Not only is Persona 4 Golden an excellent game by its own right, but I played it at the perfect time and place in life to mesh with the cast, setting, and story, and to even grow as a person as I contemplated the story's repeated emphasis on the value of truth. Persona 4 Golden's synthesis of excellent gameplay, authentic characters, engaging plot, resonant themes, and a soundtrack that has lived in my head all of these years will forever exemplify this medium's greatest heights

Persona 5 presents the strongest RPG battle system I've ever seen, and provides a great cast and story that kept me engaged for the entire 84-hour journey. My underleveled encounter with the final boss, in which I prevailed after taking advantage of lethal multi-turn combos, party switching, and precarious healing and SP regen arrangements, is one of my favorite memories in games

A totally enthralling western adventure that, like any other game this high on this list, I played at the perfect time. In RDR2's case, the perfect time was immediately after finishing a grueling final semester of undergrad. I basically lived in RDR2's beautiful, contemplative old west for three weeks -- it was exactly what I needed.

It took 15 years, but I found every blue coin in this game without ever consulting a guide. It was not a smart thing to try, but in doing so, I learned the ins and outs of Super Mario Sunshine's mechanics, levels, and world, and my love for it only deepened in the process.

While the campaign and standard online multiplayer would justify a high placement all on their own, Halo Reach remains the go-to Halo game among my friends and I for custom games (though Infinite is a surprising complement), supported by an expansive map creator that I've spent hundreds of hours in.

TLOU2's nauseating, oppressive setting and story set the stage while Ellie has one of the most well-realized character arcs in games. The gameplay is massively improved over the original as well.

Charting your course through an apathetic sea littered with secrets, monsters, and danger gradually pieces together all of the wonderful ingredients for a stellar 3D Zelda game. Despite owning and spending time with the GameCube original, it took me years to properly play this game so that when I finally did (on Wii U), the journey was equal parts nostalgic and fresh -- a fitting feeling to bask in while my little sailboat churned through the waves.

The social links and main adventure tell a powerful story that, once again, I played at the perfect time in life and am still regularly contemplating months after finishing. On the gameplay side, although Tartarus provides my least favorite dungeon crawling out of the three "modern" Personas, the battle system overall remains top-notch for the genre.

I just love webswinging, man. Spidey-style traversal, Arkham-style combat, and an unexpectedly enjoyable story make a great package.

While the game is too easy for a lot of its runtime, the wonderful moveset provides so many instances of pure platforming goodness, and the sprawling levels are a dream to explore.

I spent my first paycheck from my first summer job on a PS3 with The Last of Us. Great decision. I enjoy this game for the usual reasons: tense gameplay accentuates a harrowing post-apocalypse setting and lends authenticity to Joel and Ellie's relationship, culminating in a killer ending.

Every corner of Termina and the people who inhabit it help Majora's Mask strike a perfect balance of whimsy and creepy. Plus, the dungeons, side missions, and strangely isolating experience of being trapped in a time-loop of the final days before an apocalypse all create a unique, gripping adventure still recognizable as 3D Zelda.

Hollow Knight checks all the boxes that I want a Metroidvania to check -- smooth combat, great exploration, and lovely art. It's a game that I love more and more upon reflection as I recognize just how tight the whole adventure is. Hollow Knight also gets bonus points for being my wife's favorite game.

The game I bought a 3DS for. It's Star Fox 64, but slightly smoother and with some much needed additions such as individual level replays and portability. The remake and the original game exist as fundamentally distinct experiences in my mind, so both get a spot on this list.

I have an up-and-down relationship with this game, but the excellent base gameplay and slow build-up of Forge Mode has catapulted my view of this wayward Halo title. I don't care about campaign co-op or missing multiplayer modes when I can build multiplayer maps out of custom-built Tetris blocks, honeycombs, rainbows, desserts, or whatever else comes to my mind. The future is bright for this game.

Sunset Overdrive is the game that made me need an Xbox One, and it did not disappoint. Sunset Overdrive's speedy traversal, over-the-top weapons, and colorful open world teeming with soda monsters are a recipe for a wonderful time.

Exploration is a natural, insatiable urge in Breath of the Wild. I spent a relatively light 70 hours hunting down shrines and checking out Hyrule, and loved every second of it.

Xenoblade excels for its battle system, unique and beautiful settings, killer soundtrack, and a story that somehow still had me gripped 70 hours in. It's been nearly a decade since I beat the game, but the sense of wonder from exploring beautiful environments such as Satorl Marsh and the Eryth Sea still persist.

