5. Super Smash Bros. (HAL Laboratory, 1999)
Super Smash Bros did something for me that I never expected, it made me care about a fighting game. I’ve said it before, but outside of some casual interest in the Mortal Kombat series, I’ve never been much of a fighting game fan, but I sure love the Super Smash Bros series. The main reason why I love the series so much are obviously all the Nintendo characters, the free for all nature of the game, and easy to pick up and play fighting system. The game feels more like a 2D action platformer than a technical fighting game, which is great since I don’t particularly care for technical fighting games. Obviously future releases in the series are much improved over the original, but it was still an excellent game in it’s time.
4. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (Nintendo, 2000)
I think I’ve made it pretty clear I am a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda series, and Majoras’ mask is yet another excellent entry in the series. While I wasn’t initially as big a fan of this game as I was most Zelda games, it grew on me over time. The extremely dark and bleak tone of the game, along with the unique design and gameplay elements when compared to other Zelda games, make it one of the more interesting entries in the series. It sure doesn’t hurt that the game plays great, just like you’d expect, and it has some cleverly designed dungeons.
3. Perfect Dark (Rare, 2000)
The fifth and final Rare game to make the list, Perfect Dark took everything that made Goldeneye great and improved upon it. Perfect Dark is without question one of, if the best looking game on the N64, and has a fully voice acted campaign with plenty of plot twists and cool moments. By ditching the Bond license, Rare was able to make a much more interesting and unique story, which is one of the key elements of Perfect Dark that clearly surpasses Goldeneye. It also has a greatly expanded multiplayer suite, with more maps, modes, and weapons. The game also features tons of mutliplayer challenges against bots, and outside of iffy game performance, Perfect Dark is succeeds in almost every respect. The campaign and multiplayer offering allow Perfect Dark to hold up much better than Goldeneye, and the XBLA version, with it’s modernized controls, can hold its own against most other shooters on the service.
2. Super Mario 64 (Nintendo, 1996)
The game that created a genre, and showed how games in 3D were meant to played, Super Mario 64 falls just shy of the number 1 spot. It’s really amazing that the first game for the system wound up being one of the best, but it truly is. Super Mario 64 was sort of like a proof of concept, it showed what the N64 was capable of, and few games were able to achieve what it did. Every Mario game and most 3D platformers that came after it took a lot cues from this landmark title, and it will likely be remembered as one of the greatest games of all time.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo, 1998)
Well, this marks the third edition of Top 10 Tuesdays that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has topped (Top 10 Zelda Games, Top 10 All Time); have I mentioned I really like this game? What more can I say about it, it is the best game in one of my favorite series of all time, and I love it.