It's been about 5 and a half years since I did my last Top 100 list. Due to my OCD and compulsion to constantly create lists in my head I think it's time for an all new Top 100.
My first thought was to reevaluate the old top 100, but fuck it, it's easier to pick 100 new games that I didn't have on the list last time. In the past 5 and a half years I've played more than I usually have, largely due to COVID. And in that time I've played a lot of new great games.
Plus, when I made the last list, I avoided adding multiple games from the same franchises. So I can dip back into the Dragon Quest pool and a few others.
Anyway stay tuned. Starting tomorrow we're doing this shit again.
My first thought was to reevaluate the old top 100, but fuck it, it's easier to pick 100 new games that I didn't have on the list last time. In the past 5 and a half years I've played more than I usually have, largely due to COVID. And in that time I've played a lot of new great games.
Plus, when I made the last list, I avoided adding multiple games from the same franchises. So I can dip back into the Dragon Quest pool and a few others.
Anyway stay tuned. Starting tomorrow we're doing this shit again.
Recently Spotted:
*crickets*
I have the Arcade Archives Double Dragon too but it's really difficult to go back to it after Streets of Rage and Final Fight series. Still lots of nostalgia playing it in the arcade with my high school friends, though. 2-player is best.
That game was cool from what I remember of it. I only saw it in a movie theater lobby once but ended up playing it for 20 minutes or so. If it came out on SNES, I would have bought it for sure.
I think Bionic Commando might have been my most rented game as a kid. I never owned my own copy of it, but I spent some serious time with it all the same, largely due to its availability at Blockbuster and another mom and pop video store. I utterly loved it.
And what wasn't to love? You had a collection of cool guns, and while you couldn't jump you had maybe the greatest accessory of the 8-Bit era -- the bionic arm. It set players up for some of the most cruel precision platforming of all time, but it could pay off huge too. Those moments where you were free-falling only to save yourself at the last minute with a well-placed swing gave you a rush that I can only assume is comparable to a really good line of coke. Oh and if that wasn't enough, you got to fight Hitler.
My quest to get to the end was one of the great struggles of childhood. My cousin and I inadvertently figured out how to get a bunch of continues, and one night we had passed a very difficult level - The one level that takes place at night where you have to do some complete leap of faith swings. At that point we felt like we were inches away from beating the game, but we had to take a break for some reason. So we left the game on, but turned off the TV planning to return later. Unfortunately his little sister ended up seeing the NES on and did her duty by turning it off. Got to save electricity after all. Truly a heartbreaking moment.
But don't worry, Hitler got what was coming to him. I got him good with the bazooka.
It was always a source of disappointment that we never got a home console version of the arcade game. The NES version was good, don't get me wrong. But there was something about the arcade game that just felt so much more accurate to the movie.
Loved Bionic Commando on the NES as well. It was really something seeing Hitler’s head literally explode back then.
After Resident Evil 6, there was a very justified belief that Resident Evil games were no longer about horror. Then Resident Evil 7 came along and said "fuck that noise," and arguably gave us some of the best shit your pants moments in mainstream gaming.
The main protagonists of the game, the Baker family, are a fucked up band of misfits very clearly inspired by Texas chainsaw massacre. And if you're going to steal, you steal from the best. It was the perfect model to create a family of villains from, and the Baker, family lived up to the legacy better than most of the Texas chainsaw movies. Jack, in particular, is responsible for the greatest jump scares I think I've ever come across in the video game. And the creepy grandma.... Well, let's just say she plays her part perfectly.
It's not the only game that's ever made me scream out loud, but got me to do it more than once, which doesn't happen often. I loved that Capcom! Really embraced making this a true horror game. One day I would love to get a hold of a virtual reality set just so I can play this game with the full effects. Of course, I'm going to need something to protect the couch or floors, because I've heard the reactions that some people have had and it's not pretty.
It's remarkable how much a generic and uninspired name can undermine a game's success. Despite being a spin-off of the Yakuza series, it should have been as or more successful than the rest of it.
It's got the same quality of storyline that the rest of the series has (whether you think those stories are quality is really more of a personal preference), along with the counterbalance of batshit crazy side stories. But it also has better combat and more varied gameplay because of the investigation and courtroom aspects. But when you call a game Judgment and leave it at that, it's really hard for anyone to get excited. Particularly when the cover art isn't real interesting either.
Marketing and branding shortcomings aside, I absolutely love the game. It was my introduction to the whole Yakuza series (a series I'm now a huge fan of), and it kept me engaged from start to finish. Actually, it kept me engaged after the finish. Like many games in the series, there were tons of side quests and I spent probably another 5 or 6 hours checking them out even after the credits for the main game rolled by. There was just too much weirdness that I had to see. Case in point, there's a panty thief in the game called Ass Catchum. I don't care who you are, that's a major selling point and proof of the game's quality.