My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #87: Metal Gear Solid

Anyone who has played Metal Gear Solid (MGS) felt their pulse quicken upon seeing that this was my choice for this column. As someone who has repeatedly stated that he doesn't find a story important in video games, this must seem like an odd choice ... and it is ... because the story is what makes it so damn good.

My first exposure to the MGS universe was seeing an ad for the Nintendo game in a comic book. The ad laid out all the gear you could use. It made the game seem pretty interesting, but when I got to actually play it I found that it was not all that great. So when MGS came out for the PlayStation I was hesitant. Then I started reading reviews ...

I don't know what it was about what I was reading, but the game sounded like something I needed to try out. I actually sounded kind of, I don't know, epic? It turns out it was.

Sure, the game has its ridiculous moments. Hiding in cardboard boxes that you carry around with you? Whatever. Ketchup that fools guards into thinking it is blood? Not likely. But those moments that stretch credibility were actually few and far between. All the other stuff was kind of brilliant. Taking on a sniper. Going up against a psychic warrior of some sort that read the games on your memory card. Finding new and interesting ways to use the items in your inventory. Discovering secret codes on the back of the game case. Sneaking through hallways avoiding the usual fights. It made for an immerse experience and had a story that felt like it mattered. Take that all together and it made Metal Gear Solid more of an experience than a game. And it is one of the few where I think the story does actually make the game better. I can't say that about many games, but I can say it about this one.

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #88: Doom

DOOM. How could it not be on the list? It was the game that changed all games and solidified first-person shooters as a force to be reckoned with in the gaming world.

The story involved ... well, forget the story. Who cared about the story? All you needed to know was that you were an unnamed space marine (or soldier, or whatever) who was battling demons in what looked to be Hell. That's it. 3D graphics, creepy looking environments, chewing noises ... all of that worked to immerse you into this world you had never been to before and it worked wonderfully. The game was a huge hit and spawned several sequels; novels, which I never read; and two films, which I never saw. Why did I avoid them? Again, who cares about the story? I just wanted to shoot demons and blow them up. I think those who try too hard to throw a story onto a game are usually misguided at best, and this was one of those cases.

I did, however, play a few of the sequels, and found them to be much of the same. None of them were able to match how groundbreaking that first game was, though. And that speaks volumes to the developer, Id. This was gold straight from the box, and sequels in no way made it better, but nor did they dilute what the first one brought to the table.

It's been years since I've played it, but writing about it makes me want to pick it up again just to see how it holds up, but being currently addicted to Marvel Puzzle Quest makes that unlikely to happen any time soon.

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #89: Duck Hunt

Duck Hunt. It’s one of those games you forget about until you see it mentioned somewhere … like here. It’s a classic, understated game, and I was a master of it.

The version I fondly remember is not the capable but lacking NES one. It’s the arcade model, the one that prepped a whole generation of people for the upcoming FPS genre. Instead of zombies or Nazis, though, you were shooting ducks (and the occasional dog). Again, a simple game but highly addictive.

At the time I discovered this game I was working at a campground resort called Timothy Lake. In its “game room” (really an arcade) stood the intriguing game with its light gun. At first I avoided playing it because I was a Xevious and Centipede fan, and we had both. Curiosity got the best of me, though, and eventually I parted with my quarter. It was the first of many. The game was not only addictive, it was also cathartic. After a long day of renting out miniature golf clubs, nothing blew off steam like shooting pixelated ducks out of the sky. Nothing.

My addiction to this game grew so deep that I resorted to some unseemly actions to secure playing it. If we were busy at the campground, I knew that I would have to wait an hour or more after quitting time just to get a chance to play. That wasn’t flying with me, so about a half hour before I would time out I would make an “Out of Order” sign, post it on the machine, and then shove a bit of toilet paper into the barrel of the light gun just to complete the picture.

Yeah, it was that bad.

Sadly, I haven’t played this game in decades, and I wonder if it would stand the test of time. I somehow doubt it, but the memory lives on.

