all time favorite video game 2

2. Starcraft (PC)
Starcraft is the only real time strategy game I've ever loved. Warcraft II? Nah. Warcraft III? I don't like the heroes. Age of Empires? Don't get me started on much I despise the AI in that series. So here we are at the number two spot. Starcraft, for those of you who haven't played it, has a very, very, very simple premise--collect resources (minerals and gas), construct an army, destroy your enemies, and repeat. That's it. Oh, and you have to do it better than the rest of the players on the board, or you'll be dead in under ten minutes.
See in this picture how the noble Terrans (the space marine race in the game) collect minerals and construct buildings, vehicles, airships, and ground troopers in an effort to shore up offense and defense. The beauty of the game is its balance. Every unit has a weakness and strength. Properly managing these factors will lead you to ruin or victory. Take the Terrans for example. They have the strongest air unit--the Battlecruiser--and a super powerful land unit--the Siege Tank--but both are mechanical. While they can rip through hordes of opposing armies, their composition makes them highly susceptible to spells and attacks on mechanical beings. A hotkey of ten Battlecruisers can sweep the board clean, or be destroyed with a few magic casting land troops. Knowing these things are the difference between winning and losing.
This picture features the mighty Protoss (the alien/human hybrid looking race of the game) invading the Zerg (the final and completely alien race of the game). The Zerg are known for creating massive armies and descending like a black cloud over their enemies. The Protoss are the mirror opposite in that they prefer a handful of highly powerful and shielded troops to wreck havoc in an opposing armies base. Again knowing the strengths and weaknesses to all three races (as well as the technology trees) is the key to victory.
I have played through Starcraft multiple times and Brood War (the expansion) many times. The single player mission modes are believable and varied enough to keep the game interesting. They even through some infiltration missions in for good measure, allowing you a dozen foot soldiers to search around large laboratory research facilities. As great as the single player is, the multiplayer is just as good. Teaming up has always been more fun to me than going against each other, but a few memories I have to share for this game.

Once my friends Joe Yang, and Marco Dominguez were playing with me, and we decided that we would compete. Joe, by far the superior player (perhaps due to his ethnicity...), was kicking our ass until Marco and I decided that we would band together to pummel him down. As we were laying waste to his main base, as soon as he was on the ropes, in typical Cody fashion, I immediately ordered my troops to attack Marco's army. Before he knew what hit him the majority of his army was gone and I was left as the sole super power. After that it was a mere matter of picking up the crumbs of their armies. VICTORY.

Another time the three of us were playing on a team against three computer teams. My base was hit hard in the opening minutes. I was on the ropes and going down when I thought of a funny thing to do. I had just watched Star Wars Episode II and decided to build my own Clone Army to be funny. Marines were cheap to produce and as luck had it, I was the white team that game. Rather than expand or built expensive shit, I merely created and upgraded 200 grunt foot soldiers. To every one's amazement, the computer was stronger than we estimated and Joe and Marco were in trouble. Resources on the board were running out and it seemed lost...until. The Clone Army mobilized. With ten hotkeys of 12 soldiers each (and another 80 in reserve) I advanced on the opposing armies and the combined fire of 200 little space marines was just what the doctor ordered. From losing to winning in an instant, the Clone Army prevailed. It was so satisfying to see a string of troops on the mini-map stretch from one side to the other. Good stuff. Great memories. The highest ranked non-nintendo game of all.

UP NEXT: THE HIGHEST RANKED GAME--PAUL HOGAN WOULD BE PROUD...CROCODILE DUNDEE COMES TO LIFE! SEE YOU TOMORROW FOR THE FINAL ENTRY! THANKS FOR READING ANY OF THIS IF ANYONE HAS!

