videogames — berkough.com

The Game Awards 2025

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 08:29:25 +0000

Jive Coding

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 04:07:53 +0000

#programming #webdev #webapps #videogamegossip #videogames #videogamenews #gamingnews

All the vibe coders seem to be programmed to do the same thing. Deploy React apps. Regardless of what you want to do, it seems to spin up in React as the default. You can tell it to use other languages, but I've not had much success with any other language. I'm also not versed in many languages, other than javascript.

WAY back in the day I did BASIC. Then there was that time that I got into PERL... I've also done some PHP, those were the early days of Wordpress and Drupal. Or course there was also that time that I tried to learn REBOL, but couldn't figure out what the hell I was actually going to build with it. Then of course Dartlang came along, and because I'm 100% immersed in the Google ecosystem, I thought it would be fun to learn that.

Long story, long; the only language that I've found any utility in was javascript. So, hate me all you want. I just didn't go down the same path as you.

I've been trying to vibe code a new version of VideoGameGossip(“VGG”) for a long time now... Ever since I bought the domain (along with a basic WordPress setup) off an Indian bloke living in the UK. I actually don't know if he was Indian, there's just that meme that keeps coming to mind.

The Name alone, “VideoGameGossip.com,” was worth the price I paid. So I'm certainly not mad about it. And I got some use out of the setup that he provided, but it just wasn't the site that I wanted to run.

For what it's worth, I do have a certificate in frontend web design, which is about three years old at this point...? I don't remember exactly, but I think it was the beginning of 2023. It was right before Amazon and Google decided to lay off a bunch of people, so the certificate wasn't very valuable when I got it. I was fighting over entry-level positions with senior-level programmers. In any case, I do know a bit about React, even though I'm not a huge fan of it. I also have some AWS and old school LAMP admin under my belt. Though, I prefer Digital Ocean and Google Cloud over AWS, all-day, every day. But I suppose that's the subject of another blog post.

In any case, I'm actually a fan of this vibe coding trend. I just think that it still takes SOME programming knowledge to be able to enjoy it. Also, if you've spent any time messing around with running LLMs locally, that experience helps with the process of understanding what's happening during a vibe coding session. This is true for all tech though, having a better understanding of the tech that you're working with will make you a better user of that tech.

General Vibe Coding Opinions

So, it's disappointing to look at most of the discourse surrounding the use of AI coding assisstants and tools. Unfortunately I only see two types of opinions when it comes to vibe coding:

It's the best thing ever; OR
AI is an abomination from hell.

Personally, I think it's in-between. You do benefit from it as long as you understand the code that it's producing. A lot of people will just copy and paste and complain that it doesn't work properly. Even back in 2022 and 23, this was even going on in my frontend bootcamp class, people were already resigned to the idea that Chat was going to take their job. Also, asking Chat to solve their homework assignments for them was much easier than actually figuring out the problems. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't. I preferred to actually put in the work and do the coding problems. So my opinion of vibe coding is somewhat more nuanced.

No Two Services Are Quite The Same

The original “vibe coded” version of VGG was built using lovable.dev. That service is good, but there's no easy way to deploy your app to a custom domain (or at least there wasn't not that long ago), and as far as backend infrastructure is concerned, the only option is Supabase.

As I'm sure you can probably tell, currently I'm utilizing Google's “AI Studio”, which will then deploy to the Google Cloud ecosystem/infrastructure natively, and almost seamlessly. Not to mention, a simple web application is relatively cheap, the only real expense is storage. The application is so light that I'm only expecting to pay a dollar at the end of the month. Yes, you read that correctly, $1. If for some reason a bunch of people visit the site, I would probably need several thousand visits for it to spin up enough instances to really cause any problems with the site. Most likely what would happen is that it would stop pulling news articles before it cost me any real money.

If I have to build a custom back-end, I could... Golang would probably be my choice. I'd have to spend more time with it, but for what I want to do, I don't think it would be too complex.

Hopefully I'll be back with my post about our time in Mexico... I think it's a decent story. I just felt the need to talk about the stuff I've actively been spending my time on—of the things that aren't work-related.

Also, it's been a while since I've run or hosted a website, so I'm using this opportunity to get up to speed on the current tech. Let me know what you think! I would be happy to hear your thoughts.

The Game Awards 2024

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 08:24:38 +0000

The Cozy House Rules

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 02:27:55 +0000

#videogames #xbox #gamepass #xboxgamepass #walkingsimulators #cozygames

Playing Little Kitty, Big City at my niece's birthday party a month or two ago sort of set me off on a path of playing a bunch of short and cozy games, walking simulators, light puzzle games, things of that nature. I've played quite a few of them in relatively quick succession recently. I had known about Little Kitty from IGN's Justin Davis, who mentioned the game on their podcast “Game Scoop.” But I didn't really have any intention of playing it. Meanwhile my wife found out about the game from her TikTok feed and encouraged us to check it out.

