My Top 115 Favorite Video Games (25-21)

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25. Kirby’s Dream Land 2 (Game Boy)

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.

24. Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (Game Boy)

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.

23. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GameCube)

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.

22. Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube)

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!

My Top 115 Favorite Video Games (30-26)

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30. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube)

Super Smash Bros. Melee blew my mind when I first played it that Christmas morning on my shiny new GameCube in 2001. Melee is one of those sequels that took the foundation of the first game and simply exploded it in a big bang effect, expanding and elaborating on the original a dozen times over while still retaining a distinctive sense of identity. I simply got lost in the various modes, new characters, trophies, and the ever-deepening series of unlockables within the game. Melee has a lot of stuff in it, but not so much stuff that it feels overwhelming, and every new avenue, from trophies to the new Adventure Mode, has worth. It keeps the original’s unique target-smashing stages and features a similar Classic Mode, but the added Adventure Mode, All-Star Mode, Event Matches, plus more all help to create a satisfying single-player experience. Of course, what cemented this one in my heart was just how long I continued to play it after release because of its multiplayer, a fairly unique situation in my video game history. Many summers in high school were spent hanging around with my friends, which often entailed swimming in my friend’s pool followed by hours upon hours of four-player smashes. Melee is one of the few multiplayer games that I didn’t tire of after a few sessions of play, and it seemed like no matter who I played it with, I had a blast. It was an evolution of the original that set the standard that the rest of the series is still following today, and it’s the Smash that is most special to me.

29. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS)

It’s very difficult for me to pick a favorite Metroidvania game, and therefore favorite Castlevania game overall, because I love them all for different reasons (except for maybe Portrait of Ruin), but Dawn of Sorrow…Dawn of Sorrow is so frickin’ beautiful. It picks up right where Aria of Sorrow left off, building upon and refining everything about that already refined game, including the return of the Tactical Soul system, and features a massive castle that rivals Symphony of the Night’s in terms of its marvelous design, details, and copious secrets upon secrets. Just when you think you’ve seen or done it all, there’s more, and if you think you’ve finally seen it all, you’re wrong. Being the first Castlevania game on the DS, its visuals are gorgeous, featuring beautiful environments, huge sprites, and colossally gruesome bosses, its musical score is among my favorites in Castlevania history, and it is simply all-around probably the best-designed game in the series. The only things wrong with Dawn of Sorrow are its unfortunately mediocre anime character artwork (the beautifully elegant artwork of Ayami Kojima was sorely missed) and its weak narrative and villains. Aria of Sorrow’s narrative was pretty wacky too, but it’s interesting at least and has an important purpose in the grand scheme of the Castlevania mythos, but Dawn of Sorrow, as much as it pains me to say it, is unfortunately just sort of an unnecessary continuation of that story, and it just feels like they had to come up with something to justify this otherwise beautifully-designed game. The narrative isn’t terrible and it doesn’t greatly detract from the experience, but let’s just say as the final story chronologically in the series, it could have been better. When the rest of the experience is so phenomenal though, I’m willing to turn the other way. Its narrative and official artwork aside, Dawn of Sorrow is the pinnacle of the Metroidvania series.

28. GoldenEye 007 (N64)

GoldenEye is one of those games that I completely dissected as kid. It was more than a game; it was a world. I spent hours playing and replaying every mission and each session brought new discoveries. I would obsess over details like the ventilation shafts in the Facility level and how they all connected, I would create my own meta-games in my head and my own fantasy storylines for each mission. I settled into each level, exploring every room, examining every toilet and desk; these levels were more than just linear corridors, they were fully-designed environments to explore and uncover. I longed to finally unlock the coveted hidden Aztec and Egyptian levels, which I sadly never did. I used to dream about this game. Then there was the multiplayer, where countless hours were spent with friends playing hide and seek in the Complex, laying proximity mine traps in the Caves, and having duels in the Temple. It’s amusing to me that one of my strongest nostalgic attachments, one of my most cherished and memorable video game experiences, is a licensed James Bond game based on a film I wouldn’t first watch until years after finally putting the game down, but so it is.

27. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)

After drooling over screenshots of it in Nintendo Power prior to release, I finally got Kirby 64 in my hands in late June of 2000, and it is another game that is fondly synonymous with summer for me. I still remember the pure joy this game brought me as I began it and how amazing it was to me back then to finally have a Kirby game with 3D visuals. Not only was Kirby 64 one of the first “2.5D” platformers to my knowledge, but its clean, colorful art has aged remarkably well and the game stands as one of the best-looking N64 games in the modern era. When it comes to platformers, Kirby 64 is another game that hits just about all the right notes for me. Though they largely follow familiar video game tropes such as the good ol’ desert and beach, the worlds of The Crystal Shards execute these themes with a lot of imagination and detail, and although there aren’t a whole lot of them, every single level in the game is unique and nothing feels copy and pasted. The ice world is particularly memorable for its pseudo-futuristic and industrial themes, as well as for the fact that it seems to hide a suspicious backstory. What also makes Kirby 64 still stand out among all of its brethren is its fantastic power-combining system. For the first and basically last time so far, Kirby can combine copy abilities. For example, combine Cutter and Burning to make a giant fire sword, Burning and Bomb to turn into fireworks, or Ice and Spark to morph into an adorable Kirby refrigerator that barfs up snacks! It’s a brilliant spin on the familiar Kirby formula and it’s a ton of fun to experiment and play around with each combination. The game gets a ton of mileage out of only a handful of base abilities and you’ll find yourself making surprising discoveries even late in the game. The simple narrative is also excellently implemented throughout, providing both great motivation and a great sense of progression. Rounding out the whole delightful package is my favorite Kirby soundtrack, which is a stand-out even by the series’ very high standards. The music in Kirby 64 contains a wide variety of styles, including some very atmospheric and emotional tracks, including the true final boss theme, which is one of my favorite final boss themes in any game.

26. Kirby’s Dream Land (Game Boy)

Another of my three earliest gaming memories and crucial formative games (along with Sonic the Hedgehog and one more upcoming game) is Kirby’s Dream Land, the very first Kirby game. I’m fairly certain that this was my first Game Boy game and I remember walking around Toys “R” Us with my Mom when the game’s strange boxart caught my eye. There are two elements that I chiefly admire about Kirby’s Dream Land: simplicity and surrealism. I love the simplistic nature of the mechanics and platforming; this was a world where Kirby could not copy the abilities of his enemies yet, he could only inhale and exhale, and there’s something about this pure, uncluttered design that I find appealing. The game can also be finished in about 40 minutes (not counting the special “Extra Game”) and I love this too; it’s a breezy, charming little adventure. I also love how surreal and strange Kirby’s Dream Land is and it raised so many questions for me when I was a little kid: why am I fighting a sentient tree that’s attacking me with apples? Why am I now fighting a sentient blimp with a lemon? What exactly is Kirby anyway? And what is “Dream Land”? Is the whole game a world of dreams or a figment of some child’s imagination?? Why is the main villain a big penguin with a hammer wearing a Santa Claus suit??? This game ignited my imagination as a child, and it and Kirby’s Dream Land 2 feel like they are a part of me.

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It's the final countdown! #25-21 is next!

My Top 115 Favorite Video Games (55-51)

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55. Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)

Sonic the Hedgehog is one of my three earliest video game memories and possibly the first game I ever played. Therefore, its music, its sound effects, its visuals, its slopes, and its loops are etched into my mind in a way that few games are. Sonic is one of the primary reasons I love games as much as I do. While I’m incapable of being completely impartial about this game, I recognize its flaws yet still find much to be impressed by in Sonic’s debut adventure. Compared to later games in the series, the original Sonic feels lonelier and more foreboding, especially in the final level. Just listen to the menacing boss theme; it really captures the idea of a little rodent going up against a megalomaniacal industrialist. The whole nature vs. technology theme that is present throughout the Sonic series, especially in the older games, as well as the focus on playing as and rescuing animals has always spoken to me directly. While they contain some annoying designs, I find Sonic the Hedgehog’s levels or “zones” unforgettable and inspired, even so many years later. This game began a trend in the Sonic series of taking Sonic to imaginative locations such as a surreal city park filled with pinball equipment, a dreamy starlit highway, and a treacherous polluted factory, giving it a unique identity that set it apart from many other common platformer clichés in the 90s. Beyond the locations themselves though, Sonic’s worlds are largely so memorable because of the game’s distinctive art direction and musical score, both of which were quite unlike anything else at the time. It’s easy to look at the original Sonic the Hedgehog now and compare it to its sequels and other games and dismiss it as archaic and awkward, but at the time it was new and exciting and unique, and I applaud its developers for having an inspired vision instead of just blatantly copying what Mario was doing.

54. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)

Order of Ecclesia has a very fond place in my heart for several reasons. For starters, it was the final Metroidvania* produced by Koji Igarashi, and although I would have gladly accepted more explorative Castlevania, in my opinion Order of Ecclesia was at the very least a glorious note to go out on. It combines several different elements from throughout the Metroidvania series such as the multiple area approach of Portrait of Ruin and a similar ability system to the Tactical Soul system from the Sorrow games, and it even incorporates a hub town full of eccentric villagers that brings Castlevania II to mind. To top it all off, it all culminates in one of the most climactic final battles the series has ever seen. The soundtrack is of course also glorious and the 2D art is at its absolute best; what’s more, Ecclesia also features a beautiful painterly art style for character portraits and official art, a welcome return to form after the garish anime look of the past two DS Castlevania titles. Perhaps my favorite aspect of Ecclesia though is its narrative and its protagonist, Shanoa. In Order of Ecclesia, the Belmonts are nowhere to be found, there’s no legendary Vampire Killer whip, no contrived tie-ins to past games or cameos, there’s just Shanoa, an ordinary woman who decides to stand up and fight evil because no one else will. Ok, so there’s a little more to it than that and Shanoa technically isn’t entirely alone in her quest, but I just love this game’s basic premise and Shanoa is my favorite protagonist in the series. Castlevania isn’t exactly known for its great storytelling, but there are actually some pretty touching moments here and the way in which the adventure progresses feels very inspiring in a way and almost like Igarashi and company knew this would be the last one. If I had a hat, I’d tip it to those folks, and I eagerly await this game’s long-awaited spiritual successor, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

*Just a side note: when I say “Metroidvania”, I am not referring to the whole subgenre, but rather just using the term as shorthand for the seven Symphony of the Night-style Castlevania games. Speaking of which...

53. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)

I didn’t really get super into the Castlevania series until 2001’s Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and I waited years to finally play 1997’s Symphony of the Night when it was re-released on PSN. While I don’t quite hold the game in as high regard as many others mainly because I feel many of its successors improved on it mechanically and also because I’m not exactly a fan of the game’s “second half”, Symphony of the Night is nonetheless a masterful creation, especially for its time. It has perhaps the most well-designed version of Dracula’s castle in the series and almost every nook of this obsessively-detailed gothic mausoleum is etched into my brain…besides the recesses I’ve likely still yet to discover. Symphony of the Night is also a brilliant work of 2D video game art and is wholly embossed with its own distinct atmosphere. Its soundtrack by Michiru Yamane combines hard rock, chapel hymns, gothic anthems, and funky electronica to produce something extraordinary. Symphony is special, it is timeless, and nothing can ever replace dialogue like “What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets.”

52. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

I actually didn’t care too much for A Link to the Past at first. I certainly liked it to an extent, but I kind of struggled through it difficulty-wise and overall didn’t think the adventure was as inspired as Link’s Awakening, the only 2D Zelda game I’d previously played. I didn’t really start appreciating A Link to the Past until I had more Zelda experience in me and returned to replay it over and over again. Each time I did, I seemed to enjoy the game more and nowadays it may not be my favorite Zelda game but it sits neatly in the middle or so. It’s a quintessential-feeling game in many ways through its structure, its level of polish, and its overall completeness. There’s just something very satisfying about finishing A Link to the Past. This game also has a charmingly classic feeling and distinctly magical atmosphere about it and for as much as it established for the series as a whole, A Link to the Past still feels unique among its peers. It has one of my favorite soundtracks in the series (the ending credits theme is profound and makes me tear up every time I finish the game), its mechanics feel great, and its art is colorful and pleasing. I also dig ALttP’s storytelling, which I don’t think gets enough credit. While there’s a wonderfully written and illustrated backstory in the original SNES instruction manual and certainly quite a few exposition dumps throughout the game, I love how details about its world and its lore are fleshed out by NPCs hiding in caves and whatnot throughout both the Light and Dark World. Speaking of the Dark World, it’s both an interesting concept narrative-wise and design-wise and while the whole “dual world” idea has been completely beaten into the ground by Nintendo today, A Link to the Past still stands as one of its best examples. From its expertly-constructed opening to its satisfying, climactic finale, A Link to the Past is a great game that’s easy to just jump into and have an adventure with.

51. Kirby’s Adventure/Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (NES/Game Boy Advance)

My first experience with Kirby’s Adventure was the Game Boy Advance remake, Nightmare in Dream Land, which I’m pretty sure I didn’t even know was a remake of the NES classic at the time. Which is amusing, because Adventure is yet another game I longed to play for years. I grew up with the Game Boy Kirby games and Adventure released at a time when I did not have access to a NES. I remember the boxart alone making my imagination run wild about the wonderful Kirby adventure I was missing out on. While I of course eventually played the original Kirby’s Adventure and think it’s great, my preferred version is Nightmare in Dream Land, which features new visuals, enhanced music, new modes, and so on. Having missed the original version and Kirby Super Star as a kid, NiDL was the first Kirby game I played with such a large set of wacky copy abilities. It was a joy discovering them all as well as making my way through imaginative and colorful lands such as “Ice Cream Island” and “Butter Building”. You can’t go wrong with a level called “Butter Building”. Kirby’s Adventure/Nightmare in Dream Land is also probably what I would call the quintessential Kirby game; it’s kind of like the “A Link to the Past” of the series. It was the second game in the series and built on the template of the original Kirby’s Dream Land in numerous ways. Not only did this game introduce Kirby’s signature copy ability, but several boss concepts and characters (such as series mainstay Meta Knight) also originated here, in addition to an overall game structure and many conventions that would go on to greatly influence the series. No matter which version you play, Kirby’s Adventure is a great time sure to put a smile on your face.

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We get ever closer to the big finale next time with #50-46!

My Top 115 Favorite Video Games (70-66)

Click here for the introduction!

70. Wario Land II (Game Boy)

The Wario Land games represent a special kind of oddness and creativity that blossomed in Nintendo’s suite of titles for their Game Boy handheld back in the 90s. Because they weren’t developing a big console game, Nintendo’s designers probably felt less pressure to deliver on certain expectations or adhere to certain conventions. This kind of freedom really shows in games like the Super Mario Land titles, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and of course the Wario Land games. Wario Land II differs quite a bit from its predecessor: Wario is impervious to damage, for one thing, and the game has also gotten rid of the Super Mario World-style world map. Instead, a narrative plays out across a bunch of stages played immediately one after the other, but depending on what actions the player takes or what secret routes they find, their path can branch and the final outcome of the adventure can vary wildly. It’s a really interesting set-up for a platformer and one that encourages replaying levels and discovering every secret the game has to offer. Wario Land II is like a treasure trove that keeps extending deeper downwards until you discover the final, ultimate secret. Full of imaginative levels and packed with mysteries, I got completely lost in Wario Land II as a kid and it kept my face glued to my Game Boy screen until I had found and seen everything.

