70. Tekken 2
tekken 2.jpg
Release Date: 1995 (Arcade)
Platforms: Arcade, Playstation, Playstation 2

“KING OF THE IRON FIST TOURNAMENT!!” Early 3D fighters were slow and clunky, so I viewed them as a novelty. With this sequel, things began to improve. The “moon gravity” jumps still remained, but the combat started to become smooth, quick, and fluid. I believe this is the first time the 3D concept was used to incorporate side-stepping, and a few characters gained counter attacks, which was way more fun than blocking. This is where Tekken began to distinguish itself as the superior option to Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive. The story, music, graphics, and characters all grabbed me.

Tekken 2 is the first Tekken I had played and I very much enjoyed it. It had characters I liked and I found it fun to unlock the different characters. I was young when I played but I did get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It's actually the first fighting game I had played and Tekken remains to be my favorite fighting game series.

69. Final Fantasy V
FF5.jpg
Relase Date: 1992
Platforms: SNES, Gameboy Adance, Playstation 1, Various Online consoles.

We all know why I like this game so much. Job. System. Sure it wasn’t the first FF to use it, but it was the first one to make it great. 22 jobs! I mean, crap. I think later editions expanded it out to 25 or so. The music was pretty good, and the graphics were competent for the time. Plus, I give the game points for having possibly the best name for a main villain. ExDeath. That just sounds so badass. The storyline involves one world being split in two in an attempt to seal and evil force, and we all know how attempting to seal an evil force away NEVER works. Seriously though, job system. The rest of the game was competent, but the Job System makes it worth playing.

Final Fantasy V was a fun game. It didn't grab me in a way that some of the others did (I don't even really remember what the story is) but it did have a good cast of characters. I very much enjoyed the job system. Overall it was a good, fun, enjoyable game, although I don't think it was anything particularly special.

68. Final Fantasy XII
FF12.jpg
Release Date: NA 2006
Platforms: Playstation 2

The Final Fantasy game that was almost amazing. The graphics were quite good, the music was decent, and for the first time in a while most of the characters ranged from “acceptable” to “engaging, and memorable”. Plus the biggest thumbs up for the game was its License Board, and the complete freedom given in how to create your character. Make Penelo the tank? Yes, I did. I also appreciated how open the map was. You were pretty much allowed to travel anywhere you wanted at almost any time. The main limit was if your characters could handle the enemies in that place.

So a good story, great leveling system, decent characters, graphics, and music. Why didn’t it go higher? I HATE the combat system. I don’t want my combat system mimicking MMORPGs. Get that trash outta here.

Final Fantasy XII had its good and bad points. I disliked half of the characters and I'm not one for change so the summons bothered me. I liked how they kept the ATB but the battles themselves weren't as fun as they could have been. The story had good potential, but didn't leave me interested. With that being said, I am absolutely in love with the license board. I like to customize my characters into clear, defined rolls and I was definitely able to do that with this game. I had the power to choose everything from skills and magic, to armor and weapons. The world was also very well done. It felt very real and alive. I will continue to replay this game.

67. Tetris
tetris.jpg
Release Date: 1984 (traces its roots much further back)
Platforms: Everything since the beginning of ever.

Respect your elders. This is possibly the best thing Russia has invented since vodka. Wikipedia tells me it was developed on an “Elektronika 60”, but I first saw it on either a Comodore 64 or some IBM. It was one of my most beloved GameBoy games as a kid, and it is so very addicting. Even the music is addicting. I never thought puzzle pieces falling from the sky would get me so pumped up, but by level 90 something, I was so focused on that GameBoy screen I doubt I would have noticed a car crash behind me. Tetris defined the puzzle video game genre, and I don’t know if another game has every truly beaten it for entertainment factor and simplicity. It should say a lot that I still see people playing it one their laptop at least once a week.

66. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
wario land.jpg
Release Date: 1994
Platform(s): Gameboy, 3DS, Virtual Console

By the time this came out, I’d played all the NES Marios, Super Mario Land 2 and Super Mario World. I was bored of Mario. I think the developers could feel that was the opinion for a lot of their customers, and Wario was a great substitute. The game used coins in an all new manner, Wario played differently from Mario, and it was refreshing to be the bad guy for once. His whole goal is to make Mario jealous, classic. Wario’s brutish strength was highlighted throughout the game, and he even received his own unique power ups in the form of helmets that played off his size. Everything about Wario came across as comically obnoxious, greedy, and selfish. I remember he even needed cloves of garlic instead of mushrooms. It made the whole game really fun and new feeling. The music was fun, the graphics were good, and gameplay was top notch. What puts this game on the list is the fact that it’s the best Mario entry the GameBoy had to offer, despite the fact that Mario wasn’t even in it.