My most hyped game of 2016, I played all of Thief's End in one sitting immediately after finishing a grueling series of AP tests my senior year of high school. Even in my exhausted, sleepless post-exam state, I could see that Thief's End pushed the series' standards for gameplay and story to new levels.

Once I got the hang of the Batmobile, blitzing through the streets of Gotham felt perfect. Knight polished the series' strong combat and traversal, filled its nooks and crannies with Batman lore, and told a great superhero story to boot.

The PS3 trilogy's dynamic set-pieces and fun combat encounters are at their best in Uncharted 2. Within moments of starting your adventure in a Borneo jungle, it's obvious that Naughty Dog had made huge improvements over the original (which is still a good game, fight me).

Red Dead Redemption and the Undead Nightmare DLC are loads of fun; both kept me occupied for a long time, and I'm a little sad we never saw a similar zombie DLC for GTAV. Fun fact: Red Dead Redemption was my favorite game when I beat it, but I started Persona 4 Golden the next day.

One of, if not the best local multiplayer games on GameCube, paired with a highly replayable and fun campaign. This game was a mainstay at sleepovers and hangouts for years of my childhood.

Another GameCube local multiplayer classic, Super Monkey Ball 2 is endlessly replayable and endlessly entertaining to play with others, whether you're blasting through the main levels or pulling an all nighter with the minigames.

Banjo-Kazooie is one of the first games I ever played -- I'm told that, as a toddler, I'd just watch the title screen animation over and over because I had no idea what to do with the controller. I didn't finally properly play through Banjo-Kazooie until 2019, but I was delighted to find that Rare's 3D platforming debut held up beautifully, and remains a genre standout with its top-notch level design, soundtrack, and gameplay.

While Ni No Kuni is one of those rare full package RPGs that delivers in all categories, what sticks with me years later is the cast, delightful fantasy setting, and, of course, the art style.

Alongside Halo Reach, Arkham City was THE game for me in middle school. I was immediately addicted upon picking up Arkham City, blasting through back-to-back playthroughs right away. I considered it my favorite game for two years afterward.

As the first non-Pokemon RPG I got hooked on, I consider Chrono Trigger is my introduction to the genre at large.

I see Star Fox 64 and 3D as two distinct games in my mind, having played through each somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 times. 64 is the childhood classic, and I prefer its presentation to Star Fox 64 3D -- there's just something about that crackly sound and the N64 visuals.

Pikmin 2 makes the first game look like a tech demo, greatly expanding the size and scope of the single-player portion. Also, the marble battle multiplayer mode, which is essentially Capture the Flag, works unbelievably well.

3D Mario's linear experiment culminated with 3D World, a game that shines despite completely bucking the series' previous philosophy and emphases by trading refined movesets and exploration-focused levels for linear platforming challenges, a much more limited moveset, and chaotic co-op craziness. I look back especially fondly on this one as the first game I ever played with my now-wife.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 doesn't match the atmosphere of the first game, but improvements in level design and greater challenge place Super Mario Galaxy 2 just ahead of its predecessor.

Several playthroughs later, Super Mario Galaxy's gravity-bending platforming and universal expanse of level variety provide a galaxy-class experience in what is otherwise a bit of a genre dark age. Super Mario Galaxy also has an exceptionally strong soundtrack and, at times, a lonely but wondrous atmosphere befitting of a journey through a vast, endless starscape.

I almost skipped Arkham Asylum and went straight to Arkham City. Instead, I spent all of eighth grade Thanksgiving Break completely engrossed in the game, loving its combat, Riddler trophies, and extreme doses of Batman lore.

Surpassing Melee was not easy to do, but it turns out all things are possible with King K. Rool on your roster.

I don't know if Pikmin 4 is a soft reboot for the series, Pikmin 3's Pikmin 2, or a culmination of the Pikmin campaigns' gradual transition from strategy games to adventure games. Regardless, between the campaign, post-game content, and Dandori, Pikmin 4 has so much to love for lifelong series fans such as myself.

The series' peak in level design, and I'll always love the SNES art style over the newer games. What really worked for me for DKC2 over Tropical Freeze is DKC2 not saving after every level -- you had to beat three or four levels upon entering each world before you could save. Very annoying to some, but I found having to grind up lives before tackling a few tough levels in a row brought the game to life.

