50. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Special Edition (Capcom, 2006)
The original Devil May Cry was a runaway hit in the early days of the Playstation 2, sporting a unique blend of intense beat-em-up action and puzzle solving with a high level of challenge and some boss battles that were amazing in scale. After a rather poorly botched sequel in DMC2, Capcom put the series back on track with 3, which not only sported tighter controls and camera angles, but a much greater variety of gameplay as there were now four distinct gameplay styles to choose from, each with their own unique advantages. Swordmaster would grant the player additional moves with all melee weapons, for example, while Trickster made the player more agile and better able to avoid enemy attacks. There were also a much wider variety of weapons and firearms to choose from, including an electric guitar that could summon swarms of bats and lightning bolts, a pair of swords that summoned fire and wind, and my personal favorite, a flail wielded like a nunchuck. The Special Edition also added in Vergil as a playable character, lending even more variety to the gameplay, and alleviated some complaints about the original's difficulty by including mid-stage checkpoints and changing the difficulty levels to be more akin to the Japanese release's. While far from the strongest game in terms of storytelling, Devil May Cry 3 provided a strong blend of strategy and action, and while its style has been often imitated, there's nothing else quite like it out there.
49. Alien Soldier (Treasure, 1995)
Another early Treasure title, and one which attracted some criticism for its relatively complicated controls and mechanics. Once the player is used to it, though, the game is an absolutely brilliant action experience. Essentially a series of enormous boss battles, the player must master dodging, utilizing six different weapon types, countering enemy shots to turn their bullets into more health, and destroying them on set time limits in order to persevere to the end, which proves to be a very long but extremely rewarding ordeal. The only real shame is that it was given such a limited release in most regions.
48. Thief Gold (Looking Glass Studios, 1998)
Metal Gear may have popularized the genre, but Looking Glass's Thief is without a doubt my favorite stealth game franchise, primarily because it carries the tension of the genre so well - you were sticking to shadows every step of the way, glancing over your shoulder for enemies, and using any tricks or hidden passages you could find to avoid being seen (or make a quick escape if you were). The grim fantasy setting and eerie architecture only added to the mood, as well as giving you some unique and fantastic tools for the job - from moss arrows (quieting your footsteps on metal and stone floors) to rope arrows to flash bombs and gas mines, you had plenty of options to accommodate your particular gameplay style. Add multiple difficulty settings on top, each with their own mission objectives, and you have a game with plenty of replay value as well. To say nothing of some of the brilliant fan-made missions and level packs out there.
47. Baldur's Gate III (Larian Studios, 2023)
A third entry in the Baldur's Gate franchise was originally planned to be developed by Black Isle back in 2002, but was canceled when Interplay ended up falling into financial turmoil. Several other D&D-licensed games popped up to fill the void, but in my eyes at least, they were all lacking in one way or another. Larian Studios, fresh off the success of the Divinity Original Sin games, eventually picked up the mantle, taking their penchant for intricate tabletop-like mechanics and deep turn-based combat to tell a new story. Set 120 years after the events of 2, the player is abducted by a mindflayer airship and infected with one of their young, and must seek a way to free themselves from it while surviving all manner of other trials. The sheer number of options you have available make combat and exploration quite enjoyable and ripe for roleplaying, and as in the classic BG games you have a huge number of playable classes and races, ensuring no shortage of replay value.
46. Danganronpa (Tetralogy) (Spike Chunsoft, 2014-2017)
It may be a visual novel series, but thanks to some very strong writing and aesthetic design in spite of its limited budget, Danganronpa rapidly became one of my favorite game franchises in the short while after I played it. Starring a group of high school kids trapped in a twisted game of survival where they're forced to kill one another over the vague promise of escape, Danganronpa manages to be surreal, violent, and wildly funny all the same time. That all comes down to the brilliant writing, which has a jokey tone throughout yet still manages to get the player invested with its strongly-written characters and murder mystery elements. A lot of fun from start to finish, and the franchise that singlehandedly justifies the purchase of a PSVita (or Playstation TV) in my book.
45. Tetris (Alexei Pajitnov, 1984+)
Tetris had its beginnings all the way back in 1984 for the Electronika 60, and its popularity was (and still is) such that it's gotten numerous updates, ports, rereleases and remakes across just about every platform imaginable. There's no shortage of variants and great licensed versions out there - the Game Boy version that launched that platform to massive success, the somewhat-notorious Tengen version for NES, Tetris 2 + Bombliss for the Famicom, the ultra-difficult Tetris the Grandmaster trilogy for arcades, or even adding Puyo Puyo into the mix with Puyo Puyo Tetris. No matter which you choose, though, Tetris is the most successful video game franchise of all time for good reason - it's sheer addictive fun.