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #90: Dungeons and Dragons Tactics

‘Tis true, warrior.  Back in the day I was an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons player.  With that in mind, it may come as a surprise that I enjoy the PSP’s Dungeons andDragons Tactics.  A surprise to those who have played it, at least.  It was, by most accounts, not a popular video game.

The game has issues.  A cumbersome menu system and an irritating camera are just two of its problems.  My biggest gripe, however, is that it takes everything that is fun in the role playing game and jettisons most of it.  No more random encounters.  No multi-classes.  In doing so, it turned the game into nothing more than a tactical battle, which is truth in advertising, I guess.  So why did I like it so much?

It’s simple.  The game came out worldwide in 2007, and I was no longer part of that crowd which enjoyed the paper-based role playing game.  When I saw this game, though, I bought it hoping it would somewhat measure up to what I grew up playing.  I knew it couldn’t replace it, but I had hopes.  It didn’t quite satisfy me, but I could recognize the skeleton of the game I once enjoyed, even if it was using a rules system that had changed since my days of being behind the DM screen.  The spells, character classes (for the most part) and monsters, however, were intact and remained fairly true to the original game.  What its manufacturer, Atari, presented was good enough that I could overlook the flaws and enjoy the game for what it was, memories be damned.

Nostalgia is a dangerous thing.  It’s hard to return to the past, as you journey there a changed person.  I kept that in mind when I made this purchase.  I knew it wouldn’t live up to those 27 hour marathon sessions with graph paper, dice, soda, Pop Tarts, stacks of manuals and lots of cursing.  I was hoping, however, that it could capture just a bit of that magic … and it did.  It may be awkward and flawed, but it tries to be a good game, and in many ways succeeds. 

Note: Seven years later I still haven’t finished it…

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #91: Captain America and the Avengers

If you were comic book fan in 1991 and wandered into an arcade (which, having lost their appeal to both addicts tired of the stale games and pedophiles who now used the Internet to troll, were slowly dying out at that point), you may have become speechless upon catching sight of Captain America and the Avengers.  For me, it was akin to discovering the pillars of Atlantis.  Why?  Because you could sink your quarters in and play as Vision, Iron Man or Hawkeye (and let’s not forget Captain America, but I’ve never been a fan).  Those were a few of my favorite Avengers!  What wasn’t to love?  Not only could you play as those characters, but you would get assistance from the likes of Wasp and Wonder Man as you fought villains like Whirlwind, Klaw, Ultron and the Grim Reaper.   Was there anything to dislike about the game?

Well, yes.

As games went, it was a simple side-scrolling basher with little in the way of variation.  Punching things or attacking with your powers over and over didn’t matter when you were Hawkeye, though.  Or Vision.  Or Iron Man.  (Again, screw Captain America.)  It could’ve been a cooking game where the object was to boil eggs and it would have been fine because you were playing as those characters.  Hell, if they threw in a playable Black Panther, Hellcat or Scarlet Witch I would’ve stolen the damn game. 

I used to play this game while waiting for my girlfriend to get off work.  It was housed in a Redding, California mall, and it was the four player model.  Sadly, it was neglected most of the time, which was lucky for me, but did mean that its days were numbered.  One day I went to play it only to find that the machine was gone and nothing was in its place.    

I haven’t seen it since those Redding days.  I know it exists for consoles, but I doubt the experience would be the same.  I am certain, however, that if this game had come along just five years earlier it would have been a huge success that would still be talked about to this day.  Instead, it is relegated to an empty memory slot in most people’s brains.  Comic book games have grown since then.  Some are incredible.  Others a step back in time to the Atari 2600 days.  This game, being as mediocre as it was, barely registers as nostalgia for most, but for me it was an oasis in the Hell that was Redding, and for that it will always be remembered.

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #92: NFL

I am not a huge fan of either football or social video games, yet Nintendo’s 1989 NFL has a place on this list.  It’s not here because it’s the best football game ever made (that comes later on the list).  It’s here because of the memories I have associated with it … and it was pretty fun to play.

