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, style 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. Picross DS (Jupiter, 2007)
Picross is a logic puzzle series where, using numeric clues indicated in each row and column, you chip out spaces with the ultimate goal of revealing a picture. The original Game Boy game was only modestly successful outside of Japan, but there it was popular enough to get a sequel on the Super Famicom and eventually another sequel on the Game Boy. It also got entries on the DS and continues to get more as downloadables on the 3DS and Switch. They're all quite enjoyable, but the DS entry is the one that ate up an entire six months of my life in college. Just a perfect little game to play whenever you have some time to kill.
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. 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.
42. Star Control II: the Ur-Quan Masters (Toys for Bob, 1992)
An undisputed classic, Star Control 2 is an ingenious blend of Starflight's open ended exploration and top down combat inspired by one of the very first video games ever made (Spacewar!). Set in a future where the nefarious Ur-Quan empire has enslaved countless races, you return home after a lengthy scientific exploration journey aboard an alien ship to find Earth similarly enslaved, it's citizens trapped beneath an impenetrable force field; from there you set out to gather resources, upgrade your ship, make alliances with other races across the galaxy and eventually take the fight to the Ur-Quan. A great concept for sure, and the quirky sense of humor and excellent music make it a captivating journey. The game has also since had the 3DO version's source code released, resulting in an excellent modern update (simply called "The Ur-Quan Masters" for copyright reasons) to numerous platforms that's also free to download and play.
41. Starflight (Binary Systems, 1986/1991)A groundbreaking game in the mid-80s and still a standout one today, Starflight was amazing for the sheer amount of depth it provided; the player was given free reign to explore the galaxy, recover resources to sell, find inhabitable planets, interact with alien races (both diplomatically and in war), and generally carve out their own niche in a vast universe. Of course, there was an underlying storyline as well, and a good one at that - the player's ultimate goal was to decipher clues found throughout their travels, unravel the mysteries of the galaxy, find out exactly why extinction-level events threaten every major star system they run across, and put a stop to it once and for all.
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.
A groundbreaking game in the mid-80s and still a standout one today, Starflight was amazing for the sheer amount of depth it provided; the player was given free reign to explore the galaxy, recover resources to sell, find inhabitable planets, interact with alien races (both diplomatically and in war), and generally carve out their own niche in a vast universe. Of course, there was an underlying storyline as well, and a good one at that - the player's ultimate goal was to decipher clues found throughout their travels, unravel the mysteries of the galaxy, find out exactly why extinction-level events threaten every major star system they run across, and put a stop to it once and for all.