P - Platform Perfection! My Top 10 Platform Games

Arrgghhh, busy busy busy today so I have ran out of time to write a full countdown, so this will be a quickie. My top 10 platform video games! I normally apply a rule in my top 10's that a franchise cannot make multiply entries, but I make an exception on this one due to a certain Italian bog installer. I will attempt to sum up my choices with short, descriptive words and brief statements. Apologies for the succinctness, I will return to full mushroom-starman power tomorrow. Maybe.  

Star Trek doors: The first generation

#10 Flashback - Mysterious happenings and memory loss. Unseen threats and creepy aliens. Post modern bleak world covering jungle, cities and underground. Top class motion capture animation and 3D cut scenes. Excellent.

#9 Shinobi  - Death stars thrown, fat man with swords, spider-ninja's and hostages. Big supernatural bosses, mystical spells. Many vertical platforms, difficult and memorable. Best bonus stage ever!

#8 Metroid 2: Return of Samus - Female arse-kicking cyber suited hero. Saving the Galaxy from Space Pirates. Exclusive to Gameboy. Tough multi-directional platforming sci-fi action. Boom!

#7 Turrican - Heavily armed bio-engineered mutant. Evil alien rulers. Lost colony of Earth. Many ways to complete levels, madly colourful and bright graphics. Some of the best visuals ever for the 8-bit systems. Zap!

#6 Sonic the Hedgehog - Fast, very fast. Blue anthropomorphic hedgehog with attitude  rescues the captured animals of the lands. Fights Dr 'Eggman' Robotnik. Mega Drive classic, the only real rival for the Mario series. Blurry!

Prince never liked letting his skeletons out of the closet

#5 Prince of Persia - Man in pyjamas attempts to save his princess love from an evil wizard. Groundbreaking captured animation and sprite movement, clever puzzles and gory traps. Simple but eye-catching graphics. Outstanding!

#4 Donkey Kong Country - Angry and mean ape returns as a protagonist, accompanied by his son. Search for banana hoard, jungle hi-jinks at it's best. Awesome 16-bit visuals and sound. Barrel blasting and mine-cart mental difficult!

#3 Super Mario Bros 3 - Plumber sets off to rescue Princess Peach, fighting against ghostships and koopas. Massive Mario adventure, un-put-down-able.  Secret whistles and fancy dress customs that give super powers. NES classic.

#2 Super Castlevania IV - Dracula and his demons rise agian, Simon Belmont sets out to kick his ancient behind, whip in hand. Level design brilliant, fine graphics and great use of Mode 7 effects. Plodding a tad, but wonderful music. Whoop-aahh!

You should have seen the gun he was shot from.

#1 Super Mario World - Bowser kidnaps Princess Daisy, Mario and Luigi to the rescue again. Yoshi makes his debut to great effect. Excellent in every conceivable way. Big levels, loads of secrets, hoards of cheeky baddies, long, challenging and so much fun. Best platform game of all time!


Okay, no real shocker there. Mario World rules the roost, a truly uncontested classic. What are your favourite platform games? Which ones made you pull your hair out? Sorry again about the briefness of this post, hopefully will get the time tomorrow to give it the full beans with the letter Q. Quizzical! Puzzle games people!

Bug... 'Out!

N - Novabug's Desert Island Games, My Top 10 Games Ever

You know this age old question; what would be the 10 songs you would have if you were stranded on a desert island? Or is this case, video games. In a fashion, these should be my 10 favourite games of all time, and that's exactly what they are, mostly. This is a mixture of classic titles and games with a large amount of re-play value, just so getting bored on that island is a far off thing. Obviously the concept is silly and unworkable in reality, but if I had the choice of playing only a handful of games for the rest of my days, this collection would be it. My top 10 desert island video games. If you have read my A to Z challenge up till now, the top 3 will come as no surprise!

Dizzy had never quite got the hang of knock-knock jokes

#10 Fantasy World Dizzy - To pick one of the Dizzy games was a difficult choice, but the third installment would be it. It's the first Dizzy title I really gelled with, it introduced the menu function and had puzzles that were not bordering on impossible to work out. The two previous titles did present a bit of randomness about finding certain items, but FWD merely required a little bit of thought and everything makes sense. The music is also uplifting and jolly, solid bright graphics and with the inclusion of the Yolkfolk and other featured characters,  it's the best game of the series for me. Also, the second game,Treasure Island Dizzy, would just constantly remind me of the predicament I would be in. Depressing.

