Top 50 Favorite Games (Part 4)

Nearing the end of this list and not stopping any time soon.
Unless you missed the first 3 parts, in which case, here’s part 1, here’s part 2, and here’s part 3.
Otherwise, let’s keep going.

Number 20

From one RPG to another, let’s kick off part 4 with one of Nintendo’s finest.

No.

No.

No.

Oh, for f**k’s sake! It’s Fire Emblem!

Unfortunately, the only game in the series that I’ve played is 3 Houses. I say that like it’s a bad game, but it’s on this list for several reasons.

So fun fact: I had this game since the start of 2020, but I just started it this April and I just finished my first run last week. Make that another thing in the long list of things wrong with me.

For those who are completely uninitiated, yes, I did say first run. After fighting off some bandits and suddenly rewinding time through mysterious gremlin in your head, you end up as a probably underqualified professor for a church/academy. Seriously, wouldn’t it make more sense for Byleth to be a knight?

Anyway, you get to pick one of, well, 3 houses to teach, rising to 4 with DLC, with each having its own storyline and one of them getting 2. Gee, Black Eagles, how come Intsys let you have 2 storylines? Well, for spoiler reasons, but I digress.

While it takes a while to get around the monastery, you can train your students however you want. If you wanna give Ferdinand magic and put Dorothea on a horse, you can do that. Or you can put in the effort to bring students and some staff over to your house.

Alongside bringing back casual mode after Shadows of Valentia yeeted it out the window (look, I just don’t want people dying on me, ok?) you can also have a battalion of knights to follow a unit, so they can attack for them. I don’t know if this was a thing in other FE games, but it helps. Or you can turn back time if you want.

And I don’t wanna spoil, but this story is so darn good, at least the one route I’ve played, with plenty of moments that’ll throw you for a loop. And a lot of death.

Though let’s talk about those characters. Again, as of now, I’ve only played the Crimson Flower route, but each of the Black Eagles are likeable, some more than others. I plan on making a list on my favorites when I do every route in the game, but simply put, this is one of my favorite casts on the list. Especially the likes of Edelgard and Dorothea.

It’s a shame that so many people dismiss Fire Emblem and Xenoblade for no good reason. Look, they’re both great series, and if you don’t like or care about them, at least let people be happy. The fire’s not gonna die out just because you scream at people on the internet.

Number 19

You know, the state of modern indies compared to the state of modern AAA games is pretty ironic. Often, a game made by a team of hundreds or sometimes, thousands of professionals is overshadowed by the work of just a few people, or just one person.
Some people will bring up Undertale when talking about one-person developed games, but since I haven’t played that, I think of Dust: An Elysian Tail first.

So first thing’s first: this game might just have the most gorgeous visuals I’ve seen in an indie game, which is especially impressive considering one person did the art.

Then there’s the gameplay. First off, it’s a Metroidvania. Granted, indie Metroidvanias are a dime a dozen, but Dust does its part to stand out. For one thing, levels are separated, so backtracking is less of an issue.

This is also one of, if not my favorite combat systems in a Metroidvania. It plays a lot like a 2D hack & slash, but you can’t just button mash to win, usually, at least, but even if you button mash, it’s still fun.
Not only do you have various sword combos, but your bat thing companion, Fidget, can sneeze various types of bubbles, which you can spin your sword around to send all over the screen!

This is also one of my favorite stories on the list, especially among the non-RPGs. So the main protagonist, Dust, wakes up in a forest with everyone’s favorite plot device, amnesia. Thankfully, the mystery of Dust’s identity is done well. Without spoiling, it’s surprising, but looking back, it makes sense.
The game also takes on topics like racism and the horrors of war without feeling forced.

Most of the characters in this game are also well written. Despite having amnesia, Dust is still willing to help people while beating the $h!t out of monsters and soldiers. The aforementioned Fidget is your comic relief character without being annoying, many of the NPCs have plenty of thought put into them, and even your sword has a personality 5 years before Xenoblade 2!

Then there’s the soundtrack and voice acting. You’d be surprised how many voice actors got their start from this game, from Sean Chiplock, who did Revali, to Xander Mobus, the announcer for Smash 4 and Ultimate.

The soundtrack is also great, with each song fitting the situation near perfectly. Shoutouts to the boss themes especially.