This was the only licensed football game for Nintendo at that time.  My friend Steve had a NES and was a huge football fan, concomitantly he had this game, and one day after work he talked me into playing it.  Though I knew little about football other than its clubs, I ended up really enjoying it.  I enjoyed choosing a team (I started out playing my favorites: Eagles, Steelers and Rams, but later, due to a self-created system we were playing under, had to play teams like the Lions and Packers), picking a play and then controlling the players.  I lost miserably to Steve, but this one session started an after- work tradition of grabbing a few drinks, going into the den, and playing a game Monday through Friday.  It was a great way to unwind and to start the weekend.

I lost nearly every game we played, and when I lost, I lost badly.  It was shocking, really.  I admit: I sucked at it.  There was one day, however, when I picked the Chiefs (I don’t remember what Steve’s team was), and trounced him solidly.  My win was amazing, almost as if I used a cheat code.  I destroyed Steve, and what I remember was not the elation of winning so easily, but his utter disbelief in what was happening to him on the screen.  If that had been the only time we played, the game would still be on the list because of that single win.  I was on fire and his only response was an open mouth and the odd sounds that emitted from it with every touchdown.

I wouldn’t buy NFL today.  There would really be no reason to do so, as there are many better football games available.  I will never forget it, though.  It may have had a simple name, but for that period in my life it was a powerful game, and it led to my decision to start buying and playing football games many years later.  Long live the Chiefs!  (Though I still don’t give a crap about them in real life.)

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #93: Mortal Kombat -- Deception

Mortal Kombat:Deception is the first Mortal Kombat game I really liked.  I played the other games in the franchise and they provided a small bit of satisfaction (ripping the spine out of someone is always fun), but they also always felt as if they were lacking something.  This game changed all that, and how it did that was surprising.

It wasn’t the use of weapons, though I loved taking a blade to some of the characters.  It wasn’t the use of death traps, though watching someone land on a white-hot metal bar brought a smile to my face.  I also liked the use of koins and digging up graves to obtain things like alternative costumes and production art.  It wasn’t the storyline for the Konquest mode, either.  No, what made me love this game was the mini-games: one that was like chess and the other being a puzzle game along the lines of Tetris.  It took this from a mere fighting game to the level of an all-around gaming experience that offered a little bit of everything … and all of it was fun.

When I would grow tired of kicking the shit out of someone, I could switch gears and play one of the mini-games and have a really good time.  I even enjoyed the much maligned PSPport.  This was, hands down, a great video game that no longer fit into the “fighting game” category, though it still had that.  I can’t think of another fighting game that did anything like this and did it so well.  It was a game for all moods.

Mortal Kombat players remind me of people who like things that are “xtreme.”  You know them, too.  They are kind of dumb and think that the gross video they sought out on the Internet of the rotting corpse having sex with an Asian amputee while driving a Porsche into a tree somehow makes them cool.  They are easily entertained and believe they are edgy and transgressive.  (They aren’t.)  This game will still appeal to them, but it was the first one that had the potential to draw in other players, as well, and that is why it is on my list.  In fact, I find that the series as a whole has become stale, but this game remains its highlight.  Long live Deception.


Mandatory FTC Disclaimer:  I did not received this game to review.  Clicking on a link may earn me a commission.

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #94: Star Wars -- Starfighter

You don’t see Star Wars: Starfighter on a whole lot of favorites lists, though it was released to critical acclaim.  Maybe it’s because the PS2, the system I played it on, is overrun with great games.  Perhaps it’s the fact that the game is tied in with Episode One: The Phantom Menace.  Or it could be that people just forgot about it.  Regardless, it is one of the best space shooters of all time, beat only by its sequel.