#9 Metal Gear Solid - Solid Snake's first 3D outing is still the best of the Metal Gear series has to offer, and so repeated plays of practicing sneaky silent neck-breaking, mindlessly picking of the rats with a sniper rifle and finding a new way of pissing off your evil brother Liquid would provide a fair amount of enjoyment. The cut scenes alone would take up a good chunk of time too, as would the wonderful soundtrack. It could have the potential to give me ideas to escape an isolated island too, Snake would bloody manage it!

#8 Super Mario World - Most people would chose at least one of the Mario games to keep senility at bay, so it's the Snes's superb Mario platform caper that gets my vote. It's a big game for starters, so completing all the levels is one thing, but also would give me time to finish bonus levels like Outrageous without flying over it, or trying to beat the game without any of the Switch Palaces activated. Would be a tough challenge, and keep a grin on my face for a long while.

#7 Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting - No best-games list is complete without one of the Street Fighter games, and the fast, multicoloured Hyper Fighting would be perfect for letting out that pent up anger and loneliness. I could master every combo, find new ones, and endlessly insult Ken about his stupid daft eyebrows. It's also a game that has stood the test of time, so would always be a joy to play again and again. Maybe I could teach the local primates to play too for some 2 player action.

#6 Tetris - Even now it's a game many of us fall back on as something just to pass a few minutes by, so it's no surprise this classic Russian puzzler takes a place here. Endlessly addictive in the most basic of ways, Tetris has a half-life of about 5000 years I would assume, so setting your own personal goals is the key to longevity. Be warned though, the music could just drive you utterly insane, losing all communicative skills leaving only the notes of the famous music. You may even start calling yourself Dr Spin...

The budget airline route from Japan to Hawaii was grueling

#5 Pang - The GX4000's crowning title, I would have to have this balloon popping shooter as to remind me of the fabled but flopped Amstrad console. The game is tricky, so beating it over and over would be very satisfying, but hearing those classic 8-bit tones would provide a goose-bumping experience for a passing moment.  It would also bear memory fruit of the real world, with the in-game background images of London, Paris and such like. A great game bursting with fun.

#4 Starfox (Starwing) - If I were to choose a first person space shooter that captures all that makes a great space shooter without hanging off the fame of Star Wars, Starfox would be the one. With it's choice of courses, levels of difficulty, it's excellent polygon enhanced visuals and epic sci-fi soundtrack, it's a title to get the juices flowing and too immerse yourself into some hardcore firefight action. I could also shoot Slippy down just for the pointless thrill of silencing the dumb amphibian!

#3 Rez - Not only would this give me a fix of high quality gaming off the PS2, but it would also fulfill the gap left by the absence of dance music. The tracks included in Rez would be more than sufficient, because you can always play the game poorly and produce a different tune. The unlockables in this are also very long-winding to complete, so that would be something to achieve. There is a way, so I have heard, that you can complete the game and give it's final boss, Eden, the salvation she begs for. That would be an emotional end and something to savor.

#2  Final Fantasy VII - Need I say more? No? Ok, I won't. Oh alright then, I will. Final Fantasy VII; one of the best games ever to grace a TV's pixels. Anybody that calls himself a gamer will have played or read about this title. It's that good. I could try beating Emerald with just Cloud, or produce a Master Materia for all magic for every member of my party... (I really do sound a bit sad sometimes don't I?) Anyway, it's one of the greatest games ever. Nuff said!

Duck Hunt 2 never came to fruition, so Mana stole ideas

#1 Secret of Mana - Just pipping FF7 to the top spot is another JRPG, and only because I found it the most awe-inspiring game I had played at the time of it's release, and this would stand me in good-stead if I were pottering about on some desolate sandy island. Playing SOM just makes me smile, makes me reminisce, makes me happy and gives me a warm glow of good feelings. The story, the music, the playability; it should be no shock to my regular readers that this IS my all time favourite game. Ever. The most indispensable game for my personal tastes.




A pretty far-fetched list this one I know, but it does show you what I find great and what I look for about video games. There is a wide selection of genres here, so something to keep the boredom to a minimum. Of course, even these games would eventually become unbearable over a long period, but it's the best I can do. What would your picks be? What is your favourite game of all time? Tomorrow we take a different turn on things and look at the most ridiculously hyped games there has been in my opinion. Is GTA3 really that good? We will find out tomorrow as I continue the A to Z challenge of video game top 10's.


Bug... 'Out!