69. Kirby Super Star/Kirby Super Star Ultra (SNES/DS)

Like most Super Nintendo games on this list, Kirby Super Star is another game that I wanted to play for years, but was denied on account of me not having a Super Nintendo. While it eventually came to the Wii’s Virtual Console, I actually first experienced Super Star in its original form when I was in college. My roommate had somehow acquired a Super Nintendo and a box of games (something about his aunt finding it in her attic or something) and one of these was of course the elusive Super Star. I was overjoyed to finally experience the game and everything was going great until my save data somehow got corrupted when I was nearly finished with the adventure. I did restart and complete the whole game from scratch, but this nonetheless really soured my initial experience with Super Star unfortunately. All the same, from The Great Cave Offensive (my favorite) to Revenge of Meta Knight to Milky Way Wishes and more, Kirby Super Star is a greatly enjoyable time from beginning to end. While I mainly prefer the more standard Kirby adventures to Super Star’s oddball “multi-game” approach, I still appreciate the title’s uniqueness. The 2008 DS remake, Super Star Ultra, is my preferred version of the game and includes all of the original game’s modes as well as several new ones that all fit in nicely. In many ways, Super Star Ultra feels like the ultimate Kirby game, offering a robust and fulfilling Kirby experience that covers a ton of ground and contains most of the iconic characters and elements from throughout the series.

68. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

It had been a long time since a new Zelda game had given me the kind of feeling that A Link Between Worlds did. It brought back the free-form, exciting sense of exploration and discovery that the classic top-down Zeldas are known for, and it did it with several twists. The item-shop idea allowed for a wonderful sense of freedom and the extremely well-implemented wall-merging mechanic allowed for numerous angles to puzzle-solving and completely changed the way I thought about top-down Zelda. To top it all off, A Link Between Worlds also uses stereoscopic 3D to lovely effect and this is just another way this game subtly brings something new to the classic overhead Zelda design. While it’s not flawless, there’s just so much I could praise about this game: I could on and on about the wonderful soundtrack (with a surprising amount of great original compositions), fantastic dungeons, and the way that the game constantly played with my expectations and surprised me in all sorts of delightful ways. Beyond all this, ALBW also just has that special Zelda magic, as evidenced by moments like its touching ending sequence.

67. Super Paper Mario (Wii)

The first two Paper Mario games get plenty of love, and rightfully so, but Super Paper Mario seems to get a raw deal, and it pains me to see it occasionally lumped in with the likes of the soulless Paper Mario: Sticker Star as “one of the bad Paper Mario games”. While at its mechanical core, Super Paper Mario is a platformer and quite a departure from its turn-based RPG brethren, its heart and soul is completely in line with the smartly written, wildly imaginative, and subversive originals, perhaps even surpassing them to an extent in these regards. Full of memorable new characters (and new roles for existing ones) and interesting locations, Super Paper Mario is brimming with personality and creativity. Like its predecessor, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Super Paper Mario largely eschews well-worn-out Mario series tropes and instead sees Mario and his companions traveling to the pixelated palace of a nerdy chameleon who is a parody of Nintendo’s very own fanbase, a prehistoric land where overworld-dwelling rock people and underworld-dwelling flower people are at war, a convenience store in space, and even to…well, I won’t spoil that one. And even though it lacks turn-based battles, in its structure, atmosphere, ancillary mechanics, and storytelling, this adventure is every bit an RPG at heart and fits well in line with its predecessors. Speaking of storytelling, one of the aspects of Super Paper Mario that stands out the most is its narrative, which takes some surprisingly thoughtful and interesting turns for a game starring Nintendo’s mustachioed mascot, and is ultimately a uniquely touching tale for the series.

66. Pikmin 3 (Wii U)

I associate Pikmin 3 with late summer nights, peaceful and cool, crickets chirping a lullaby outside the window. Similar to Unravel (and I suppose many games on this list), Pikmin 3 is another very “me” game. Pikmin 2 is special to me and a great game, but it’s a bit bloated. Its follow-up condenses things and delivers the most refined, polished, accessible, and quite frankly enjoyable game in the series. It takes some of the great aspects of Pikmin 2 and melds them with a sense of urgency and greater narrative heft more akin to the original Pikmin and spins it all into a wonderful adventure with a potent atmosphere that feels almost profound. It’s hard to describe the kind of unique feeling that the Pikmin games have but this essence is perhaps more prominent than ever in Pikmin 3. An experience that combines my love of nature with my love of little things with my love of engrossing interactive experiences, its locales are gorgeous, its characters charming, its design satisfying, and its memorable final chapter left such an impression on me that I felt the need to dedicate a whole post to it separate from my review.

