A day of DS and PC games! Enjoy the continuing Top100 list of my favorite games of all time!
Intro Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10
Titanfall (PC)
Owl vaulted over the building, thrusters pushing him from his pursuers, whose ammo clips were largely full and whose orders were clear: leave no tango standing.
Owl’s were less so. Felling dozens of Spectres had left him breathless and without bullets, and the IMC had simply dropped him off at Angel City and told him to do his thing. As a pilot, his thing could be anything. Kill rebel pilots. Trash rebel pilots. Rescue IMC soldiers from certain peril.
None of those could really be done with empty clips and tangos on his tail. Owl switched to his sidearm, checked his ammo again. Four shots. Enough for maybe a single pilot. He breathed out as he dropped from fifty feet into an open window, and pushed himself against the wall, out of sight. A last execution in the name of the IMC, then, before his life was forfeit for the mission.
The first pilot dropped in bullets first, shotgun shells that slammed against the concrete with force enough to kill a man. If they connected. They did not. Owl grabbed him by the neck and pulled him to the ground, pulling his trigger for two quick headshots. Tango down. He didn’t know how many to go.
At least one. A grenade tumbled through the window, the rebels leaving their ally for dead- and rightly so. Owl cursed, kicked the thing and dove down the stairs to escape its explosion. A piece of the dead joined him.
He spun on his back foot and pointed his gun back up the stairs, anticipating the two headshots he had to line up to survive this one encounter. He twitched twice, and a corpse fell to his feet. A sigh of relief filled his short respite. But he was ammoless. And far from finished.
Two came from the windows beside him, shooting down the glass with ammo to spare. Owl didn’t wait for them to execute whatever plan was in the writings- he charged at the first, planting a kick squarely in their chest, carrying them both right back out the window onto the streets outside.
The head of the pilot was shot cleanly off, and Owl looked up. At first he was glad to, to see a Stryder standing over him, IMC written across its hull- he knew it as Hawk’s, a friend’s.
But then he looked around. A streetlamp slammed beside him as an Ogre rounded the corner, unleashing a barrage of bullets and missiles. A pilot fell from the buildings onto Hawk’s Stryder and pulled its shell apart to expose its brain. Two Atluses dashed out from electric smoke and hammered the Stryder with steel and jet enforced punches.
“Your Titan is ready.”
Owl snorted, smirked, as Hawk’s Stryder exploded and he ejected a hundred feet into the air. Just the miracle they needed.
“Standby for Titanfall.”
Castle of Shikigami III (Wii)
There is nothing better than the absurd, aside from the absurd wrapped in a mesmerizing bullet hell shooter game, a genre that is rarely given its due. Can you imagine if, in a game like Zelda, Ganon shot not one, but a thousand purple orbs at you? Or if in, say, Vanquish, the hundred missiles headed your way were actually a million? Or if your goalie in FIFA had to defend against an onslaught of a billion soccer balls?
That’s the kind of manic fun a bullet hell game on the hardest difficulty creates. A spectacle for viewer and player both as the latter calmly- or otherwise- navigates a labyrinth of death while also firing upon his foes with pinpoint accuracy. It takes a real man to stare down that many particles and keep his cool.
A real man like Rogelin.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
It’s weird. Whenever I think about my favorite franchises of all time, I think first to Tales, and Shin Megami Tensei, Fire Emblem and Etrian Oddysey, Call of Duty and Pokemon. Eventually I always get to Zelda, and each time, I’m almost surprised it took me that long.
Stranger still is when I think of the franchises featuring my favorite OSTs. I’ll often think to similar games. Pokemon, Fire Emblem, Tales, Persona…rarely do I put Zelda up with the rest. It makes no sense. I own dozens of Zelda OSTs and listen to each of them for hours on end. If I’m humming a tune, it’s probably from Zelda. They’re inarguably my favorites. Then why?
I think maybe I just take Zelda for granted.
Each title is an incredible love letter to gamers, with often brilliantly emotional stories and moments that range from tender to hilarious to downright tragic and musical scores that turn each of those moments into the kind I remember forever.
Almost every Zelda game I’ve played is on this list, and it would be incomplete without my Christmas adventure with A Link Between Worlds.
Christmas gifts used to be surprising: I’d give my parents a list of dozens I think I’d like, leaving the ones I’d actually receive up to lottery. One such year I got Naruto Path of Ninja and Clash of Ninja almost at random, and they sparked a love of the entire franchise, from games to manga.
But as I’ve gotten older, as money became tighter, I had to make sure I was getting the games I actually wanted. Needed. So unwrapping A Link Between Worlds was not a surprise.
Neither, really was my enjoyment. After all, I’ve loved all the Zelda games I’ve ever played. Neither was the brilliance of the soundtrack- see above.
I don’t think A Link Between Worlds really surprised me at all, really (other than maybe the very end). But I’m okay with that. I don’t play games to be surprised. Zelda is that awesome blanket you’ve had since childhood, a reliable comfort that you wouldn’t trade for a full spread in a five star hotel in a thousand years (at which point that childhood blanket might be sufficiently worn out anyway). It teaches the same lessons of courage and power and wisdom it taught decades ago, which is one of my favorite parts about the series. As we reach different stages of our lives, sometimes we could use a reminder or two about what’s really important. Lessons about courage take different meanings whether we’re faced with monsters under the bed, or asking a girl to the prom, or moving out for the first time, or studying abroad in a different country, or when faced with the death or sickness of a loved one, or a mid-life crisis, or, eventually, our own deaths.
