Rank The Game Series Thread

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

I've borrowed this idea from Mitch's film thread as video game serials have become just as recognizable as most film serials nowadays, and it's a way that we can openly discuss video games, as there is kind of a lack on the forum. You can choose you're own format. Ascending to descending or descending to ascending, it doesn't matter. And feel free to add your own choices. (credit to Mitch for those last two sentences)

I'd thought I would start off with one of my favourite game franchises: Crash Bandicoot. I was a Playstation kid and whilst I played a few other famous games, like an occasional dip into Spyro, and MGS when I was a little older, for the most part, Crash was a massive part of my childhood. I've personally played all of the Crash games, and this is my personal list of them from best to worst. Note that I won't be ranking the iOS games as they are severely limited in capabilities and it just doesn't feel right to me. They're better than Boom Bang though, know that.

1: Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
2: Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
3: Crash Twinsanity
4: Crash Team Racing
5: Crash Bandicoot
6: Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
7: Crash Bash
8: Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure/N-Tranced
9: Crash Tag Team Racing
10: Crash Nitro Kart
11: Crash Bandicoot Purple
12: Crash: Mind Over Mutant
13: Crash of the Titans
14: Crash: Boom Bang

A very strange spectrum indeed, from probably my favourite video game ever to one of my most hated. Crash Bandicoot 3 was an absolute masterpiece. It improved on every area that the already outstanding Crash Bandicoot failed to deliver on and added a lot more replay value to the game, as well as improving the bosses. The only issue I have with Crash 3 after speaking with someone who prefers 2 is that there's slight overkill on the vehicle stages, but even then only one of them controls badly, and it's very far from the worst control I've seen, so it doesn't take away from the gameplay experience. Crash 3 is to put it simply my favourite game ever.

Crash 2 gets second, for having the same sublime engine that Crash 3 retained, although there are some slightly larger issues, such as the boss battles being far too easy, and a lack of the excellent addition of power-ups in Crash 3. Despite this, Crash 2 is still a must play.

Crash Twinsanity gets third for an excellent change in pace in the series, and despite being short, feeling like a big adventure and a much needed expansion to the series with excellent, and yet challenging gameplay. It's nowhere near Crash 2 or 3, but iron out some of the flaws like glitches and annoying music, and it could close the gap at least.

CTR actually did have a large impact on cart racers, as it introduced the drift mechanic as a speed boost, which is now common place in the Mario Kart games. Combine it with fun gameplay, and loads of unlockables and play time and it is certainly worth your time. Though to be fair, Mario Kart 64 is a better all around racer, but CTR is certainly worthy of being one of the best Mario Kart clones, and it's a hell of a lot better than Sonic R from Sega.

The original has issues with control and gameplay that were ironed out in Crash 2, but is still a fun game and an excellent start to the series. Wrath of Cortex is probably the most underrated game of the series, and the music is excellent, though poor control and graphics hurt it. Crash Bash is a fine party game, but pales in comparison to Mario Party. The GBA games were paired together as they were very similar, and whilst it's a good throwback to the second and third games, it does suffer from limitations due to it being a GBA game, as well as paling to the second and third games in general.

Tag Team Racing and Nitro Kart both didn't really work as they paled in comparison to CTR, and there was no real need for another cart racer, as well as the fact that they were mediocre. Crash Bandicoot Purple was a good idea on paper, but the levels and overworld sucked, and it was just forgettable.

I don't like the two newest additions as they feel like completely different games, but they're part of the main series, which irritates me. The titan gimmick got old very quickly, and the character designs are ridiculous. They aren't bad, but they are NOT faithful to the original games in the slightest, and I have a grudge against these games for that. I put Mind Over Mutant over Titans as some gameplay flaws were ironed out in MoM, and N Brio is one of my favourite Crash characters.

Crash Boom Bang is a piece of fucking shit. Easily the most disappointing game I have played, and it narrowly avoided being compared with games such as Crazybus and Plumbers Don't Wear Ties on some of the worst games I have ever played.

 

[DarksideEric]

I like this, I'll definitely participate.

I'll go with one of my favorite series that I have loved since forever and actually used to play in tournaments: Street Fighter. Mine will be a little different however, since most of us know each installment (numbered, named, etc) had a couple "sub games" to it, such as Street Fighter II eventually became Super Street Fighter II Turbo, I'll rate them on their whole rather than breaking it down to their smaller games.

1. Street Fighter II.

This game single handedly changed fighting games forever, there is zero question about that whatsoever. Street Fighter created combos and "Super Moves" in fighting games. I love, love this factoid about SF II: Combos originally were just a design glitch/flaw in the code and were noticed when testing of the car beatdown minigame. The developers felt the timing required to perform combos was more advanced than the player base could perform and thus left it in.

2. Street Fighter III.

It's actually hard for me to say this is second place because I loved nearly everything about the new additions to the series thanks to III. While it suffered many of the balancing issues that Street Fighter is known for, I feel the Parry and the selectable Super Art system were top notch and things I myself have looked into working into some of my own designs. I also loved that Taunts actually had some impact on gameplay.

3. Street Fighter IV.

Some of you, if you're big into fighting games, might be like "wtf, how is IV above Alpha?!" One simple reason: I actually didn't play Alpha all that much, so in a personal ranking system I won't put it above something I have played a ton. I love the Focus Attack mechanic and somewhat like the Ultra mechanic. I would have been much, much happier with the Ultra system if some Ultras weren't the exact same move as the character's special move. I think we got a bit shafted when people like say, Ryu, have not only a "Shinkuu Hadouken" but also a "Metsu Hadouken." I know the Hadouken is his premium move, but he does have at least one other "Super Combo" in his arsenal that hasn't seen any light in IV. The biggest offender is Akuma for stuff like this.

