Blog:Grust's Favorite Games

I love gaming and enjoy it with all my heart. Because of this, I could never truly pinpoint my number 1 favorite game (My most hated list was much easier). So instead of a top 10 or top 50 any any kind of top, I'll will be looking at games I love that come across a variety of factors, such as franchise, genre, game mechanic, or what it's based on. The List if you can call it that

Favorite 2D platformer: Both Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System respectively. I can't choose between the two, both are large worlds and each power-up Mario or Luigi gets offers different gameplay styles and allow the ability to find secret areas.

Favorite 3D platformer: Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64. It's not only first 3D platformer, but the game set a very huge standard in the genre that very few games have held onto other than maybe Banjo-Kazooie. Extremely fluent controls, a large number of worlds to explore, a ton of missions, and despite the graphics being outdated today, I find the game bright and colorful.

Favorite Movie Based game: Disney's Aladdin for the Sega Genesis. The game feels like I'm actually controlling a cartoon character rather than a sprite. Many songs from the movie are in the game so you can enjoy them. Also when you're low on apples during the Iago boss fight and the final battle with Jafar, apples replenish themselves. I actually enjoy this game so much I beat it on hard mode without using the shop in the game at all.

Favorite Survival Horror game: Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. Extremely terrifying. In my teen years I remember using cheats on this game and still it scared me. To do maximum damage, enemy ghosts have to be ready to grab or attack you, which really adds to the terror as you try to save your sister.

Favorite Action Horror game: Resident Evil 4 released originally for the Nintendo GameCube but released on various platforms. I call it action horror because I wouldn't call it a survival horror game due to most enemies dropping plentiful ammo when killed. Aiming is tight, it feel really good when you shoot a ganado in the head and doing a melee takedown after. Tons of replay value especially when getting the Chicago Typewriter. I'm aware a lot of survival horror fans hate this for taking survival horror away from Resident Evil for a time, but I still love it as an action horror.

Favorite Game with a Crafting System as the main focus: 7 Days to Die for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. This is almost like the reverse Depression Quest for me. Hated by "game Journalists" but I find it to be a very good game. I reviewed it twice before. Click here for the first one and here for the other.

Favorite FPS: Doom 3 for Xbox. Zombies, demons, an evil scientist, and a ton of ammo to obliterate them with. Only downside is that shooting zombies in the head doesn't work.

Favorite FPRPG: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Duh!

Favorite 2D JRPG: Final Fantasy VI originally released for SNES but ported to many systems. Kefka!

Favorite 3D JRPG: Final Fantasy X originally for PlayStation 2 but re-released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and the PlayStation Vita: Every single character in the game has an advantage over certain enemies, Tidus is good against agile creatures, Lulu can use magic to expose the weakness of elemental monsters, and Auron can take down armored monsters. For the first time I've seen in a turn based RPG, characters can switch out during combat to help take advantage each strength a character has. One downside is that in the early parts of the game, Tidus is kind of annoying so at times I mute the game. However, he gets better due to character development.

Favorite 2d Zelda game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past For the SNES but ported to the Game Boy Advance. This helped set up Zelda in a huge way and the effects are seen even to this day, such as warp points for exploration, side quests, heart pieces, and exploring two worlds instead of one. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, A Link to the Past was a blueprint for when 3D technology would take off. Well this blueprint is also good enough to stand on its own as well.

Favorite 3D Zelda Game: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time originally released for the Nintendo 64 but ported many times since. Hard to believe that in November this year it'll be officially 20 years old. Great puzzle solving, a great use of the Ocarina and its magic tunes, a vast open world, traveling in time, and a soundtrack so good I get very nostalgic when I hear it. I've played this game so much I did a challenge where I beat it without getting any kind of upgrade meaning I beat it with only 3 hearts, one bottle, 30 arrows/seeds, and only the base magic I was given. Even when games like Twilight Princess or Breath of the Wild show up with improvements, OoT, just gives me a feeling of being a kid again.

Favorite Edutainment game: 5 a Day Adventures for Mac OS. Colorful graphics, silly songs and you will learn about the fruits and vegetables featured. It was actually the first game I downloaded when I installed Sheepsaver on my laptop.

Favorite "bad" game (I'm sure everyone has one): Jaws for the NES: I honestly don't think the game is that bad. It's almost like an RPG, collecting shells to get stronger to beat the shark. The controls aren't godawful and it plays fairly well and easy. It's probably one of LJN's better games. Please don't tell the Nerd I said any of this.

Favorite Action RPG: Fable 2 for the Xbox 360. While everyone seems to favor the first game (for good reason it's awesome), I myself prefer the sequel. I've actually only beaten this game once and every other playthrough since has been the other activities. I enjoy boosting the economy in many towns and buying shops, I love getting stronger to fight my foes. I love that you can go at your own pace and do just whatever you want.

Favorite Non-violent game: Endless Ocean for the Nintendo Wii. Playing as a diver, you explore a vast ocean. While nonviolent and educational, you do have unlockables and collectable items to discover. As you progress, you can dive even deeper and swim with.... a giant squid. The music is also beautiful. One of the songs was even added to my top 10 music in video game blog.

Favorite Sandbox game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. This GTA game introduces RPG like elements in the form of stats you can upgrade from driving skills, muscle, guns, and breathing.

Favorite Fighting Game: Street Fighter II for multiple consoles. I think this has the fastest pace of combat in a fighting game and introduced combos. Memorable characters, easy to learn moves, and story endings ensure you may want to finish the game with every character.

Favorite Driving game: Crazy Taxi originally for arcade but ported to Sega Dreamcast, Gamecube and PS2. Wacky driving skills, delivering people to their destination and watch as not only your crazy money go up but your time limit too.

Favorite Arcade style game: Seaquest for the Atari 2600. Playing as a sub you must rescue divers from sharks and subs and bring them to the surface. However you must avoid them too and destroy them to make the divers appear, and you must reach the surface yourself at time to replenish oxygen but will make you lose one diver. With each level, not only does the difficulty increase, but the points you receive from your objectives does too Sound complicated. Don't worry, when you play the game, it'll be easier to understand.

Favorite Hack and Slash game: God of War 2 for PS2. Encourages blocking and repelling enemy attacks, fight a tentacled monster (I love giant squids), and take on the Sisters of Fate.

Favorite Superhero game: Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3 and 360. The Joker nuff said. Want more? Fine! A fluent combat style, dodging, attacking and countering attacks can be done with ease increasing a combo, tons of cool gadgets and helped set off what could be one of my favorite franchises, along with Zelda, Mario, and Final Fantasy.

Favorite Sports game: Super Dodgeball for the NES. Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of sports in general. however I like this game because it's easy for even a non sports fan like me to understand, it's cartoony and silly and it even has a hidden super boss of sorts that appears should you beat the game without losing a single character.

Favorite Racing game: Mario Kart 64 for the N64. Cartoonish, silly, numerous traps to slow down your rivals, the Mario Kart series is my kind of racing game and the 64 version was my first glimpse into this style of racing game. My favorite track is Rainbow Road for being very long and colorful.

Favorite 2-D shooter game: Contra originally for arcade but ported to the NES. Extremely fluent controls, tons of power-ups, popularized the Konami code, and hard as hell. Beating it without the code feels like a rite of passage for retro gamers and beating it without the code was one of the happiest moments of my life as a gamer.

Favorite Zombie game: Dead Rising for 360 and Playstation 3. So many zombies but so many ways to take them out. Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record are very close seconds with the ability to make combo weapons, but some survivors are often times to stupid to be allowed to live, often demanding you pay them to save them, which is the dumbest thing I ever heard of.

