Ranking Games of the Decade (2001-2010)
Isn't it crazy to think the games at the start of this list will be two decades old a week after this list got started? Here's my ranking of all games I've scored that came out from 2001 to 2010!
98 Games
This might have come out in 2007, but it remains the definitive Civilization experience. A big reason is that it hits that perfect blend of beginner-friendly and veteran-deep, much better at onboarding than Civ V or VI while having more intense gameplay. Also it doesn't have totally dogshit UI. The game I've put the most hours into, period. Even if as anyone on Realms Beyond might remember (I was Kuro on there), I wasn't good at staying on time for MP...
3
2001 to 2010 represents a large portion of my childhood and teenage years, from 6/7 to 16 roughly, and Pikmin 2 is a game that I replayed a TON back then. It has particular meaning to me: My internet history largely begins on GameFAQs with the Thousand Year Door and Pikmin 2 forums. The Pikmin 2 forums were where I first got into roleplay and helped plant the seeds of my desire to be a writer.
The game itself is excellent. I actually feel it is easier than the first one (oooh, controversial!), but it has snappier controls, the cave system is very fun and in some ways feels prototypical of Switch era Nintendo games, it has the best monster encyclopedia in gaming. Boss fights are fun and often frantic and you really gotta keep your wits about you. All around fantastic.
The game itself is excellent. I actually feel it is easier than the first one (oooh, controversial!), but it has snappier controls, the cave system is very fun and in some ways feels prototypical of Switch era Nintendo games, it has the best monster encyclopedia in gaming. Boss fights are fun and often frantic and you really gotta keep your wits about you. All around fantastic.
5
When I think of definitional FAN events from this era, this is what I think of. Mother 3's fan translation was the kind of thing that made eternal rounds on the internet back then, truly one of the first major fan translation projects that I can remember that had insane hype when it got released. It also completely lived up to the hype, with Mother 3 being beloved in the western internet gaming scene on release. I don't think it is a stretch to say that most fan translation projects owe something to it, even if it is just the fact it got a lot of people interested in trying them out. The game itself truly lives up to the hype and is one of the personal hard hitters for me.
Although it was never finished, I recommend reading Clyde Mandelin's translation comparison that gave thought process on why choices were made in the translation, technical hurdles and more that they went through: https://legendsoflocalization.com/mother-3/
His Earthbound translation comparison is also amazing.
Although it was never finished, I recommend reading Clyde Mandelin's translation comparison that gave thought process on why choices were made in the translation, technical hurdles and more that they went through: https://legendsoflocalization.com/mother-3/
His Earthbound translation comparison is also amazing.
7
When I think of this era of Nintendo, in my mind largely defined by the Gamecube and Game Boy Advance, Pikmin is one of the games that I would say "defines" the era for me. Extremely quirky and creative, how many console RTS games did you see around, with some nice and surprising depth to it. Olimar is one of Nintendo's underrated protagonists for being very well characterized and Pikmin 1 + 2 are the core of that. Although Pikmin 2 supercedes it as my favorite, the original Pikmin also holds a close place in my heart.
11
Not all games here are ones I played when they came out and Fire Emblem here is a case of that. I did try emulating it back then, but I never got through Lyn's tale. To be honest, I don't think I truly got onboarded into Fire Emblem until Three Houses despite my username coming from a Fire Emblem character thanks to Smash. But it has only grown on me more and more with time. An excellent and actually underrated story with some of Fire Emblem's best antagonists, strong character writing (even if people way overstate the quality of supports vs. later games here in aggregate), and a really fun gameplay base. I feel like Sacred Stones later improves on the gameplay, but Blazing Blade has much better maps and encourages a wider variety of gameplay with stuff like Ranking.
14
NASCAR was the first sport I fell in love with at a young age despite not living in the south. I saw Dale Earnhardt die on TV when I was young, Matt Kenseth put together one of the most impressive Championship runs I've seen, and hoped Jeff Gordon would get to 7 Championships. Alas, Gordon got robbed by the Chase, and the fact I got the game right before the Chase came into existence is a godsend. Even leaving that aside, NASCAR games fell off hard after around 2005 and it is wild to me this game has still essentially not been surpassed. Career Mode is INCREDIBLY fun and it has great emergent gameplay based on how well you, as a driver, are skilled at each track. Car customization is very nice. I was personally a Superspeedway and fast Speedway specialist who was also great at Richmond. Still come back to this one a lot.
15
I think this game gets a bad rap due to the 3D remake, which is actively worse gameplay-wise and in some senses script-wise although the cutscenes are excellent. Riku Replica was a character that really got my brain turning when I was younger and the isometric-style gameplay is rather fresh feeling (even if the shield enemies can be a bitch). Reverse Mode with Riku is very fun where you have to deal with whatever the game gives you, although on the easy side. It has a strong story, nice intrigue, back when KH was just 1, CoM and 2 it wasn't really a confusing story like some people make it out to be.
16
Super Mario 64 is a game I have more appreciation for as I get older (even if below Sunshine still), but when I was growing up? THIS was my Mario of choice. Still one of the tightest damn feeling 3D platformers of all time! I spent hours just jumping around this fella, and some of the harder challenges may have been frustrating but it was also fun to beat them. I didn't realize you could go through The Goopy Inferno from the bottom and strategically used water from getting Mario wet in the ponds and stuff to clear out the goop. Was supremely difficult but did complete the level. Ended up never beating the game due to the infamous Corona Mountain Boat.
17
Back when I was first young, I couldn't complete this game because the bee enemies scared me as I had basically a phobia of bees. Rather love this one, Kattlelox Island is very lively! The final boss is cool.
18
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Is it weird this somehow feels underrated even though I don't love it? It doesn't reach the heights of Star Fox 64 from the previous decade, but outside of 64 remakes it is the 2nd best Star Fox game around. Controls are nice. I remember being happy it came out after Adventures disappointed me, but then Command came out and just seeing what it was like (I didn't own a DS) was enough to sadden me.
57
60
I probably need to come back to this one, but as a kid I was never huge into it. I think the dreadful tutorial, which I got stuck on, was a huge reason why. It also just didn't quite hook me the way something like Majora's Mask or Wind Waker did outside of Midna.
68
PS2 version.
71
PPSh-41 spammer right here.
74
76
This was simultaneously a game that got me interested and frustrated me. All the fun characters to recruit! And then finding out most of them are worthless. The story doesn't particularly interest me despite some real good early hooks. I eventually got stuck for some hours and never returned to it.
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92
Being a kid without a lot of money in the 2000s means a LOT of buying random bargin bin games for like a dollar when you check out a Gamestop. Like this one.
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