4. Street Fighter Alpha.

We got Air Blocking, on the ground roll escapes, Custom Combos, multi-tiered Super Gauges. What more could you want?

5. Street Fighter.

This. Game. Was. Hard! Especially when I bought the computer version of it and had no controller.

Street Fighter EX.

We don't talk about this.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'll get my most obvious ranking out of the way first.

Final Fantasy
1. Final Fantasy 7
2. Final Fantasy 4
3. Final Fantasy 6
4. Final Fantasy 9
5. Final Fantasy 3 (Not to be confused with FF3 SNES which is FF6)
6. Final Fantasy 1
7. Final Fantasy 10
8. Final Fantasy 8
9. Final Fantasy 5
10. Final Fantasy 12
11. Final Fantasy 13-2
12. Final Fantasy 13
13. Final Fantasy 10-2
14. Final Fantasy 2 (Not to be confused with FF2 SNES which is FF4)

I often struggle between 4 and 7 in choosing a top game in this series, it always comes down to those two. With 4 it is more about nostalgia though, 7 is the better game otherwise in terms of overall quality. Nostalgia can be powerful when determining which game you LIKE more, regardless of which is superior. You really cannot go wrong with FF7 though. Some call it overrated. Others call it the greatest RPG in history. I'm of neither extreme. It's in my top tier and an experience no rpg fan should miss out on if they still have not played, but it's not my favorite RPG. Tales of Symphonia gets that honor. FF6 and 9 nearly tie for the 3rd spot and that was a difficult call to make as well. Both are phenominal games in their own right, neither of which are titles that I would ever get tired of playing. 7, 4, 6, and 9 round out my top 4 in a tier that will likely never be dethroned. The music, characters, stories, gameplay, and graphics (for their time) are untouchable. These games are legendary for a reason.

The next tier containing 3, 1, and 10 are all also enjoyable titles. 3 and 1 are fun regardless of if you play the original NES version or the remakes on GBA/PSX for FF1 or DS in FF3's case. The original will never live up to its name as parties of light warriors will be questing for generations to come. The higher difficulty and the almost endless list of party combinations make the replay value extremely high. FF3 is also extremely difficult, probably the toughest in the whole series. It introduced many of the job classes seen later on in the series. The graphics on the NES version were so ahead of their time it's unreal to view footage of it, and be reminded that this is an NES game. FFX had the Sphere Grid as well as actual speaking by characters, both of which were revolutionary for its time. The game also had a very good story. Unfortunately, the series went downhill never to recover after 10. FF8 and FF5 are not far behind 1, 3, and 10 in my rankings. While they are not anywhere near as good as my top tier due to things that irritate me to no end about them (FF8's junction system, FF5's lack of character development, the surplus of "points of no return" in both titles) prevent them from being further up on the list, they are still worth at least one play in both of their cases.

Then we have the titles I did not enjoy as much. FF12, FF13-2, FF13, FF10-2, and FF2. The bottom three in particular are the only ones I give a negative review to. FF13 had SO much potential! The graphics and music immerse you into a beautiful world.... but there's more to a game than appearance! The game is one of the most linear I have ever played. The story is not done justice as a video game and really should have been a movie instead. FF10-2 has its moments, but overall is a waste of time. Worst of all BY FAR is FF2. The atrocious battle system destroys it for me. Levelling up weapons and magic is one thing and I liked the way this type of system was perfected in other titles like Secret of Mana, but the way you increased your stats in FF2 was an abomination. There's a reason that this was never used in another game. It's a shame really, since the story and cast were rather interesting for a 1988 title.

Then there's other titles such as the infamous Final Fantasy Mystic Quest which is a front runner for the easiest RPG ever. Despite the low difficulty, it's a fun little game with an underrated soundtrack. I'd rank it above FF12 and below FF5 in my main series ranking. It's not part of the main series though, so I left it out.

There may be disagreement with my rankings, if so that's fine. With the larger series of games there is always going to be differences between favorites or least favorites amongst the fans. I love the whole series, even FF10-2 has its moments in a few rare occasions. The only one I truly dislike is FF2 due to the stat increasing method being pure garbage.

I'll be back with several more.

 

[DarksideEric]

You really cannot go wrong with FF7 though. Some call it overrated. Others call it the greatest RPG in history. I'm of neither extreme. It's in my top tier and an experience no rpg fan should miss out on if they still have not played, but it's not my favorite RPG.

I'd like to chime in on this bit, as I fall into the same camp as you do.

VII is a great game and definitely in the Top Five Final Fantasy list, arguably even the Top Five of all RPGs. It's the one RPG that gets either extreme hate or extreme love with no real grey area (from what I've seen of fans that I've talked to or read comments on).

I will say, unfortunately, Final Fantasy arguably as a whole gets overshadowed by VII in terms of popularity. I'm not saying the series' own popularity is overshadowed by VII, but the other games in the series.

 

[Dagger Dias]

VII is a great game and definitely in the Top Five Final Fantasy list, arguably even the Top Five of all RPGs. It's the one RPG that gets either extreme hate or extreme love with no real grey area (from what I've seen of fans that I've talked to or read comments on).

It's unquestionably the best Final Fantasy game. The only thing that any of the other titles could possibly beat it through is nostalgic memories. 7 in terms of overall quality deserves every last ounce of hype it has gotten for the past 15+ years. I'd put it in the top tier of all time RPG rankings, and at the very top of its own series. Despite my fandom of it, I don't rank it as the best RPG of all. As I stated in my previous post that award goes to Tales of Symphonia.

