Okay, tonight we begin with the five games I will call "honorable mentions," because I had to limit myself to ten games for a Top Ten, and as you will see, I cheated even there. But since I'm obnoxious and can't resist telling you more than even I asked for, here are five games that nearly made my list, but didn't quite get there:
Spyro the Dragon (PS1):Because this isn't technically in my top ten list, I'm just going to make this about the entire first three games. This trilogy is the first series of games I ever beat entirely. 100% for each game! Pretty standard platforming game. Large world that holds many central hubs for smaller worlds. Collecting is a big part of this series, but it's dispersed throughout other tasks, so it never feels especially weighty.
Pokemon Ranger (DS):This one almost made my list, because in my opinion, it is the best Pokemon Spin-Off game the Pokemon Co. has ever put out. Pokemon Snap was good, but this is leaps and bounds better. Pinball was entertaining, but meh. Mystery Dungeon was completely uninteresting to me. Didn't play any of the puzzle games, because they were just puzzle games with Pokemon themes. But this, oh this actually decided to take a new look at the world of Pokemon and created a game that is a fresh new alternative to the never-changing original RPG versions.
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (GCN):I like Zelda games. I played Ocarina of Time for the first time my freshman year of college, and I loved it. I then played a couple other Zelda games, and my buddy recommended I play his favorite Zelda game: Wind Waker. I haven't finished it completely yet, but I have to say, I'm in fucking love. It's even better than Ocarina of Time, and it's better by a complete long shot. If you've never played a three-dimensional Zelda game, don't start here; you'll only be playing lesser games from here on out.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii):I've done nothing but praise this game since I got it, but I didn't put it on my top ten because I haven't played a whole lot of it just yet. A lot of the games that ended up on my list are games that I played so much that I could still pick them up today and know pretty much everything about them. This one's not there yet, but I'm sure it'll be there.
LostWinds (Wii VC):This game is not on my list, because it is thus far incomplete. However, it nearly made it on, because it's just so damn good. Before the slew of great WiiWare games came out, there was LostWinds. It was new, it was different, it was daring, and it was extremely intuitive. A game where you control your character with the joystick and simultaneously control the wind with the cursor. Of course, you can't use one without the other, and though the game is short, there are plenty of tasks that require you to think. Add the fact that it's essentially a two-dimensional platformer, and this downloadable is hard to beat.
And so the official Top Ten List will soon begin
Coming soon!
