My Top 20 Games (11-20)

Since I have been posting my favorite games of all time in my previous posts, I decided to come up with a list of my top 20 games of all time. These games are my personal favorites; others may have different ranks for these games in their own personal lists.

20
Super Mario Brothers
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System

Super Mario Bros., sometimes referred to as Super Mario or SMB, is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo in late 1985 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Super Mario Bros. featured gameplay that changed the way video games were created. It is the first console original in this genre to feature smooth-scrolling levels, which made it a landmark in home video-gaming. In Super Mario Bros., Italian plumber Mario must save Princess Peach (Princess Toadstool in the US version) of the Mushroom Kingdom from the evil Bowser, king of the Koopas. Mario is aided in his quest by his brother Luigi in two-player mode. In order to save Princess Peach, the Mario Bros. must conquer the eight worlds that comprise the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario (or Luigi) must make his way to the castle in each world and defeat one of the Bowser's evil minions, thereby taking control of that world. In order to reach the castle, however, Mario or Luigi must battle through three "sub-worlds" by either destroying or avoiding Bowser's henchmen. If Mario or Luigi successfully fights his way through the castle and defeats the evil minion, a Mushroom Retainer (later called Toad), is freed. Inside the eighth castle, the Mario Bros. will find Princess Peach.

19
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Console: Gameboy Color





The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy handheld console. It was released in Japan on June 6, 1993 and in North America on December 31 of the same year. It is the fourth official installment in The Legend of Zelda series, and the first for a handheld game console.

Link's Awakening is one of the few Zelda games that does not take place in the fictional land Hyrule, does not feature the fictional relic the Triforce or the primary antagonist of the series, Ganon. Instead the player's character Link begins the game stranded on Koholint Island. Learning that the island is watched over by a mysterious creature known as the Wind Fish, Link fights monsters and solves puzzles in order to find eight instruments which will awaken the Wind Fish— if the sleeping creature isn't awoken, Link will be trapped on Koholint Island forever.

18
Command and Conquer: Red Alert II
Console: PC



Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 is a 2.5D real-time strategy computer game by Westwood Studios, which was released for Microsoft Windows on September 28, 2000 as the follow up to Command and Conquer: Red Alert. Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 is the sequel to the RTS Computer Game Red Alert. The game picks up from the Allied ending of the previous game but this has led to debate amongst some fans. The game is centered around a Russian invasion of the United States of America and the American Military response to the threat. The game features several real-world monuments, including the World Trade Center, the Eiffel Tower, and the Arc de Triomphe. The game has received immense popularity in real-time strategy field over the past few years. A year after the release of Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2, an expansion pack was released entitled Command and Conquer: Yuri's Revenge.

17
Star Soldier
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System


The first game in the series to create the name, Star Soldier is clearly the sequel to Star Force. And not much has changed - there's still plenty of stuff to shoot, including lots of blocks with insignias of skulls, dragons and other creatures for some reason (most of which seem to be based off the four Chinese gods.) And, for the first time, you can finally power up your weapons, introducing the famous multi-direction cannon that became the staple for the rest of the series. There's also a unique mechanics where you can fly underneath certain parts of the scenery. You can't be killed, but you can't attack either. It's an interesting idea, but it leads to confusion more than anything else. Unfortunately, Star Soldier is still very dated, with quite repetitive backgrounds (there's only so much flying over outer space girders that one can take.)

16
Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty
Console: PC

Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty, a set of new Commandos missions issued as a standalone game, was released on March 31, 1999. Despite it being much shorter than Behind Enemy Lines, it is much more difficult game containing levels on a far greater scale to the extent of being comparable to those that were to be seen in Commandos 2. It has 8 missions, with locations including Yugoslavia and Greece.

15
Command and Conquer: Yuri's Revenge
Console: PC



Command and Conquer Yuri's Revenge is an Expansion pack to Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 developed by Westwood Studios. The game was released in North America on October 10, 2001 by EA Games. The game is centered around the idea of a shadowy figure named Yuri being able to establish a secret army of his own and pose a threat to the security of the world.

The gameplay of Yuri's Revenge is very similar to that of its prequel, Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2. The object of the game is to gather resources while training an army of your own to do battle. While this is going on, you must attack your enemies and defend against their attacks This game, like Real-time Strategy games in general, requires much multi-tasking to ensure a victory.

