Here we are in the top half of the list. The games just keep getting better...
This section is where I know for a fact people will be saying “Oh my god, that game is only Number X” or “How can that game be so low down?” - the answer is that I’ve played a lot of games over the last 30 years. There’s a lot of competition for the top. One of the games in this 10 is the absolute favourite game of many of my friends. Remember, anything that makes this list at all is amazing.
If you’re just finding the list, I suggest you start at the beginning and work your way along from there:
On to Number 50...
50 - Into The Breach
Into the Breach is one of the tightest tactical games there is. If you want a puzzle to figure out and for every single move you make to matter, this is one of the most incredible games to offer that.
The whole game takes place on a small game board, with your three units placed strategically at the beginning, and a wave of enemies to defeat in order to advance to the next stage. Into the Breach is rogue-like, giving you only limited resources and with death meaning that you lose the entire campaign, leaving you back to square one (with the exception of the new squads you unlock throughout the game) to try to save the Earth all over again. The game’s loose narrative is wrapped around time-travel incursions, with everything rolling around the knowledge that the planet will be destroyed by invading aliens. It’s your job to get it right, and that will definitely be after you get it wrong over and over again initially.
This masterpiece will appeal most to strategy gamers and people who like board games. The difficulty curve can be punishing but it is also the kind of game that you learn to improve at as you play. Using combinations of different troop moves and boosting up units with special upgrades creates a huge number of possible ways to play each run through the campaign. Beating Into the Breach feels like you’ve tackled ten other games’ worth of completions, with all of the brain-burn you’ll use up doing it. Every minute is worth it.
49 - Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy is my favourite 3D Mario game.
Spoilers for later in the list, I’ve included one 3D Mario and one 2D Mario, as they’re so different in feel and design. The 2D one arrives higher in the list.
The first Galaxy is one of the few Wii games that I’ve ever completed. Nintendo’s heavily casual/family orientated console didn’t really appeal to me, and it was only the fact that one lived back in the family home that I even had the opportunity to play Mario Galaxy. I bashed through Galaxy playing pass-and-play with my eldest son, who also absolutely loved this game. Mario’s first trip into space offered so many clever design choices. The level design, by basing itself on countless mini-planets, moons and asteroids, made a whole host of possibilities available that weren’t in the design toolbox before for Nintendo. They typically re-invent Mario every few years anyway, but Galaxy was the smartest upgrade they’ve done in decades.
Everything felt right in this game. Mario himself was faster than in previous titles, could turn and jump more fluidly, and his challenges, while more varied and complex, never felt frustrating or out of reach.
I found Super Mario Galaxy 2 suffered from a much higher difficulty and barrier for entry, and not as enjoyable, but truth be told, they’re quite similar games. With the Wii so easily acquired these days for next to nothing, it would be worth tracking one down with this game and the price of entry will already pay for itself.
It’d be crazy not to mention the other great 3D Mario titles that all are very close to snatching this spot on the list. Closest for me is the most recent, Super Mario Odyssey, which adds so many layers of fun with Cappy and the transformations you can undergo. Super Mario 64 was revolutionary on release and holds up to this day. Super Mario Sunshine doesn’t get the respect it deserves. Super Mario 3D World on the Wii U might be the most criminally underlooked Mario title of all. Each one a winner.
48 - Powerstone (or Powerstone 2)
The Sega Dreamcast has so many hidden gems. Powerstone is by far and away the best multiplayer fighting game ever made. If you like Super Smash Bros. (which does not appear on this list) then you owe it to yourself to play Powerstone. It’s way better.
Powerstone’s gameplay is done on an isometric battlefield, where up to 4 players can beat the living snot out of each other, with environmental props as weapons, or with the best weapons of all, your fists and feet.
It’s harder to describe what it is about Powerstone’s gameplay that makes it so good. Part of it is the speed of everything and how every reaction is essential to time just right. The other standout aspect of its genius is the way that the level spawns the titular Powerstones at random intervals, which you need to collect to enable special moves. Collecting these may mean that you have to turn your back on your opponents long enough to be left open to attack, so you need to be careful when you do so.