When I was done with Little Kitty, I moved on and played Return to Grace, and I thoroughly enjoyed pretty much everything about that title. Sort of like Firewatch, except it's set in an alternate future where atomic age sci-fi aesthetics have dominated interior design, but then I finished that game. And then I moved on to and finished Botany Manor. And then I played and finished A Short Hike. Now I'm playing an indie game that is sort of a Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes inspired game called Merge & Blade. All of these games are relatively short, most of them don't take more than about four hours to play, so you can get through them in a single evening.

I won't be talking about A Short Hike because that's a relatively old game at this point, but I figured I might write about the others because they're much newer, and might not have as much hype surrounding them. Not only were they concise, but they were well thought out, and have a lot to offer even though they're packed into such small and short presentations.

So, without further adieu...

Little Kitty, Big City

This is probably going to be my game of the year (“GOTY”) for 2024. Honestly. I know that I'm known as a person who likes turn-based and tactical RPGs, hardcore puzzle games, and the occasional FPS. All of that is still true, but time has been a factor as I get older. I still want the dopamine hit of completing a game without having to invest more than a full work week into playing it. If I did nothing else with my time except work and play video games, then it might be acceptable to sit and grind away at whatever 100+ hour endeavor the internet says is worth my time, but there is definitely a huge and untapped market for games that only occupy a couple of hours of someones attention.

Even with it's short runtime, the game is a fully realized open world. The website “How Long to Beat” shows people putting in an average of only two and half hours to go through just the main objective, but there are quite a few side objectives, and optional collectibles that you can hunt for which can provide up to around eight hours of gameplay total. This is done in true open world fashion. Often, it's a check list of things that correspond to an achievement that you can unlock. Sometimes it's collecting a thing, sometimes it's just finding a thing, sometimes it's unlocking a thing, etc. And you run into different animal characters that serve as these quest givers throughout the city blocks that you're allowed to roam. Your opposition and minor impediments are the humans that shew you away if you happen to have a mission inside of a storefront or around where they're working. There's charm to collecting enough pigeon feathers to trade to the local raccoon so that he can open up fast-travel points for you. Or roaming around and trying to find the lost goslings.

The overall density of the world, the visual variety, and how everything is connected is quite the master class in how to do open world game design, in my humble opinion. So in that regard, even though it's such a short game, it's not an empty game. There is quite a bit to discover and explore. Eight hours approaches Call of Duty campaign territory, which I feel is probably the perfect length for a game.

Mechanically you're essentially just controlling a cat, standard third-person 3D perspective, and it's mostly platforming. The challenge of the game is to utilize the Breath of the Wild style climbing meter in the most efficient way possible to get back to where you started—an apartment located on a high rise building in the center of the map. You can expand the meter by collecting fish—so the more fish you eat, the stronger you become, which translates to being able to climb for longer and longer periods of time.

There are tons of collectible hats in the game as well. You get to use gatchapon machines and get random hats to put on your kitty while you play the game. Most of the hats didn't do anything (from what I could tell), but some of them affected the way humans interacted with you. Presumably the humans think you're cute and therefore don't bother you? That's my working theory anyway, it was never explicitly explained as to why certain hats allow you to explore certain areas without humans chasing you away. Unless I missed the tool tip or the popup text.

I could probably go on at length talking about all the different things you do in the game, but that would spoil the experience. Honestly, throw away any preconceived notions about this being a “kiddie” game, or not worth the effort to play because you're too busy

Return to Grace

The last walking simulator that I played was maybe Observation... and one of my favorite games of all-time is Firewatch. I'd say Return to Grace is on par with both of those titles in terms of narrative design, and sort of draws upon inspiration from both of those titles. The puzzles were a little lacking (then again Firewatch didn't really have any puzzles either), and there could be a bit more player agency, yet there are still multiple endings. Certain decisions that you make in the game will steer you in one direction or the other. Additionally, the short length means that its easy enough to do multiple playthroughs. I did my own, then watched my wife, and then went back for a third playthrough to try a different option that neither of us chose around two-thirds of the way through. I wasn't expecting much in terms of how much the story would change, other than some different dialog, so I was pleasantly surprised with how they handled it.