I won’t want Zelda to have changed when I’m eighty and fighting diseases I have no doubt I’ll face (thanks, genetics). I’ll want to be reminded again about courage in the face of adversity, as I’ll want to be at every difficult step of my life.
The Legend of Zelda is about rising to the challenge, facing your fears and doing what’s right, no matter how much or how little hope is left in the world. Because nobody else can face your problems but you. That’s the facet of Zelda that can’t change- not dungeon order or items or antagonists or ponytails, but courage.
What I’m really trying to say is, Mother Maimai is the greatest Zelda song of all time.
Luminous Arc 2 (DS)
I’ve learned a lot about my own gaming preferences throughout the years, as we all do. I’ve learned that I like my fighting games to be less oriented around combos, and more the moment to moment decision making, adapting, and defensive play that defines Brawl and to a large extent Street Fighter. That I like my turn-based RPG battles to move quickly, with shorter animations and less dilly-dallying. That I like my co-op games to be difficult, so that my family actually has to give some effort to overcome the tribulations thrown at us.
Of course, Luminous Arc 2 taught me its own lessons. That I like my SRPGs to be quick as well- only the thinking should take more than a moment. That I like a bit of fan service to my game- can’t say no to being treated to six babes in wedding gowns every battle.
And that I hate last bosses that take two hours only because I didn’t use the right character.
Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis (PS2)
I have a thing for sarcastic talking cats, whether the one from Kiki’s Delivery Service (there’s a reason I stopped watching the second half), Amanojaku from Ghost Stories, or, unsurprisingly, the infinitely endearing, apathetic, and entertaining Sulphur from Mana Khemia.
I loved every moment of a game that was a little bit like Gust and Nis’s Persona- it had a calendar, friendships whose bonds you could strengthen during down time, an intriguing story, and awesome characters- but even more so I loved the soundtrack that we listened to often on the way to and from school (I also have a thing for OST pre-order bonuses!).
Mana Khemia was also MY first PS2 game, the first one to belong to me and not my siblings, which made its place in our library all the more important.
Toy Story 2 (PC)
Yellow tape surrounds the crime scene. Onlookers gasp and whisper and point.
The detective lifts the tape and walks under, the light of cop cars flashing blue against his face. He pulls his hat low.
“What do you think, Detective?”
“The signs are clear,” he grunts. “This was no accident.”
“Any suspects?” The officer takes a draw on his cig.
The detective nods. “Several. The city thinks it was LEGO Racers, or LEGO Island, or LEGO Loco.”
“But you don’t think so?”
“No,” grunts the detective. “No, there’s only one game that could have killed this spacebar.”
“And which is that, detective?”
“Toy Story 2.”
But even if the fault lay with Toy Story 2, it was us kids who were blamed, arrested, and quartered. Framed by a bunch of toys on a computer.
Advance Wars: Dual Strike (DS)
Let me get this straight, Sensei. You want to spend thousands of dollars- the government’s money, mind you- thousands of dollars on a Hawaiian shirt?
And, just to be clear, this guy, Hachi, won’t even sell you the shirt until you’ve proven yourself an almighty general, ten-stars or whatever?
And this doesn’t seem fishy to you. None of this. Like, there’s no way that Hawaiian shirt was illegally imported, and maybe that’s why it costs so much? You know, it probably wasn’t even made in Hawaii. And you can’t honestly believe that mark-up is for your sake.
Open your eyes, Sensei.
You want to maybe try Walmart instead? I’ll tell you what, I’ll buy it for you if we go to Walmart. Seriously, it’ll be like twenty bucks.
Okay. That’s fine too. We’ll just spend a weekend doing the same mission over and over again until you’ve got enough cash and enough experience and we’ll buy you an overpriced shirt. We’ll just expend hundreds of tanks and troops so that you can be a little more comfortable at your evening party.
Alrighty then.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
Link is a tricksy little rabbit. Just when you think you’ve got him cornered, he sneaks out and makes a break for safety. Even abandoning his treasure in the act.
A good thing, then, that I control the spirits of several suits of armor, each hell bent and ready to ensure victory is on my side. Not his. It’s like directing a match of soccer or football- ensuring the position of each player prevents the ball from reaching the goal. Even if those players are possessed darknuts and the ball is a tiny kid dressed in a green tunic.
It makes sense that all I want to do his kick him.
I always liked to think Phantom Hourglass’s multiplayer mode was how Link and the Spirit Tracks Zelda spent their down time, creating a sport for them to play and enjoy in the face of all those annoying little hardships.
The World Ends With You (DS)
I have a favorite kind of setting in my JRPGs- the kind represented primarily by the SMT franchise: a version of Japan infused with supernatural elements. The World Ends With You represents that vibe with the sort of unique flair not often seen in the genre. Badges made for exciting battles, and the fashions popularity ensured players had to adjust their play style for unforeseen situations. The art was fantastic, the music even better, and the amount of little touches made the game only stand out even more in my memory. Not many games let you equip female clothing on male characters just because their bravery is high enough.
Of course, like many games, my experience with The World Ends With You wasn’t spent alone. It was a co-op game with a single DS, one player uses the top screen and D-pad, the other the bottom screen and the stylus. It was cramped, sure, but it makes everything infinitely more entertaining when you have a partner to discuss every story detail and every battle strategy, someone to rely on when the going gets tough.
The World Ends With You is fantastic no matter how many people you play it with, and it comes with my highest recommendation for fans of JRPGs, or fun games in general. Which should be everyone.
Intro Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10