I will say, unfortunately, Final Fantasy arguably as a whole gets overshadowed by VII in terms of popularity. I'm not saying the series' own popularity is overshadowed by VII, but the other games in the series.

8 and 9 definitely had a tough act to follow. I believe FF9 would be much more popular had it not been so near 7 in order of release. The rest of the series, not so much. The older ones were worse than 7 (cases can be made for 4 and 6, but even they are lower in quality), as for the newer titles, there was more than enough time between 7's time of release and the newer titles (FFX until present) for the better title(s) to not overshadow them. The series went downhill and that is the problem. Other popular titles like 6 and 10 aren't necessarily overshadowed by 7. I'd say the drop in quality from 10 onward is more to blame than anything. They had a big opportunity with 13 and now have dug themselves even deeper. I hope the series turns things around for itself, but we might never see quality like that of the glory days of 4 through 9 again. That's how I see it anyway.

 

[DarksideEric]

It's unquestionably the best Final Fantasy game. The only thing that any of the other titles could possibly beat it through is nostalgic memories. 7 in terms of overall quality deserves every last ounce of hype it has gotten for the past 15+ years. I'd put it in the top tier of all time RPG rankings, and at the very top of its own series. Despite my fandom of it, I don't rank it as the best RPG of all. As I stated in my previous post that award goes to Tales of Symphonia.

8 and 9 definitely had a tough act to follow. I believe FF9 would be much more popular had it not been so near 7 in order of release. The rest of the series, not so much. The older ones were worse than 7 (cases can be made for 4 and 6, but even they are lower in quality), as for the newer titles, there was more than enough time between 7's time of release and the newer titles (FFX until present) for the better title(s) to not overshadow them. The series went downhill and that is the problem. Other popular titles like 6 and 10 aren't necessarily overshadowed by 7. I'd say the drop in quality from 10 onward is more to blame than anything. They had a big opportunity with 13 and now have dug themselves even deeper. I hope the series turns things around for itself, but we might never see quality like that of the glory days of 4 through 9 again. That's how I see it anyway.

I personally feel VI, IX and Tactics are better than VII because, in all truth, I enjoyed their stories more than VII's (especially Tactics). While I also enjoyed VII's overall gameplay, I did like the return to the actual class system employed by IX and Tactics, as well as the pure medieval fantasy setting (I'll always like it better than the mixed setting or full sci-fi).

I also really believe that at this point, especially to restore quality, Final Fantasy needs to be fully rebooted. Have the stories fully connect from game to game (not like the sequels we've seen prior) and have a varied style of RPG for each games. Have the new Final Fantasy I be more to the style of set job classes, have FF II break out into a slightly more Action RPG setting and introduce some freedom of Job Classes, have III return to set jobs but be a Strat RPG. And have the story be connected in all three of them.

 

[DarksideEric]

If you guys have any interest (I found it interesting), this is a Street Fighter documentary.

[YOUTUBE]2gZBITO5GwI[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Dagger Dias]

I personally feel VI, IX and Tactics are better than VII because, in all truth, I enjoyed their stories more than VII's (especially Tactics). While I also enjoyed VII's overall gameplay, I did like the return to the actual class system employed by IX and Tactics, as well as the pure medieval fantasy setting (I'll always like it better than the mixed setting or full sci-fi).

I don't consider Tactics part of the main series. That being said, it has been a very long time since I played it. It's unfair of me to rank it when it has been over a decade since I even touched it. I don't remember much beyond my not being that impressed with it.

6 and 9, as you saw in my rankings, are games I think highly of. 6's second half suffers from too much freedom, not to mention my general dislike for post apocalyptic in general. I love the first half though, and the final quest in Kefka's tower. The story, music, cast, and graphics for its time are not to be ignored though. I just happen to think FF7 trumps it in every category.

9 is severely underrated. I think of Final Fantasy 9 as having the same problem that the Red Mage class does. FF9 is solid all across the board. Story, music, gameplay, graphics, characters, replay value.... It's all there, and the game scores well in all of those categories for me. However, just like the Red Mage class (hence the analogy) it is good at everything, yet the best at nothing. In all of the above, there are a couple of other games in the series that do it better. 7 being one of them.

I also really believe that at this point, especially to restore quality, Final Fantasy needs to be fully rebooted. Have the stories fully connect from game to game (not like the sequels we've seen prior) and have a varied style of RPG for each games. Have the new Final Fantasy I be more to the style of set job classes, have FF II break out into a slightly more Action RPG setting and introduce some freedom of Job Classes, have III return to set jobs but be a Strat RPG. And have the story be connected in all three of them.

I'm not sure how I feel about a reboot such as the one you describe here. Part of me wants to see the main series continue to see entries, then again after reading about what FF15 is going to be like, they just keep getting worse and worse. An Action RPG version of FF2 could be interesting, I would trade literally ANYTHING in favor of removal of the idiotic system the original had. I disagree with a reboot of FF3 as a Strat RPG, mainly because that genre's simply not my cup of tea. I wouldn't be interested in playing that game. Others might be though.

 

[DarksideEric]

I'm not sure how I feel about a reboot such as the one you describe here. Part of me wants to see the main series continue to see entries, then again after reading about what FF15 is going to be like, they just keep getting worse and worse. An Action RPG version of FF2 could be interesting, I would trade literally ANYTHING in favor of removal of the idiotic system the original had. I disagree with a reboot of FF3 as a Strat RPG, mainly because that genre's simply not my cup of tea. I wouldn't be interested in playing that game. Others might be though.