all time favorite video game 3

3. Resident Evil 4 (GC)
Resident Evil 4 how I love thee. I had always loved the Resident Evil series and when they announced 4 was going to be a Gamecube exclusive, fanboys everywhere, including myself, nearly shat themselves. Capcom wasn't going to crap on the company that made them famous?! Incredible! Then they announced more details about Resident Evil 4. Goodbye to the puzzles. Goodbye to fixed camera angles. Hello to an over the shoulder view that is essentially a pretty first person shooter style. Hello to an innovative and enjoyable money system in the game. The changes worked. The franchise (while still not at the point of crappiness), invigorated itself so much with the debut of this game.
One of the first and greatest ideas they used in this game was the concept of a rearrangeable attache case to hold all of your crap. Items could be moved, removed,or re-moved as often as the player wished. If you had any attache case ADD like me, you were always trying to organize bullets, grenades, and health so that everything looked "tidy". Items all had a value and you were free to do what you wanted. Want a submachine gun? Buy one. Want to sell off your pistol? You'd be an idiot--but you're free to do so. The items were all representative sizes as well, so if you were trying to put a rocket launcher in your case, you probably can't fit a machine gun, a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol. Unless you don't want the ammo. And that's one of the small changes that makes this game great. The decision on what to carry is fully yours, and each game plays out slightly differently.
When people saw the trailer for this game several had heart attacks. Gone were the mind numbingly slow zombies of old--that relied on crappy camera angles and the element of surprise to scare the shit out of you. Enter the Ganando. As an infested villager the common enemy took AI to a whole new level. They run. They bite. They pitchfork. They smash through doors. They break windows. They throw ladders to the second floor of a house. They use chainsaws. There were not your father's zombies. The enemies were smart. Too smart. You could still outsmart them, but it was rare. Did I mention that all that takes place in the first four sections of the map? From there it gets even more crazy.
The plot is fairly well conceived as well. Taking a nice departure from the Umbrella mythology was a well needed break in what had become such a tight mythology that there was little room left for improvement. Leon Kennedy, start of Resident Evil 2 is thrust into the starring role of looking for the president's daughter, Ashley Graham. Hell, even the villains in this game were memorable, whether the imposing Chief Mendes, miniature Napoleon, or the mysterious Lord Sadler. Even the creature boss fights were awesome. In addition to this chainsaw wielding baddie here, whom I forgot to mention could kill you in ONE HIT, there were other awesome enemies.
Such as this guy whom you had to fight with the power of sound. If you made noise he charged maniacally towards you, Wolverine-like claws exposed and ready to impale. Great level designs. Great controls (minus the lack of strafe). Great characters.

Even the extras for this game were awesome. The shooting galleries were a lot of fun, and the Mercenaries mini game was great as well. Assignment Ada was fun as well. Nothing--and I do mean nothing disappointed about this game. It was even fairly long and had great unlockables. I can't think of many games that I have no issues with. (I do have issues with Capcom releasing it on the PS2, and releasing RE 5 on PS3 and XBOX 360, but that's another post for another time perhaps) Most gaming sites gave this game a perfect or near perfect score, and I can't agree more. I just started another run through of this game this past week and it still is just as good as the first time I picked it up. Excellent and our final installment for the dominating Nintendo Gamecube.

UP NEXT: The highest ranked game that is NOT for a Nintendo system. What could it be?

...additional supply depots required...

all time favorite video game 4

4. Mario Kart: Double Dash (GC)
When Nintendo announced they were going to change the beloved Mario Kart formula players everywhere cried foul. As one of the most recognized Nintendo franchise, the pattern of a single driver in a single kart was known to players of the previous Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart: 64 and several Mario Kart Gameboy iteration. Double Dash changed all that. Racers now had to select a team for their kart.
The trick to selecting characters ended up to be mostly a novelty (in my vast experience) as you could only select a kart that fit the larger of the two characters. As this was the case, heavy characters were chose less and less until finally disappearing. Then the same happened with the medium characters. Having played this game over and over for years with many friends the same phenomena occurs--the eight small characters are argued about and everyone uses the same generic kart. It wasn't that you necessarily liked those character the best, they were just the only way to counter another team of small characters. The multiplayer battle arenas also lacked a certain something.
That being my only qualm with the game, let's get into what got the game this far on the countdown. Fun. Lots of lots of fun. A wide range of tracks (16 of em!) and the ability to change drivers on the fly allowed for many memorable moments with blazing speed and photo finishes. The miniature Baby Park was so small it required 7 laps, street racing style, to finish. Others, like the behemoth Wario Colosseum, demanded only two laps as it was so large.
The main reason I liked this game were the tournaments we used to play with it. Everything from wins and losses to points, from laps led to driving blindfolded, from passing the controller on each lap to each person using one of the two characters on the track. I must have played this game a 1,000 times in my life. I never thought that it would eclipse Mario Kart: 64, but alas the day finally came. I believe eventually this will be passed by Mario Kart: Wii, but for now that day has not yet come.