Though the boss fights themselves suck, aside from the final boss, and the Sorrowing Meadows drag out for too darn long, but off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything else I dislike about the game. This is the kind of game that proves that indie games can leave a lot of triple A games in the dust.

Number 18

Speaking of indie games…

So remember how I had 5 indie tributes to classic games in part 1? Yeah, I’d say Shovel Knight’s my favorite tribute to the 8-bit grandfathers of gaming.

Aside from 8-bit graphics, you’ve got your SMB3 style world map, you’ve got your Zelda 2 style towns, and the levels and bosses all take the Mega Man approach, with sub-weapons being found and bought in levels instead of being taken from bosses.

Speaking of weapons, you wouldn’t expect a shovel to work well as a weapon, but it does work well as a weapon, from just smacking things, to digging for treasure, to bouncing off things like a rich duck.

Also, like Mega Man, the game focuses a lot on the bosses. Some of my favorites include Specter Knight, Tinker Knight, the last battle with the Black Knight, and the final battle of Shovel Knight’s campaign.

Oh, yeah. Thanks to DLC, there are 4 campaigns. Sure, they’re mostly the same locations (and Plague Knight’s levels are literally the same,) but trading in a shovel for bombs as Plague Knight makes a world of difference. Meanwhile, Specter of Torment is basically a more fair OG Ninja Gaiden trilogy before The Messenger even existed, and King of Cards is basically if Wario spun after hitting a wall with a shoulder bash. Also, there’s this card game, but you can just skip it if you want.

Add in one of the best soundtracks of last decade and it’s safe to say that the saga of Shovel Knight has dug its way into indie legend status.

Number 17

The King of Fighters ’94 was the progenitor of team-based fighting games, releasing before even X-Men vs. Street Fighter, as well as the progenitor of crossover fighting games, long before Mario beating the $h!t out of Pikachu was even a glimmer in Sakurai’s eye (and, in fact, inspiring that.)
The series as a whole has mostly improved over the years in some areas, so logically, KoF 15 would be on here.
Unfortunately, my laptop sucks too much to play that or KoF 14, so instead, KoF 13 it is.

After whatever the heck KoF 12 was, KoF 13 was made as a blend of old and new. For example, remember the Free Cancel and Max mode in 2002? Well, they’re basically back here, but rebranded as Drive Cancels and Hyper Drive Mode. You get to cancel specials into supers and you have a mode that lets you use as many EX moves as you want until the meter runs out.

Speaking of meter, you get EX Supers, and then you get even flashier Neo Max moves. Kula’s is a sight to behold.

Also, unlike KoF 12, KoF 13 isn’t super buggy and didn’t take out some characters’ best moves, and they brought back the story mode with a satisfying end to the Ash Saga.

Oh, yeah. The characters. Most of the new ones were either from Fatal Fury or new forms of old characters, but most of the roster is fun to play. A lot of old characters made their return, like K’ and Mai, though it did make the unforgivable sin of not making Mary playable. Don’t just sideline my girl like that!

Jokes aside, KoF 13 is still one of the most fun fighting games I’ve played, though I have heard KoF 15 is one of the best fighting games in recent memory. If I had a PS5 or Steamdeck, I’d get it myself, if SNK didn’t just announce NFTs last month. I’d prefer they go bankrupt again. Oh, how the king has fallen.

Number 16

Despite the name, I wouldn’t say KoF isn’t exactly, well, the king of fighters. We have plenty of other fighting games on this list, and if you asked me who my favorite fighting game developer/publisher is, it’s Arcsys, without a doubt. About half of the fighters on this list had them involved at some point.

So let’s talk about that game with a full title that has to be treated like its own sentence.

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R. That has to be the fighting game with the longest title ever.

Anyway, let’s address the elephant in the room: why Plus R instead of the later entries? Well, remember that thing about my laptop sucking? Yeah, Plus R runs pretty much perfectly on my laptop, while Sign runs at an average of 35 FPS at best and I’m pretty sure Strive would fry my computer. No, I don’t have a current-gen console that isn’t the Switch.

Anyway, vanilla Guilty Gear X2 was released in a time before you could patch games over the internet, so I might as well talk about that game, which, for one thing, introduced Bursting, so you can say “No, f**k your combo.” Either that, or while in neutral with your opponent within Burst range, you’ll Gold Burst and get all your meter.

It also introduced Force Roman Cancels to cancel the endlag off of projectiles or other moves before they get active hitboxes, as well as aerial Dust attacks, basically EX specials, and aerial throws, which speak for themselves.

