Spoony's Top 100 Games, #20-11

20. Grandia (Game Arts, 1999)

Game Arts became known to the west through their Lunar games (both on the Sega CD and their excellent Playstation remakes), but their other big RPG franchise never got nearly as much recognition.  I'm honestly not sure why, either, as it's an exceptionally charming adventure with a great combat system, well-written characters and some amazingly-realized visuals and music; defying the norms of most Playstation/Saturn RPGs, the game utilized 3D environments and 2D sprites, rather than the other way around, which made dungeons much more dynamic and interesting.  But above all else, it recognized that video games are meant to be fun adventures into the unknown, bringing with it all the charm and fun of exploring a strange new world.

19. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo/Monolith Soft, 2023)

While I enjoyed Breath of the Wild, I didn't love it; it just lacked that all-important focus on secrets and puzzle solving of a good Zelda and the overall bland world design, lack of rewarding quests and lack of dungeons made it feel a bit lacking in spite of its stronger elements.  Tears of the Kingdom makes up for everything that game lacked and then some, giving you not one, but THREE large maps to explore, some amazing new mechanics like weapon fusion and being able to build your own contraptions to aid in battle or get around faster, and the good old Zelda mainstay - tons of secrets and content that all feels highly polished and incredibly rewarding to experience.  Simply put, this game blew me away, becoming not just one of my favorite Zeldas, but one of the best games ever created, period.

18. Mega Man X2 (Capcom, 1995)

Mega Man X2 is another example of the first game in the series introducing plenty of new elements, but the second one coming along and pushing them to perfection.  Mega Man X2 is just that, pushing its stage design, visuals and music to new heights while retaining the same basic feel and format of the original Mega Man X.  Of cours,e they also introduced some new elmeents to the game in the form of some clever upgrades (with the armor in particular allowing for a screen-sweeper attack once enough damage is sustained) and some new nemises in the form of the "X Hunters", who enable an alternate story branch if all three are defeated before the final fortress.

17. The Zero Escape trilogy (Spike Chunsoft, 2009, 2011, 2016)

A trilogy of visual novels interspersed with room escape puzzles, which doesn't sound terribly exciting on paper.  However, what makes it into something truly great are the merits of its writing - between these, you're presented with a colorful cast of characters and a complex science fiction tale exploring themes of time travel, humanity and morality.  The former also comes into play in the overall gameplay, requiring the player to revisit earlier choices and make different ones in order to see all the possible outcomes of the story and ensure the best endings.  It may not be the most technologically impressive of franchises, but fans of cerebral sci-fi will find a lot to enjoy here.

16. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Konami, 1997)

While it wasn't the first game in the franchise to utilize an open-world style of exploration (that being the relatively unpopular Castlevania II), Symphony of the Night was the game that took it to perfection.  Giving the player tons of options and abilities, as well as an enormous castle environment to explore, ensured that Symphony of the Night is a widely played game that still enjoys a massive cult following to this day.  While I never was a big fan of the Castlevania franchise, there's no denying that SOTN is a very worthwhile endeavor for the sheer amount of gameplay it offers - challenge runs, speedruns, or just casual playthroughs are all a blast in this one.  Oh, and it's got some really kickass visuals and music to boot.

15. Thief 2: The Metal Age (Looking Glass Studios, 2000)

A followup to the original Thief, taking place a year after its events and chronicling the rise of a sinister new organization called the "Mechanists" who take the world by storm with their advanced technology.  To that end, the player can expect all sorts of anachronistic fun - security cameras, turrets, complex locking mechanisms, submarines and yes, even bomb-launching security automatons.  It's a little silly, but it all works surprisingly well thanks to Looking Glass' brilliant atmospheric sound design and strong character writing.  It also allows for the player to utilize some clever new tricks of their own, like climbable vine arrows (which can be shot into both wooden surfaces and metal grates), exploding frogbeast eggs and "scouting orbs" utilizing the protagonist's mechanical eye to see into new areas with minimal risk.  And of course, the usual stealth-based gameplay is a ton of fun and lends itself to lots of interesting mission objectives.

14. Illusion of Gaia (Quintet, 1994)

Quintet is pretty much the definitive cult classic company from the Super Nintendo era, creating numerous titles that dared to tell stories driven by emotion and atmosphere in an era where games were still largely viewed as "fun diversions" more than anything.  They got their start with the angelic-themed games Soulblazer and Actraiser, which had the player rebuilding the world after a catastrophe.  Illusion of Gaia still carries on that theme, but now places a lot more emphasis on the narrative as well, with some well-developed characters and dialog turning what would otherwise be a fairly average adventure into a truly memorable experience.  Of course, they didn't skimp on the game's design either, combining Zelda-styled puzzles with some surprisingly challenging boss battles, well-designed locales and clever mechanics throughout.  And of course, no mention of Quintet can go without mentioning their soundtracks; absolutely incredible orchestral tracks that sound too good to be coming out of a system without CD audio.   It may be largely forgotten today, but Illusion of Gaia remains one of my all-time favorites.

 

13. Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millennium (Sega, 1995)

Easily my favorite Sega game of all time, as well as one of the finest JRPGs ever released to this day, Phantasy Star IV certainly went all-out to prove that the Sega Genesis could hold its own against its competitor.  Not only for its great visual design and an outstanding soundtrack that perfectly highlights the game's science fantasy setting, but for its strong gameplay.  Utilizing a macro system that streamlines random encounters and allows players to combine many spell effects together for greater effect (over a year before Chrono Trigger, no less*), there was a lot more on offer here than the complex maze-walking its predecessors provided.  But the real kicker is the narrative, which utilized manga panel styled cutscenes to advance its story in a unique way for its era and a narrative that provided for some strong characters and a perfect wrap-up to the series' running storyline.  A definite must-play for RPG fans.
  

* Both games came out in North America in 1995; However, Phantasy Star IV debuted in Japan in December 1993 while Chrono Trigger's Japanese release was in March of 1995.  So my statement is correct!

12. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (Blue Sky Productions, 1992)

A game that was built from the ground up to not just be a more realistic kind of puzzle-driven dungeon crawler, but a full blown life simulation too.  To that end, you had skills not just oriented around combat and spellcasting, but for swimming, conversing, identifying items and bartering with NPCs among many others.  It had a lighting system and rudimentary physics for platforming, letting objects bounce off of walls (and activate switches) and no single set solution for most puzzles, letting the player take an innovative approach to solving the game's mysteries.  Downright mind-blowing stuff for 1992, and the influence it's had on the industry since is immeasurable, inspiring games like Elder Scrolls, Half-Life 2, Deus Ex, and numerous others.  It's a bit clumsy and awkwardly slow to play today, but it's nevertheless a great game and an important building block for gaming as a whole.

11. Bayonetta (Platinum Games, 2009)

From the gaming legend Hideki Kamiya, who brought us such over-the-top action titles as Resident Evil 2, Viewtiful Joe and the original Devil May Cry, comes a game whose wild, stylized action puts all of his previous efforts to shame and still has plenty of awesomeness left over.  In addition to the usual puzzle-solving and melees with huge swarms of foes, Bayonetta's gameplay is also a wonderfully spot-on mix of styles from seemingly every action game of the 3D era, allowing the player to wield swords, whips, fire and and lightning claws, or just a plethora of firearms (all of which can be used to extend weapon combos by holding down the button after a strike).  All presented in colorful, gorgeous 60 FPS and with an incredibly funny protagonist to boot.   Bayonetta is doubtlessly one of the finest action games ever made, if not the best.

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