JCC Gaming [It's Joever] The JCC's Top 100 Video Games of All Time - #5-1

Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game

It is a Tuesday tomorrow!

 

We had a big freeze in Texas a couple years ago and I spent a lot of that time off from work playing through the Hitman trilogy. Since I played them all at once in the same Hitman 3 engine, they all kinda blend together into one big game for me. And they’re ****ing brilliant. This is another case of if the top 20 was extended to a top 25-30, Hitman probably makes my list. It’s a high comedy of lethal proportions that works beautifully.

When a friend and I built my PC almost eleven years ago, Diablo III was one of the games I was most excited to play on it. Oddly enough, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time with it. I played it mainly in co-op with friends, but my work schedule at the time was so ridiculous that they understandably left me behind, and I didn’t really feel like going it alone. It was fun from what I played of it, and I regret never going back to it.

Currently tally: 14/30

Rankings:

Spoiler

Mass Effect
Hitman 3
Dishonored
Batman: Arkham City
Halo 3
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Ms. Pac-Man
Mass Effect 3
Diablo III
Elden Ring
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Assassin’s Creed II
Outer Wilds

 

But I wanted to cancel BF2k

 

This only needs to happen 41 more times and Ms. Pac-Man is in the top fifty.

 

Played: 7/30
On the "I should probably play that" list: 5/23 (Fallout, Star Fox 64, Elden Ring, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Final Fantasy IX)

Is Final Fantasy IX worth playing? Like, should I go out and find it and use my tiny amounts of video game time on it?

Contra
I know I played this game on the Commodore 64 and I think I might have also played it on the NES. I remember the game being chaotic fun thanks to the most famous cheat code of all time, but not much beyond that. I don't really have much more to say than that - I think it says plenty (both good and bad) that the most memorable thing is the cheat code.

Inty's Rankings of the Games he's played:

(I'll spoiler it just in case it grows rather large)

Spoiler

1. Ms. Pac-Man
2. The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker
3. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
4. Star Wars: Dark Forces
5. Contra
6. Doom
7. Baseball Stars

 

I played it for the NES. I called it the Contra code as a kid, not knowing it was really the Konami code as it could be used for many (if not all) of their games. For Contra, starting with 30 lives at start was definitely needed. For me, I found the soundtrack memorable as well as playing co-op with my brother. It took good communication with each other to time our jumps so we didn't kill each other by scrolling either of our characters off screen.

 

The best part about Contra is its title. What I would give for an alien-massacre bullet hell game called Al-Qaeda!

 

I never got into FFIX, it didn't look good to me at all compared to VII and VIII, so i didnt watch my bro play it. Have I judged it too harshly?

 

It's a much more traditional Final Fantasy when compared to those games. Personally I think it's brilliant and narratively it still holds up today. If you have a Switch it's perfect for that system.

 

The modern ports add some features that speed everything up like… well, speed-ups, cheat codes, disabling random battles, etc. so I think even with time constraints it’s doable these days if you’re not trying to 100% it. From a pure mechanical perspective I personally think it’s just kind of there, but the story is pretty great.

 

Alright so as I mentioned yesterday, there was an error on my part that put Diablo III on the list when it should not have been there. I've corrected the list and we now have a new game in the #100 position (the games originally ranked 100-74 moved up one spot):

100. Pitfall! (1982, Activision, Atari 2600/Intellivsion)

5 points (2 votes)
Voter comments: A simple game that was all too addictive on the early consoles of the 1980s (I had it for the Intellivision). -Ahsoka's Tano

While not a true side-scroller, it was the most popular home console game to pre-cursor the home console side-scrollers and I played this for hours on end. -dp4m
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
And now continuing where we left off:

70. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997, Konami, PS1/Sega Saturn)

6 points (2 votes)
Voter comments: Could this miserable little pile of secrets be improved upon with a "better" translation and some updated graphics...? Nah. It's perfect. Metroidvania games forever. And yeah, I've gone back and played Super Metroid as well. Wonderful game. Outstanding. But it doesn't have that nostalgia kick for me. -Wang Chi

This may have been the first Castlevania game I played. I might have played the first but, like Metroid, the controls were not great. The controls, the storyline, the powers, and progressively leveling up and becoming stronger make this one of the best games ever made and it renewed my interest in future Castlevania games that I played the heck out of, but never measured up to the greatness of this title. -TiniTinyTony

69. BioShock (2007, 2K Boston/2K Australia, PC/Xbox 360/PS3)

6 points (3 votes)
Voter comments: Another 'AAA game' that actually deserves its accolades. An art deco city under the sea, with a twist now as well-known as the one in Psycho but was actually quite a surprise at the time. Plus, endlessly bashing objectivism can't be bad! -blackmyron