You misunderstand sir. I don't mean rebooting the actual Final Fantasy I, II and II, I mean all new games. It wouldn't be the current Final Fantasy II or III redone with these new ideas, they'd be completely new.

The biggest reason I'd like to see Final Fantasy go through a reboot is so that the stories can chain and link together. There's only a few games in the series (aside from the actual -2 sequels) that hint or have some sort of connection, whether it's really touched on or not. Ivalice (a region/empire) contains or has some mentioning in the games Tactics, Vagrant Story (a continent in the Ivalice region/empire is mentioned a lot in the game), Tactics Advanced (St. Ivalice) and Final Fantasy XII. If a reboot of Final Fantasy actually fully cemented a tie between I, II, III, IV, etc, etc, I think it would give the series a new life. Especially since you could make even further evolving stories.

An example I always like to give is the following:

I: You play as the hero (let's call him Bob) and conquer the evil (Steve).
II: You play as Tom (Bob's best friend) to continue to hunt down the remnants of Steve.
III: You play as Bob once again, however as the game progresses Bob is slowly corrupted by a new evil (Sam) and fully turns by the end of the game.
IV: Tom and Linda (Bob's wife) join together to try and take down the power of both Bob and Sam, ending with Sam's death.
V: You play as Bob again, but as you're the villain the game has a very different view and flow.
Etc.
Etc.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Dragon Quest/Warrior
1. Dragon Quest 4
2. Dragon Quest 6
3. Dragon Quest 7
4. Dragon Quest 8
5. Dragon Quest 3
6. Dragon Quest 9
7. Dragon Quest 5
8. Dragon Quest 2
9. Dragon Quest 1

An amazing RPG series. 4 is by far my favorite. I loved the intro chapters for each character leading into the main storyline, which brought all of the characters together to join the hero in a great story. Having the themes of each character play on the world map if they were the active party leader at the time was a nice touch. The music was phenominal for NES quality. The DS remake was a lot of fun as well. DQ4 is the best Dragon Quest game with 6 being a close runner up. It's a shame that the SNES version of DQ6 never got released outside of Japan. The DS remake was quite enjoyable. Much like 4 it had a good cast, good music, a cool story, and it's a long game so it keeps you busy. 6 isn't necessarily better than 4 at anything except the ability system, but it's absolutely worth a try.

7 is also extremely good. I recall spending more than 200+ hours on DQ7, per the in-game clock. More than probably any other single play through of any game that I have ever played. 8 gave us the modern names for abilities (which were seen in remakes of the older titles) and was a nice change of pace from the older games in terms of the exploration and finally being able to see party members in battle. It's one of the more popular entries in the series for obvious reasons. 3 is also very good and worth multiple play through's. The main reason I rank it outside of my top tier is the lack of main characters that you don't create yourself. It had a great system of character creation for its time, but I prefer characters with predetermined backstories and predetermined classes. That often makes for a better story.

Some may disagree with my ranking the 5th game so low. I was VERY turned off by the recruitment of monsters. That should have been more of a bonus content feature rather than something the game basically forces you to do since there is a lack of party members up until you are a little more than halfway into the game. I felt the game focused way too much on that and I would rather have had the option of more playable characters before the late game recruitments show up. The story was good though and the option of up to 3 different love interests (2 unless it's the DS remake) provide a good amount of replay value. 2 is underrated, it isn't as bad as some make it out to be and it's a challenge. I'll never play it more than twice though, I played it through once as a child and once again as an adult. It's not that it's a bad game, it's exceedingly tough and I find it more enjoyable than the first game, although I may be in the minority there.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Beath of Fire
1. Breath of Fire 3
2. Breath of Fire 1
3. Breath of Fire 2
4. Breath of Fire 4
5. Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter

A fun series that you don't hear so much about anymore. In my opinion 3 was the best. It has an underrated soundtrack that gets far too much hate, took the series in a great new direction with how the main maps were done, and I loved the format they used for the story with how the characters such as Ryu and Nina are young in the first half then adults in the second half. You didn't see things like that in gameplay as often back then. The system used with genes to create dragon forms for Ryu was a nice touch and added something new compared to the simple transformation spells seen in the first two titles.

1 and 2 remain very fun as well. 1 was great in the sense that everyone was out adventuring at the same time, you could switch in anyone into battle at any turn whereas in 2 or 3 you were stuck with the 4 (in 2) or 3 (in 3) you had chosen for your active party. 1's main flaw is that it hasn't aged that well. It's an extremely oldschool RPG that today's gamers might get bored with. 2 was challenging and its only major flaw for me is the party members issue. The 4 you have with you are active, but everyone else is back at the base in the Township. If you enter an event where you are required to bring someone outside of the active party, you cannot simply switch them in. This is a pain to deal with if you didn't know who to bring. At least in 3 you can set up camp anywhere on the world map to change party members, in 2 you had to find a dragon statue or return to the Township.

4 brought back the concept of everyone being in the "active party" at once but I always felt it fell a bit short of what it was capable of, it had the potential to be the best in the series and ultimately fell short of that. My main complaints with it were too many locations that had sound effects instead of background music and it was plagued with maps that were difficult to navigate due to the AWFUL camera angles having to be shifted so much. It's one I am not in a hurry to replay. There were a couple of maps where I found myself having absolutely NO CLUE where I was due to the camera angles and having to rotate the camera so much.

As for Dragon Quarter, it was so bad that I'd rather forget that I ever played it.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Super Mario Series
1. Super Mario World
2. Super Mario Bros 3
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2
4. Super Mario Galaxy 1
5. Super Mario Bros 1
6. Super Mario Bros 2 (Doki Doki Panic)
7. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
8. Super Mario 64
9. New Super Mario Bros Wii
10. Super Mario Bros 2 (Lost Levels)
11. New Super Mario Bros
12. Super Mario Land 1
13. Super Mario Sunshine

**I have not played Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario 3D World, New Super Mario Bros 2, or New Super Mario Bros U yet. They have been omitted from the ranking for that reason.

