NecroDancer (Windows)
8) Grow Home (PlayStation 4 downloadable)
9) Splatoon (Wii U)
10 FIFA 16 (PlayStation 4)

2016 Most Anticipated:

1) Detroit: Become Human (PlayStation 4)
2) Oxenfree (Xbox One downloadable)
3) Perfect Woman (Kinect)
4) Tacoma (Xbox One)
5) Fire Watch (PlayStation 4 downloadable)