Even though it’s not my main hobby, I do enjoy playing video games now and then. As some of you are aware of, I’m much more of a video game connoisseur than what you’d call a “gamer” – there’s a handful of games and game series I enjoy, but I only pick up a new one once in a while and I certainly don’t play all of the very popular games. Pokemon has been my main game of choice for years, and I play it so much more than other video games that I consider it its own separate hobby. But there have been many other games that have made an impression on me over the years, and surprisingly I never really thought about which ones have been my all time favorites. So now it’s time to do that!…
The major criteria I use for determining if a game is a favorite of mine is simply how inclined I am to keep on playing it, or replay it over and over if I already beat it. Do I still like replaying levels or missions even though I’ve already played them a million times? Do I have the desire to unlock every secret in the game and play through every part of it that I can? Other things about the game are factors too, like whether I like the story, characters, and aesthetics, but basically the more I love a game the more I want play it again and again. And as the title of this post implies, I’m not including any Pokemon games on this list since I consider it a hobby by itself.
One more thing to note about my list of favorite games is that the age of the games doesn’t matter. Whether a game came out just a few years ago, or back in the 90s when I was a kid, if it’s one I still love I’ll include it. So some of you younger folks reading this might not recognize the older games here ;) Also be aware that since gaming is a casual hobby of mine, I’ve only owned Nintendo and old Sega Systems, so most of the games I’ve played have been limited to those.
10. WarioWare: Smooth Moves
Release Year: 2007
Platforms: Wii
The WarioWare games are among an easy and light series made solely by Nintendo, meant to please casual gamers just looking to play something quick and easy to learn, usually in a group setting, similar to Nintendo’s Mii titles like Mii Sports and Mii Play. Smooth Moves is the only WarioWare game I’ve played, but for some reason I like it a lot. It’s basically just a continuous series of super short minigames where you have to manipulate the Wii remote in a certain way to complete an action – only trouble is you have to do it within a few seconds without messing up! It’s surprisingly creative in the different ways you use the Wii remote, and being that it’s a “party” game, it’s lots of fun to play with a group of people. But I enjoy playing it by myself as well, and I’m always trying to beat my record of how many minigames I can get through without screwing up! XD My full review of the game can be found here.
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9. Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly
Release Year: 2002
Platforms: PS2, GameCube
I’ve played a few Spyro games over the years, including a couple on the GameBoy Advance and a fairly recent one on the Wii. But Enter the Dragonfly is still my favorite. I can’t put my finger on why, but I really enjoy the game mechanics in how you can move Spyro around, having him do things like head-charge, glide, and swim. I also like the designs of the levels in this game, being sort of a mix of platform and RPG elements, and even some puzzle elements too in how you have to collect all the gems and dragonflies. I rented this game many times when I was younger, and I liked it so much that I finally bought a used copy some years later that I play on my Wii from time to time. I haven’t kept up with Spyro games in a while…I should see what the little guy has been up to lately.
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8. Kingdom Hearts
Release Year: 2002
Platforms: PS2
For those of you who read my 12 anime moments of 2012, you know that that year I played through all of the original Kingdom Hearts on a PS2 I borrowed from a friend (since I had never played the game when it first came out). Being a Disney fan helps my enjoyment of the game, especially when it comes to the music, worlds, and characters, but besides that, I like the mechanics very much too. The battling mechanics in particular are great, and while I tend to stay away from fantasy RPGs because they get so involved and complicated with all the level grinding and knowing which character in your party should get what power-up and use what item, etc., I found this part of Kingdom Hearts to be just right: required some commitment, but not too complex. I liked the game so much that after completing the main story, I went back and played through all of the side quests, got all the items, and beat the extra bosses, including the extremely difficult Sephiroth. I later played through about half of Kingdom Hearts II, but never finished it. I’m not sure if I’ll actually play Kingdom Hearts III since I don’t have a PS4, but I’m still eagerly anticipating its release (Frozen better be in that game!)