68. Portal 2 (2011, Valve, PC/PS3/Xbox 360)

6 points (3 votes)
Voter comments: One of my favourite puzzle games of all time with one of my favourite endings. -Boba_Fett_2001

I know Portal 1 is the classic answer but honestly between the co-op and the actually developed story, I love 2. -Lord Vivec

67. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003, Nintendo, GameCube)

6 points (3 votes)
Voter comments: My personal favorite of the Mario Kart series, because of the unique two character dynamic. It opened the multi-player up to being able to play with people who normally wouldn't play with you, because they could just "tag along" and still have fun - an underrated aspect. The boards ranged from very easy to hell on earth, and the battle modes were incredibly fun. The sense of accomplishment from finally unlocking everything there was to be unlocked was a great feeling, but didn't feel too tedious, which is a difficult balance to strike. -DarthIntegral

the gamecube was the system where i first got to play games with my kids, and we still play this one to this day. -tom

We had the Cube, its what we had to play. -AutumnLight91

66. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995, Rare, SNES)

6 points (3 votes)
Voter comments: Those tree levels haunt me. -AutumnLight91

The developers must of known how much fun it was to play as Diddy in the first game that they gave us a game staring him and his girlfriend Dixie who controlled very similar but had the float mechanic similar to Princess Peach from Mario 2. This game was fun, fast, and to this day has one of the best soundtracks ever. -TiniTinyTony

 

Thing is they totally did do an updated SotN translation and it was awesome.

I… uh… forgot to put a couple of Castlevania titles on my list, but let’s pretend I didn’t think any of them were as good as a strategy RPG with mechs. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

 

I prefer the first DKC. I like playing as the big guy.

 

Did you know Monkey Kong is a donkey?

 

I always heard it was a bad translation monkey/donkey

 

Donkey was meant to mean stubbornness. Kong was for large ape. It purposely is meant to mean ‘stubborn large ape’. The lost in translation part could be that it was thought English speakers upon hearing the name Donkey Kong would instantly think stubborn large ape.

The meeting where the name was first pitched had everyone laughing when they heard the name which the group agreed was terrible. They decided to rename the character but calling the character Donkey Kong caught on at Nintendo so the name stuck.

 

Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. are two different characters.

 

I really liked Bioshock's meta twist, pointing out the weirdness of doing stuff just because the disembodied voice on the radio told you to. Nowadays when a game tells me to do something, I say, "Shut the **** up, objectivist scum!" and knock over my computer monitor.

 

100. Pitfall! (1982, Activision, Atari 2600/Intellivsion)
A solid game. And one that features Jack Black in the commercial for it.


70. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997, Konami, PS1/Sega Saturn)
Never played

69. BioShock (2007, 2K Boston/2K Australia, PC/Xbox 360/PS3)
I own it, but have never played it

68. Portal 2 (2011, Valve, PC/PS3/Xbox 360)
Interesting story, but I feel like it didn't have the spark of gameplay novelty for me that the first game had. Probably as for my experience, this is a single-player only game.

67. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003, Nintendo, GameCube)
I've played this, but not really a fan of it. I feel it's past Mario Kart's peak.

66. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995, Rare, SNES)
Played this, but nothing really sticks out with it.


So I'm up to 9 played, including 5 played and own, and 3 owned but haven't played.

 

I put the first Donkey Kong Country in my honorable mentions. But Diddy Kong's Quest was also great.

 

Donkey Kong Jr is in the original Mario Kart.

Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong Country is Donkey Kong Jr grownup.

Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong Country is in the other Mario Kart games.

Donkey King Jr is in all the Mario Kart games.

 

A poem by @Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid

 

Which one does math?

Amazing.

 

I like BioShock fine. It’s been some time since I played it, but I don’t remember being particularly blown away by it. It’s a solid FPS with interesting abilities and a cool atmosphere. One of those games I’d like to revisit but probably will never actually get around to doing so.

Portal 2 is excellent. The first game didn’t click for me, but the sequel hit all the right notes. Excellent gameplay, clever puzzles that strike just the right balance of accessible and challenging, and a wonderful sense of humor. Top notch.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! was my favorite MK until 8 came along. I spent a lot of time playing it as a kid. I wish they’d go back to the tag team mechanic, it definitely adds a fun co-op twist to the formula.

I kinda regret putting the first DKC on my list instead of Diddy’s Kong Quest, because it’s just as worthy and could’ve gotten it a little higher on this list, but alas. One of the all time great 2D platformers with an absolutely incredible soundtrack. I revisit it often.

Current tally: 18/35 (36?)

Rankings:

Spoiler

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
Mass Effect
Hitman 3
Dishonored
Portal 2
Batman: Arkham City
Halo 3
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
BioShock
Ms. Pac-Man
Mass Effect 3
Diablo III
Elden Ring
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Assassin’s Creed II
Outer Wilds