I saved up all of one middle school summer to secure a 3DS and Star Fox 64 3D, but Star Fox was still a month away when I got the system, so I also grabbed Ocarina of Time 3D. I spent the next week or so completely glued to the well-rounded adventure that ended up the first Zelda game I ever completed.

While a step down from Pikmin 2 in important respects (including multiplayer), Pikmin 3 has a strong campaign, fun enough multiplayer, and a challenge mode that is the single-player peak of the series.

A lot of 3D platformers struggle to craft a compelling moveset, but, even as a genre pioneer, Mario 64 did it so well that the game has a thriving romhack scene a quarter-century later. I like smooth, expressive platforming, and Super Mario 64 remains one of the best games for that.

Cuphead is fantastic to look at and demonstrates a perfect marriage of brutal difficulty and tight, straightforward mechanics. Playing this game right before finals did no favors for my law school GPA, but I regret nothing.

A game centered on a world taken over by robot dinosaurs is hard to screw up. Even though I'm slowly losing interest in Sony's AAA over-the-shoulder adventures, Horizon maintains a special place in my heart with its glorious combat, vibrant setting, and surprisingly engaging lore.

Yet another local multiplayer fixture in the GameCube's library, Melee was a fantastic Super Smash Bros. title to grow up with. Even though Ultimate has surpassed its status among my friends and I, Melee still makes frequent appearances when we're all together.

Earthbound's modern setting, quirky design, and laugh out loud humor set it apart from other SNES RPG classics. The game holds up remarkably well, though save states in certain pre-boss spots made Earthbound a lot more digestible when I finally committed to a full playthrough in 2021.

As the first game I ever reviewed professionally, Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology set an impossibly high standard with its position-based battle system, quality soundtrack, and engaging story. You know a game's good when you sit down to play it in the evening and, before you know it, garbage trucks are making their morning run.

I was very happy to finally see Sega acknowledge that Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 existed. Banana Mania has some frustrating physics quirks and content omissions that hold it back compared to the originals, but new modes, Deluxe content, portability, new unlockables, and the sheer amount of marble rolling goodness still makes Banana Mania a great time with some unique offerings.

Kid Icarus Uprising earns distinction as the only game I've ever played through wrist cramps. Weapon creation, high score chasing, and an addicting multiplayer mode led to me spending much more time with Kid Icarus than anticipated.

If Super Mario 64 continued for another 130 stars, it might look a lot like Super Mario Star Road. Star Road thoroughly understands why 64 worked so well, and spends a full game further testing players to learn and utilize one of the most satisfying movesets in all 3D platforming.

Spider-Man 2 is a strong continuation to what quickly became one of the best superhero video game series out there. The story doesn't hit quite as hard as the first game, but excellent traversal and combat continue to impress.

Destroy All Humans! 2 has so many absurd, exciting ways to destroy things. You can take cover behind that car and rain asteroids on your enemies, or you can levitate the car and push the people shooting at you off a cliff, or you can ignore your objectives, hop in your UFO, and level a city or two.

With the addition of Salmon Run and a more well-rounded content suite right out the gate, Splatoon 2 is a great follow-up that gave the Switch a genuine online multiplayer must-have. Splatoon 3 is cool too, but I still haven't played it nearly as much as I did Splatoon 2.

I don't really get why Rayman Legends made such a lasting impression compared to Rayman Origins, which in my view had smoother level design and gameplay flow. Shoutout to the Moskito levels.

Celeste is really, really tough in a way that accentuates its message, constant encouragement, and positivity.

With Saints Row 3, GTA's weird cousin adds just the right amount of zaniness to the open world crime spree genre. The game does not take itself seriously, but it also doesn't make its irreverence its entire personality like Saints Row IV.

When I grabbed a 3DS, I made a point of out of building a diverse library that would introduce me to new genres, leading me to try and fall in love with titles like Fire Emblem Awakening.

I was hesitant to jump into Banjo-Tooie after seeing just how large the levels were and being unimpressed by the world sizes in DK64 and Yooka-Laylee, but by the end of the game, the size and scale of Banjo-Tooie won me over by maintaining charm and fluidity in a way that other massive Rare collectathon projects struggled to accomplish.

The physical feeling of progression in Beat Saber is spectacular. With practice (and a little sweat), daunting, uninterpretable streams of blocks become automatic exercises of muscle memory.

While I prefer the sequel's larger, more varied levels, I still return to Super Monkey Ball often. I give it a lot of credit for essentially creating the momentum-platforming half of the marble rolling genre.