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7. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
Release Year: 2003
Platforms: PS2, GameCube
Like Spyro, I’ve played a few Harvest Moon games on different platforms, but Wonderful Life is my favorite. The main reason for that is because, among the HM games I’ve played, it’s the most realistic. For example, you can only get milk from cows when they’re pregnant/nursing a calf, and eggs from hens if you have a rooster. This is unlike the other HM games I’ve played where the animals just give their goods without these conditions being met, which is easier for the player, but quite unlike real life. There are other little minor things I like better in A Wonderful Life too, such as being able to ride your horse without a saddle and having the animals lick your face if they like you a lot XD Though I’ve never replayed this game, I did get further in it than any other HM game; I got up to the point where my child was a toddler and I could influence his hobbies. But replaying this game is something I’d like to do one of these days XD
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6. Sonic Generations
Release Year: 2011
Platforms: PS3, 3DS, XBox 360, Windows
I’m one of the disgruntled fans of old-school Sonic games that liked Sonic better back in the old days when all he did was run around these cool-looking zones, collecting rings and destroying robots. When Sega started adding all these other elements to Sonic games in the 2000s, like RPG storylines, tons of new characters you had to play as that I didn’t particularly care for, little to no ability to play as Tails (my favorite character), and just throwing in other unnecessary things to make Sonic more like other games rather than his own simple but unique style, I kinda lost interest in the games despite Sonic being THE game series of my childhood. But Sega must have known that old-school Sonic fans were unhappy with these new games so, after the unimpressive Sonic 4, in 2011 they gave a love letter to us in the form of Sonic Generations, a game where you play through updated versions of levels from old Sonic games in classic Sonic style of just running fast and collecting rings. My nostalgia couldn’t help but be impressed by seeing Sonic zones from the old Sega Genesis games I loved as a kid now rendered in gorgeous HD graphics. The ability to run fast through the stylized zones of Sonic games always gives me a thrill, and the awesome graphics of Sonic Generations have just that. I’ve replayed some of my favorite levels like City Escape and Green Hill Zone many, many times XD
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5. Turok: Evolution
Release Year: 2002
Platforms: PS2, GameCube, Windows, XBox, GameBoy Advance
I never cared for first-person shooters…except for this one. Turok: Evolution is another game of my teen years that I was really into and still enjoy playing from time to time even to this day. It has a lot of things I like, such as a fun selection of different weapons you can use, and a variety of enemies, from dinosaurs and saber-toothed tigers to the main enemies of the game, the lizard-like creatures called Slegs. The settings of the different levels are diverse as well, with some taking place in jungles and others in the Sleg fortress. And while most of the game just involved finding your way to the end of the level while killing as many enemies as you can, some required you to do something different, like stealthily sneak into the Sleg base without being seen or flying on a Pterodactyl. One of my favorite things to do in the game is utilize the “invincibility” and “unlimited ammo” cheat codes, so I can play through my favorite levels as I like without having to worry about dying or running out of ammo. Compared to first-person shooters nowadays, I’m sure this one seems very simple, but that’s what I like about it =)
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4. Sonic 3 (& Knuckles)
Release Year: 1994
Platforms: Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis and Sega Game Gear were the platforms of my childhood, and since games were much shorter to play through and easier for me to obtain thanks to video rental stores, I played tons of games on these systems and loved pretty much all of them. But I wanted to think of the one that was my favorite – that had the most impact on me as a kid. And the combo game Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the one. I’m cheating here a bit since it’s actually two games – Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles – that were able to be combined together thanks to the latter game having a cartridge slot on the top of it that the former game could fit into. It was pretty innovative technology at the time, allowing you to play the levels from the games combined into one, and as any of the three characters (Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles). I played through this game so many times as a kid, and even as an adult, I still like playing it. I love the music (did you know that Micheal Jackson was involved in some of the Sonic 3 music?), I love the designs of the zones, I love the simple yet poignant storyline and cut scenes (that are significant despite having no dialogue or words)…it’s just a great game. I won’t lie that nostalgia is a reason this game is rated so highly on my list, but its a strong testament to how creative games could be despite the limited technology of the times.
