EGM #100's Top 100 Games Of All Time: A Lookback (Part 2 of 4)

It's Part 2 at our lookback at EGM's Top 100 Games Of All Time. We look at games #75 to #51.




#75 - ActRaiser (SNES)
And you can't ask for a better way to kick off Part 2 than with one of the finest action/sim hybrid titles. The sim building aspect added a bit of depth to the game, which complimented the otherwise splendid action bits. Sadly, it was followed up by a rather underwhelming sequel.

#74 - Worldwide Soccer '97 (Saturn)
A sports title released recently... again, wondering if this is on here because it's the newest one or because it's really that good.

#73 - Mega Man 2 (NES)
When all else fails, go with the popular entry... or at the very least, the one that established the formula for the rest of the series and refined some of the issues that plagued the first game. While I find the later games in the series to be slightly better, one cannot deny the influence of Mega Man's first sequel and even after all these years, it's still fun to play.

#72 - Zelda II: The Adventures Of Link (NES)
Fun fact: this was the first Zelda game I ever played. And this was a good game despite what the numskulls online will tell you.

#71 - Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)
Strangely enough, my first Sonic game was Sonic 2. And this is fun.

#70 - NiGHTS Into Dreams (Saturn)
Only sampled this game for a short while ages ago when it was demoed at a Toys R Us somewhere and never looked back since. People seem to like this one.

#69 - Snatcher (Sega CD)
A lot of people seemed to like this one, but I missed out.

#68 - WaveRace 64 (Nintendo 64)
Never played this one.

#67 - Donkey Kong (Game Boy)
And so we hit our first portable entry on this list... a remake of the Donkey Kong arcade game that transitions to a puzzle platform game. It's a fun game.

#66 - Guardian Heroes (Saturn)
Never played this one.

#65 - Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)
This entry confirms two things; that Tecmo keeps re-releasing the wrong Tecmo Bowl game all these years when THIS is the version people really liked and also, anything with Bo Jackson is automatically awesome. That last point is subject to debate.

#64 - Twisted Metal 2: World Tour (Playstation)
Great game, never played the original, but this is apparently a much better game. I can believe it.

#63 - Return Fire (3DO)
Never played this one.

#62 - Phantasy Star (Master System)
I've only sampled this for a bit.

#61 - NHL '94 (Genesis)
Well, I guess that year's NHL game must suck a bunch because they added in NHL '94 onto the list instead. Out of all the NHL games released by EA, '94 tends to be the big favorite for most people. It was so beloved by players that it eventually got bundled in with NHL '06 as a bonus feature. So if the current NHL game didn't do it for you, you could play the older, better one.

#60 - Shining Force II (Genesis)
Never played this one.

#59 - Thunder Force III (Genesis)
Never played this version, but I have the Thunder Spirits game on SNES that's based on this one. All the Thunder Force games are pretty fun stuff.

#58 - Dragon Warrior IV (NES)
A genuinely massive role-playing game with plenty of characters to play with, a massive world to explore, and one of the most splendid and melocholy soundtracks on the NES. My go-to RPG on the system.

#57 - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES)
If you're going to include a classic NES Castlevania, might as well go with the most refined and the best of the trilogy.

#56 - Super Punch-Out (SNES)
A step above the NES version and just as fun.

#55 - Dragon Force (Saturn)
Never played this one.

#54 - Tomb Raider (Playstation)
Tomb Raider is a fun game... probably hasn't aged that well these days, but still classic... need to play this one one of these days.

#53 - Gate Of Thunder (TurboGrafx-CD)
Good choice. Fun shooter. Awesome soundtrack.

#52 - R.C. Pro-Am (NES)
Fun little racing game with radio-controlled cars. I should probably fire this up one of these days.

#51 - Tekken 2 (Playstation)
The newest and latest entry in the series at the time and boy was it a fun one. This would've been one of my earliest Playstation experiences and it was fine. Awesome game, even if it's been outclassed by its successor.

And that's Part 2, everybody. What games await us in the Top 50? And will Atari be able to make it through? Find out next time!