System: Game Boy Advance
Developer: Capcom
Release date: November 12, 2004
Capcom’s gaming portfolio is one of the best in the business; it owns the single-best fighting franchise, the greatest survival-horror franchise and even has had its hands in the development of three The Legend of Zelda games, including The Minish Cap. In The Minish Cap, Link has the brand-new ability to shrink down to microscopic size, helping him explore every inch of the game world, find secret items, and interact with the Picori, a friendly, mousy race of tiny creatures. Allowing Link to minimize his dimensions is a magical and very funny green hat named Ezlo, who becomes Link’s sidekick throughout the game. The game also features “kinstones,” two-part artifacts that produce items when matching pieces are combined.
System: Microsoft Xbox
Developer: BioWare
Release date:July 15, 2003
There are a lot of great Star Wars video games but Knights of the Old Republic, a role-playing game set 4000 years before the Galactic Empire, might be the best. Designed by BioWare (Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights), Knights of the Old Republic asks players to create and customize a character who is then thrust into a galaxy-wide struggle between the forces of good and evil. Throughout the game, which takes place across several planets, the main character is joined by up to nine party members, all of whom can be equipped, customized and upgraded. Knights of the Old Republic also features an alignment system, whereby the main character’s actions and words determine whether he or she walks a path toward the light side or dark side of the Force.
System: Playstation 2
Developer: Rockstar
Release date:October 29, 2002
It didn't take long for Rockstar to deliver a sequel to its hugely successful and controversial hit game Grand Theft Auto III. Taking place in a fictionalized version of Miami in 1986, Vice City borrows from TV shows like Miami Vice and movies like Scarface. Like its predecessor, Vice City features open-ended gameplay where players can tackle missions or simply wander around the city at their own leisure. Apart from its brilliant gameplay, which allows players to drive all manner of vehicle around a fully-realized virtual city, the game provides a unique glimpse into 1980s American culture, including fashion, music, and consumerism.
System: Nintendo Wii
Developer: Retro Studios, Nintendo
Release date:August 27, 2007
The final chapter of the Metroid Prime trilogy, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, is certainly the most ambitious of the series and the first to appear on the Nintendo Wii. Set several months after Metroid Prime 2, Corruption is the story of Samus Aran’s continued fight against the Space Pirates and her nemesis, Dark Samus. Unlike the previous two Metroid Prime games, which took place across several environments on a single planet, Corruption allows players to travel from planet to planet via Samus’ ship. The Wii remote and nunchuk are incorporated masterfully into Corruption: the nunchuk operates mostly as Samus’ left hand, controlling her grapple function; the Wii remote largely has the same function as a mouse in a computer first-person shooter.
System: N64
Developer: Rare
Release date: November 24, 1997
Many gamers point to Mario Kart 64 as the pinnacle of N64 racing, but it’s not nearly as good as Rareware’s Diddy Kong Racing. Unlike similar kart-racing games, Diddy Kong Racing allows players to choose from three vehicles, karts, hovercrafts and airplanes, although some vehicles are proscribed on certain courses. All tracks are laid out along a similar model, with boost markers and floating balloons that award players with various power-ups. What makes Diddy Kong Racing particularly engaging is its one-player adventure mode, in which Diddy travels among worlds, competing in races, unlocking battle stages and ultimately racing against a world boss. Several characters from Diddy Kong Racing, including Banjo and Conker, would later star in their own action games.
System: Sega Genesis
Developer: Climax Entertainment, Sonic! Software Planning
Release date: July, 1993
Why do RPGs always have the most awesome subtitles? March of the Black Queen, Person of Lordly Caliber, and of course The Legacy of Great Intention. Whatever The Legacy of Great Intention means, it's a terrific game, an influential turn-based strategy role-playing game, and one of the very best Sega Genesis titles. Players control a silent protagonist as he recruits a small army of fighters to push back against the evil Darksol who wants to conquer the world. Battles in Shining Force take place in square grids, on which players move units strategically to outflank and overcome opponents. There are over two dozen unique and colorful characters to recruit during the game, all of whom can be be promoted to a higher class.
System: Gamecube, PS2, PC, Xbox
Developer: Ubisoft
Release date: December 21, 2005
Most lists of the greatest first-person shooters of the 2000s wouldn’t include Peter Jackson’s King Kong, but in reality it stands up favorably to its contemporaries. Peter Jackson’s King Kong is a collaborative effort between director Peter Jackson and one of the video game industry’s best designers Michel Ancel (Rayman 2, Beyond Good & Evil). The game is divided between first-person shooting stages and third-person action stages: in the former players control New York screenwriter Jack Driscoll; in the latter players control Kong. Although Peter Jackson’s King Kong closely follows the storyline of the movie, it features several embellishments and detours significantly from the action seen onscreen, focusing on action events that ostensibly occurred off screen.
System: Atari Jaguar
Developer: Atari, Llamasoft
Release date: 1994
The Atari Jaguar was a commercial and critical failure, but it supported a few great games in its short lifespan. Its greatest game is Tempest 2000, a reimagining of the 1981 arcade classic Tempest. Enhanced with smooth graphics and a techno soundtrack, Tempest 2000 boasts three one-player modes: Traditional Tempest, Tempest Plus, and Tempest 2000, which is a complete remake of the original coin-op classic, featuring new enemies, weapon power ups and a brand new jump move. Tempest 2000 also features a terrific two-player mode called Tempest Duel, in which players control ships at either end of a web and try to blast each other to smithereens. Each ship is equipped with a mirror that reflects enemy shots.
System: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release date: June 29, 1998
The third game in the Street Fighter Alpha series, Alpha 3 is a huge, sometimes daunting fighting game with an amazing amount of customization available to players. The game features over 25 playable characters, including some Street Fighter II fighters making their Alpha debut: Blanka, Vega, E. Honda. When it arrived in arcades, Alpha 3 completely overhauled the fighting mechanics of the Alpha series, introducing three different playing styles called "isms." The default playing style, A-ism, is based on the previous Alpha games, in which players have a three-level Super Combo; X-ism is a style based on Super Street Fighter II Turbo, in which the player has a single-level Super Combo; and V-ism is a style that allows players to perform custom combos similar to those in Street Fighter Alpha 2.
System: Gamecube, PS2, PC, Xbox
Developer: Ubisoft
Release date: November 12, 2003
The original Prince of Persia was a different take on the platform game, one which put a special emphasis on solving puzzles and avoiding traps. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time recaptures the elements that made the original game so unique and adds several innovations, not least of which is an epic story of heroism, betrayal, and sacrifice. Although the Prince occasionally engages in swordfights with ferocious enemies, his greatest antagonist is the environment. Using his agility and acrobatic skills, the Prince must run, jump, swing, and climb across catwalks, castle walls, broken pillars, and suspended platforms. Negotiating these hazards is a dangerous game; luckily the Prince has the “Dagger of Time,” which allows him to travel backwards in time, erasing a single mistake.
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