Shea’s Top 100 Video Games of All Time

70. Okami (2006)

And now for something completely different. In some ways, Okami is a more artistic take on a Zelda game — but that’s selling it short. The watercolor graphical look still makes it stand as one of the most beautiful games of all time, and the celestial brush is such a unique gameplay device. It doesn’t always work the way you want it to, but it’s an inventive idea that the developers really got mileage from.

69. Chrono Trigger (1995)

Unlike Xenosaga or Dark Cloud, I wouldn’t consider Chrono Trigger to be underrated, as it’s widely considered one of the best JRPGs ever made. I can’t argue with that. I’m not usually a proponent of time travel in fiction, but it works for Chrono Trigger. Being able to recruit different party members from different eras of history is one of the many highlights. I wasn’t as big a fan of the sequel, Chrono Cross, but it’s still a good game in its own right.

68. SimCity (1989)

I’m not a city builder game master, but it’s hard to ignore the impact that the original SimCity had on the genre, as well as PC games on the whole. Plenty of its systems were — and still are — over my head, but that doesn’t make them any less fun to play around with. It’s still crazy to me how many PC systems supported SimCity in the first few years of release. The game was just that popular.

67. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)

The second best Grand Theft Auto game by my standards, Vice City takes place in one of my favorite series locations — a fictionalized version of Miami. Tommy Vercetti isn’t as identifiable a protagonist as Niko, but he’s well performed by Ray Liotta. I also like how the different gangs are used to make the city feel more alive, and the sheer variety of things to do was genre-defining at the time of release.

66. Mass Effect (2007)

Mass Effect: Andromeda may have put the series on ice, but at least we can still enjoy the first three games. The first entry stands pretty far apart from the two sequels in the trilogy, with its more hardcore RPG mechanics. I personally love the additional systems and character customization options, but find the combat to be less than stellar. The world it establishes is still one of my favorites.

65. Mega Man 2 (1988)

My personal favorite Mega Man game, Mega Man 2 just has more memorable bosses than Mega Man 3. Air Man, Wood Man, Heat Man… such imaginative names. But in all seriousness, while the second game doesn’t include huge mechanical changes like the slide, it has extremely clean platforming and arguably the best soundtrack in the series.

64. Final Fantasy Tactics (1997)

I’ve never been a big fan of strategy RPGs. As a kid, there was always just a bit too much going on for me, and too much waiting for things to happen. After bouncing off Tactics hard when it first released, I revisited it several years later and fell in love with its strategic depth and the world of Ivalice. The expansive character class system fits the combat style of Tactics perfectly.

63. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

The multiplayer in Modern Warfare 2 quickly turned into a dumpster fire of noob tubes and racial slurs from which there would be no recovery, but man if it wasn’t still a fun-ass time. To date, Modern Warfare 2 is probably in the top five for games I’ve played the most. And that doesn’t even mention the single-player campaign, which is awesome in its Michael Bay-inspired action.

62. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (1991)

This game holds a special place in my heart. Going to the arcade was never really a part of my adolescent gaming experience, but every trip there — or to a bowling alley, or Dave and Busters, or anywhere that had arcade machines — included more than a few quarters being lost to Turtles in Time. And then when it was ported to SNES? Game over, man. Raphael was and will always be my main.

61. Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003)

Double Dash is my all-time favorite Mario Kart game, which I know probably puts me in the minority. Part of that reasoning belongs to the fact that I just played the most of it on Gamecube, but I also really enjoy the two-driver aspect. There’s an additional level of strategy there. Plus, this version of the game boasts some awesome levels, back before the series became overly reliant on updating old tracks.

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3 thoughts on “Shea’s Top 100 Video Games of All Time

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