Chary's personal top 25 games of all time

Heyo, avid blog readers of GBAtemp. Whilst waiting for Forza Horizon 3 to download, I've been sitting here just staring at my PC, willing the download to go faster. Of course, that won't work (Or will it?! continues staring intently) so I should actually do something with my time. So I'm going to just prattle off a little list of my personal favorite games. Why? Because I think it'd be fun to sort it all out, of course! Now if you haven't gotten bored and started reading other things, let's get started. Prerequisites: No multiple games in a series, otherwise we'd be bogged down by Personas, 999 series and Ace Attorneys.

What happens when you remove Shu Takumi from the courtrooms of Ace Attorney? Ghost Trick, apparently. A great puzzle game, with an amusing cast of characters that really grow on you by the end. This is a game I'd recommend to anybody.

The best Grand Theft Auto game. Maybe it's my fanatical love of the Simpsons cartoon, and racing through an open-world Springfield with all the witty dialogue and jokes the series is known for going full force never fails to entertain me, and it causes me to ignore that the latter half of the game is completely aggravating compared to the fantastic first half. Hmm...nah. It's perfect.

Someone wrote a perfect, flawless, amazing review of the game. They're just so awesome. Why not read their review? H-huh? coughs This is how ALL remakes and remasters should be done. Pulling off insane combos in this game is just so much fun. And come on, with that artwork, it's so pretty. Vanillaware, you're the best.

Man, this game has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster. And here I thought 999 was king of that, but nope, here's VLR, ready to kick you in the face with it's insanity and plot.

DKC: Returns was a great revival of the classic hardcore Nintendo platformer, and Tropical Freeze took that winning formula and ran with it. It also helps that David Wise's soundtrack compositions are superb.

While the opening to the story is laughable and a little cheesy, Dishonored more than makes up for it with its combat. You can either be ultra stealthy and teleport your way through, never killing a soul, or you could just drop in on your targets like an atom bomb and go off on a full murder spree with all sorts of cool power ups. It's like two games in one! And I mean, you gotta love those janky ragdoll animations, amirite?

Boy, I sure do love me some waifu hunting. Eh? What do you mean farming? Combat? What's that? You can tame creatures? There's a whole bunch of great things to do besides giving items to all the potential lovers candidates? Whaaaaaaaa.

It sounds like a weird choice at first, but give it a chance. BT3 not only has literally every DBZ character playable in some form, but actually has a wildly complex fighting system. There's a lot of payoff if you're willing to learn how to combo. ...Or you could just button mash and hope to win. ...That works too.

"GENWUNNER!" I hear you cry in distress. "The newer games are so much better!" you yell, defensively. I'll give it up to the phys/special split and all the goodies that were added in later gens making for much better gameplay. But something about the music, the region of Kanto, the remake's 16/32 bit feel, it just altogether felt like a much more interesting game than BW2/XY/Etc etc. (Ugh I will never get used to 3D models in battles. Yuck) Gold and Silver are sweet sequels, but you can never top the originals (or their remakes)

Let's see...if I fuse this one with that one...I can get this. Oh but I have to make sure it has some strong elemental attacks. And I gotta fill the partner gauge before I fight the boss...

She's too deep in thought to notice you. Perhaps you should read a review on the game and come back later...

What a save! What a save! Nice shot! What a save! I've got this one! What a save! gg.

Back when the first Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games came out, young Chary was enraptured by the premise of the Mystery Dungeon spinoffs. The second entries in the franchise are the best, in my opinion, though the first ones are good as well. And I mean...Time/Darkness/Sky managed to pull off some decent story writing. In a Pokemon game. Yeah, I know right? Crazy.

Ingredients:
One high school class
3 copies of Ace Attorney
a pinch of despair
one battle royal situation

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in blender, on high. Pour into glass and garnish with hope.

This is the best Final Fantasy game.
drops mic
...
sees incoming rage mob
Wellitwasniceknowingyouguysbutlookslikeitstimetorunbye

These two games, along with something later on this list, are the best of the best, in terms of 2D platforming games. Yoshi's Island's level design is A+, and just everything about Super Mario World is utterly fantastic. You don't get much better than this.