14
Pokémon Red and Blue
Console: Gameboy Color



Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue are the first two installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games, first released for the Game Boy in Japan in 1996, later released to the rest of the world in 1998 (North America) and 1999 (Europe and Australia). Set in the fantasy world of Kanto, the game's stories follow the progress of the central character in his quest to master Pokémon battling. Both games are independent of each other but feature largely the same plot and, while both can be played separately, it is necessary for the player to trade among the two in order to fully complete the game. Pokémon Red and Blue have subsequently been remade for the Game Boy Advance into Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. These, being advanced generation games, allow the player to obtain all of 386 then-available Pokémon species created by the franchise. The original two games, along with Pokémon Yellow and Pokémon Stadium form the first generation of Pokémon, also called the "primary generation". At the beginning of the games, players can choose Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle as their starter Pokémon from Professor Oak. They cannot catch any of the starters or their evolutions in the wild or by trading with in-game NPCs; therefore, to complete the Pokédex with all 151 Pokémon, the player must link games and trade with other players, as well as attending Nintendo Events. The basic point of the game is to become the best trainer in all of Kanto; this is done by raising Pokémon, defeating the eight Gym Leaders for Gym Badges, and eventually challenging the Elite Four and the Champion, the player's rival. Also, throughout the game, the player will have to battle against the forces of Team Rocket, a criminal organization that uses Pokémon for evil, and will eventually face off against their leader, Giovanni. The player has a childhood rival, who happens to be the grandson of Professor Oak. This character's default name is the opposite color of the version owned (i.e. in Red version, the character's default name is Blue). He will battle the player at certain points in the game to test the player's Pokémon; being defeated is an indication for the player to level up his or her team. He will always choose for his starter a Pokémon that has a type advantage over the player's chosen one. For example, if the player chooses Charmander, a Fire-type Pokémon, he will choose Squirtle, a Water-type Pokémon, giving it an advantage over the Fire-type Charmander.

13
Super Mario Brothers 2
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System



Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, known in Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2, is a video game produced by Nintendo, first released in Japan on June 3, 1986 for the Famicom Disk System. The game is very similar to Super Mario Bros., both graphically and in terms of gameplay. Because of the game's difficulty level and its similarity to the first Super Mario Bros., Nintendo originally decided not to release it in the United States. Instead, they localized an original Japanese game, Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, replaced the characters with those of the Mario universe, and released it in the U.S. under the title Super Mario Bros. 2. The Lost Levels was not released outside Japan until a remake was included in Super Mario All-Stars for the Super NES. Super Mario Bros. 2 was released for the Virtual Console in Japan on May 1, 2007, and in Europe and Australia on 14 September 2007. In both Europe and Australia, it was withdrawn from sale on 1 October 2007 and cost 600 Wii Points. It was released on the North American Virtual Console on October 1, 2007. The game has been in the Top 20 Most Popular Downloads on the North American Virtual Console since its release and was the Number 1 download from October 4 to October 21, 2007. It replaced and was displaced by Super Mario Bros.

12
The Legend of Kage
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System



The Legend of Kage is a 1985 arcade game by Taito and was released for several contemporary home computer systems the year after. The NES version was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console in Japan on December 19, 2006, and in the United States on February 19, 2007. The arcade version also appears on the PS2 game, Taito Legends 2. A 3D remake of the arcade game is included in Taito Legends Power Up for PSP.

The object is for a ninja named Kage (pronounced "KAH-geh") to rescue Princess Kiri from mystical villains. Kage must fight his way through the forest, along the secret passageway, up the fortress wall and through the castle, rescuing her two times (three in the NES version) in order to win the game. Each time she is rescued, the seasons change. The player is armed with swords and star knives. Grabbing a crystal ball causes Kage's clothes to change to the next level in colour and thereby attain certain powers (red: normal, green: bigger shuriken, orange: bigger shuriken and faster speed). If Kage is hit while in green or orange clothes, he does not die but revert to his normal red clothes. Grabbing a scroll causes Kage to stand still and meditate for several seconds while approaching enemies drop to the ground dead (note that although the scrolls appear in the arcade version, the crystal balls do not).

11
Sim City
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System



















SimCity is a city-building simulation game, first released in 1989 and designed by Will Wright. SimCity was Maxis' first product, which has since been ported into various personal computers and game consoles, and enhanced into several different versions including SimCity 2000 in 1993, SimCity 3000 in 1999, SimCity 4 in 2003, and SimCity DS & SimCity Societies in 2007. The original SimCity was later renamed SimCity Classic. Until the release of The Sims in 2000, the SimCity series was the best-selling line of computer games made by Maxis.

SimCity spawned an entire series of Sim games. Since the release of SimCity, similar simulation games have been released focusing on different aspects of reality such as business simulation in Capitalism.

On January 10 2008 the SimCity source code was released under the free software GPL 3 license under the name Micropolis.

The objective of SimCity, as the name of the game suggests, is to build and design a city, without specific goals to achieve (except in the scenarios, see below). The player can mark land as being zoned as commercial, industrial, or residential, add buildings, change the tax rate, build a power grid, build transportation systems and many other actions, in order to enhance the city.

Also, the player may face disasters including: flooding, tornadoes, fires (often from air disasters or even shipwrecks), earthquakes and attacks by monsters. In addition, monsters and tornados can trigger train crashes by running into passing trains. Later disasters in the game's sequels included lightning strikes, volcanoes, meteors and attack by extra-terrestrial craft.