Galaxy 1 and 2 both came very close to winning this ranking, but were defeated by Super Mario World. I love that game and it's just as fun as it was when I was a little kid. Large amounts of nostalgia, great gameplay, great graphics for its time, and great music make it just about untouchable. I love the Mario Galaxy games too, they are by far the best modern Mario games. Highly recommended to anyone who has not played them yet. Super Mario Bros 3 is not far behind my top choice, it has aged very well despite the outdated graphics, especially the All Stars version on the SNES.

The one that started it all, Super Mario Bros 1 is still fun. It hasn't aged that well, but it's a legendary title that no gamer should miss out on playing if they have not before. I still like the All Stars version as well as the NES one. Then there's the very strange (but fun!) Super Mario Bros 2, which was originally Doki Doki Panic repackaged as a Mario game. Shy Guys and Birdo were never intended to be part of the Mario canon, the original version of this game is actually more fun as it makes you play through it as all of the characters in order to complete it. It's about a family. Mario (in terms of jumping and running speed) replaced the son, Luigi replaced the mother, Peach replaced the daughter, and Toad replaced the father. The actual Super Mario Bros 2 is known as the Lost Levels in the US. That's a MUCH tougher counterpart of the original Super Mario Bros. The challenge made it great to complete, but it's not one I ever want to replay.

Super Mario 64 did a lot of things right, and a couple of things wrong. It brought Mario into the 3D platforming realm fantastically, and the soundtrack wasn't bad either. The graphics were good for its time, they clearly have not aged very well but in the mid to late 1990's that was a different story. My big issue with it is not being able to play as Luigi or anyone besides Mario. In all of the older Mario titles you at the very least could play as Luigi. The DS remake corrected that and then some. If only Luigi, Wario, and Yoshi could have been playable in the original. It would be ten times as popular as it is. Dead last is Super Mario Sunshine. Not a terrible game by any means but someone has to come in last place in this series so due to frustrating camera angles and my overall dislike of the gameplay that comes with using Fludd, Sunshine is my least favorite. Unless they make a terrible Mario platformer, which is doubtful in of itself, I doubt Sunshine will be leaving the bottom slot anytime soon.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Mario Kart
1. Mario Kart 64
2. Mario Kart Wii
3. Mario Kart DS
4. Super Mario Kart
5. Mario Kart: Super Circuit
6. Mario Kart: Double Dash

*I have not played Mario Kart 7 yet, it's left out of the rankings for that reason.

It's a close call at the top between Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 64, but in the end the nostalgia behind 64 and how much of a vast improvement it was over its SNES ancestor give it my vote at the very top of the series. Gone were the days of annoying predetermined orders of computer controlled characters depending on which character you chose as well as items exclusive to computer controlled characters such as Bowser's Fireballs, Yoshi's Eggs, or Toad & Peach's Mushrooms. Mario Kart 64 was where the mayhem we see in the rest of the series began, anything can happen even against computer controlled characters and it's aged VERY well considering it's 15+ years old now.

Mario Kart Wii was amazing in its own right. Its selection of classic tracks redone included some of my favorites among the older games including an awesome remake of Bowser's Castle from MK64. It also had one of the best rosters of available characters. The new tracks featured some extremely enjoyable tracks such as the Maple Treeway and Coconut Mall. For a couple of years I'd spend each friday after class doing a run through all 32 tracks one after another. The DS one was also very well done. I recall playing 8 player VS mode a few times with my D&D group from 2006 with all of us in the living room of my friend's apartment on our DS systems, that was crazy and fun.

Then we have the original game, which is still pretty fun but it hasn't aged that well. The controlls are a bit rough and its frustrating that the computer controlled characters get items exclusive to them, I hated that about it even as a kid; but it came first and it was very good when it first came out. It also contains to this day, by far, the best Rainbow Road track of any of the games in the series. I do like it more than Super Circuit which was a decent game but paled in comparison to MK64.... and dead last is Double Dash. I hated the 2 characters to a kart concept, that ruined the game for me when it first came out and I still dislike it. They should have included a classic mode where it's one character to a kart, plus I didn't like many of the tracks in the game either. It felt like such a step down from MK64 and even Super Circuit. The series picked up again significantly with the DS and Wii games. Haven't played MK7 yet, but I've heard good things about it. A new title in the series is coming out on the Wii U, it sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[DarksideEric]

Halo

1. Halo 2
2. Halo: Combat Evolved
3. Halo 3
4. Halo Reach

Never played Halo 3: ODST so I won't rank it, also have played about 10 minutes of Halo 4 so won't rank it and I won't include Halo Wars since it's a spin-off.

Why is Halo 2 in the number one spot instead of Halo CE?

Online multiplayer. Halo 2 single handedly created FPS online multiplayer for consoles. There is no question about that whatsoever. Halo 2 took the giant footprint of console gaming that Halo CE created and ran with it into the online market. Halo 2 will always provide me with some of the best memories I've had for FPS gaming, and is in my personal Top 3 FPS games of all time (the others being Starsiege TRIBES and Goldeneye 007). Halo 2 brought us online dual wielding, vehicles and admittedly a whole lot of fun thanks to glitches and questionable balance choices. And nearly every single map was fun to play on.