Probably my favorite thing about the game is the retro sci-fi aesthetic. I really enjoyed that aspect of the game. The art design sets it apart from its contemporary peers, and also serves as a buffer so the game doesn't need to explain as much about how things work. Much in the same way that old school sci-fi from the 50s and 60s (the Atomic Age) mainly use science and technology as plot devices, Return to Grace employs a similar suspension of disbelief. It's more about the compelling questions that the game asks of you as a person, and also what Adie is going through.

Botany Manor

This is a gem of a title. It's a cozy version of Myst. It is more or less a walking simulator in the sense that it focuses heavily on environmental clues in the form of notes strew about the setting. You play as Arabella Greene, a botanist who has just returned home to her family's Victorian-era English Manor. A publisher has agreed to purchase Arabelle's manuscript for the book 'Forgotten Flora'. She has the entire estate to herself while she conducts the research needed fill the pages of the book.

Visually the game is really stunning, the best way I can think to describe it is like The Witness mixed with some Harry Potter. The flowers that you grow from the seeds that you find and document are all quite whimsical, and they each have special climate needs for them to sprout. None of it is all that scientific, but I don't really care. It's fascinating and fun, and the puzzles are inspired if not entirely accurate. There were a few that don't really make sense outside of the game world, but they weren't jarring enough to break the immersion.

In a way it's a bit like a bunch of escape rooms all linked together, but the context clues in the setting sort of blur into each of the puzzles. You're far off from a clue when you're near where the puzzle needs to be solved, and virtually everything you can interact with has some purpose. The game is smart about not forcing you to have to hold more than a few pieces of information in your head at any given time. Which is a good thing, because there was no journal system that I could find. The book that you're writing and keeping notes in only has a brief description of the clues that you then have to associate with the flower that you're attempting to grow.

This game is just fine the way it is, but I wouldn't mind a sequel or a spiritual successor to this game that has a bit more meat on the bones, more complex puzzles, and a journaling system that lets the player juggle more clues, maybe even having to hold on to clues for longer than 10 minutes at a time. By the same token, this is a great game to give someone who isn't sure if they like puzzle games.

Merge & Blade

This is a quaint and interesting indie game that is a bit like Might & Magic: Class of Heroes. It's kind of like Doctor Mario meets Candy Crush with a medieval pixel-art veneer.

I haven't made much progress in M&B because there was a bug that prevented players from saving, but it looks like that bug has been worked out and now the game records your progress. I've played through the beginning 4 chapters of the campaign on 3 different occasions now. Sadly, tonight, I didn't really have the time to play past chapter 4, like I did the other night on my second attempt, to see if the game would save my progress after rebooting it.

Nevertheless, I'm intrigued by it. It's random like Vampire Survivors but still somewhat strategic. It's a match 3 game, but it's also a bit of a minimalist RTS. But, it could use a little more pizzazz in the visual department. Because the first review that I found on YouTube mentioned that the RNG was not forgiving enough for the player to form any type of a strategy, and I disagree with that. Those RNG elements are the same things that make slot machines interesting. They just need to play up the slot machine elements of the game more, have more sounds, numbers bouncing off of the enemy heads, and things like that. Maybe even have different patterns for the merging of your soldiers.

There are also persistent upgrades that unlock over time as well, which open up new unit combinations and things like that. So, the RNG becomes less and less of an issue the more that you play. I'll have to report back once I'm farther along.

Top 20 Video Games of All-Time (2023)

Sun, 07 Jan 2024 06:28:15 +0000

#videogames #top20 #morrowind #masseffect #finalfantasy6 #talosprinciple #bittriprunner2 #missilecommand #supermariobros #streetfighteralpha3 #colonywars #gtasanandreas #yakuza0 #fireemblem #zeldaocarinaoftime #tombraider #fez #sonic2 #pokemon #shinmegamitensei3 #metalgearsolid #bloodstainedrotn

December 30, 2023 was the last Pixel Pints podcast episode that will be recorded for the foreseeable future. All of us founding members have decided to put the show on hiatus. It's been a good ride. I can't speak for the others, but I can speak for myself. Somewhat in honor of that, I thought it might be good to do another top 20 list. Don't worry I'll get into the titles on this list, but first, I'm going to muse and rant a bit on the gaming industry as a whole. More specifically about “journalism” and gaming enthusiast media.

Special shout out to MobyGames. I reached out to them last year when I was going through my frontend development course, and they provided me with API access. I haven't done much with it yet, but all of the links and images for this list (with the exception of the above image created with Topsters 3) are all from Moby. Maybe I can come up with a creative way to use the API that would be beneficial for the site and that community as well as offer some cool utility... I'm open to suggestions.

If you're so inclined though, and want to skip ahead to a specific title, just click the number next to it on the list above.

