Kirby’s Dream
Land 2 released during a time when a sequel to a game that I loved wasn’t
an expected or familiar occurrence to me, so when I learned that there was a second Kirby’s Dream Land? Hoo boy! Dream
Land 2 is just as important to me as the original, if not more so. This sequel
is basically an expanded, much more robust version of the first Dream Land and it remains one of the
most important games of my childhood. I loved all the varied worlds, seeking
out the mysterious Rainbow Drops, and finally reaching the true finale. One of
the big reasons why I really connected with Dream
Land 2 was the new animal friends that Kirby could team up with. Not only
am I someone who has always had an affinity with animals, but there’s a real
sense of adventure and friendship here, and there’s an epic
feeling as the game draws to a close. Besides the new animal buddies, Dream Land 2 also featured copy
abilities, unlike the first game, and since the only other Kirby game I had played was that first game (and not Kirby’s Adventure, where copy powers
were introduced), I actually played all the way up to the penultimate world without
having any idea this was an aspect of the game. After getting stuck and having
to consult the manual, my whole world changed when I learned of Kirby’s then relatively
new ability and it only made this game that much more incredible to me. Dream Land 2 is also notable for
introducing my favorite villain in the Kirby
series, the enigmatic Dark Matter, and kicking off a three-game saga that
would continue in Kirby’s Dream Land 3
and conclude in Kirby 64. I was so
fascinated by this strange new villainous force that I basically included a
rip-off of it in a short story that I wrote in the third grade. Finally
reaching the true final boss of Dream
Land 2 felt triumphant on its own, but it would be years before I finally
succeeded and saw the true ending of this extremely special game.
From Kirby to Mario, it should be
clear if you’ve been following this list just how special the Game Boy and its
games are to me, and how formative and crucial they were in my video game
history. Game Boy was my go-to game device as a kid and I perhaps have more
fond childhood memories with it and its games than any of the consoles. Super Mario Land 2 is emblematic of this
time in my life. This game is my childhood in a tiny gray cartridge, and while
I’ve been saying that I have three earliest gaming memories that were very
formative for me (one more still to come), I probably should have said four, as
this game is definitely mixed up in that time period. I feel like I must have
played Six Golden Coins for several
years and I brought it with me everywhere: in the car, on vacations, to the
beach, to friends’ houses, etc. It influenced my imagination in countless ways,
prompting me to dream up my own “zones” in the same spirit as those in the game
and draw out maps on napkins. It’s more than just nostalgia though. I described my admiration for the Game Boy era of Nintendo eccentricity when
talking about Wario Land II and Wario Land and
Super Mario Land 2 is one of the
quintessential examples of this imaginative spirit. There is no Mushroom
Kingdom. There is no Bowser. There is no pandering nostalgia-bait. There is no
goddamn desert land. There is Mario’s messed-up bizarro twin, Wario in his
debut appearance, there is a carrot that grants Mario bunny ears, and one of
the worlds is a gigantic mechanical statue of Mario where you fight the three
little pigs in Lego land (this statement is 100% accurate, I assure you). One
of my favorite things about this game is these creative worlds and the great
sense of progression and detail that each one presents. Another world is Tree
Zone, where Mario explores a gigantic tree starting at the roots, ventures into
its sap-filled interior, and climbs up into its branches to explore a giant
beehive and bird’s nest. It’s all a far-cry from the bland regurgitated environments
Mario so frequently tromps through today and I can’t think of a better reminder
of the wonderful creativity and variety that Mario once displayed in each and
every new special adventure of his than Super
Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins. Also, just to set the record straight:
Mario in space? This game did it first. Sorry, Galaxy.
Metroid Prime
2 definitely seems to be the underdog of the Prime trilogy, and that’s a shame because
it’s an exceptional experience. Prime 2
is probably one of the creepiest titles in the Metroid series and also one of the most creative in my eyes. It has
this very oppressive, harrowing atmosphere, and it really feels like, as Samus,
you’re stranded on a twisted, hostile alien world. As I’ve discussed before,
the whole “light and dark world” motif has been done to death when it comes to
Nintendo games, but Echoes’ take on
the concept at least feels inspired. I love how the very air of Dark Aether is
corrosive as it really adds a great deal of tension to this eerie other world,
and makes it really feel like a place you don’t want to be in. Dark Samus was
also introduced in this one, and she (or it) is one of my favorite takes on
the whole “dark doppelganger” cliché; she’s creepy, powerful, and she wants you
dead (and she also has a badass theme). What chiefly comes to my mind about Echoes though is its richly-realized
locales, which all stand out sharply in my memory, such as the rain-soaked
Torvus Bog with its subterranean secrets and the beautiful, Tron-esque Sanctuary Fortress, which is
definitely one of the most stand-out locations in the series. Retro Studios’ knack
for creating believable, immersive alien worlds really shines in Echoes, and I felt completely absorbed
in the flora, fauna, and terrain of Aether. As I may or may not talk about next
time, the original Metroid Prime was initially
a bit of a mixed experience for me, so in a way Echoes feels like my Metroid game; I was familiar with the Prime formula at this point, and it
allowed me to get immediately sucked into this game and to quickly fall in love
with it.