Powerstone is definitely one that you need to play for yourself to fully understand why it’s so good. It is very tricky to get a copy of it these days too, but if you see one, snag it. You won’t be sorry.
47 - Duelyst
Duelyst is a combination of free-to-play customisable-card-game mechanisms with a grid based, turn-based tactical game. That’s a lot of stuff, right? Think Magic: The Gathering + XCOM and you’re most of the way there.
This game’s visual style is also a mix of two seemingly crazy things to mix together: highly detailed hand-drawn backgrounds with pixel-art characters. What!? And it looks absolutely incredible.
Duelyst’s charms are in its game mechanisms and how they blend so well together. Placing your units is done by paying for cards in your hand, which are drawn from a deck. They are placed relative to your Hero, who is both your best unit in battle and what your opponent needs to defeat in order to win. The game board is also very chess-like in size, but rather than being all about toppling a weak piece like the King, it’s a showdown between high-powered Queens.
Here, the deck building is very streamlined and straightforward at first, and the developers are careful not to overburden you with too many options right off the bat. You can complete single player campaigns with various heroes to unlock more cards and even full decks to mix up your possibilities. When you have a style of play that you like, it becomes a bit like taking a main in a competitive fighting or shooting game and running with them in online play.
I haven’t played Duelyst for a while now, mainly because it was becoming so addictive (at a time when I didn’t have the time to devote to it) that I had to make a clean break from it. Of all the games on this list, Duelyst is probably the one I wish I had the time to soak into it again. If you like card games, particularly CCGs, or board games in general, Duelyst is one of the best hybrid games you’ll ever play.
46 - Hollow Knight
Much like the game immediately ahead of Hollow Knight on this list, this one is all about learning from your mistakes. This beautifully illustrated 2D platformer / action game is filled to the brim with traps, trick enemies and peril. Every step of your journey is a risk, as if you fall or take enough hits, you’re going to lose all of the progress you’ve made on this run.
Hollow Knight’s controls are perfect. The soundtrack is one of the very best ever made. Visually, it’s one of the most aesthetically pleasing games you’re ever likely to experience. This game has so much to like about it.
Along with all of the immediately amazing up-front and forward elements of this game, there’s also a strong behind-the-scenes set of progression tools and upgrades that enhance the gameplay further. Unlocking each special ability in Hollow Knight is like opening up another dimension of possibilities. Never before in a game have I been more excited to buy a marker for my map, because if i don’t remember where something is now (that I will want to find later) it’s going to be agonising getting back to it in the right state to harness the best of it.
Boss fights are stressful in Hollow Knight, and much like the next game on this list, become either a source of maddening frustration, or immense satisfaction if and when you finally topple them. Hollow Knight has gotten a bit of a reputation as a trendy hipster indie title. That’s not really fair. It’s actually a really fucking good trendy hipster indie title.
45 - Dark Souls
Okay, here it is. Lots of you would have this at number 1. Or top 10. For me, it’s pretty great, but it’s not the absolute top of the pile.
The rest of you probably know what Dark Souls is.
Chances are you either love it so much that you’ve completed it and the sequels (and Bloodborne, and Sekiro) multiple times and are eagerly anticipating the next FROM Software game, or you’re in the second camp: you died about 100 times in one hour and threw the disc out the window.
I actually fit somewhere in the middle. I’ve gotten very far in multiple Dark Souls games, and tend to drift in and out of wanting to play them. I wrestled with whether or not to put Dark Souls III here, but something about the layout of the first game’s levels and first few boss battles gave it the spot on the list.
I’m not going to describe this game too much to you, dear reader, as you most likely know more about it that I do, or have already skipped on to the next entry. Whatever your take on this game series is, be sure that I am on board and preparing to die.
44 - Mega Man 2
The NES was an incredible gaming system, and of all the games on it, the one I remember most fondly (except perhaps for one iconic outing that shows up later) is Mega Man 2. There’s something special about defeating a boss character and then stealing its power.