The “News” 📰

I used to spend a LOT of time following all the gaming news and culture pretty heavily, and even engaging with people on various forums and social media groups; SIFTD, Reddit, Twitter (RIP), etc. I was fascinated by the industry and the business of making games, but I'm starting to lose interest in that aspect of the hobby. The mainstream scene would rather concern itself with building multimedia empires; re-re-remastering already remade games and milking their IP for that sweet TV series and motion picture money, rather than just making good games. Everything that Sony releases is a “narrative focused third-person semi-open-world action game.” Their only competitor, Microsoft, owns half the world, and it's unclear as to what exactly defines them as a platform holder... other than maybe being the Netflix of games? Nintendo continues to just do it's own thing and be a weirdo who refuses to directly compete with the other two.

The things that drew me into following the AAA industry don't seem to be there anymore.

There also aren't any professional enthusiast media outlets I know of that focus on the things I'm interested in, or that seem to be able to make money covering indie projects. Video game “news” is not journalism. Rather it's “enthusiast media.” It's more tabloid than useful or important information (though Jason Schrier seems to be able to put together a good story every once in a while when he isn't busy blocking people on Twitter). Most outlets survive as publications by being a pseudo branch of marketing for the publishers... Obviously, no one is getting paid to give away 10-out-of-10 review scores or anything like that. But, it is very much a symbiotic relationship. Subscribing to EasyAllies, MinnMax, Kinda Funny, SIFTD, or Last Stand Media is really not much different than the PSM (PlayStation Magazine) subscription that I used to have back in the 90s. The landscape has definitely changed though, people don't want a magazine experience anymore, they would rather see people talk to one another, or stream their gameplay. My tolerance for that kind of entertainment has been worn thin with over-saturation of that style of content.

There are usually only one or two major stories that show up in the majority of gaming podcasts and on most major gaming sites in any given week, and everyone usually just parrots the same talking points. Assuming any one of the personalities has a unique or noteworthy opinion, the only way to suss it out is to subject myself to literally HUNDREDS of hours of people pontificating, and there are better ways to spend my time. As much as I really like Colin Moriarty and the way that he's handling LSM, I just don't have the bandwidth for it, so I don't give a shit about talking heads spewing the same bullshit about whatever the latest AAA release is going to be—especially considering I'm probably not going to play whatever said game is anyway.

There's so much more going on in the fandom of games that doesn't get highlighted or talked about in the standard news cycle. Thankfully I do have some friends who have their finger on the pulse, and they tend to share that stuff with me when they come across it. Beyond that, the stuff that interests me is “how-the-sausage-is-made”. Most prospective game buyers don't care to get that intimate with their escapism. As a consequence of that, developer interviews are watered down to talking points that fit a PR-approved marketing agenda. When real “how-the-sausage-is-made” information or content does come out to the public, it's usually regarding games that were made decades ago so that whatever is being talked about doesn't affect the profitability of the product. Anecdotally-speaking, some of my favorite YouTube videos right now are Tim Cain just reminiscing about the projects he's worked on and talking about how they did certain things back in the 90s. There are the occasional source code leaks, but no one in an official capacity with the victim company ever talks about it publicly. There might be some mercenaries out there who have the time to dissect stolen source code, but if they went public with their findings they'd be admitting that they have possession of the source code and subjecting themselves to serious legal liability.

If you are actually buying games as they come out, then the consensus from all the mainstream outlets in the form of reviews might be nice to have. The games I like though generally don't get a lot of coverage because they're niche. There are plenty of YouTubers out there catering to very specific audiences though, so I watch those guys. But even Meta/Open Critic aren't very useful sites for me because I'm not really paying much attention to a lot of the new games on day one.

So here we are, 2024, and I'm not looking forward to playing any new games that are slated to be released in the coming months. Instead, I'm attracted to digging into my backlog and clearing out some older games.

I realize all of THIS is a “me” problem.

On to the list!

Methodology 📋

Honestly, there was no real methodology for selecting these games. I hit my vape and just started picking titles. These are the most Berkough-ass games out there, as of 2023, and subject to change at a moments notice, in no particular order.

However, all the games on this list did at least one ground-breaking thing that I can point to—unique or notable at the time of release—that would qualify them for a greatest of all-time list. That's about it. Though, you could say a lot of these games also represent the stuff I think is missing from the modern AAA landscape.

Otherwise it's meant to just be a discussion starter, as is the case with all top-whatever lists i.e.:

Why is this game on the list?!?
Where isn't (insert game here) on the list?!?
Why didn't you mention (x, y, or z) about (insert title)??