The plot doesn’t matter.  You are on various missions, which are the cut-and-dry standards of all games of this sort.  Basically, shoot things or defend things.  You’ve got space missions and ground missions and a quite a variety of ships along with different characters, but that doesn’t really matter.  What’s important is the feeling you get while playing it.  It seriously seems like you are involved in a massive space war (especially if you change the camera view on the game so that it looks like you are inside the ship you are piloting).  It’s immense and incredible.  Best Star Wars game ever, though?  Probably not these days, but when it was released it was a contender for the crown.  I know the next thing you are thinking: How are the controls?  Well …

A lot of flight simulation games are hard to control and take gamers quite some time to find a comfort level where they can actually play the game the way it was meant to be played.  That’s not the case here.  Yes, there is some trial and error, but after a mission or two you will have the hang of it and be able to relax and enjoy the destruction. 

The Star Wars franchise has had its share of bad games, which is fairly disappointing for fans.  This game, however, made up for the lost hours people spent playing those other losers.  It even made the movie it is set in seem more tolerable, and most people thought that wasn’t even possible.  One more reason it’s on the list?  Writing this makes me want to play it again, and if you remember the game I’m sure you feel much the same way.


Mandatory FTC Disclaimer: I did not receive this game to review, but clicking on a link may earn me a commission
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My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #95: Activision Hits Remixed

Many of the reasons why I like Activision Hits Remixed are similar to why I enjoy Atari Classics Evolved.  There is something pure about playing the classics from a time when the only storyline that really existed was in a manual and where it was wave after wave of things to shoot.  The games were simple and addictive and no company was better at that than Activision.  It always aimed high … and often succeeded.

I’m not sure what makes these classic games like Demon Attack, Pitfall, Barnstorming and Stampede “remixed,” but it could be the fact that the soundtrack is all ‘80s music.  Of course, there are a few different modes you can play them in, too, but the best way to enjoy them is not in black and white, but in their original color scheme. 

Activision not only gives us the games here (over 40 of them, actually), but also the manuals (usually kind of interesting to read) and the boxes, many of which were enticing, solid works of art.  As all Activision fans of that era know, the box art never lived up to the games inside, but you always held out hope.  Frankly, it rarely mattered because the games were just plain fun to play.

Some of the games collected here have individually made it onto my list for one reason or another.  Putting collections like this on my list almost seems like a cheat, too, but I stand by it.  Having all these games in one place in a handheld is like being a kid in a candy store.  It is overload of the best sort.  And you get to hear Wall of Voodoo while roping cattle.  How cool is that?

Mandatory FTC Disclaimer: I paid for this game.  Clicking on a link may earn me a commission.

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #96: Atari Classics Evolved

If you saw the title of this and your immediate reaction was to groan, you’ve played the game.  You didn’t groan because it sucked, though.  You groaned because it’s hard.  Very hard.  What makes it so difficult?  Atari Classics Evolved teases.  That’s right.  Teases.  Like the girl who wants to do everything but that.  You start out with a few old Atari games (like Centipede, Pong and Missile Command) in both their original state and a new “evolved” state (3D, better graphics, etc.), but if you want to get the fifty-plus Atari 2600 games available for play and dangled in front of your pleading eyes, well, you gotta work for it.

The “work” in this case is unlocking a few achievements in every one of the core games.  There are 11 core games, each with four awards.  If you are too lazy to do the math, that’s 44 awards.  Easy, right?  Hell no!  Yeah, some are obtained with relative ease, but there are others that will have you pulling out your hair trying to obtain them.  At some point you have a brainstorm, and then everything changes.

For me, this brainstorm was about a week into playing the game.  I was trying to unlock something in Super Breakout when it occurred to me: Why am I so hell-bent on unlocking old Atari games to play on a PSP?  What the hell was I thinking?  Would Adventure or Combat really be worth it?  Of course not, but I kept playing anyway, and that’s the beauty of this game.  These are simple, quick games with plenty of replay value, but the idea of getting more games that are actually worse is somehow enough to keep you playing.  It’s the equivalent to getting gold on all the license tests in Gran Turismo in order to win a Chevette to run in the races.