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We approach the halfway point next time with #65-61!

My Top 115 Favorite Video Games (105-101)

Click here for the introduction!

105. Resident Evil 4 (GameCube)

I do not have the religious reverence for Resident Evil 4 that many have, but I definitely recognize the game’s impact and it’s certainly a memorable experience. RE4 was a huge deal back when it first released in 2005 as a GameCube exclusive (yeah, remember that?). Many of my friends were playing it and talking about at the time, so much so that I kind of…got sick of it. Also, a good chunk of the game was spoiled for me as well because of my constant exposure to it before playing it myself. Despite all this, I still remember my first time with the early village sequence as one of the tensest and most harrowing sections in a game I’d ever experienced. I love the game’s atmosphere, its environments, its self-aware camp, and its ridiculous characters and varied bosses. RE4 is a game that just keeps one-upping itself and surprising the player with one exciting, nail-biting, interesting sequence after the next. Just when you get comfortable with a certain scenario and think you know the rules, the game throws a wacky curveball at you, or perhaps a chainsaw.

104. Kirby’s Epic Yarn (Wii)

Epic Yarn is my favorite of the “experimental” Kirby games, which include a game where you control a spherical Kirby with magic paintbrush strokes (actually there are two of those) and one where the pink cream-puff is split into a swarm of ten mini-Kirbys. I like Epic Yarn because unlike these other alterna-Kirbys, it’s still a traditional platformer; it just gives Kirby a new aesthetic and set of mechanics within its fabric framework to play around with. The word that always comes to mind when I think of Epic Yarn is “delightful”. It will charm the pants right off of you…which Kirby will probably then unravel and turn into a sled or something.

103. Yoshi’s Woolly World (Wii U)

The third and final title on this list from the booming “yarn genre” is Yoshi’s Woolly World, a special game that surprised me with not only its creative level design, but also an intimate and emotional adventure that I could feel was created with a  lot of love and effort. There’s something inherently nostalgic about Woolly World. Simply put, it is the video game equivalent of wrapping myself up in one of my Nana’s hand-knitted blankets and sipping a cup of tea on a cool autumn night.

102. Pikmin 2 (GameCube)

Pikmin 2, which I actually played on Wii, is special to me because it helped bring me fulfillment during a time when all I felt like doing was lying in bed in the dark, but it’s also a delightfully unique experience with an indescribable atmosphere. There’s something about venturing further and further down into the depths of one of Pikmin 2’s many underground labyrinths, not really knowing what’s going to be on each new floor, that’s intoxicating. This is only compounded by the game’s uniquely bizarre soundtrack, which drew me into a world that felt like a dream. The main goal of Pikmin 2 is to discover and collect “treasures”, a bunch of human junk ranging from Duracell batteries to bottle caps to references to Nintendo’s history, in order to pay off a debt. Discovering each treasure and seeing what extravagant name Olimar and Louie’s wonderfully characterized spaceship comes up with for these mundane objects is simply a delight and one of my favorite aspects of the experience. If you seek to complete it thoroughly, Pikmin 2 is a long game, and it can be both challenging and exhausting, but while it’s not a game I’m likely to return to that often or at all, it is a treasured experience for me and one that felt immensely gratifying to journey through and complete.

101. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land (Wii)

I fondly remember the day that Kirby’s Return to Dream Land released in late October of 2011. After getting out of work and visiting two different GameStops before I was able to buy the game, I brought it home and found myself transported back to being a little kid with a Game Boy, playing Kirby’s Dream Land for the first time; back to the summer of 2000 when I first played Kirby 64. The so appropriately-titled Return to Dream Land, the first traditional Kirby game on a home console since Kirby 64, was a very welcome return to form for the series. This game is just good. It feels so artfully and perfectly traditional in so many ways, yet doesn’t feel stale or recycle too many old staples. In fact, I sort of wish one or two more classic bosses showed up even, as most are brand new. Even only five years later, I already find myself feeling a bit nostalgic when I listen to the soundtrack. Return to Dream Land is simply a joyful video game, elegant in its traditional design, and nearly unmatched in its level of polish.

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Check back again next time for #100-96!