44. Mega Man V (Minakuchi Engineering, 1994)
The Mega Man X franchise was breaking new ground on the Super Nintendo in the early 90s, but the classic franchise definitely still had some life left in it. Mega Man 7 came out on the SNES to mixed reception, whilst the Game Boy got two top-notch titles of its own - Mega Man IV and V. However, the latter is not only the better of the two, but one of the best games the franchise ever spawned, retaining the basic format whilst introducing many new elements on top. First and foremost being the new "Mega Arm", which serves as a versatile weapon and means of retrieving items. Add to that some outstanding stage design, tense boss fights with a puzzle-solving element to them rather than the usual spam-the-weakness routine, and some surprisingly good visuals and music for the platform (especially when joined with the Super Game Boy), and you have one hell of a ride.
43. Final Fantasy IX (Squaresoft, 2000)
While Final Fantasies VII and VIII brought in many new fans to the franchise and helped put the Playstation 1 on the map, they left a lot of long-time fans of the franchise disillusioned for abandoning nearly every familiar element of their design. The ninth entry was Square's attempt to address that, combining the cinematic and graphical capabilities of the PS1 with gameplay, aesthetics and design much more reminiscent of the 8 and 16-bit entries. The end result was in a way the best and worst of both worlds, with a lot of the familiar job classes, abilities and overall balance returning, but still a lot of overlong spell animations, tedious minigames and a lot of lengthy, unskippable cutscenes and FMVs. Regardless, though, Final Fantasy IX did its job, charming fans of both Final Fantasy worlds and providing an RPG experience that easily ranks among the genre's best.
45. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (Origin Systems, 1985)
Doubtlessly one of the most important RPGs ever made, Ultima IV is not about simply defeating some great evil; you already did that three times in the previous games. Rather, you now take up the role of a different sort of hero entirely - leading by example, helping the needy and asking for nothing in return. To that end you must master the eight virtues (Compassion, Honesty, Valor, Honor, Justice, Sacrifice, Spirituality and Humility) and begin a quest into the Stygian Abyss itself to recover the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom alongside the champions of the land. Of course, it's not as simple as it sounds - you'll have to uncover a long trail of clues by travelling between towns, searching around and cross-referencing everything people say to find everything you'll need to complete the journey, and that can easily eat up many hours in itself. Still, the unique premise, intricately detailed world and compelling lore of Britannia all make it a very worthwhile journey.
41. Deus Ex (Ion Storm, 2000)Ion Storm was a company as well-known for the names on its payroll as for its comically extravagant office space and outlandish development costs. But despite some questionable management decisions, they managed to turn out several high profile titles in their short existence. The one that easily stole the show was Deus Ex - a dystopian science fiction tale set in a world where every conspiracy theory imaginable is real. It was also an early example of a game where one's choices actually matter, with significantly different play styles depending upon the player's choice of skills, story events changing based on choices and even three different endings. A compelling dark tale in a surprisingly credible future, there's a good reason that it's the centerpiece of a meme: "Every time someone mentions Deus Ex, someone reinstalls Deus Ex. "
Metal Gear may have popularized the genre, but Looking Glass's Thief is without a doubt my favorite stealth game franchise, primarily because it carries the tension of the genre so well - you were sticking to shadows every step of the way, glancing over your shoulder for enemies, and using any tricks or hidden passages you could find to avoid being seen (or make a quick escape if you were). The grim fantasy setting and eerie architecture only added to the mood, as well as giving you some unique and fantastic tools for the job - from moss arrows (quieting your footsteps on metal and stone floors) to rope arrows to flash bombs and gas mines, you had plenty of options to accommodate your particular gameplay style. Add multiple difficulty settings on top, each with their own mission objectives, and you have a game with plenty of replay value as well. To say nothing of some of the brilliant fan-made missions and level packs out there.
Ion Storm was a company as well-known for the names on its payroll as for its comically extravagant office space and outlandish development costs. But despite some questionable management decisions, they managed to turn out several high profile titles in their short existence. The one that easily stole the show was Deus Ex - a dystopian science fiction tale set in a world where every conspiracy theory imaginable is real. It was also an early example of a game where one's choices actually matter, with significantly different play styles depending upon the player's choice of skills, story events changing based on choices and even three different endings. A compelling dark tale in a surprisingly credible future, there's a good reason that it's the centerpiece of a meme: "Every time someone mentions Deus Ex, someone reinstalls Deus Ex. "
