BigNerdGaming’s Top 25 Games of All Time: #25-#16

Close to two years ago, I started making various console top 10 lists in the hopes of segmenting games I’ve loved over the years a bit so that it would be a bit easier to actually put together a list of my favorite games of all time.

Despite how much I love ranking, and how often I think about where a game might rank for me all time, it has always been a bit too daunting to actually put a favorite games of all time list together in a way where I feel like I’m actually getting it right. I have finally reached the point where I have this list done and feel pretty damn good about how it came together.

I intend for this to be a “living list” going forward. So, in the rare event that I play a game that deserves to be here, I will update it accordingly.

I have already written about these games in past lists, so I’m going to do something a bit different for this one. In the end, all of these games are here because they are great and because they are the types of games that I will remember forever. So I thought it would be fun this time to list a memory I have with each game. Be forewarned, this means the writeups might have slight spoilers, though I won’t go full-blown spoiler on anything.

Today, we kick things off with games #25-#16. The rest of the list will be up next week Tuesday. Enjoy!

25. Slay the Spire

My wife loves it when I’m into a portable game. We try to hang out most evenings when we can, and often what game I am playing dictates where we end up hanging out. If I’m playing a console game, she will come hang out in my main gaming area, and if I’m playing a portable game, I’ll sit more in our living room area.

My wife ended up being a huge fan of Slay the Spire because this game probably produced the longest stretch of me gaming portably as an adult ever. It was something I played every night for multiple months in a row.

This was my first real exposure to the roguelike deckbuilding genre, and man, what an introduction it was. It was definitely a challenge, but through trial and error, I started figuring out all of the skills I needed to excel in this genre, and I haven’t stopped loving it since. But also, no game that I have played since Slay the Spire has scratched that itch quite the same way. Luckily, a little something called Slay the Spire 2 is on the way to hopefully knock this game off of this list. I cannot wait (but I must remain disciplined, as I don’t play early access games).

24. Mass Effect 2

I was active on a few gaming message boards when Mass Effect 2 came out, so I knew that the game didn’t pull any punches when it came to actually being a “suicide mission.” Almost everyone I knew had lost at least one person on the last mission of the game.

So, when I kicked off the end of the game, I was pretty damn nervous. I am pretty anti-guide unless it’s absolutely needed, so while I had done everything that I could, I had no idea who was going to make it out of the mission.

Much to my surprise and delight, I managed to get through with everyone alive. I was absolutely amped, and it was the perfect way to cap off a very special experience.

23. Hades II

This is the most recent game that I’ve played that is on this list. Despite that, I weirdly don’t have many specific moments from this game that really stuck with me, especially since nothing in the story really moved me all that much.

But I do remember coming to a realization at some point that this game was truly amazing when I ended up on my sixth or seventh run in a row early in the game, where I suddenly had a build that was absolutely amazing. All of these builds were very different, yet they all felt badass as hell and satisfying to play.

Usually, when I play roguelikes, there’s some inevitable disappointment when I get to the point where I have to let go of a build that I loved, and I have to hope that it comes around again. In Hades 2, I reached the point where when a run ended, I was just excited to see what would happen on my next one, because it would inevitably also be something awesome. This is why Hades 2 is the greatest roguelike of all time.

22. Ogre Battle 64

First off, this game and the next are part of my favorite Christmas of all time (for myself). I have been fortunate to have many amazing Christmases in my life. I have gotten several “bigger” gifts over the years, including the original Xbox and the Xbox 360. But getting both Ogre Battle 64 and Harvest Moon 64 on the same day will always be a life altering event for me.

I always loved RPGs from the second I played Super Mario RPG. And I had explored plenty of other turn-based options on SNES emulators. But Ogre Battle 64 was the first time I had ever played an RPG exactly like this, with both turn-based and real-time strategy elements, and I’ve been chasing that high ever since. The recent Unicorn Overlord did fill the void a little bit, but it also doesn’t have the story that Ogre Battle 64 had.

I think my other biggest memory from this game was the story and how political it was. Magnus deciding to join the rebellion always hit for me. God damn I need another game like this so badly.

21. Harvest Moon 64

As I said in my previous writeup, this was the other part of perhaps my most legendary Christmas ever. Receiving two games that are literal all-timers for me on the same day is not something that I will ever forget.

There are a few things that I will always take away from Harvest Moon 64. First off, as it was my first cozy game, it showed me how I want progression to work in pretty much every RPG. I want to actually see the difference as I grow. I want to feel how much I’m improving. Obviously, this setup makes that extremely easy. Every bit of progress in Harvest Moon 64 was tangible, and I loved that.

But more than anything, I still remember the festivals. The festivals were such a huge highlight of the game, and I still judge every farming sim based on what was in this game. It’s crazy how many new games I play that still don’t have festivals that you can actually work towards winning during the year, and that are fun to participate in.