If you look at some of the poorly written reviews on Amazon for the game, you’ll find a lot of people pissed that they have to work to unlock the games (or can’t find cheat codes readily available).  These people obviously don’t get it.  It’s called a “challenge,” and challenges are supposed to be “hard.”  I know these are words lacking from far too many people’s vocabulary, but there we have it.  This game is a challenge, period.  If you don’t think the reward is worth it, don’t play it … or don’t play it for the reward. 

As for me, I have yet to unlock the damn games, but I’m still trying…

Mandatory FTC Disclaimer:  I did not receive this game to review.  Clicking on a link may earn me a commission.

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time # 97: Robot Tank

What wasn’t there to love about Activision’s 1983 Battlezone “homage” Robot Tank?  You commanded (remotely) a tank and your mission was to seek out enemy tanks and blow them to bits before they could reach … Santa Clara, California!  Of course, they shot back at you, and if they hit you lost some control of your tank or if it were a direct hit, totally lost the tank.  As if that weren’t enough (and in those days, that was often all you got), this game came with changing weather conditions and a transition from day to night.  That innovation is what caused me to purchase the game in the first place.  I figured it would make tank destroying fun, and it did, but what I didn’t realize is that it would also make me very, very nervous. 


Shooting tanks is great, but when your video screen and radar goes out at night and the screen goes black periodically, you can’t help but feel a bit tense when you hear another unseen tank unleash some hell in your direction.  You could try backpedalling or turning, but you didn’t know if you are turning into or away from the shot.  You also had to take whatever shot you could in those rare moments when you could see what was on your screen and hope for the best.  Today’s military has it so much easier.

Graphically, the game was fairly minimalist.  It was Atari back in the early ‘80s, so that is a given.  The graphics, however, still served the game well, though the outskirts of Santa Clara could have been the outskirts of any town anywhere.  Since you were supposed to be remotely controlling a tank, the graphics actually made a bit of sense as you could imagine that what you saw on your television is what you would have seen if you were really commanding a robot tank back in the early ‘80s. 

I’ve played this game again recently, just to revisit it.  I have to say that while it seems less intense these days (or perhaps my nerves are deadened from years of Candoor Root abuse), it still holds up fairly well.  Granted, there are better combat games that have come along, but back then this was about as good as it got for your home console when it came to tanks blasting the snot out of each other.

Mandatory FTC Disclaimer:  I paid for this freakin' game.  Clicking on a link may earn me a commission.

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #98: Kaboom!

Kaboom! was one of those games that played better than it led you to believe.  It had lackluster box cover art of a stereotypical criminal type dropping bombs off the roof of a building.  There was truth in advertising there, too, as that is what the game consisted of – a criminal dropping bombs that you had to catch in one of your three buckets.  As the game progressives the bombs drop faster and more erratically.  It was a scenario lifted directly from real life … or a cartoon.

My neighbor had this game, and I avoided playing it for quite some time despite his insistence that I would “love” it.  The game’s box turned me off that much, and even the act of watching him play it made me want to avert my eyes.  Finally, after much convincing, I gave it a reluctant whirl.  I sucked horribly at it, as to be expected, but I soon found my skill progressing.  Catching bombs became, like the activities of most Activision games of that time period (early 1980s), strangely addictive. 

The game also had a bit of subtlety which caught my attention:  When you missed a bomb, the criminal’s face changed.  That is a standard type of touch in today’s games, but back then it was not, and it was that little thing that made this game stick out in my mind.  Well, that and the fact that you weren’t doing anything to the criminal, as you would in most games.  You weren’t shooting at him.  You weren’t trying to catch him.  You were merely trying to survive the onslaught of bombs, and he had personality.

Kaboom! was a simple game with simple graphics, a simple title and a simple idea.  Sometimes simplicity is all you need to make a fun game, though.  Compare this to Desert Falcon and you’ll know what I mean.

Mandatory FTC Disclaimer: I may earn a commission if you click on a link.

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #99: Megamania

If anyone remembers the commercial for the Atari 2600’s Megamania, they most likely remember the sense of chaos it conveyed and the Tubes’ theme song.  It was crazy, man, crazy. 