I think I could get away with saying that, objectively, this is one of the greatest games of all time. It's challenging enough to make you be competent at the game, but not hard enough to curbstomp you into next week. It's got so much exploration, you might not leave your room for weeks after starting the game. There's a bunch of skills and cool stuff to find, how could you not like this game?! Go play it already! What's that? You've already played it 10 times? Well make it 11!

Can we just get a mod that mixes 4's gunplay with New Vegas? Get on it, modders, thanks. F:NV is a little dated with its gun controls, but it's one of the best WRPGs out there. It really gives players freedom to do whatever they want. There's a million ways to do even the simplest of things, and I love Obsidian for allowing so much choice. Bethesda, stop trying to write Fallout related stuff and buy out Obsidian and make them do your bidding, k?

Hey look! It's that series that had one amazing game before they decided to milk the series to the bone. And there's never been a good entry since. If you ever want to play the Assassin's Creed series, start and end here. Although you could move on to Brotherhood, but that's honestly more like a really large albeit good DLC expansion rather than a sequel.


OBJECTION! Trials and Tribulations is the better game! Well, perhaps you're right, random voice in my head. But the first Ace Attorney game laid the groundwork that made the third entry of the series so good. With stellar writing, memorable characters, and hilarious dialogue, there's a reason this series is happily celebrating it's 15th anniversary this year. ...because Capcom keeps milking the series. runs

What makes a JRPG good? Is it the characters? The plot? the battle system? The world building and immersion? All of the aforementioned, and then some? Probably. While I don't think this game is the absolute pinnacle in any of those categories, Tales of the Abyss is definitely a favorite of mine. Everything about it seemed to resonate with me, from the nice art style, to the fun (although not as good compared to later entries like Graces F or Hearts R. Hey, what's the deal with this series and adding random letters to its remakes, huh? I guess they make sense, though) battle system, and everything in between.

Casual shipping scum ruined muh hardcore SRPG! Naw. While the story is a bit generic this go around, FE:A pulled off having a great cast of characters, made obtaining supports actually not suck, and well, it was good enough to save the franchise from Nintendo-purgatory. (Hello Metroid and F-zero, how are you doing--oh) Need I say more?

Fuahahaha! You there, mere mortal, it was the choice of Steins Gate that brought you to my very blog. Watch as I demonstrate to you why, with my genius intellect!

E-eh? Pardon me, I lost myself for a second there. Steins;Gate is one of those games that you play, you complete, and it just kinda, stays with you for a while. This visual novel hits every hit note in the genre, and is absolutely gripping. It's better than the anime, which is already one of the greatest in the medium. If you're every looking for a game with a good story, or somewhere to start with visual novels, this is the best one to pick.

Gawh. This game is just so perfect. Between Sonic 3 and Super Mario World, 2D platforming hit a peak so high, I don't think 2D platformers will ever reach this greatness ever again. There's just so much to explore and find, but you can also speedrun the levels like a madman if you care to memorize and learn the intracacies of the level design. I've played this game once a year at least, since 1999. It's just that good. Over and over and over again, it never fails to be a fantastic game.

...I'm not sure I've invested enough time into this series to give you a solid verdict yet. Come back to me once I've put in another 3,000+ hours.

Why is this game so good? It's just so good. I love this game. Can I marry this game? Look, I'll put a little tuxedo on it and everything. See? In all seriousness, Persona 4, and its remake, Golden, are top tier JRPGs. Good characters? Check. Fun things to do and explore in the world? Check. Some of the greatest game music ever to grace my ears? Checkaroni. Best girl of all time? You darn well better believe that's a check.



As the years pass, I notice many games come and go from what I consider personal favorites. I look forward to the future where I can look back on this and see what great games I'll have played a year or more from now.

Wow did anyone even read all that? I know I sure didn't.

PS. For those who remember my last blog, I got some white chocolate Lion bars a few weeks ago. Life is complete.
PPS. Making a click baity drama title for this blog was so tempting.
PPPS. Honorable mentions: Mario 64, Muramasa--you were easily replaced by your newer, funner brethren, Tales of Graces F, Chrono Trigger, Road Rash Genesis/Mega Drive and Super Paper Mario.
PPPPS (Is that even how these work) inb4 no OOT, riot riot riot.