Andrenn's Game Shelf: Top 10 favorite Video Games

It’s been a while but finally a new edition of Andrenn’s Game Shelf is here. After some mulling I decided to let you guys in on my top 10 favorite games of all time. Now before I go on I should warn all gramers and Xbox fans, Halo is nowhere to be seen here. That being said, if your favorite games aren’t on the list, sorry, but feel free to let me know what they are.

10. Spawn –Super Nintendo-

I love beat ‘em ups. The whole genre is built around going from one end to the other beating the hell out of every enemy in your way, often with cool combos and attacks that make it more then wild butting mashing. Add in the fact that Spawn is a pure beat ‘em up with a great look, cool story and is filled with all the great characters from the series at the time and you’ve got yourself a winner. The only thing that really holds this game off was how disappointing later boss fights became like Violator and Malebolgia, whereas Redeemer was crazy hard. Still a great game that desperately needs some love and a download on the Wii’s Virtual Console.

9. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

RPG’s aren’t really my thing, while they can be fun, rarely do I want to play through one again let alone much if at all. Often they lack the same fun I get out of most video games, but something about the Paper Mario has just been so crazy fun. After an awesome game on the N64 the series came full circle of awesome with this incredible sequel. The story, while a little silly at times, is still really entertaining and interesting and fun to see unravel. The game play is great as you get to really interact with the battles then just sitting there and clicking some buttons to tell Mario to jump on someone. With cool combos and all kinds of crazy tricks, this is one of the most replayable RPG’s ever for me.

8. Yoshi’s Island –Super Nintendo-

the Mario franchise has had tons of great games over the years. However, despite how much I love the franchise, the best game to ever come out of them had Mario in a diaper on Yoshi’s back. This game had all the great side scrolling action Mario has been known for with the great twist of playing as the lovable dinosaurs. Controls where spot on, the design was stylish and crazy, it was one of the best Nintendo games of all time. To me at least.

7. Splatterhouse 2 –Sega Genesis-

Hard as all hell, freaky as all hell and…well, hellish as all hell, Splatterhouse 2 was the total gory insane package. Not a lot of people know about this series as much as other beat ‘em ups at the time and it’s really sad to mention this game and not get a lot of people who recognize it. While the first game was a little too insane with it’s difficulty, 2 got it just right where I could still enjoy the challenge without tearing at my hair. This game really was insane, your weapons would very from chainsaw, to pieces of wood to bones to…well you get the point, it was crazy. While some people accuse Rick (the main hero) of being a Jason rip off, Jason never beat a monster to death with a giant hunk of bone.

6. Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition –Wii-

Where to put this game was a challenge indeed. On one side it’s an incredible game that I’ve played over and over and over and over. On the other side, I can say the same thing about the entire franchise so 4 isn’t quite exclusive to that description. Then their came which version to chose, really, all versions of the game are incredible but the Wii version wins for overall best controls despite how every version of the game controlled well. Overall this is easily the best of the franchise and that’s saying a lot as the entire series has often stood for quality top of the line stuff for every game. 4 has so much going for it, an awesome plot, great characters, incredible game play and some of the most memorable boss fights and moments in the entire series. If you’re a fan of the franchise, or even horror in general, this is a must have.

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles in Time –Super Nintendo-

Beat ‘em ups will always have a special place in my heart, and this is the king of them all. While nowadays the TMNT aren’t really on top back in the 90’s they where king of beat ‘em ups and they dominated everything. To say that this game is the best of all the TMNT games is saying quite a lot. It’s like saying this giant gold bar is better then all these other giant gold bars. Solid game play cool character moves and moments and the best Shredder face off of all time, I love this game.

4. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle -Gamecube

While I’ve grown a bit more distant with the Sonic series I can’t deny that Sonic has had his greats. Though if I had to pick one great Sonic game, hard as it may be, this just barely steals the win from Sonic CD. This game has a weird, but cool story, awesome levels and a nice variety of different levels and how to play them and some of the best 3D running ever. It gets really crazy. But what keeps this game so great has nothing to do with the animals that you play as. Rather, it’s the animals they take care of. That’s right, the real aspect that keeps this game so great is the Chao. Long after beating the game and getting all the emblems my friends and me would spend hours attending to our virtual little pets, the Chao, in their garden. Even nowadays, despite using the Wii, I still pop in SA2 Battle to tend to them every so often. It’s a lot of fun and rewarding to see all the crazy fun things you can do with them. It’s what boosts this great game, to an awesome game.

3. Megaman 3 –NES-

Picking a favorite of all the classic Megaman games is incredibly tough and in the end it really comes down to 2 and 3. Both have awesome boss fights and memorable levels along with great music, both have classic Megaman action, but 3 wins for 2 simple reasons. It’s got Protoman, the most awesome brother character in video game history who is just a beast when it comes to his attacks on enemies. Then we have that the old Robot Masters from 2 returns in 3 as…weird possessed robots. I’m not sure how it works, but it’s awesome and thanks to these factors 3 is just barely a bit better then 2.

2. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 –Arcades-

I really do love fighting games, even if this is the only one on the list I still love all the classics like Street Fighter, King of Fighters and Mortal Kombat. But when picking an all time best fighter, there is no competition, let alone picking one of my favorite games of all time that’s a fighting game. Capcom pretty much re-invented fighting games with Street Fighter 2 but they took Fighting to it’s ultimate level with Marvel vs. Capcom 2. All kinds of awesome characters to chose from, cool fighting types you could customize and a 3 character team made this game absolutely incredible. Wanted all Marvels? You got it. Only want Capcom? You got it. You could have Megaman, Venom and Blackheart (my team always) taking on Hulk, Wolverine and Captain America. Nothing will ever top the level of greatness that is. Of course the controls where solid as always and the sprite designs for both sides where really cool.

1. Final Fantasy 4 –Several systems-

I’m sure that after saying that I’m not big on RPG’s it’s a bit surprising to see this on my list. Though one game has had a lasting effect on me ever since I first played it back on the Super Nintendo when it was Final Fantasy 2, here in America. FF4 has one of the most amazing stories, amazing characters and just overall level of greatness that I’ve never seen anywhere else in an RPG. While most people think of the seventh installment of Final Fantasy, this is the only one I really care about. FF4 also added a new battle system where you couldn’t just spend all day waiting on what to do, where even when you where deciding how to attack, your enemy was still attacking and could get multiple hits if you don’t think fast and on your feet. Another thing that sets this apart from most RPG’s is that you don’t really have to grind for levels, you can take on any boss really if you know what your doing and are at least strong enough to take him down without having to be at the exact level to kill him. It really does use strategy that really, a lot of RPG’s lack. Of course not everyone loves Final Fantasy and to be honest I’m not the biggest fan of the series as 4 is the only game from the main series I’ve ever owned, but man, of all the games I like to replay often, 4 is always a game I can play, anytime, anywhere, I love it.

So there was my top 10 favorite games of all time, sorry if games you liked didn’t’ make it. Feel free to let me know what you like though. Also a note as to later posts, check back later in the week for a review of the new Hulk Vs. animated film currently out on DVD.