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3. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Release Year: 2008
Platforms: Wii
I’ve played all the Super Smash Bros. games and like them all (though I’ve played very little of the new 3DS and Wii U ones), but I think Brawl is my favorite. I’m sure anyone who’s played these games knows their appeal, and while I’m not competitive in SSB like I am in Pokemon, I enjoy playing casually against friends or the CPU. While Brawl is lacking some things I liked better in Melee (like Mewtwo!), I would say I like Brawl better because of the Subspace Emissary. I really enjoyed playing through that…I think I almost got to 100% completion. But yeah, the SSB games never get old, and whenever I have friends over, playing a few rounds of it is always an idea that comes up ;)
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2. Lost Kingdoms II
Release Year: 2003
Platforms: GameCube
A really obscure game is my second most favorite! I’ll be surprised if any of you have played this game, or even heard of it! XD Lost Kingdoms II is the sequel to another GameCube game called Lost Kingdoms, and while the two games are similar – basic fantasy adventures where you use magic cards to summon various monsters to help you battle enemies – Lost Kingdoms II has something that makes it way better than its prequel in my opinion: having a battle mode and overworld that blend together. In the original Lost Kingdoms, whenever you’d touch an enemy, the game would switch to “battle mode” where you’d be confined to a small area until you’d beat the enemy, die, or flee and end the battle. So because of that, you’d only be able to use your own monsters during the battle. In Lost Kingdoms II however, there’s no “battle mode,” so not only do fights with enemies run seamlessly with the rest of the game, but you can summon your own monsters at any time and they’ll follow you around, attacking enemies when necessary. It makes for a much more realistic and immersive experience. Plus there are a lot more monsters in this game, as well as ones with new abilities, like monsters that you can transform into. I just love this game and have played through the levels numerous times – my save file maxed out at 99:99 hours of gameplay long ago, but if it were still going, it’d probably be double that by now XD What’s also cool for both games is that you play as a woman protagonist, a princess in the first game and a female bandit in the second.
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1. Okami
Release Year: 2006
Platforms: PS2, Wii
Okami is one of the most unique games I’ve come across, as well as one of the most beautiful. The art style is unlike anything I’ve seen in any other work of media, with every shot looking like a lovely ukiyo-e woodblock painting. The musical score is equally as compelling and could rival any ancient Japanese compositions. The very Shinto-centered storyline has a wonderful mix of comedy, drama, darkness, and cuteness, and the general gameplay style of “painting” with the game controller to achieve certain abilities in battle, is again, very unique. And let’s not forget the ability to play as the adorable Amaterasu! I’ve played through Okami roughly two times: the first time I got up to the last boss but never took him on, and then some time later I decided to play through the whole game again, this time collecting all of the 100 stray beads so I could unlock the bonus modes at the end of the game. Getting a few of the final stray beads was one of the most difficult undertakings I’ve done in any game, and there were plenty of moments where I was so frustrated that I wanted to throw my Wii remote out the window! But eventually I got them all, beat the game fully, and unlocked the goodies at the end. And now one of these days I need to play through the game again with god mode I’ve unlocked! Anyway, I’ve written a full review of Okami here when I first played it, but as you can see, after Pokemon I’d say it’s the game I love most!
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Have you guys played any of these games? If so, what do you think of them? And what are some of your favorite games, old and new? ;)
While I only played Super Smash Bros (I played the original to Brawl extensively during my childhood and teenaged years), I haven’t played most of the games on the list.
As for me, I don’t have specific favorites, but there are some games that I enjoy outside of the Nintendo first party titles. In fact, some of my favorite games are made by Maxis (they are now defunct thanks to EA) since I enjoyed playing Simcity 2000 and spending hours building a city on an old Windows 98 computer during my childhood. Of course, I have a copy on my Mac and eventually played Simcity 4 and spent hours installing mods and building cities (of course, the new Simcity games are horrible as EA had to mess it up).
I also got into The Sims 2 in 2004 and spent hours playing that game up until 2007 due to various expansion packs, custom content and mods. Open for Business and Seasons were my favorite expansion packs from Sims 2. Sims 3 was alright, but I didn’t get into it until I got a more powerful Macbook Pro and after they came out with many expansions). As for Sims 4, while I haven’t played much of it, it’s not that great.