The List 📜

1. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

This game changed everything about what I thought an RPG was supposed to be. I wasn't really aware of Daggerfall when Morrowind was released. I had just saved up a bunch of money from a summer job I had cleaning carpets and I bought a new laptop. Amazingly it could play Morrowind (as well as Counter-Strike, but that's for another post). I became immersed in the world of Vvardenfell, the prophecy of the chosen one, the majesty of Lord Vivec, and the time that I was so engrossed that I forgot to save, accidentally killed an essential NPC and had to reload a save from 6-12 hours prior to that moment. The more I think about it, the more I'm almost certain it was Caius Cosades who attacked me for trying to steal his skooma pipe. I had no choice, I was trying to stage an intervention for the old drug addict. In any case, killing an essential NPC meant that you couldn't complete the main quest, and the game didn't guarantee that any of the other quest lines would work properly after an essential NPC was killed either.

“With this character's death, the thread of prophecy is severed. Restore a saved game to restore the weave of fate, or persist in the doomed world you have created.” ~ The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

What is unique about this game?

The freedom. Elder Scrolls games have definitely been streamlined over the years, but Morrowind continues to hold its own as the title that combined real choice with hardcore RPG mechanics unafraid ostracizing players who didn't take the time to learn the systems. I think that's probably in part due to the fact that Bethesda didn't think the game would do as well as it did, and it was a bit of a hail Mary and a swan song for the company.

2. Mass Effect

Despite the fact that 3 is my favorite in the series, the original Mass Effect is probably BioWare's magnum opus. It really was the perfected formula they had been crafting, beginning with Baldur's Gate. I actually hadn't played Baldur's Gate until just a couple of years ago, but the DNA is absolutely evident. It's a perfect blend of stats, action, and choose your own adventure romance novel. IMHO, the first Mass Effect is also the perfect length. All of those elements combine to represent the temperature of baby bear's porridge, “just right.” ME2 is much darker in tone, it has that heist mentality, but that final boss is one of the stupidest ways any game has ever ended. Meanwhile, Saren is more like a Bond villain; seemingly limitless resources and power, but has an ethical and moral weakness that is ultimately his downfall. Whether or not you choose to address his shortcomings as a ruthless motherfucker or as a boy scout is entirely up to you.

What is unique about this game?

The dialog wheel! Well, that's part of it, it's not just the dialog wheel itself, but the fact that BioWare somehow managed to pull off Star Trek -meets- Star Wars with lore and universe all its own. Hindsight is 20/20, and sure, your choices at the end of the trilogy only amount to Red Ending, Blue Ending, or Green Ending. But, it's about the journey and being able to run around with your favorite companions, hearing their banter and seeing their reactions to your choices.

3. Final Fantasy VI

As I get older and I have more time to reflect on the best entries of the Final Fantasy franchise (IV through IX), the more VI stands out as the pinnacle of the series for me. I've definitely spent more hours playing VII and VIII—yet, VI has all the core elements which make VII and VIII so great. Additionally VI has a larger and more robust cast of characters, and it's a much deeper and darker story than VII or VIII. I could have chosen to go with IX, since that's the other fan favorite, but I decided to go with the one that refined the blueprint. As much love as I have for IX, the art style is really what kills that game for me. I've never enjoyed it. I'm not a huge Tetsuya Nomura fan, but his character designs are so far superior to the group they had working on IX. VI escapes that dilemma because they were limited by the number of pixels they could show on screen, so Yoshitaka Amano's concept and promotional art fills in a lot of the visual gaps.

What is unique about this game?

The sheer number of characters available to be put in your party, the largest number of playable characters in a Final Fantasy game. Along with that large cast of characters is quite an incredible tapestry of personalities that make the world feel lived in. There's also the fact that the villain wins half-way through the game. Effectively two games stitched together, VI is both it's prequel and sequel all in one package.

4. The Talos Principle

A criminally overlooked first-person puzzle experience that blew me away and left my wife and I with hours and hours of joyous puzzle-solving time spent together. Talos borrows from Portal and serves the same market niche, but much more than that, the game adeptly combines all the best parts of Portal and Myst then throws a little “immersive sim” into the mix with the way it delivers audio and text logs to fill out the story and lore. Although optional, if you do pursue the lore the game conveys a compelling narrative with serious commentary on the human condition and our effect on the planet. The game does not hold your hand either, but has a beautifully executed difficulty curve. Most developers don't even try to present increasing challenges with such a smooth evolution of complexity, other than maybe Nintendo.

What is unique about this game?

Everything. There aren't any other games out there quite like Talos. As mentioned above, it does owe a lot to Portal for paving the way for first person puzzle games, but so do games like Superliminal and The Witness, which are both entirely different experiences from what you get in Talos.