Halo: Combat Evolved took the proof that FPS games could work on consoles that 007 and Perfect Dark gave us and ran with it. Halo CE gave us arguably the benchmark of what FPS games on consoles could do. The story was great (much better than 2's in my opinion), the controls solid and was always, always fun. Not to mention the fact that Halo CE made the X Box.

Halo 3 is when I started feeling Halo growing stale. There were some nice additions like Equipment (I liked it a lot), but around this time I was really starting to get bored with how FPS games weren't changing all that much. While Equipment was cool and all, you still knew which weapons were the absolute best and which you should never, ever, ever pick up. Ever. And that's kind of what started my separation from FPS games, the fact that there was no real growing meta ever, especially in Halo when it would go through only one or two title updates that may fix some balance changes but not others.

Halo Reach pretty much cemented my separation from Halo specifically and FPS in general. Armor Abilities were something fresh to try and promote a new meta where people could piece together evolving strategies, but ultimately didn't and were implemented incorrectly from the start. When I saw what Armor Lock could do in Reach vanilla (original version) I was just confused as to why Bungie would even remotely think that something like that would be balanced in a game like Halo.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Mario (RPG games)
1. Paper Mario
2. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
3. Super Mario RPG
4. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
5. Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door
6. Super Paper Mario
7. Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time

It was a tough choice between Paper Mario and Bowser's Inside Story for the top spot. They are both such amazing games. You really cannot go wrong with either one and I highly recommend them to those who have not played them yet. Getting to play as Bowser in Bowser's Inside Story was a real fun experience, he totally stole the show in that game. Not to mention it features the one of best battle themes in gaming history, against Dark Bowser. I loved the entire soundtrack and the way it remixed the themes between the main world in comparison to if you were inside of Bowser. The side quest of collecting all the cats to unlock Bowser's best ability of summoning Broggy was well worth the extra time it required.

Paper Mario barely defeats Bowser's Inside Story for the top spot. Everything about it was so well done and I've kept replaying it for over a decade now. The soundtrack, the gameplay, the worlds, the new characters it introduced, just everything really. I can't think of a single bad thing to say about it other than perhaps nitpicking a little about how the desert area drags on to the point of frustration. Experimenting with the badge combinations and different allies was a lot of fun. It had a ton of hilarity too from the sound effect badges to the endless list of silly lines found in the dialogue. Then you had the optional boss fight against The Master, now that was a challenge.

The original Super Mario RPG rounds out the top tier. It too has been replayed countless times. Its very memorable cast, great story, user friendly gameplay (especially for an oldschool RPG) and music are all excellent. It has aged very well. Superstar Saga was a rather enjoyable title that I'd also recommend to those who have yet to play it. The Beanbean Kingdom was a cool new region to play in, and I hope to see more of it in future games. It's nowhere near as good as Bowser's Inside Story though, which is definitely the best of the "Mario & Luigi" titles. Thousand Year Door and Super Paper Mario never quite captured the magic of the first Paper Mario title. Coming in last is Partners in Time. This is still a game worth checking out, the main reason I ranked it so low is due to the inclusion of Baby Mario & Baby Luigi. I cannot stand Baby Mario or Baby Luigi, they are the most annoying characters in the Mario universe. Despite their inclusion it is still a game worth at least giving a try.

I have not played Sticker Star or Dream Team yet, so they are left out of the rankings for now.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Mother/Earthbound
1. Mother 2 (Earthbound)
2. Mother 3
3. Mother 1 (Earthbound Zero)

The second is the game many of us know and love as Earthbound. It's by far the best in the series. It was a phenomenal game. The main cast of young kids you played as (especially Ness who saw appearances in the Smash Bros games) were quite memorable, as was the "modern" style it took as opposed to the medieval fantasy or science fiction setting that so many games have taken over the years. Then you had all of the strange (for lack of a better word) enemies that you encountered such as hippies, crazy animals, aliens, inanimate objects that got possessed, and more. Never before has a game been so ridiculous yet so good at the same time. Hilarious every step of the way and I have replayed it countless times.

The third game had a tough act to follow and it was also a game several years in the making. Anyone else remember reading patiently in Nintendo Power for updates about "Earthbound 64"? The wait was worth it, and it got released as Mother 3. Mother 3 is a game worth playing.... Its main problem is that it just isn't anywhere near as good as its prequel. It did feature Lucas, who joined Ness over in the Smash Bros games. The main cast wasn't as memorable as Earthbound's was, the music wasn't as good, and the overall experience just wasn't as enjoyable. With that being said it still contained the "modern" setting style, silly enemy names, and other aspects of its prequel. Check Mother 3 out if you were a fan of Earthbound and haven't played it yet.

The first game was the worst. It's not one I would ever recommend to anyone unless they want a challenge. Why is that? Earthbound Zero was a game that bordered on insanely unfair in difficulty. The only good thing about it was seeing the origins of the gameplay and style of Earthbound in NES form. I've made it through that game but it was pure torture clearing the final part of it. Seriously.... I had my party maxed out and the final cave/mountain still had me ripping hairs out in frustration. Then there's issues such as Ninten's asthma or how much Loid just plain SUCKS. I still get shivers down my spine anytime I hear the battle theme (the one used most often of the three, against the more "dangerous" enemies) as I associate it with such tough fights. This is one title I'm keeping in the past where it belongs. Not so much an awful game, just HARD AS HELL! That, and the other two titles were a lot more fun to play.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Legend of Zelda
1. Link to the Past
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Twilight Princess
4. Link's Awakening
5. Legend of Zelda
6. Four Swords Adventures
7. Oracle of Seasons/Ages
8. Minish Cap
9. Wind Waker
10. Spirit Tracks
11. Phantom Hourglass
12. Adventure of Link
13. Majora's Mask


Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time will probably never be topped. They are by far the best titles in the series and I'll never get tired of them. Many might argue that Ocarina of Time is the superior title, but I give the honor of best Zelda game to Link to the Past. I love that game and everything about it. It is.... almost perfect. The graphics were good for a SNES game, the music is as beautiful and enjoyable as it was 20 years ago, the story and characters were among the best in the series. You had a great lineup of items to use in helping solving the puzzles and defeating the various monsters you came across. The format of the Light World and Dark World was done in excellent fashion, I always enjoyed to see what the all sorts of locations would look like from one world to the next. One of my favorite memories of this game is the time I beat the entire thing, without dying, had every item, and did all of the above in 2 and a half hours.