The key to finishing Mega Man 2 is learning your enemies’ weaknesses and exploiting them. For example, the imaginatively named Wood Man is weak against saw blades that you earn by defeating Metal Man.
The game itself is more than just your average side-scrolling shooter. The enemy types are fantastically designed (especially for its time) and elements of the levels like conveyor belts, ice that you can slide on and floating platforms were all used in a way that nobody had tried before.
Mega Man 2 holds up incredibly well today. In fact, my son, aged 9 at the time of writing, played it on my recommendation and sank about 20 hours into it. It’s a beautiful slice of the 8-BIT era and a genuinely awesome game today.
43 - (TIE)
Apex Legends AND PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
It’s pretty tough to separate PUBG and the 2019 challenger to its crown, Apex Legends. On any given day, either of these could take the slot over the other. Recently, it’s Apex Legends that has the edge for me. I enjoy the visual style of the game, the running and sliding about, and the jump-pad / launchers dotted around the levels. The sci-fi aesthetic is my jam too. PUBG’s advantages are in the weapons, the more flexibility with hiding in plain sight, and vehicles.
Both games are Battle Royale shooters. You can play solo or in teams, always going for glory by being the last one standing against a total of 100 players who are all literally dropped into a huge island level.
The games both feature a circle of death on the map which slowly (then rapidly) begins to close towards a single point. If you’re outside this circle, your health starts to drop until your dead. This brilliant piece of design started with PUBG (I believe!) and has been adopted by many others in the genre. What it does is it forces players to converge as more and more of them are eliminated, creating a tense and more restrictive area of control for each player/team and keeps them fighting throughout the session.
PUBG and Apex Legends are both massively popular online shooters that have taken the world be storm in recent years. If you ever want to squad up, I’m not the best player in the world, but chances are I’m always up for a game of either.
42 - Wipeout Omega Collection
Wipeout is a series that started with the launch of the original Playstation, and has been one of my favourite games ever since that time. You’re the pilot of a hovercraft, floating over a technologically advanced racing circuit that is fitted with speed boosters and weapons pods. It’s your job to cross the finish line first, and more importantly, intact.
Wipeout is essentially a bit of a Mario Kart clone (see later in the list) but with enough different in how it’s put together to feel significantly different. The weapons are similar to what you know from Mario Kart (just not in banana form.) As more and more versions of Wipeout were released, things evolved to add extra modes, like the captivating Zone Mode, where you can keep flying at faster and faster speeds until you eventually take enough damage from collisions that you explode. When playing this mode, I have often had tears running down my face because I’ve been afraid to blink in case I miss a turn and explode.
Wipeout’s craft handling is key to why it’s so much fun. Unlike car racing games, the hovercrafts use twin airbrakes, one on each side, which are controlled by the shoulder buttons on your controller. Holding these down together brings about a near-all-stop, while flicking one as you turn kicks the back-end of the craft out at varying degrees, giving you control to do otherwise impossible maneuvers.
If you’ve somehow never played Wipeout, or haven’t seen it since the original generation of titles, do please check out the most recent versions. Either Wipeout HD Fury or the WIpeout Omega Collection will give you the best bang for your buck. Omega is basically a compilation of HD Fury with extra tracks, so they’re very much the same game. Get ready for a racing game that is unsurpassed at giving a sense of speed.
41 - Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
The best Street Fighter, in my opinion, but not the highest game on the list to feature Street Fighter characters. More on that later. Hopefully you know what Street Fighter 2 is? If not, then you’ve probably never heard of video games before.
Street Fighter 2 is probably the most popular arcade game of all-time, and likely the game with the most ports and direct sequels ever, too. If it’s not, please tell me which game has more. I’d genuinely love to know.
This game is so good that when it was re-released on Xbox 360 a few years ago, it once again became the game of choice for my friends and I for months and months at a time. Ryu is my character of choice. I’m pretty bad. You’ll probably kick my ass. Bring it!
We’re getting into the really amazing stuff now, guys.
Come back tomorrow for another list, maybe two. We’re hitting our stride here and about to get to the absolute cream of the crop.