A multiplayer precision platformer in which, through trickery or pure git gudness, you have to build a platforming level that you can beat, but your friends can't. Each turn, each player grabs and places one piece, and over the course of each match, a devious level is built, tweaked, blown up, rebuilt, rearranged, and littered with traps ranging from spinny spikes to beehives to black holes.

With strong, easily-grasped mechanics, the inclusion of Battle Mode, and a slow climb to a ridiculous 96 (mostly) high-quality tracks, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the definitive kart racer.

The common descriptor "Pikmin with guns" sums Battalion Wars up really well. The game's seamless blend of action and strategy provides plenty of encouragement to play and replay levels in search of winning tactics and high ranks.

Corn Kidz 64 is more than just a love letter to classic 3D platformers like Banjo Kazooie. Its short runtime marks some of the best few hours the 3D platforming genre has ever seen. Maybe future 3D platformers should be love letters to Corn Kidz 64.

Another highly polished Sony AAAdventure that hits all the right notes, tells a good story, and basically perfects the "checklist" genre or open world titles we see today.

While I've never wandered into the online portion of GTAV, the single-player portion is some of the most fun I've had in an open world playground. Inevitably, I fire it up a couple times a year and just mess around.

Origins is fun to play, tells the best story in the series, and is not as padded as a first glance might have you believe. It serves as a great example that Ubisoft is actually pretty willing to reinvent this series from time to time.

I don't have a good excuse for having not played any Kingdom Hearts games outside of KH1 and part of Chain of Memories. "Magical" is the only word for Kingdom Heart's heartwarming themes and worlds.

My first Halo game, and the first FPS that I really obsessed over. Between excellent level design, Firefight, and long, lonely walks through New Mombasa, I maintain that ODST is the best single-player title in the series.

3D platformer x metroidvania works so naturally as a genre crossover that I'm shocked I've never encountered it outside of Pseudoregalia. The game has some of the most satisfying expressive 3D platforming I've ever seen, with an excess of low poly 5th generation vibes to boot.

Amazing gunplay and a torrential downpour of demons makes DOOM 2016's relentless, high octane combat a treat that stands among the best of the genre.

I prefer different elements of Danganronpa 1 and 2, but 2 is my favorite due to its tropical environment and a story and cast with an even stronger commitment to absurdity that works quite well for the message and mood that the series wants to convey.

I was originally not happy when Retro announced that they were making another Donkey Kong Country title, and a few years later, I was not happy when Retro announced that they weren't making another Donkey Kong Country game. The common denominator in that is Tropical Freeze and its masterful gameplay, level design, and music.

Yeah, the bloat is over the top (I spent 55 hours with this game and didn't even see half of the map), but a beautiful setting, solid gameplay, and plenty to explore kept me hooked on Assassin's Creed Odyssey for dozens of hours. I remember this game fondly for its role in a sorely needed post-finals gaming spree in December 2021.

One of the first "rare" GameCube games that I put actual effort into hunting down, it's a relief to see Ikaruga readily available on digital platforms nowadays. If I see ever see Ikargua on a deep discount on a platform I don't already own it on, I buy another copy of this polarity-swapping gem out of principle.

One of my first GameCube games, Pikmin is partially how I learned how to count. I was so bad at the game that I needed to keep perfect track of every. single. Pikmin.

There are a handful of kart racers on this list with better single-player modes than Mario Kart, Sonic All-Stars chief among them. I knew nothing of Sonic All-Stars when I got it for Christmas one year, and I honestly was not expecting much, but great mechanics and a bevy of creative modes made for a wonderful time.

One of Rare's many N64 triumphs, it took me far too long to finally sit down and properly play through Diddy Kong Racing. DKR is a colorful, mechanically excellent single-player kart racer that drives, boats, and flies circles around Mario Kart 64.

Death's Door was a surprising game I didn't know existed until the day it launched. Then, I had to have it. Excellent combat, a satisfying world to unravel, and lovely art make for an all-around superb experience.

Danganronpa's irreverent personality, morbid scenarios, and colorful cast accentuated the game's twisting, turning journey from one mystery to the next.

Super Sami Roll hands you an extensive moveset and doesn't care if you use it to break its levels over and over and over again. Sami's moveset, a wealth of collectibles, and the ticking level clock encourage creative thinking and experimentation as you pursue the best possible times, and a trove of good old fashioned unlockable content rewards you for your efforts.

Astalon's mix of exploration and a satisfying upgrade loop is excellent, especially when considering the central tower's wonderful pixel art, strong soundtrack, and flood of secrets, traps, and monsters.