Then Arcsys just kept making more and more versions of this game until we got Plus R, with a whole bunch of characters, some really weird (what tf even are you, Zappa,) but many very fun to play. I just have a lot of fun with this game and that’s why it’s this high.

(I tried finding a video of just grand finals for either Frosty Faustings or Combo Breaker.)

Though of the few games of Sign I’ve played, if my laptop didn’t run it at -20 FPS, I would’ve definitely played more of it. Yeah, I’m not even gonna try to buy Strive yet, because saying it’ll work on my laptop will have me quoting Smell of the Game.

Number 15

This party’s gettin’ crazy! Let’s rock!

You may think I’m getting crazy, seeing Devil May Cry 3 on here. I mean, instead of DMC5? What the heck is this? This is a list made by someone who only played the 1st and 3rd games on the Switch because he heard the second game sucks, his laptop is made of pizza that Dante would barely tolerate, and he, again, only has said laptop, a Switch and a Wii.

Anyway, DMC3 is set as Dante was just starting his demon hunting career and didn’t even have a name for his business, but this time, there’s no more voice cracks like in DMC1, and no more being way too serious like in DMC2 or the anime, booted out in favor of Dante hamming it up and having the time of his life!

And the stylish cutscenes are backed up by equally stylish gameplay. It’s a lot faster than the first game, with the weapons now having major differences, and more importantly, you can switch between them mid-combo!
You’re gonna want to switch between your weapons often, because spamming the same moves will get you a lower letter ranking, and really, spamming isn’t very fun.

Speaking of style, that’s another mechanic in this game. Basically, you get to pick your playstyle, between focusing on your melee weapons with Swordmaster, focusing on guns with Gunslinger, getting to block and sometimes reflect attacks with Royal Guard, getting to dash with Trickster, slowing down time with Quicksilver, or letting you attack with your shadow with Doppelgänger. This, coupled with the aforementioned weapon switching makes DMC3 my pick for my favorite hack & slash.

Of course, what’s a good hack & slash without great bosses? DMC3 definitely delivers on that front. Granted, not all of them are good, but the majority of them are, from the first fight against Cerberus and its ice powers, to Nevan’s lightning powers, to all 3 fights against Vergil.

Oh, yeah, that reminds me. The plot worked well aside from Dante being a ham sandwich, with Dante’s twin brother, Vergil, teaming up with this guy named Arkham to try to open up the demon world, and Dante waltzing in to stop that.

If you plan on getting the game, I’d recommend the Switch version, especially if you don’t live in Japan. For some reason, when localizing vanilla DMC3, Capcom USA flip-flopped the normal and hard modes. Thankfully, this was fixed in the Special Edition, as well as letting you switch between Styles mid combo AND have all your weapons at once in the Switch version!

Though that’s nothing compared to playing as Vergil and his glowing swords after beating the game! Granted, his levels are the same and the “Dante” fights are just Vergil reskins, but at least he has new cutscenes.

Though if DMC5 is as good as I heard it is, then I think we’ve hit the jackpot.

Number 14

Most long-running franchises, even some of the best, have at least one bad game. Then there’s everyone’s favorite hangry pink puffball.
The consensus is that there’s no such thing as a bad Kirby game and out of the ones I’ve played, I’d agree.

So let’s do a mini-list of my favorite Kirby games, again, not including Forgotten Land, because at the time of writing this, I haven’t played it yet.

Number 10) Dream Land 1, one of my most nostalgic games. It’s weird to have a mainline Kirby game without Copy Abilities, but it’s still a great starting point.

Number 9) Mass Attack. Not gonna lie, up to 10 Kirbies is f**king terrifying!

Number 8) Nightmare in Dream Land, the remake of the game that introduced Copy Abilities.

Number 7) Fighters 2. Definitely won’t be seen at Evo any time soon, but I had a lot of fun with it. I wish there were more Nintendo fighting games now that Smash is over.

Number 6) Epic Yarn. How do you make Kirby more adorable? Make him out of yarn, put him in a yarn world, and give him a yarn whip.

Number 5) Star Allies. Even though it’s stupid easy, even for this series, and it took a while to get really good, it’s worth, with all the extra playable characters and adding elements to weapons.

Number 4) Super Star Ultra, the remake of the one that introduced multiple moves per Ability. Also gave us The True Arena, Masked Dedede and more Meta Knight.