Honestly, if Stardew Valley were my first ever farming sim, it might be here instead, but this list is all about the impact a game had on me at the time it was released, and Harvest Moon 64 was unlike anything else back in the N64 era.

20. Celeste

Celeste is truly an unbelievable platformer from start to finish. Its art, responsive controls, and level design are all so elite. But the secret sauce to the game is its story and exploration of mental health.

I just remember it truly hitting me how great this game was during the Chapter 3 “boss fight” with Mr. Oshiro. This is a chase sequence with excellent design and some very interesting story beats, and it’s when I really realized that this wasn’t quite like other platformers. Celeste continues to evolve and get better as you go, but this is the moment that truly put me on notice.

19. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

KOTOR was one of my first Western RPGs ever, after only playing JRPGs for years. The freedom that KOTOR offered and the way the story could branch in different directions blew my mind, as I hadn’t seen anything like it to that point. Interacting with this world and all of the characters in it was a dream come true. Literally everything about this game was awe-inspiring for me.

But of course, my other biggest memory is *the* plot twist, which absolutely blew my mind at the moment. In retrospect, I’ve grown to love the twist even more, because depending on how you play the game, you can take equally valid messages from both. How much of who we are is inherently within us compared to us being the byproduct of the world around us? KOTOR lets us decide the answer to that ourselves.

18. Super Mario World

This is a living list, so over the years, games near the bottom of this list will slowly drop off. Such is life. I’m not one to hold things up or be in denial about something because of nostalgia.

But honestly, if the day ever comes where Super Mario World gets demoted to #25, I’m not sure if I’d ever have the heart to actually knock it off the list. #24 might be the one that has to go in that situation.

That may not make sense, but in the end, this list really is a collection of memories, and there is no memory like your first time falling in love. This is true for the first time you have a child, your first love with a romantic partner, and also for the first time falling in love with video games.

I had played some games growing up, like Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. 3, but Super Mario World was the first game that truly engrossed me. This is the game that made me “all in” on this art form, and I’ve never let go since.

I have too many memories to count, but just randomly playing this game with my dad will always be the biggest thing that I remember. This, in turn, makes me realize that as a father myself now, my children will likely remember a lot of little things I do with them, and you never know what will stick. My goal in life is for my children to have good memories of doing something with me, the same way that I have fond memories of playing this game with my dad.

17. Chained Echoes

I went into Chained Echoes not knowing all that much about the game, other than that it had really high review scores and that it was made by one man.

I have loved several solo-developed games over the years, so I’m more than aware of how capable one person can be when making a game. But even then, Chained Echoes left me in awe for almost my entire time playing it.

I just could not believe that one man managed to make a battle and level-up system unlike anything else out there. In my view, Chained Echoes is the best turn-based system that I have ever played.

One person developing such an interesting system isn’t that crazy by itself, but it becomes pretty wild when that same person also has a lot of lovely pixel art that they made themselves and also somehow crafts one of the best stories that I have ever experienced in a JRPG as well.

I have plenty of memories of some of those story moments, in particular when I think about this game, but more than anything else, that constant feeling of wonder is something that I will never forget.

16. Overwatch

I played Overwatch for something like 800+ hours over the course of one year. This is an absolutely insane number for me. It’s extremely rare for me to pass the 30-hour mark with any multiplayer game. But Overwatch sunk its hooks deep into me. I loved the mix of heroes, and most of all, the need for teamwork. Most first-person shooters that I had gotten into over the years involved pretty minimal amounts of teamwork between most people playing them, but Overwatch absolutely demanded that you work with others, and that led to a very different experience from anything else that I had ever played to that point.

I have countless memories playing this game. I happened to find a group of three other guys that was my usual crew, and then we generally linked up with a rotating cast of people from there.

As was inevitable, everyone eventually drifted from the game. I have no idea how or why it happened. It just kind of did. Suddenly, we went from playing every day to pretty much not at all.

Maybe two or three years after we were done playing, the guy who was the youngest in our group randomly messaged me out of the blue to let me know how much playing with our crew had helped him at that point in his life. He apparently had a tougher home situation, and Overwatch was his escape from that for a long time.

This led to some party invites, and eventually the crew ended up together one last time for a few rounds. One guy in the group was literally going to be getting married the next day. It was surreal. That random meeting was the last time I have talked to any of those guys.

So often, internet friendships end with a whimper of sorts. They just slowly fade away. It will always mean something to me that I was able to get true closure with a group of guys that I literally spent 800 hours with. Knowing that I helped one of them get through a tough time in a small way means that all of those hours were more than worth it.

The rest of this list will be posted next week.

Past Lists:

My Top 10 SNES Games

My Top 10 GB/GBC Games

My Top 10 PS1 Games

My Top 10 N64 Games

My Top 10 Original Xbox Games

My Top 10 Playstation 2 Games

My Top 10 Game Boy Advance Games

My Top 10 Xbox Live Arcade Games

My Top 10 Xbox 360 Games