Another single-player kart racing great with dozens of fantastic tracks that are incredibly satisfying to race on. Like Sonic All Stars and Diddy Kong Racing, Crash Team Racing's strong mechanics propel the single-player mode forward, but unfortunately limit the game's multiplayer accessibility. My one attempt at Crash Team Racing: Beertro-Fueled went terribly.

The clay aesthetic works so, so well with LA's hazy, dreamy vibes. Mix it up with a solid 2D Zelda foundation, and it's clear why I binged the final seven hours of this game in a day.

Gears of War 3 represents the series' peak so far, with surprisingly effective emotional moments, explosive action, and refined cover-based shooting. I also appreciate that this game let your AI co-op partners revive you after getting knocked down, finally making solo play viable.

Black Flag is a gem in the Assassin's Creed series' post-Ezio limbo. After AC3 mostly faltered, Black Flag's fantastic naval battles and sprawling Caribbean exploration showed that the series could do more than just renaissance parkour.

Uncharted 3 does not flow quite as well as Uncharted 2 or 4, but it's still excellent to play and one of the few worthwhile attempts at a cinematic gameplay experience.

One of the only notable Sixth Gen superhero games not to have "Arkham" in the title, Infamous 2 is simply electrifying to play.

Playing Astro Bot: Rescue Mission convinced me that the 3D platforming genre has a substantial future in VR, if other devs ever come around to it. The game was fun and immersive enough for me to play through VR motion sickness on more than one occasion.

Wolfenstein: TNO is less in-your-face than DOOM 2016, but it's by no means a subtle experience. Dismantling robot Nazis seldom is.

The bad news: Arkham Origins is basically just Arkham City rehashed. The good news: Arkham Origins is basically just Arkham City rehashed.

Another stellar Mario 64 romhack that shines despite a bit too many simple stars and easy early levels. Once it gets going, Super Mario and the Cursed Castle has some particularly huge levels that provide great challenge while adhering to design that should be pretty familiar to fans of the original.

A special 3D platformer that mostly nails Banjo-Kazooie's mix of exploration, puzzle-solving, and platforming, and really nails the surreal, whimsical, slightly creepy atmosphere common in early 3D games. I just wish the game was about twice as long.

Pure 3D platformers didn't have a ton going on as a genre in the sixth, seventh, and early eighth console generations, so I was understandably glued to A Hat in Time's development from the moment the kickstarter was announced in 2013. Several years later, A Hat in Time's solid mechanics and level design help it stand out amidst many other new entries in a revitalized genre that is enjoying a growing a indie scene.

I don't think Miles Morales is paced as well as Spider-Man 2018 in story or gameplay progression, but it is still an excellent game overall. Swinging feels fantastic, as always.

Saints Row IV lost a step compared to Saints Row III, but that's still good enough to create a strong mash-up between an open world superhero game and an open world crime sim. Yeah, guns and (driving) cars become useless when you can outrun the sound barrier, leap over buildings, and throw fireballs with your hands and cars with your brain, but that's a sacrifice I was willing to make for Saints Row IV.

Timesplitters 2 stands the tallest among the scattered members of Goldeneye 007's progeny with a wide assortment of guns and modes, a solid stage creator, and heart-pumping gameplay that strikes the same notes as Goldeneye 007 itself. If my friends had been more into this one, I could see it being a lot higher on this list.

Before Mario Kart 8 Deluxe became a clear king of the series, Mario Kart Double Dash held a strong place in my heart with several favorite tracks and driving that felt a bit better than using a Wii Wheel or an N64 controller.

Luigi's Mansion is one of the best examples of Nintendo getting weird with the transition to 3D games. While later entries have more ghosts to bust and surprisingly good multiplayer, the original Luigi's Mansion remains my favorite thanks to its replayability and a much more potent sense of atmosphere and personality than its successors.

Gears 5 demonstrates that, even without Epic, the series can still tell emotional stories, evolve its gameplay, and stay true to its core as a cover-based shooter. I regret taking so long to get to this one, except it bought me time before beginning what's shaping up as an unbearable wait for Gears 6.

Islets is a chill, fun Metroidvania. It doesn't do a ton to stand out, but it's mechanically sound and a joy to explore, and that's good enough for me.

I prefer nearly everything about the sequel, but Destroy All Humans! still succeeds in offering a funny parody of 1950s Red Scare America and plenty of ways to, well, destroy all humans.