As for console games, besides Pokemon and Mario, I haven’t gotten outside Nintendo games until I started learning Japanese. Of course, the Idolmaster games (Idolmaster 2 and One for All) were very enjoyable as you can produce an idol… Of course, the game is basically a dating sim and a rhythm game, but the game was a pain to translate since the text auto-advances.
As for JRPGs, Atelier and Neptune are currently my favorite franchises. Sure, I have played Tales of Hearts R, which was pretty good, but those games have a lot of enjoyable moments. The former pretty much sets itself from the JRPG genre as it focus on item rather than defeating a villain to save the world. Currently, I feel that the Dusk series is a bit better than the Arland trilogy, although it had a lot of enjoyable slice of life moments.
The latter (Choujigen Game Neptune) is basically console wars as a video game series with consoles and video game companies represented as cute girls. To me, the remakes are good and is an improvement on the originals, the first game in the series was not good at all from what I heard, although the sequels improved greatly.
But aside from that, I mostly focus on Japanese games nowadays and also playing them in Japanese only, besides some simulation and racing games once in a while since I use video games as supplemental material for studying Japanese.
The only Sims games I’ve played were way back during the DOS era (which I believe you read about on my post about DOS games). I know they’ve continued to be made since on various consoles. And I did play one Tales game on GameCube (Tales of Symphonia I think) but I just didn’t have the motivation to get very far. As I said, all the level grinding and knowing what every magic spell and item does just gets overwhelming unless I REALLY like the game enough to memorize all that stuff.
I played through all of Pokemon Black and Pearl in Japanese. I’ve also switched on the Japanese audio for some of my old Sonic games on GameCube (the NA releases let you do that for some reason). I could understand most of it surprisingly even though my Japanese wasn’t the greatest back then XD
Kingdom Hearts is awesome! I love that game. I have not played any of the other games. I’m much more of an RPG gamer, and like the old style games. Chrono Trigger is my very favorite game (you should play that one!). Final Fantasy V, VII, X, XII. So many games. I’m into MMOs as well. I’m a pretty extreme gamer, and play lots and watch lots of anime. And I could talk all day about games, so I’ll leave it there :) I just have to say, that’s a great hobby you have.
I played one Final Fantasy game a while back on the old PlayStation 1…VII I think it was. It was alright, but I never got around to finishing it. But yes, Kingdom Hearts is awesome! Can’t wait for the third one!
One of the best MMOs I’ve come across in my years (I greatly enjoy MMORPGs as well) is Mabinogi. It’s an old free Korean game, but it has a unique combat system, classless based skills, never ending quests, an open world, great helpful community (at least in the Alexina server that I belong to), and of course anime art style. I encourage anyone to check out the wiki and see if it might interest you. Just saying I started under a year ago and continue to play and have fun along with people playing for 7+ years.
PS I feel the need to also put this disclaimer in. The game is old and therefore has old graphics which I know can be a deal breaker for some. Additionally it was developed to run with dial up connection and therefore purposely lags itself. Now these can both be fixed with modding, but that takes some work and is not officially allowed by the developer. That being said, I enjoy the game without mods, but I’m aware not everyone can say the same so I wanted to warn those before they started.
I’ve only played two games on your list: Smash Bros. and KH. Oops.
My boyfriend just got my a 3DS for Valentine’s Day so after about a three-four year long hiatus from video games, I’m back playing a few. (Bravely Default, ORAS, Animal Crossing: NEw Leaf. Planning on getting Fire Emblem: Awakening.)
I don’t think I’ve played/completed enough games to even have a top ten list, so here are my favorites, roughly in order:
1. Kingdom Hearts (I, II & 3D mainly)
2. Final Fantasy X
3. The World Ends With You
4. Pokemon (any/all)
5. Animal Crossing
6. Professor Layton
Honorary mention to Zelda because I’ve never completed a single game but I love just about every aspect of the series.
That’s great that you finally got a 3DS! =D We should exchange Friend Codes. You can find mine in my “Pokemon Wi-Fi Battle/Trade” link on the top bar. Speaking of which, we should also trade and battle in Pokemon ORAS :3
I remember you giving me tips when I played through Kingdom Hearts XD Good times. Maybe that’ll happen again if I start playing KH2 again.