300 Games Bucket List

Inspired by Weatherby's "250 Retro Bucket List" ( https://www.backloggd.com/u/Weatherby/list/250-retro-bucket-list/ ), I did not limit my list to Retro games. One reason is because due to some quirks of how my life went, there was a period of about 10 years I couldn't really buy any new consoles (or a new PC), so my list of played games actually skews somewhat older to begin with. Plus I have so many games I want to play I didn't feel the need to limit myself. The basics of the list are the same: 300 games that I want to play before I kick that ol' bucket.

The first page, or Top 100, is the Top 100 games on this list I want to play, but there isn't any order within that Top 100. And while the games aren't in any super specific order besides that, I did try to make it overall aesthetically pleasing, or have some mini-themes here or there.

I'm rather undetermined in what I'll do as I actually beat these games. My first thought is to remove them to the list and do, IDK, a "Bucket List Games Completed" list while replacing it with a new game, which makes it a bit of an unending bucket list (given, after all, new games always be coming out). But maybe that's too much. But just leaving a game here after finishing it feels odd to me. What do you guys think?

I tried to avoid any games that were unreleased, or that I had what felt like "substantial" progress in, since that didn't jive with my mental image of what this bucket list is for. Funny enough, I got too far into Fire Emblem Engage to put it on, even though it was a game I thought of when making this list. Live A Live also would have been in the Top 100 if I hadn't started it already.

Later, I might I'll note down what systems the games first released on (or something) to show off that spread, and maybe which ones I actually have access to.

this is like the ONE game still stuck on the Wii U that needs to come over please make it happen
This game came out and like 3 of the friends I know whose opinions on video games I kinda trust came to tell me it was based and super lit. So.
The only problem with this game is that it is best played on original hardware and boy do I not have that. But this is a game I've wanted to play for an eternity.

Fun fact, in the Smash Bros. moveset theory contest I run, the only contest I won was for a set for Sho Minamimoto in the Brawl days. The set is horribly outdated now, but I'm still happy.
Along with Excitebike 64, one of those games I saw when I was a kid and thought just looked really cool. It still seems like it is in a unique spot within the Wario World canon, too.
Does anyone else mix up this game and Shadow Hearts all the time?
Liam O'Brien's voice as Lezard Valeth is literally divine
Anyone else think of this and the Valkyire Profile series as connected despite the only connection in any way being the name?
but why is the sequel mobile only
This game is SO mechanically dense holy shit, I love it but I'm also terrified. Excellent character designs, love me some Wagner, Phonon, Vatista, Orie, Yuzuriha and Seth and wow that's sure a lot of characters I ended up bringing up! It feels like the next "big thing" for anime fighters and man I am ALL there for it.
This would probably be in the Top 100 if I was good enough at shooters to feel confident at it.
I know not everyone is a fan of the HD-2D style that Square Enix is putting out right now, but you can count ME as a fan of it, and the demo while it had issues I wanted solved seemed solid. Just seems like one of those enjoyable 7-8/10 Tactical RPGs I'd enjoy sinking my teeth into.
I feel like I saw a text Let's Play of this game that seemed interesting and made me want to play it after like 3 pages but I can't find it anywhere.
While it is the one I am least hyped of from that Symphonia/Abyss/Vesperia "golden age" in my head, it undeniably holds a lot of interest. I feel like the Tales series lost its way after Vesperia for a while, especially in terms of plots, and that Vesperia's later third from an outside perspective feels like a symptom of that...but I gotta play to know for sure!
Tales of Symphonia was big for me growing up and was one of THE Gamecube games I always wanted to buy, but could never find a disc of. One of my best friends growing up was a mega fan of it. The story seems cool, I love the art style, and Zelos is GOATed. I think when I finish both I might put Abyss above it, though.
IMO, Sega has never really known how to leverage Sonic's large cast of characters to make effective spinoffs. Knuckles just got put into more 2D Sonic-like platformers. Tails got like 1 or 2 attempts and forgotten. Even Shadow's edgy attempt with guns still uses a Sonic Adventure / Heroes style.

All this is to say, Hot Take, Tails Adventure is probably not Good but they should have used it as a blueprint to expand outwards. Tails is an inventor with a lot of room for his own stories, and they could have totally had a little Metroidvania subseries going on if they cultivated it properly. If they had done a Game Gear sequel (which they should have), learning from this game and making a good Metroidvania for it would have been an excellent decision.
The way I got started on the internet and found friend groups when I went from GameFAQs was freaking Digibutter.nerr so, like, is this even a surprise.
I don't really anticipate liking this as much as Super Mario Galaxy 1, but it IS really popular and SMG1 has been fun to play through so I can't complain.

Man, though, I swear I have some kinda warped perspective on this game. When it came out all I remember is people saying it was a bit too much of a stale sequel to Super Mario Galaxy, but in retrospect both critics and fans alike felt it was as good or better than the first a lot of the time. It goes to show you that you shouldn't stick in a singular bubble of opinion.
For some reason, this game especially sticks out for me among Classicvanias. I think it is the fact it sounds like innovations were made that are kickass and that were very well received at the time (multiple review outlets consider it a Best SNES Ever kinda game), yet fans seem to have turned against it and later games reverted more away from it with other acclaimed games such as Rondo of Blood. It really makes me wonder what, exactly, was happening there!
The first Swordcraft Story is my favorite game ever (at the time of making this list) and the second is a pretty dang solid game in its own right. So of course I really want to play the third game.

Man, I wish more Summon Night games came over. I'd be all over them for their Tactical RPG mainline, too!
Unfortunately I am pretty late to the party.

Hot damn does Street Fighter 6 look good though.
Imageepoch is a studio that interests me. They feel like a studio that released a lot of this interesting, kinda niche RPGs on the DS, and really tried hard to break into the RPG mainstream while probably not being talented enough to do so. They released entire series like Luminous Arc that absolutely nobody freaking talks about. It has me deathly curious.

Anyway this was their last game ever and it got pretty good reviews so.
Kreia's been one of my favorite video game characters to watch in videos and I ain't even played the game lol
I know this game gets a lot of hate for its plot twist but that's exactly why I'm so interested in it
Spyro and Crash Bandicoot are two of those platformers that were BIG when right about when I was growing up (I got my N64 when I was five, as I recall, give or take), although I did not hear much about them until later (since I mostly got plugged into gaming news as it went into the Gamecube/PS2 era). That's left me curious about what that Nintendo competition was up to, especially with how highly regarded both of those are. I'm a bit more excited for Spyro than Crash (plus I am partway through Crash 1, which has just been Okay so far), so he makes the Top 100.
I got introduced to this via a friend and the concept and idea seem unique! I mean, hell, a game called Spider: The Video Game already feels bold. Maybe we should Spider: The Video Game more often.
I don't know if I have the stomach for the Demon Path, but damn if it isn't one of the games that most commits to it I've ever seen. This game's art style is also sick in the way those late era non-true-3D games were.

Also this game has amazing music guys oh hell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NAkEP68agk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkIGeP68ORA
Up there with Kingdom Hearts and Tales of Symphonia for that teenage year brainrot, and the game that gave Sonic appeal to me. Somehow I got Sonic Adventure 1 and Sonic Heroes instead of it when I was younger. I don't know why.

Technically I am playing the Sonic Adventure 2: Battle version, but this version has the better cover art. So.
yes i know it isn't good. but it tasks me. it tasks me and i shall have it.
While I understand why it is controversial, this game seems legit and has me interested in it.
Fun Fact: I got told about this game from someone I know before there was a Clean version who was like "okay, look, ignore the pornographic elements here, this is one of the best action platformers I've played in a WHILE".
Utena is my favorite anime so, like, yeah.
Strange Journey's always been one of the mainline SMTs I had the most interest in, maybe because the neutral route feels like a fresh spin for the franchise, and that it might go for some more nuance than the series is already known for.

Redux feels like it ruins most of what I like from the original, especially with the neutral route.
Why is the Shining series so shafted? Despite having like 25 games, I feel like it hasn't been advertised in ages, it has a bunch of Japanese-only games, I feel like this series got left in the dust by Sega (much like Camelot through their history) when it could have been something Bigger.

Anyway I only found out Shining was even a series by finding Shining Resonance Refrain on the eShop and at first thinking it was, like, some cool indie or AA RPG and then googling it. It looks like a fun Tales-like RPG. I'm curious how good it may or may not be. Seems very anime.
I feel like I need to play this game, even if I don't think I will enjoy it. I hate Black Doom and the retcons his existence makes to Shadow the Hedgehog, man. And I dislike the fact that, for SOME REASON, they didn't let Shadow the Hedgehog's creator and writer for his scenarios be involved in this game?

I will say I don't think the core idea is as bad as people say. The multiple path idea is actually a potentially great idea to get the replayability SA1/2 wanted without multiple characters. I'm honestly not opposed to Shadow using guns.

But ultimately it makes me sad because while Sonic '06 was the killshot (and Sega had from day one had Issues), Shadow feels like what really killed the style of Sonic games I was intrigued by for quite a while. It lost the audience and made Heroes go from "a small misstep" to "start of a worrying trend". And it felt like it showed Sega had no idea what they were doing (true).
This game's striking visual style instantly drew me to it, dark and gothic with a touch of Lovecraft and an overall aesthetic that gives me some "drabber Persona 3" vibes (yes I know this game came first, I'm just making a comparison). The Judgement Ring system also sounds like a twisto n the timed hits of Legend of Dragoon or Paper Mario and with how much I love Paper Mario's timed hits that gives me a nice gameplay incentive.
It feels very Sega to produce a hit Tactical RPG at a time RPGs are on the rise, soon to hit their zenith, be one of the system's highest selling games, which is also critically lauded, and not even try to ever bring it overseas. Sony, you've got a hand in it too for blocking its PSP release for no reason.

I think at this point the sheer number of games in this style means it'd be safe to release it. Like, this was according to Sega their MOST expensive product to make at the time, and you don't even try to recoup some money on translation and sales? When it would surely cost much less than production?

Thank god for the fan translation.
Definitely one of those games I heard about as a teenager and has been stuck in my brain for a while.
This is one of those games I anticipate isn't necessarily amazing, but will just be a good time and has a very appealing art style. To be totally honest, I absolutely love going through those 7-8/10 games with heart, so this has personal appeal to me.

This game getting so many disparate sequels also is rather interesting.
Does this game have one of the coolest art styles in recent memory or what?
I first heard about this game because Soul Eater referenced it in an attack name, and as I recall ZUN likes it as well.

Every since then, the name "Radiant Silvergun" has stuck in my head and made it a top shmup for me to want to check out.
I feel like the expanded, Perfect Historia version kind of misses the point of the original to a point. And also while I actually don't MIND the new designs per se (in fact, I'd say I enjoy them enough), they're so much less unique and not AS good. I mean just compared the first to the second here.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/radianthistoria/images/c/c7/Eruca.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20120802043130

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/radianthistoria/images/4/4f/RHPC_Eruca.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20180416012703

Also, seriously, this game has some PEAK designs. Just look at Viola!

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/radianthistoria/images/4/48/Viola.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20120802044200
I've wanted this game since it come out and it hasn't changed.

Nintendo, I'd love to see you make a new Punch-Out. It'd be so easy to treat each Joycon as a fist for punching with motion controls. Do it, you cowards.
This is on here over the normal Wooly World because it is the one I can actually play.

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