So there it is, the highest ranked game featuring Mario or any of his clan. The Mario umbrella of franchises (Kart, Golf, Tennis, Smash Bros, etc.) is a remarkably recognized and worthy icon. I wonder how many hours of my life featured a little red plumber on the screen? So long Mario, but on to the top three!

UP NEXT: The final Gamecube game on the countdown comes in at number three. You may ask yourself which is better--a chicken egg or a delicious bass? Any guesses? See you tomorrow!

all time favorite video game 5

5. Tales of Symphonia (GC)
Tales of Symphonia. This game probably ranks as the biggest surprise to myself on the countdown. I think I picked this up at Shopko on the clearance rack one day because it advertised multiplayer on an RPG. Intrigued in what has been a sparse genre (especially on Nintendo systems), I purchased the game for around twenty bucks. Was it worth it? It was one of the best investments I've ever been privy to.
I cannot express enough how great this game was. I played through this game with Karen and another friend for over 60 or 70 hours and it was a blast every single minute. Only one person actually walked around the overworld and interacted with NPC's, but once the battles started it was pure kickass teamwork. Not that all of the 8 or so party members didn't have their own amazing moves and weapons, but the fact that you could time them to complete supermoves gave the game that much more of a teamwork feel.
The game had your usual quest--the world is going to end unless a foretold legendary hero can stop it--but the amount of plot twists will keep you guessing and never really sure who is on your team and who isn't. The locales are diverse and the variety of enemies, sidequests, items, and a focus on being able to cook your own meals out of a variety of elements that you can find or purchase gave the game a polished feel that created a truly immersive experience.
The game was quirky and heartening as well. As you went along your quests the game would sometimes give you "stages" at the encampments for the characters and you could go around and advance the plot within your own party as well. There was also a focus on "scenes" popping up as you went through the game and decisions you would make in these cartoon like vignettes helped establish plot and identity as well. The graphics were gorgeous, both in and out of battle, and the result of everything is that you really don't want the game to end. Luckily it won't for a good long time. I got the sequel for Christmas but haven't had a chance to crack it open yet. There's a good chance that when May hits it will be Tales of Symphonia time all over again.

I cannot stress this enough--if you haven't played this game--find a friend or two (or a significant other) and do so. You won't regret a minute of it. My favorite RPG of all time.

UP NEXT: A GAME FEATURING A DINOSAUR, AN APE, AND A LIZARD. ANY GUESSES?

all time favorite video games 7 and 6

7. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC)
Prepare for the onslaught that is the dominance of the Gamecube in this countdown. Coming in at number seven we have the version of Smash Bros. I played the most. In time I'm thinking Brawl may eclipse this version, but for now, nostalgia wins over freshness. I had played the 64 version of this game a bit, but not enough to write home about. This all changed with Smash Bros. Melee. A wonderfully diverse game for a fighter (including a new kick ass adventure style game within a game), this game had it all. Tons of characters, bright, crisp animation, loads of options for battles, and best of all--a million and one unlockable trophies, rewards, and secret characters and stages.
Smash Bros. has taken the wonderfulness that was Street Fighter II, added characters we were already in love with, and blended it all with geographic battlefields that span the annals of video game lore. You can fight in the Mushroom Kingdom, Norfair, Hyrule, etc. and have a blast doing it. I can easily point to the reason these games continue to kick ass--the refusal to turn the stages into truly 3-D environments. While the game has the polished look and feel of having depth, it is, in essence, just 2-D. So many great fighters have been ruined by worrying about your surroundings rather than just worrying about pounding the crap out of the other fighters. Smash Bros. does it right. Odds are you have all played one of these games, but if you somehow haven't find a mackerel and smack yourself. Then go purchase one of the entries in this series.

