Tag: Best Games

The 30 best Dreamcast games

Published on by Chris Scullion16 Comments

This is the third in my ’30 Best’ series of articles in which I discuss my favourite games ever on a system-by-system basis for the first time. In case you missed them, I’ve already covered the 30 best DS games and 30 best GameCube games.

As before, because this is my own personal list and not a collaborative effort for a magazine or website, there will be some glaring omissions of games I simply didn’t play or didn’t like. So yes, I know Legacy Of Kain isn’t on there: stop riding me, dawg.

If one of your favourites isn’t on the list, feel free to give it a shoutout in the comments below (politely though, mind) and tell everyone what it meant to you.

It wasn’t always just Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo competing in the video game hardware race, you know. I mean, obviously you know, I’m just saying that for effect.

Dreamcast-Console-SetBack in the day Sega was a major competitor too, with the Master System and Mega Drive / Genesis shifting in hefty numbers worldwide.

After its fourth standalone console – the overpriced Saturn – crumbled against the Nintendo 64 and newcomer Sony’s game-changing PlayStation, Sega’s next system would either make or break the company’s future.

Sadly, it would end up doing the latter. Continue reading “The 30 best Dreamcast games” →

The 30 best GameCube games

Published on by Chris Scullion25 Comments

This is the second in my series of SEO-baiting articles revealing my favourite games of all time.

In time, as every system is covered, I’ll finally have listed the 700(!) or so games that had a lasting impact on my life.

As before, because this is a personal list and not a group-created list for a magazine or site, there will be some omissions of games I either haven’t played or just personally didn’t like (sorry, Harvest Moon fans).

If one of your favourites isn’t on the list, feel free to give it a shoutout in the comments below and let the world know why it’s important to you.

A while back Nintendo released a new console. Despite the hype surrounding it, it never ended up selling in as enormous numbers as Nintendo had hoped.

SONY DSCAs a result, the Japanese giant found itself third in a three-horse race, with Sony leading and Microsoft holding its own in second.

Yet despite these disappointing sales figures, everyone who owned Nintendo’s console was in love with it, with some claiming it was the best system of the generation. Sound familiar?

I was one of those Wii U GameCube owners, so to celebrate the diversity of this grossly underrated console’s library, here’s my list of the 30 best GameCube games ever. Continue reading “The 30 best GameCube games” →

The 30 best DS games

Published on by Chris Scullion34 Comments

This is the first in a series of shameful SEO-milking articles that should hopefully still at least be helpful to you.

These articles are also important to me in a personal sense because they mark the first time I’ve ever been able to write my own definitive ‘top games’ lists, rather than contributing to collaborative lists on ONM, CVG and the like.

The eventual result will be a number of platform-specific articles that, when combined, will list my personal favourite games ever, something I’ve never been able to share in such detail.

Because of this, there will be blatant omissions and odd decisions. But I’m not going to add a game I’ve never played just because it’s widely considered a classic. These are my lists, paying homage to the games that I personally had a great time with.

The Nintendo DS turned 10 years old in the UK yesterday. On 11 March 2005 Nintendo’s chunky flip-case handheld arrived in Britain to a relatively muted response.

Many gamers, feeling Nintendo was losing steam with GameCube sales slowing to a crawl, were more focused on Sony’s upcoming handheld, the PSP.

The best handheld ever? That's a debate for another time
The best handheld ever? That’s a debate for another time

Offering significantly better graphics and games that could pass as slightly low-res PS2 titles, the PSP was far more appealing to gamers than the DS’s N64-era visuals and its touch screen, which appeared to be no more than a gimmick.

And yet, a decade later, nobody can deny the DS’s eventual impact on the gaming world. With over 154 million units sold worldwide, it’s the best-selling handheld of all time and was around a million shy of overtaking the PS2 as the best-selling video game system ever.

The first game I ever reviewed professionally as an employee of Future Publishing was a DS game. Granted, it was the abysmal Dragon Booster, but the DS will always hold a place in my heart for that reason regardless.

So, since it celebrated its 10th birthday in the UK yesterday, and since it was where my career began, it’s only fitting that my first ‘best games’ article should celebrate the best Nintendo DS games I’ve ever played.

In the six years I spent at Official Nintendo Magazine I reviewed hundreds of DS games, arguably more than any multi-format journalist (since their publications wouldn’t have touched half the shite we covered). So trust me when I say these 30 must have done something special to get in here. Continue reading “The 30 best DS games” →