Number 3) Kirby 64. I wish other games handled mixed Abilities like this game does.

Number 2) Return to Dream Land, a return to form after whatever Epic Yarn and Mass Attack were, the Super Abilities are pure eye candy and it paved the way for the next 3 main series games…

including the one that pierces the heavens!

Honestly, I could put any of my top 3 Kirby games on here and that’d still work, but Planet Robobot is by far my favorite Kirby game! Say what you will about Return to Dream Land, Super Star Ultra, 64 or whatever else (just as long as you don’t spoil Forgotten Land,) but this one brought out more joy in me than any other!

First off, the Robobot is the best gimmick in the series imo! Unlike the other modern gimmicks, it doesn’t feel like the game is playing itself. It’s an extension of the normal gameplay. You can still do your normal ability swapping shenanigans, just with a LOT more power!

Also, instead of just being thrown in for the sake of having a giant robot, it actually makes sense in the context of the story, considering space robots have come to conquer Pop Star.

The new Copy Abilities in this game aren’t my favorites on average, but they’re all fun and themed around man-made progress. You’ve got the un-subtle Doctor, the boss-destroying Poison, and the broken ESP. Also, thank you so much, whoever decided to bring back Jet, Mirror and Smash!

Even the levels are themed around the technological takeover. The standard grass, water and desert levels are all decked out in machinery. Heck, there’s a town level, a neon music level and a giant factory level.

And this is easily my favorite boss roster in the series! From my favorite variation of Whispy all the way to my favorite final boss in the series, there is not a single bad boss in this game!

Throw in that AWESOME soundtrack and Planet Robobot sucks me in like few others.

Number 13

When it comes to Evo, you can always expect Street Fighter, Tekken and/or Mortal Kombat on the main stage, Smash used to be a mainstay until last year, Marvel vs. Capcom used to be a mainstay until people figured out MvCI wasn’t worth it, to put it lightly, and then you have the occasional overlooked title.
Skullgirls was a pleasant surprise for last year (if you ignore the fact that it would’ve been there in 2020) and before 2019, I bet Under Night In-Birth fans would’ve never expected that game on Evo’s main stage.

Though the game absolutely deserves it.

So the plot revolves around this thing known as the Hollow Night. No, not the game of a near-identical name (which I haven’t played yet.) This Hollow Night is when these freaky things known as Voids biting people.

Usually, being bitten by a void kills you, but those who do survive being bitten end up getting superpowers. You’ve got basic stuff like summoning a sword or wind powers and then you’ve got stuff like summoning a demon lizard out of a book, Spider-Man but more spider accurate, and using solidified blood as a weapon, which has gotta be painful. And it is.

Anime fighters from the last decade or so pride themselves on mixing spectacle with fun gameplay, and UNI delivers in spades. So you’ve got this other meter in the middle of the bottom of the screen shared between both players.
This meter is gained via good offense and defense, and can be spent on airdashes, shields straight from Melty Blood (more on that later,) or unique actions used by the B and C buttons. Or you can save it for a rainy day to buff your damage or use it to gain super meter.

Speaking of super meter, you’ve got your EX moves using half your meter, supers usable at full meter, and more powerful and flashier supers only usable at low health. Also, you can press all the buttons to get infinite super meter for a limited time.

And most of the characters are fun to play. Aside from the characters I already mentioned, you’ve got Wagner heating up her sword and shield, Londrekia playing like a figure skater, complete with ice powers, Yuzuriha shmoving all over the place, and even Sion from Melty Blood, albeit renamed for copyright reasons.

It’s a shame this game took so long to make it to Evo, but better late than never.

Number 12

Aside from maybe mobile games, there are generally few games that are mostly there to spin a quick buck more than licensed games. Most of the time, these games just use brand recognition to do all the marketing for them without even bothering with things like quality assurance. There are plenty of examples of that, like the recent Avengers game.
Then there’s the rare example of licensed games done right, like Goldeneye, which almost made the list, Battle for Bikini Bottom, which I haven’t finished, the Batman Arkham series, which I also haven’t finished, and the number 12 entry, Dragon Ball FighterZ.

The thing about many anime-based fighting games is that many of them are anime games first and fighting games second. Take the Tenkaichi line, for example. It’s fun to shoot giant lasers at the other person, but it’s not exactly balanced and a lot of characters play exactly the same.
FighterZ, however, has equal measures of references and fighting game mechanics.