6. Simcity (SNES)
There are two groups of people who read the title to my number six game. Those who get it and those who don't. Those who don't get it are primarily a PC gamer and believe (perhaps rightfully so) that the Simcity games only belong on PCs. But for the rest of us who were young when Simcity was ported to the SNES, they have fond memories of hours spent building, fixing, and attempting to beat various high scores. If you have NEVER played a Simcity game (God bless your soul, my sons and daughters), the concept is relatively simple. You are given a chunk of land and are responsible for creating a thriving, bustling metropolis (or megalopolis if you're really tricky). The funds to do so are, or course, limited. If that wasn't bad enough, you only get so much land to work with. This alone would keep you playing for hours and hours--days and days even--trying to continually improve upon what your high score was.
For those of us who didn't play games on the PC, for those of us who grew up with Nintendo, we were given a few extra special perks as well. I'm not sure if the original Simcity for PC had a "Godzilla option" where you could have a rampaging lizard trash the city, but in the Nintendo version there was a cameo by the King of the Koopas, Bowser! Not only would he rampage through the city, but he would also use his fire breath to lay the town to waste. The other nice subtle touch was a treasure you could unlock for your town--a Mario statue! Yes, you could decorate your town with a Mario statue that (of course) drove up the property values. Really, who wouldn't want to live next to a giant Mario statue? I mean, I would live in a house at the base of that thing even if it meant I had to continually live in the shadows the the mustachioed plumber. There were other small touches, such as actually building your own house in the city, but the infinite replay value showed me how incredibly powerful a simulation game could be. I still play this from time to time--though I STILL have never gotten 500,000 citizens--one of the few goals from my childhood that still eludes me. Curse you Professor Wright, your advice just isn't adequate!

UP NEXT: THE TOP FIVE BEGINS! FIRST UP--THE HIGHEST RATED RPG ON THE COUNTDOWN--WHAT COULD IT BE?

all time favorite video games 9 and 8

The updates have been slow lately, as stuff has just been piling up more and more in my life. Ugh. As if it weren't busy enough, this is also shaping up to be one of the greatest sports weeks of year. I am in my last regular season week of Fantasy Basketball, have my Fantasy Baseball draft, am in at least three Fantasy NCAA Tournaments, am intrigued by the World Baseball Classic, excited about Major League Baseball to get started, and, and, and--the Northern Michigan Wildcat hockey team refuses to lose and keeps making it further into the playoffs (frozen four anyone?). Whew. In addition to that I am presenting a Skillbuilder on campus this week and have all of my usual stuff to do! Big props to Lina, who I didn't even know read my blog, for giving me three of the CD's I had listed on the site--the last two Kanye West CD's and one of the Weezer albums. NICE--thanks! On to the games--we're almost there!

9. Animal Crossing (GC)
If you've never played an Animal Crossing game because you thought it was too "cutesy" consider yourself lucky. Lucky that you didn't just lose over 100 hours of your life to a great game with endless replay value! Animal Crossing has a very simple concept, you inhabit a virtual village along with other human players and computer created character with zany, and often hard to understand personalities. Some move in and out of town, some are permanent characters. The world is rather small, approximately eight screens wide by eight screens long, but it can contain a million things to do. You can try to catch and collect all the species of bugs--or donate them to the museum in town for permanent display. You could try to catch the river fish or the ocean fish. Perhaps digging up fossils is more your style?
Tom Nook, a raccoon, runs the shop in town where you can buy new gadgets and furniture for your ever expanding house. You can trade with other animals. Run errands for people. Check to see if there are any of the dozen or so mysterious visitors in your town at anytime. Another awesome bit to the game? It runs on an internal clock. This means that if it it three days until the REAL Christmas, the villagers will be getting excited for it as well--you better figure out who you're giving presents to! The time is also real time, meaning that if you play at 9pm, it will be dark in town, and if you play at noon, there will be the hustle and bustle of the (little) city. An awesome moment occurs in front of the train tracks on Saturday nights, when Totakeke, aka K.K. Slider appears and lets you request a song. I know this all sounds corny to someone who has never played, but I spent most of a summer hiding in an illegal residence without a job playing this game everyday for hours on end. Mock me if you will, but when you are looking for a "Fancy Wardrobe" to complete your interior design and can't find it--it will be me mocking you. Awesome game.

8. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC)
Say what you will about the cartoony look of this game (though that discussion has finally died down somewhat), this is my favorite Zelda game of all time. The visual decision to make the game a cel-shaded cartoon was right on the money, and Twilight Princess showed that the series could still do both styles wonderfully. Wind Waker essentially gave us "Pirate Link" in that the adventure took place on the high seas, sea battle style. The characters were memorable, the sense of adventure seemed real and exploration in this game, more than any other Zelda, really seemed like exploring. It literally took you something like 25 minutes to sail from one corner of the board to another. Some will argue that it made the game infuriating, but to me, finding a random island, was especially rewarding.
The battle system was great, with lock-ons almost always working. Firing the cannon from Red King, your ship, at giant octopus, pirates, or guard towers proved challenging, but awesome. A good mix of gameplay (the stealth mission on that one island--avoiding the spotlight) and great, and I do mean GREAT, controls really helped this game blossom into its full potential. Often times with games, even great games, you finish and then think to yourself "why didn't they do this..." or "what were the developers thinking when they decided this..." With this game, I had no reservations and would not hesitate to put myself back into it again.

I won't even mention how damn cool finding the castle below the water was. Everything frozen in time. Whew. Awesome. Awesome.

UP NEXT: Our final entry with two game before we get to the top five. Games seven and six. A game with Mario AND Link?! Plus, my highest rated Super Nintendo game of all time.

all time favorite video games 11-10

Well, I apologize about the wait for the list to continue. Things have been hectic lately, despite it being spring break and the fun that is supposed to come with it. After doing my own 12 page paper, I'm mired deep in grading at least 150 pages of student reports. I'm down to the final 13 though, so I figured I'd stop for today. Before we get to the games a few highlights of spring break:

1-picking Karen up from the airport in full suit with flowers and a sign I held up for her

2-playing the Mario Kart tourny for Sarah's birthday WNSC--and kicking ass.

3-playing Mario Kart with Justin and Sarah the night before

4-playing Colloseum with Matt, Danielle, and Justin

5-finally reaching 2 miles in 15 minutes on the treadmill

6-talking with Karen about moving places, wedding stuff, and honeymoon ideas

7-cross country skiing for the first time in about 15 years. Karen and I spent a day on the Blueberry Ridge Trail

8-the slim prospect that there might be a job for me in town after all...we'll keep you posted on that one...

9-the ECW guys night with Joe and Sam--that was fun

10-spending a special night with Karen--just the two of us!

11-playing Bang with alcohol--luckily no one was hurt

12-going to Upfront for dinner with Karen

and of course 13-driving Karen to the airport in what was actually classified as a Blizzard...only to have her return 3 hours later and drive to another city to hop on their plane instead!

ON TO THE GAMES!

11. Mike Tyson's Punch Out! (NES)
And so its come to this. Just missing our top ten is Mike Tyson's Punch Out! for the NES, our highest rated NES game on the list! This game was great. I remember finally being able to beat Piston Honda and moving into the Major Circuit and being awed by guys like King Hippo, Bald Bull and The Great Tiger. King Hippo was so much fun when we finally figured out how to beat him!
The simple play mechanics, different strategies for each boxed and ever increasing difficulty still bring me back to this one time and time again. The only real downfall of the game (and maybe its not a downfall) is that I've never seen this screen. In my prime, I could beat The Sandman about 50% of the time and once or twice managed to off Super Macho Man, but Tyson? Holy crap. I think I once lasted like 30 seconds, but that might be a rosy version of the memory. That guy could kill you in under 10 seconds--easy. So hard. How tough was Tyson? Well, after his rape charge, he was removed from all versions of the game and replaced by a white dude, Mr. Dream. Hooper X would have a field day with this decision--if anyone knows who that is...

10. DDRMax Dance Dance Revolution (PS2)
I already reviewed DDRMax 2 in this list, so I'll keep this short. This was the first version of the game I played and easily what sucked me in to this type of game. Skill meets dexterity, something that really hadn't occurred up to this point (no one even mention World Class Track Meet). Plus you could work up a pretty good sweat while playing and actually lose a few pounds in the process.
Max 300 and Paranoia Evolution are the things of nightmares, but they were so much fun. My biggest beef was that my pads always seemed to break on me. I always talked about getting a set of metal pads, but that never materialized. This is the top rated PS2 game on the list.

UP NEXT: A high seas adventure and a ga--crap! What's that you say? There's a sale at Tom Nooks? I'm outta here! Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye!