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?
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Ah, Simcity... hours of fun spent at Cody's house playing this game. Though I had played the original on the PC, this was a delightful upgrade until the subsequent PC versions arrived.
I admit, if my Gamecube hadn't died, I'd probably be playing SSBM to this day. Truly an excellent game. :)
As for Sim City on the PC...I can't speak for the original, but Sim City 2000 had an "alien invader" option/random disaster, where a giant, spiderlike robot would tear through town, like Bowser did. I hated that freakin' thing. >_<
- Justin
I do miss Super Smash Brothers Brawl. I still have it, but alas my gamecube games are in storage. I believe it was truly without many faults. The purists interested in tournaments (the ones with neckbeards and hang out at gamestop all the time) I avoid because they complain of items and stages creating an unfair advantage. For me, it was all about seeing what pokemon I was going to get in that ball, and then swearing when it was Goldeen. Ah good times!
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