A very close 2nd place goes to the iconic Ocarina of Time. This game more or less redefined the Adventure game genre as we know it. The game went on to become a standard for countless games to try to live up to. Similarly to Link to the Past, in Ocarina of Time the game takes place in two worlds. Childhood and Adulthood, with the ability to travel between the two timeframes. Twilight Princess comes in 3rd place for me. It is the best of the modern Zelda games and while not quite as groundbreaking as Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time, it was an amazing game in its own right with breathtaking graphics and a lovely soundtrack. You got to play as a wolf too for parts of it, how cool is that? A very great game.

Other great titles follow in the rankings. Link's Awakening on the Game Boy was a huge part of my childhood. Back in the day when handheld consoles were one of the few ways to escape the boredom of long car trips with the family, Link's Awakening saved me from boredom on many occasions. The first Zelda game is next. I still have my original golden cartridge from the NES for this game. It took me ages to finally beat it, I was an adult by the time I finally accomplished this after many many attempts at a run through the game. The temple music from that title still gives me chills down my spine sometimes. I used to like attacking the old men who gave you tips and mocking the guy who gives you your first sword. "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!" lol classic.

No matter how hard I try to be open and look past the graphical style of the Toon Link titles, that style still ruins those games for me. Any Toon Link title would have been more enjoyable if it weren't for that graphical style. I'm certain some may disagree but I doubt I am alone in my opinion. I struggle a great deal to not let that bias affect my rankings or overall enjoyment of those titles, but I would be lying if I said this was not the case. I have not finished Skyward Sword yet so I left it out of the rankings for now. Also left out is A Link Between Worlds, I have yet to play it as I do not own a 3DS. I might ask a friend of mine if I can borrow his. Four Swords Adventures, Minish Cap, and the two Oracle titles are worth a look if you haven't played them yet. Not the best titles in the series by a long shot, but good games.

While I don't particularly dislike the game, the second Zelda game falls in next to last in the rankings. It's not so much that I don't like the game, it's that I like all of the other titles better with the exception of one. It did give us the awesome temple music later on used in Smash Bros Melee & Brawl and the I AM ERROR joke, so there is that. Dead Last is Majoras Mask. I hated that game and never plan on playing it ever again. Unlocking the Fierce Deity mask was the only good thing about it and finishing the game once was enough for me. No offense to those who did like it but the gameplay aspect of the days restarting causing some event triggers to get turned off REALLY got on my nerves.

 

[M]

Legend of Zelda
1. Link to the Past
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Twilight Princess
4. Link's Awakening
5. Legend of Zelda
6. Four Swords Adventures
7. Oracle of Seasons/Ages
8. Minish Cap
9. Wind Waker
10. Spirit Tracks
11. Phantom Hourglass
12. Adventure of Link
13. Majora's Mask

Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time will probably never be topped......

left out is A Link Between Worlds, I have yet to play it as I do not own a 3DS. I might ask a friend of mine if I can borrow his.

I have a sneaky suspicion that you may move your top spots on this list after you play A Link Between Worlds, the game is genius and my favourite game in the series by a huge margin.

I'm not much of a Zelda fan but I'll chuck the ones I've played in a list form because apparently some of my picks are weird to some people:

1. A Link Between Worlds
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Link to the Past
4. Wind Waker
5. Majora's mask
6. Adventure of Link
7. Skyward Sword
8. The legend of Zelda
9. Phantom Hourglass

I said before that I love the new one so I'm not going into massive detail there, it's just amazing in almost every way and the puzzles are magnificent.
I only really like OoT because of the hilarious glitches and how it's fun to attempt a super glitched speedrun of it in less than an hour every now and then, LttP is a crowd favourite but kinda meh to me.... and that's where all the other games end up falling in place really. With the exception of MM (which is pretty much OoT with a better story but also an awkward central game mechanic, it's annoying that the bad parts drag it down too much) all the games from LttP onwards fall under the extremely broad spectrum of "good" and because of that I never really get excited for any new games in the series.

I often equate the Zelda series to the anime Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - solid, but never really doing anything wrong doesn't mean that it's great.

 

[DarksideEric]

Link's Awakening was my very first Zelda game (also my first Gameboy game) and I nearly cried at the ending. Link's Awakening, for me, will always be fighting an almost three way tie with Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time.

Where's Skyward Sword for you Dagger? Did I miss it? I just can't seem to get into the game very much at all.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Link's Awakening was my very first Zelda game (also my first Gameboy game) and I nearly cried at the ending. Link's Awakening, for me, will always be fighting an almost three way tie with Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time.

I love all three of those games. Add Twilight Princess to those three and you get my top 4, which are leaps and bounds above the rest. It's an underrated title and I truly believe it would have been a bit more popular if the issues many fans had with Wind Waker had not divided the fan base. Link To the Past is the best of them all though. I'll be starting up my next walkthrough thread eventually, with that being the subject matter.