The game plays like a cross between Space Invaders and Galaga, but looks nothing like them; instead of aliens coming after you, it has things like hamburgers and bow ties.   Since it was the Atari 2600 it looked like various shapes, but it was supposed to be hamburgers and bow ties.  Whatever.  It was fun either way.  What does defy logic, however, was the Activision game itself.

Shooting things from space was nothing new for video games.  The way this game was set up, though, had people shaking their heads.  You were a ship that looked like something out of Star Trek, and you were stationed at the bottom of the screen.  You could move left or right only.  It was never established that the ship was grounded, so that made little sense.  Your targets could move left to right or up and down, passing you and coming back out the top of the screen.  Galaga worked better when it came to giving the sense of flight through space.  Stars moved past your ship.  Here there is nothing but black.  That said, the game billed itself as a “space nightmare,” and nightmares lack logic, so perhaps that was all part of Activision’s ploy.

Activision, the maker of this and many other fine games, offered its traditional patch for breaking a high score, and if you reached the max cap out on points the game would freeze.  Classic Atari and Activision.  The game didn’t need a patch, however, to sell.  It was fun, furious and fast.  Each object had a different movement pattern, and you waited with eager anticipation to see what type of thing you would see next.  One of the kids in my neighborhood couldn’t play the game because it made him “nervous.”   I thought that was part of the game’s appeal.  I had my daughter, who has played many different newer games, try it recently.  I wanted to see what kind of reaction a person who never played it before would have if they were raised on a later generation of video games.  She played a few times and described it as “intense and exciting,” but then asked if we could play Oops, Prank Party.  What does that tell you?

Unlike the previous game on this list, Dark Chambers, I did factor this game into my decision to buy a classic game anthology.  I saw that it was on there, and knew it was one I had to have.  After playing it again, I can say it has lost some of its appeal, but it doesn’t tarnish my memory of it at all.  Megamania was a game I sunk a lot of time into back in the day.  I was not great at it, but it was a guilty pleasure.  As for my friend who was made nervous by it – try it now.  I guarantee it won’t make you all twitchy.

My 100 Most Favorite Video Games of All Time #100: Dark Chambers

Why the hell do I like Dark Chambers for the Atari 7800?  I’m sure if I played it now, I’d be asking myself that every step of the way.  But back in the day … man, I played this for far too long and got far too much enjoyment from it. 

The sole reason I played it so much was because I couldn’t find many games for the Atari 7800, I was a Dungeons and Dragons fan, and I loved Gauntlet.  Pretty much any one of those reasons would be enough for me to purchase the game, though.  Yes, it did rip off Gauntlet, but the draw for me was having a game like Gauntlet at home.  No creepy voice was telling me I needed food or a potion or something, and there weren’t 800 ghosts choking up the screen, but it was fun nonetheless. 

The game is usually correctly criticized for being slow and kind of pointless.  Sort of like that one uncle nobody wants at the picnic.  I can agree with that, but back in the late ‘80s a lot of games were kind of slow and pointless, and to the best of my knowledge there were no other Gauntlet rip-offs for the system.  How could you go wrong?  If you liked Gauntlet, chances were that you would like Dark Chambers, too.  That said, I don’t know of anyone who likes this game more than Gauntlet.

This game gave you a taste of an arcade hit at home.  That’s what made it cool.  That’s what made it fun.  These days it would be maddening.  Back then I couldn’t get enough of it … and I wasn’t on drugs.  And while fond memories put it on this list, I can safely say if it showed up on some greatest hits collection it is highly unlikely I would factor that into my decision on whether or not I would buy it … maybe.

My Favorite 100 Video Games of All Time

Over on my movie blog, The Last Picture Blog, I started doing my favorite 100 movies of all time.  It was a fun list to do, but I actually started the video game list first.  The video game list was harder to compile, too.  When I looked over what I had, I thought, "Oh, this is an odd assortment of games."  I'm sure most of you, upon reading the complete list, will agree.

Starting next post you will be the beginning of this list.  Agree or disagree with what I wrote, I hope to hear from you.