By: Brandon Wolfson, The Campus Gamer
In my years of playing video games, starting with Super Mario Brothers on the original Nintendo (NES) up until now, there are some games that must be played no matter what. Some games just don’t hold up well and others stand the test of time and become instant classics in gaming history. There are some games that just go above and beyond what they have to offer. These are a few games that will be played for years to come and many consider these games to be some of the greatest of all time…
Resident Evil 4 /Bio Hazard 4 (Capcom 2005 Gamecube) :
Resident Evil 4 is actually the 6th installment of the critically acclaimed Resident Evil series and serves as a reboot of the series taking away the pre rendered backgrounds and set camera angles for a more traditional 3rd person perspective and 3d environments. What made Resident Evil 4 so ground breaking was the 3rd person over the shoulder shooting mechanism that every other 3rd person game tries to mimic. With the revolutionary gameplay, along with what many claim to be the best paced game of all time, this is one game that must be played.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (Konami 2005 Playstation 2)
Metal Gear Solid 3 is the 5th installment in Hideo Kojimas famous Metal Gear series. MGS 3 is actually a prequel to the original Nintendo and MSX Metal Gear games. Instead of playing as Solid Snake, you play as his Dad (the original of all of the clones) Big Boss. What makes MSG 3 so great is not only a compelling tale of how Big Boss became the best soldier but a game that has some of the best cast of villains and bosses that will be remembered for a long time and who can forget the touching ending that made many gamers shed a tear? The Subsistence version of the game fixes many issues that fans had with the original release with improved controls and camera. What also makes MGS 3 a unique installment to the series is the use of healing and the CQC (Close Quarters Combat) which added a new layer of depth and variety to the game play.
Super Mario World (Nintendo 1990 Super Nintendo):
Super Mario World was a launch game on the Super Nintendo and sequel to one of the most popular games of all time on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Many claim that Mario 3 is the pinnacle of the series others claim that Mario World is the game to beat. Super Mario World really expanded on Mario 3 in more ways than just coming out on a new more powerful platform. It added new dimensions to the gamplay. This marks Yoshi’s video game debut and the player can use Yoshi on almost every level in the game (Castles and Haunted Houses are off limits). Super Mario World was also a lot more challenging than previous entries in the series that don’t have the word “Lost Levels” in the title and when you beat a world in the game all of the levels and enemies change which made going through the game again worthwhile.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 1998 Nintendo 64) :
While I do admit that The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is my favorite in the series , it was Ocarina of Time that really was the more revolutionary title for when it came out and did some very interesting things that made playing games in the 3rd dimension a lot easier , user friendly and fun. That is the target system. Controlling Link in battle was a breeze and never made targeting enemies a problem like it did in many 3d games of that era. The new 3d Hyrule, complete with day and Night cycles was also something very new to gamers back then and it made the fantasy world of the series more organic. Now we have the challenging dungeons, (Damn Water Temple) epic boss encounters and swift new gadgets for Link to use to help complete his quest help all Ocarina of Time on of most epic video game adventures of all time.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo(Capcom 1993 Arcade) :
Update to Street Fighter 2 added 4 new characters to the roster plus marked Akumas debut to the series in this definitive version of the game. Not only is did Street Fighter 2 revitalize the entire arcade market worldwide, it revolutionized the way one-on-one fighters have been played. Before SF2 nobody has ever even heard about the original Street Fighter and that’s a good thing. With a cast of the most balanced 16 iconic fighters to ever grace a fighting game complete with easy moves to memorize like half circles and quarter circle joystick moves made this game the game that everyone tried to copy in the early 90’s with endless clones. Not many got it right. SF2 had the complete package. Diverse and balanced cast, tight game play and great soundtrack made this game the reason to surround the arcade machines back in the early 90’s and 19 years later still played in tournaments. It just goes to show you of how much of a technical and skillful of a fighting game this is. SOOOOOOOONIC BOOOOOOOOM!!!!