Where's Skyward Sword for you Dagger? Did I miss it? I just can't seem to get into the game very much at all.

I left it out of the rankings due to not having finished it. None of my friends own a copy so I was never able to borrow one after losing my copy and I prefer to not rent games these days. I need to find it. It is probably somewhere within the unassailable fortress of boxes in my closet that I've been too lazy to organize.

 

[DarksideEric]

Dagger, what's your Top 5 RPGs that don't include Final Fantasy in the title?

 

[Dagger Dias]

Dagger, what's your Top 5 RPGs that don't include Final Fantasy in the title?

1. Tales of Symphonia
2. Paladin's Quest
3. Chrono Trigger
4. Bowser's Inside Story
5. Secret of Mana

That's off the top of my head. I really should just do a mega genre-wide rank. Top 50 if I can come up with enough. Symphonia trumps all, including all FF titles. The others in that list are fairly close.

EDIT: Keep in mind, this is disregarding Zelda titles too. I consider them Adventure games, not RPG's. Also, my runner up was Dragon Age: Origins.

 

[DarksideEric]

1. Tales of Symphonia
2. Paladin's Quest
3. Chrono Trigger
4. Bowser's Inside Story
5. Secret of Mana

That's off the top of my head. I really should just do a mega genre-wide rank. Top 50 if I can come up with enough. Symphonia trumps all, including all FF titles. The others in that list are fairly close.

EDIT: Keep in mind, this is disregarding Zelda titles too. I consider them Adventure games, not RPG's. Also, my runner up was Dragon Age: Origins.

For me it would be...

1. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
2. Valkyrie Profile
3. Chrono Trigger
4. Dragon Age: Origins
5. Super Mario RPG

My Honorable Mention would be Mass Effect 2.

I think a "Top 10 in a Genre" or "Rank the Genre" thread would do well.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Haven't bumped this one in a while. I've been playing Super Mario 3D World a lot the past few days, so I'll get this one going again by updating my Super Mario Series ranking.

Super Mario Series
1. Super Mario World
2. Super Mario Bros 3
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2
4. Super Mario Galaxy 1
5. Super Mario 3D World
6. Super Mario Bros 1
7. Super Mario Bros 2 (Doki Doki Panic)
8. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
9. Super Mario 64
10. New Super Mario Bros Wii
11. Super Mario Bros 2 (Lost Levels)
12. New Super Mario Bros
13. Super Mario Land 1
14. Super Mario Sunshine

**I have not played Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros 2, or New Super Mario Bros U yet. So they are still been omitted from the ranking for that reason at the moment.

Super Mario 3D World being the new entry on the list for me reached #5. I love being able to have 4 people play at once in maps that have so much to explore, and everyone having abilities inspired by their NES Super Mario Bros 2 selves. Getting to use Peach instead of "Other Toad" like in New Super Mario Bros Wii was a nice touch, and the Cat Suit is fun. While it is not the very best Mario game I have played (that honor still goes to Super Mario World, nothing will ever top it) or even the best 3D Mario (The Galaxy titles are just about untouchable) but it took a lot of elements from some great past Mario games mixing said gameplay elements together for a great experience. The rest of my rankings have remained unchanged since the last list I posted in here.

I have a couple more updated lists I can post, but hope to see more from the rest of you guys too!

 

[Dagger Dias]

Mario Kart
1. Mario Kart 64
2. Mario Kart Wii
3. Mario Kart 8
4. Mario Kart DS
5. Super Mario Kart
6. Mario Kart: Super Circuit
7. Mario Kart: Double Dash

*I have not played Mario Kart 7 yet, it's left out of the rankings for that reason.

With the new DLC content for Mario Kart 8 now being available and enough time has elapsed for me to rank the game amongst the rest in its complete form.... I placed Mario Kart 8 at #3 in the rankings. Mario Kart 64 was phenominal for its time improving every single thing the first game did tenfold and is still fun to go back to, so it remains at the top. Mario Kart Wii is RIGHT behind it though, it to this day is still nearly a coin toss between those two.

So with a lot of new characters, a grand total of 48 tracks, new items, and more.... why does Mario Kart 8 not dethrone my top two? I have two reasons. The first reason is how chaotic it gets. Winning on 150cc or higher comes down to luck. You could hit every boost and be in first but then get bombarded by a Blue Shell, Lightning, Red Shells, someone using a Star, and more, all at once. You then end up finishing 5th or lower despite being in the lead for nearly the entire race. Some chaos is good, it's part of why Mario Kart is so fun, but this game takes the chaotic nature of the attack items too far. Still a lot of fun at the end of the day, but had it been toned down a bit it would be that much better. Mario Kart Wii had this approached perfectly. It had chaos where it was needed, but the truly skilled players did not have to rely on LUCK to win on higher difficulties.

The second reason is it just doesn't feel complete. Even with the having purchased the DLC content. Once you get the DLC tracks you can no longer play every single track at once in VS Mode which is an issue to me. You can do all 32 of the standard tracks in order, or all 16 of the DLC tracks in order, but a random shuffle makes you miss 16 and you won't know which ones. I loved being able to random shuffle every track in VS Mode on both the Wii and DS games. It's not the end of the world though. While it does not damage the overall experience of the game to the point where I would not recommend it to others (which I absolutely do, check it out, it's fun) it does hurt it when I rank it against the older games.

My thoughts on the older games have not changed. Double Dash is still the worst. I hated the two characters to a kart concept and always will. Nintendo forcing that on us without allowing for a classic mode set up like the older games rubbed me the wrong way. The SNES game and Super Circuit have not aged well at all. I have yet to play Mario Kart 7, I need to but I do not own a 3DS.