Let’s start my explanation with the roster. Sure there’s 5 Gokus (not including AUs or Fusions,) 3 Vegetas (also not including Fusions,) 2 Gohans (without including him assisting Videl as Great Saiyaman,) 2 Buus (not including genderbent Buu) and 2 Brolies (not including the genderbent AU Broly,) but aside from that, we’ve got characters from all corners of Dragon Ball history (or at least what most people know of,) from OG series classics like Krillin, Roshi, Yamcha, Piccolo and Tien, to Z-series favorites (and not so favorites) like Gohan, Videl, Gotenks and all the notable villains from Z, to newcomers from Super, like Goku Black, Zamasu, Kefla, Hit and Jiren and even movie characters like Bardock, Cooler, Broly and Beerus, as well as the GT reps, GT Goku, Baby and SS4 Gogeta.
Then there’s the OC, Android 21, who I’ll talk about later.

With the exception of said OC, pretty much every attack in the game is a reference to Dragon Ball in some way, be it a moment in the anime or just one panel from the manga. As if that weren’t enough, you’ve got special finishes recreating moments from the source material, or having a Gogeta vs. Vegito beam struggle. The devs at Arcsys clearly have eyes for detail!

This is all backed up with really gameplay. Like Marvel vs. Capcom, it’s a 3v3 fighter by default, complete with assists, but since the Switch version came out, you can use any amount of characters up to 3. Not that you’ll see 2 person teams or solo characters in tournaments, but whatever.

With lasers flying everywhere, people teleporting and flying all over the place, Sparking Blast acting like MvC3’s X-Factor, those flashy supers and the very occasional Shenron appearance, it’s like a more balanced version of actual Dragon Ball, except 5 minutes doesn’t take 5 hours.

Unless you’re playing online because the netcode sucks! GGPO works! Skullgirls and Guilty Gear Strive prove that!
Also, the story is a garbage fire! I get that it’s Arcsys and fighters with complicated plots are their thing, but it’s still a fighting game! I play those to kick @$$! The f**k is this Clone Wars $h!t?! I honestly would’ve preferred playing Z and Super again, but with Android 21 thrown in.
*Sigh* Speaking of 21, they leaned WAY too heavily on the vore angle and I don’t like that! I like her otherwise (at least the good side of her,) but every time I think of her, that whole vore thing comes to mind first and I’d like to not be eaten.

Ignoring that, you’ve got a really fun and relatively simple fighting game and a massive love letter to one of the greats of anime.
This is what licensed games should aspire to. Just Saiyan.

Number 11

On goes the fighting game train, though this time, we’re headed to something more indie.

In case the fact that I made a list about it didn’t make it obvious, I F**KING LOVE SKULLGIRLS! Seriously, this is one of the best fighting game experiences around!

First off, the art style is gorgeous. Every frame of every character is hand-drawn and often references some form of either fighting game culture or 1930s culture, from 30s-40s cartoons to Ryu’s win poses to film noir to several skins referencing fighting games and other pop culture to a character that’s just a walking jazz band. Speaking of jazz, I love the soundtrack, too. Honestly, one of the best soundtracks in fighting games.

More importantly, on the gameplay front, it’s a 3v3 fighter like Marvel 2 and 3, but you can fight with 1 or 2 characters on your team like KoF ’98, and if you have an uneven number of team members, the game will balance out your health bars, or in a 1v1, treat health bars Night Warriors style. Unlike DBFZ, you’ll actually see teams of 2 or single character teams in tournaments.

Plus, you have custom assists, so if you want your Cerebella to grab your opponent and slap them around while you taunt (by the way, some taunts are viable,) you can do that.

The story’s a little bit cliché; everyone wants this dark MacGuffin and/or tries to kill the girl possessed by the dark MacGuffin, but I got attached to a lot of the characters. Especially Parasoul. My kingdom for a woman like her…

Also, Skullgirls runs rollback netcode, which basically means if my internet works perfectly for once and the person I’m fighting is on the other side of America and also running Spotify while 5 other people in their house are watching Youtube videos, Once Upon a Time, Last Airbender, Castlevania and Spy x Family on different screens, there’s no input delay. Looking at you, DBFZ! You’ve got rollback on Strive and BlazBlue, Arcsys! Do you want me to bash it into your skulls?!

Well, all that’s left is the finale. Click here to get to it.