5. Bit.Trip Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

Another game that, for me, has the perfect difficulty curve. Runner 2 took a mobile genre that sprung up, they injected it with familiar platformer mechanics inspired by Mario and Sonic... What came out the other side is a bizarre yet complex game that is uniquely its own. This is a game that has to be experienced. That being said, everyone that I've had play the game has enjoyed it, even friends and family of mine who do not regularly play games. Old school couch co-op where everyone takes turns and the controller gets passed around.

What is unique about this game?

So much; the art, the narration by Charles Martinet, the quirky character and world concepts, and also how each level has it's own difficulty that can be toggled.

6. Missile Command

Atari had to have at least one entry on this list. This just happens to be my favorite. It's a simple game mechanically, but one that has almost infinite complexity because there is no determinable pattern to the missiles as they descend. The concept is also simple; defend the cities with your own missiles. While the arcade version is superior in a lot of respects to the 2600 port, I like the later because of it's simple one-button operation. The arcade version was even more difficult to manage because you had to parse out which of your three missile stations (left, middle, right) you needed to use. The middle missiles go faster, but the ones on either side might be closer if you're fast enough to calculate the trajectory and timing in your head.

What is unique about this game?

The theme. In the 70s and 80s games were relatively whimsical, this is the the first game like “Spec Ops”, if you sit to think about what's going on too much, you could very well have a serious existential crisis on your hands. An addicting quarter-muncher about nuclear warfare at the point of apocalypse. If there are no cities left to defend the game is over, and if you make it far enough you probably won't have enough missiles to save all the cities. There's also no way to “win”, you just stave off the inevitable destruction of the planet for as long as you can.

7. Super Mario Bros.

Quite often I'll cite Super Mario Bros. 3 as being my favorite in the series, and generally speaking that's true. I sort of waffle between Super Mairo World and 3, but the reality is that I've spent way more time playing the original than any other entry in the franchise. The original Super Mario Bros. doesn't need much of an explanation. More than a description of what the game is, it's the sounds and the visuals, and the feel of the corners of the NES controllers digging into your palms. The experience of playing this game is so ubiquitous in human society, it would be difficult to find someone who hasn't played this game at least once.

What is unique about this game?

Mushrooms and fire flowers.

8. Street Fighter Alpha 3

One fighting game, at least. That was my thought was when putting this list together. It could have been King of Fighters XIII(SNK stuck with sprites for much longer than Capcom did), but Alpha 3 has a lot of good memories for me. I would also consider it the height of Capcom's fighting game dominance. Late-90s Capcom was the era of “The Fighters Edge”, which was a mail-in club they started where you could earn points for buying each fighting game that was “Fighters Edge” branded, and they would send you exclusive merchandise in return. I think I had a Fighter's Edge cloth patch that I used to replace the Marlboro logo on a baseball cap my friend's mother gifted me one year for Christmas. The fact that Marlboro also had a mail-order catalog that you could send away UPC labels to in exchange for branded products is also just indicative of that time in the 90s.

What is unique about this game?

IMHO, this has the best super-move system, the different “isms” offered some flexibility in the way that you could play each character. This game came out the same year as Marvel Vs. Capcom, so it does share some of that DNA as well. The selection of characters was also top notch. My favorites were always Ken, Ryu, and Guile. But much like Mortal Kombat kept increasing the number of ninjas, Street Fighter kept adding more characters in karate gis. Akuma is my all-time favorite, and I always played with him, kind of a shame he isn't playable in more Street Fighter games.

9. Colony Wars

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who remembers this game. IGN gave it a 9.3/10, PSM gave it a 5/5, for that matter, it was reviewed favorably by EVERY magazine and website that I remember from that time. Minimal, yet fantastic, lore and solid space dog fighting mechanics with a little bit of choose your own adventure borrowed from Wing Commander combine to make a fantastic package. Easily as competent as Tie Fighter A port of this game to modern hardware would be great, and I would consider going back to the Sony ecosystem if it were available.

What is unique about this game?

In the 80s and 90s, space flight sims were primarily released on home computers. There was a port of Wing Commander for the SNES, but translating the controls to a gamepad didn't really work that well. They also tried with ports of Heart of the Tiger and Price of Freedom on the PlayStation as well. Colony Wars fixed the porting issue because it was designed from the ground-up as a console exclusive for Sony's PlayStation. Psygnosis were able to streamline the controls in a way that the Wing Commander games couldn't, and because of that they deliver a highly polished experience. Psygnosis would later go on to be SCE Studio Liverpool.

10. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas

GTA3 blew people away. Vice City refined the formula and told a more complete story. But, San Andreas (IMHO) is the first game of what would come to define RockStar as a studio, as well as the formula for the franchise going forward. This is also probably the most experimental entry in the series.

What is unique about this game?

All of the RPG elements. Being able to make the C.J. in your game unique to your save file is really what sets this apart from all of its contemporary entries and competitors (I'm looking at you, True Crime).

11. Yakuza 0

The Ryu ga Gotoku / Yakuza series of games are often compared with GTA or described as a budget GTA with a smaller open world. The reality is that this series is more akin to Shenmue. The lead creative for the series, Toshihiro Nagoshi, worked under Yu Suzuki during the development of Shenmue. I found out about the series from a friend living in Japan who just kept recommending them to me. I finally broke down and bought this entry in the series during a Steam sale a few years ago. It took me several tries to get into the game, but once I was in, that was it, I've been hooked, and a fan of the series ever since.

What is unique about this game?

It's the wackiest “RPG beat-em-up” that I've ever experienced that is also simultaneously an amazingly crafted crime drama. Really ALL of the Yakuza games fit this description, but Zero is a perfect entry point since it's a prequel to all of the other games, and also a great standalone title with nice a resolution to its story.

12. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light

I've played and enjoyed a number of entries in this series (of which there are at least 20 different games). But when Nintendo announced they were going to be releasing an official localisation of the original game for the Swtich, I jumped on the chance to purchase it. I have yet to play Engage, but I have dumped well over a hundred hours into Three Houses, and have put dozens of hours into the various GBA and GameCube entries. The newer entries in the franchise certainly provide modern sensibilities and mechanics, but my favorite is definitely this one, and that's having played it for the first time after Three Houses. If you can get past its 8bit quirks, there's a real gem here. Shouzou Kaga doesn't really get the the recognition he deserves as a true peer to developers like Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata.

What is unique about this game?

It was the the progenitor of the “SRPG” genre as we know it today. Many of the games released in that genre draw direct inspiration from this title.

13. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

I could have gone with the original or even A Link to the Past, but there is something exceedingly special about Ocarina. I never owned an N64 when I was younger. Still, OoT was THE ONE game that I was jealous I couldn't play. It worked out though, my best friend at the time did get an N64 along with this game, so I was able to play it at his house (much like he was able to play Final Fantasy VII at my house). There's not much I can say about the game itself that hasn't already been said better by someone else. This is notoriously one of the highest rated GOTYs, and has a 99/100 on Metacritic.

What is unique about this game?

Moreso than any other franchise making the transition from 2D to 3D at the time, OoT perfectly captured the spirit of its predecessors and also ushered in a new style of action-adventure. Unlike some of the modern entries which feel bloated or padded with activities to artificially extend the play experience, OoT is a concise experience.

14. Tomb Raider

Platforming and puzzle-solving! As much as I liked the SquareEnix reboot, the original formula is a far more compelling experience. It's really quite a shame that they turned Lara Croft into a homicidal maniac. There are plenty of gorillas, alligators, bats, and other dangerous animals that she has to defend herself from in the original game to keep things interesting. That being said, combat is only a small portion of this game. Somewhere along the way the industry forgot how to make good games without exceedingly monotonous violence. Gorey first-person shooters are fun, but the violence that defines them doesn't need to be included in every other game.

What is unique about this game?

There have been plenty of strong female protagonists in video games, very few have elicited such a response from the general public; Lara Croft is the perfect storm of brains, brawn, and beauty. When you combine those features with the aforementioned platforming and puzzle-solving, it's a winning formula that appeals to a very wide group of gamers.

15. FEZ

It's hard to mention this game without talking about it's auteur, Phil Fish. One of the games that was the subject of “Indie Game: The Movie”, Fez was among the first class of independently made video games outside of the traditional publisher system that blew up and took over the gaming zeitgeist (thanks to Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade). Fez garnered a large following, it's a shame Fish let Twitter comments get to him, so much so that he quit the industry and is apparently no longer working on games. Fish's story is pretty interesting and I can't do it justice in a single paragraph, I recommend watching this video , which does a really good job of breaking down his career and explaining the events that led to him leaving video games.

What is unique about it?

Despite scoring 9s and 10s across the board, winning a bunch of awards, there haven't been any “Fez-likes” out there, which is rare for video games. When a title is popular and monetarily successful, there are always copycats or spiritual successors, and if those copycats are also successful a new genre is born that is usually a portmanteau of two games' titles (i.e. “Metroidvania”) or the most successful of the bunch getting “-like” slapped on the end to describe the new genre (i.e. “Souls-like”).

16. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Interestingly enough, while the first Sonic game does have most of the elements of what would come to define the franchise, it really wasn't until this game that a lot of the most memorable stuff was introduced; the spin-dash, Tails, two acts per zone, and “Super Sonic” (to name just a few of the series firsts here). In my experience, when most people think about Sonic, they're actually thinking about this game.

What is unique about this game?

All of the things that I mentioned above. It's also one of the first games to feature the ultimate younger sibling mode; the character of Tails is either controlled by the game's AI or by a second controller, however, while Tails can help or hinder, he doesn't distract from player 1 and the camera always follows Sonic. There may have been other games in the early 90s that had similar modes, but I'm not aware of them.

17. Pokemon Red

Technically I'm not just talking about the “Red Version”, I'm really talking about the entire first generation of Pokemon games. But Red was the one that I owned physically. That being said, I have played all four versions of the original game, thanks NO$GMB!... You may be saying to yourself, “but there were only two versions!” No, you'd be wrong. Red (Akai) and Green (Midori) were the original two released in Japan in early 1996, a Blue (Ao) version was released in late 1996 that included bug fixes and game balancing, and was used as the basis for our “Red” and “Blue” versions here in the US... Confusing, I know. I guess technically that's really five versions, or six if you count Yellow (which I also played). All of which is possibly just as confusing as the numbering of the Final Fantasy games prior to VII.

What is unique about this game?

Parents were not ready for another craze bigger than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but it happened, and it happened in a BIG fucking way. If you weren't personally obsessed with Pokemon in the late 90s, then you knew a kid who was. I was the youngest kid in my neighborhood, so I got made fun of, but I still didn't give a shit. I was a Pokemon nerd, and as much as I can say the game stands on it's own as a competent single-player JRPG, it's difficult to downplay the link cable and the ability to trade and battle with other players. No one that I knew had parents rich enough to buy them two Gameboys and two different copies of the game. I've actually never collected all 151 original Pokemon on a single save file/cartridge.

18. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

Though I do remember when Nocturne came out for the PS2, I'm specifically highlighting the HD remaster that was released in 2020. I consider this the most complete version of the game that you can get, and it is easily available on all modern hardware. I also didn't understand SMT3 when it came out, and didn't really have time for it. It came out the year I graduated high school, I was too busy smoking weed and trying to get laid. Which is probably for the best that I got to appreciate it now that I'm older.

What is unique about this game?

For those willing to put the mental energy into this game, it's a rewarding experience that blends complex RPG mechanics (easily described as “Pokemon, but with demons”) with mature philosophical themes. There also aren't any other games out there that have the same feel. There's something about mixing hard rock and jazz soundscapes on top of a post-apocalyptic spiritual nether realm that isn't like any other fictional universe.

19. Metal Gear Solid

My favorite in the series. As far as I'm concerned, Kojima could have stopped making games after this... But I'll leave it at that, otherwise I'm bound to start ranting about Kojima rather than talking about this game.

What is unique about this game?

This game was generation-defining for home consoles. It set Sony's hardware on a trajectory that continues to influence the PlayStation brand and first party titles nearly a quarter of a century later. Metal Gear Solid really pushed the boundaries of in-game cinematics and storytelling. Despite the fact there were no facial animations on the character models, there was plenty of emotion conveyed by the voice acting, and the story that was being told was equal parts fantastical and grounded. A believable espionage setting with larger than life super villain bosses. Quite simply, this game is a master class in Japanese game design philosophy.

20. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

When Castlevania: Symphony of the Night came out, I completely ignored it, mainly because it was a 2D side-scrolling game in a world full of new 3D games. I was stupid and naive. About a decade later I decided to sit down and play SotN and I was completely blown away by how great that game is. I say all that because SotN was going to go in this slot, that was until I reminded myself that Bloodstained is effectively Symphony of the Night 2 in all but name. Sure, Koji Igarashi did direct the Gameboy Advance entries of the Castlevania series, and they did continue the same style of gameplay that was present in SotN, but sadly SotN never got an official sequel from Konami, and is still oddly treated like a red-headed step child, never receiving a proper remaster for modern hardware. Enter Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

What is unique about this game?

There were a bunch of Japanese developers who broke away to do independent projects in the early twenty-tens, and when Iga broke away to do his Kickstarter for this game, I intently followed the development. Bloodstained looked horrible in all the dev diaries leadding up until the moment it actually came out. I was not expecting much, but when I sat down to play it, I realized it was everything I could have wanted from a full-blown SotN sequel. Easily the best Metroidvania that I ever played, and would be my first recommendation for anyone who hasn't played any game in that genre.

Conclusion

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! Should you have any comments, feel free to hit me up on Mastodon.