Oh Sunshine, you underappreciated, underplayed
gem. I was so excited for this game and remember pouring over every new
screenshot and detail that would emerge in the latest issue of EGM. When it
finally released in the US in late August of 2002, I spent every remaining
minute of my summer vacation playing it and continued doing so as I entered my
freshman year of high school. Like the Game Boy, the GameCube was a special time
of experimentation and unbridled creativity from Nintendo; a time when they
focused on doing interesting things with the games themselves rather than with
the controller you use to interact with them. Super Mario Sunshine is one of many examples of this creativity. It’s
not the revolution that Super Mario 64
was or the grand crowd-pleaser that the Galaxy
games are, but it’s sort of like the “Majora’s
Mask” of the Super Mario series; a
bold, creative follow-up to an immensely well-regarded and important game that
feels more low-key and intimate in its own way. It won’t appeal to everyone,
but those who recognize its magic will surely fall in love with it. One of the things that makes Sunshine so special is the connected,
detailed world of Isle Delfino. Being able to gaze into the distance and see
other locations and how everything connects lends a sense of cohesion to the
experience that I really love, and this great sense of place is strengthened by
a potent atmosphere that takes the theme of a tropical vacation and fleshes it
out to its limits with a variety of memorable locations, including a peaceful
village resting in the hills, an offshore amusement park, and an eerie haunted
hotel on a beautiful twilit beach. There are less “levels” than in other 3D Super Mario games, but Sunshine focuses more on building a
world than linear challenges, and there is a great emphasis on quality over
quantity as each area is densely packed with little details, including the
central hub of Delfino Plaza. The result is a Super Mario game that feels less like a series of levels and more
like a Mario RPG in 3D platformer
form. There’s a great sense of context in Sunshine
and this applies to its much-maligned narrative as well. While the game’s voice
acting may be a source of great derision today (and largely for good reason), I
still appreciate the effort put into framing an adventure that was more than
just “Bowser kidnaps Peach” and back in 2002 I was just amazed that a Super Mario game had voice acting and
such a relatively fleshed-out storyline.
There is just something so joyous and lively and
“feel-good” about Super Mario Sunshine.
I could go on about the incredibly fluid mechanics, which are probably the best
of all the 3D Super Mario games, the
jubilant sound design and soundtrack, the bright and luscious visuals, and
those amazing water effects, but simply put Super
Mario Sunshine truly is unique in this series and easily one of my Mario favorites.
21. Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age (Game Boy Advance)
Similar to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic and Knuckles, Golden Sun and Golden Sun:
The Lost Age are merely two halves of the same big adventure, originally
intended to be one large game but split up due to hardware limitations and
developer ambitions. Funnily enough, Golden
Sun was recommended to me by a random stranger I was chatting with in a
random chat room at the dawn of the internet age, and it then became my first
Game Boy Advance game along with Sonic Advance. I thank that person (whoever they are and wherever they are now) because
they were right: Golden Sun is
fantastic. It is pretty much my ideal RPG: a traditional battle system with a
large, explorable, interesting world, with unique psychic powers called
“Psynergy” that are used in puzzle-solving and combat mixed in for good measure.
The gorgeous sprite-based visuals also have to be seen to be believed and these
are easily some of the prettiest GBA games around, featuring visually-stunning
and over-the-top summons and magic attacks. The “Golden Sun” portion of this two-part journey is certainly great,
but in a way it sort of feels like a prologue to The Lost Age, which is where the experience really takes off,
opening up the great world of Weyard and featuring multiple continents,
islands, intricately-detailed villages, complex dungeons, and a vast ocean to
explore. The Golden Sun saga also
takes a different tone from most JRPGs and features a refreshingly
easy-to-follow and not overly complicated narrative, but the narrative
structure is nonetheless very interesting. There are basically two central
groups that set off on a journey at the start of the first game, each with
opposing goals, and in Golden Sun you
play as one side and in The Lost Age you
switch perspectives and play as the other. The situation in the game then is
not a straightforward “good vs. evil” tale as in many RPGs, but that’s all I’ll
say about it. In addition, if you play both games (which you obviously should),
you can transfer your characters from Golden
Sun into The Lost Age, an
element that comes into play as The Lost
Age goes on. Of course, it wouldn’t be one of my favorite games of all time
if the soundtrack wasn’t amazing, and the Golden Sun/The Lost Age OST is really something quite different. The music has a very signature
sound and a certain style that I find very unique, and it ranges from peaceful and relaxing with many of the town themes to downright inspirational when it
comes to the world map and traveling themes.
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Only twenty games left? Yup! #20-16 is next!
