My 10 Favorite Games (Part 1)

Let's do something fun. Let's list my favorite games of all time. This will be in no particular order, but I will only do five today, and five tomorrow.

Super Mario World

The first Super Mario Bros. had a more realistic approach to physics, which was cool in its own right, but it was hard to control. You needed momentum to make longer jumps, and you could slide off platforms if you were going too fast and didn't compensate enough or quickly enough by holding the opposite direction on the d-pad. Super Mario World made the physics far easier to control, and thus, made it more fun.

Super Mario World also introduced the dual-exit system. On levels that were marked by a red dot, there were two exits to the level instead of one. It was so fun exploring the levels, looking for secrets, and eventually the exits. Using the new Cape and Yoshi, there were so many things you could do. The amount of freedom and experimentation possible was unheard-of and took videogames to another level.

In Super Mario Bros. 3, they introduced a map-system, but Super Mario World took it to the next level. You could walk around and replay stages, collect power-ups, and accumulate 1-ups if you wanted to. You could also save the game and there were even branching paths based upon the secret exits.

Super Mario 64

Super Mario 64 felt like the next step up from Super Mario World. They took the dual-exit system from Super Mario World to the next level. Now each level had seven goals you could accomplish to earn Stars. Earning Stars for the first time was magical. They were shiny and yellow, and they featured a cool little animation and special music. When I see people finding Moons in Super Mario Odyssey, it's not as much of an event.

Super Mario 64 encouraged exploration from the beginning of the game because the overworld itself had secrets. The game gave the player a lot of credit and didn't hold his or her hand, which was nice.

Star Fox 64

Although the Nintendo 64 did not have the amount of third-party support that the PlayStation did, it was home to some of my favorite games, and Star Fox 64 is one of them. It is still my favorite rail-shooter of all time.

Star Fox 64 introduced the Rumble Pak to the world. When I felt the vibrations from the accessory for the first time, my mind was blown. Nowadays, people overuse the effect and it has lost its impact, but it was revolutionary at the time.

Star Fox 64 has mindblowingly perfect controls. Using a d-pad to control the Arwing in Star Fox for SNES was not very good, but using the analog stick in Star Fox 64 was.

Star Fox 64 also blew my mind because it had a lot of voice-samples, and they sounded clear; I knew what the characters were saying. Star Fox 64 was a very cinematic game - something that I had never seen before. Star Fox 64 also had a memorable cast of characters and a surprisingly emotional story.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

If you play Ocarina of Time nowadays, you might scratch your head and wonder why this game is considered by many people to be the greatest game ever made. You have to realize that when this game came out in 1998, it was the greatest game ever made. It was so immersive, encouraged exploration, was full of secrets, had a revolutionary new combat-system, and did all the little things that people take for granted from Nintendo: it was highly polished.

Kokiri Forest alone was a magical place. Exploring that place alone enraptured me. Then when I went into the Deku Tree, it was so well-crafted. I was solving puzzles and advancing in the dungeon by myself, using my own brain and intuition, that it really gave me a sense of joy and accomplishment.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was a bright, colorful, and blazing-fast platformer. Sonic the Hedgehog had a muted color-palette, but its sequel looked so much better. Sonic had longer limbs in Sonic 2 when he started his run; I really liked how he looked. In Sonic 2, Sonic looked like a cool anime-character, especially considering the introduction of Super Sonic, which looked like a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z. In Sonic 3, they ruined his sprite by giving him a smirk and making him look more like Mickey Mouse with his really big, white gloves.

Sonic 2 has great levels, music, and Tails was not annoying. I thought Tails was cool.
ame ever.

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