Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (PC) - Released on the PC and PS1in Q1 of 2000, and me being born in the early 90s, this was one of my my first games I ever played. Previously, my only real experience with video games were the few times I played Ninja Turtles with my cousin on his NES and that one Crash Bandicoot game I played on the computer in the main lobby of our hotel when I went on vacation with my granny.

Interestingly enough, I didn't really "own" this game. In the late 90s when laptops were just becoming a thing, my dad was given a laptop for work. It wasn't his, it belonged to the Airline he worked for at the time, and it was temporarily given to employees for work. I guess the person who used it before my father was a gamer, because this laptop came with a few installed games. The three titles were this game, Duke Nukem, and Mortal Combat. Naturally my dad deleted the latter two, and only let me play NFS Porsche a few times a week in the evenings. I must have put far too many hours into this game than it deserved - but since my only alternative options were Solitaire, Microsoft Paint, and Minesweeper - I played NFS Porsche a lot.

At a later time when the laptop was returned I lost the game, but a few years later I acquired it again on the PS1 and played it on my PS2.


Pokemon Ruby Version (GBA) - Ruby and Sapphire Versions released in March of 2003 in North America, and Ruby Version was my very first non-PC game I owned. Every boy in elementary school owned a GameBoy... except me. I would spend nearly every lunch break watching my friends play Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/Crystal and battle each other. For the longest time I wanted to join them, but my parents refused to buy me a GameBoy because of the poor quality of the screen.

Finally I convinced my dad to get me a GameBoy Advance with Pokemon. We went to the store (it was Zellers - for those few Canadians who remember it) and I got a light purple see-through GameBoy Advance but they did not have Ruby. In that same mall, we found some private second-hand game store (that went bankrupt a few years later) and they had an open box Ruby Version that I got. I was delighted to have my first gaming console and a brand new Pokemon game - but my troubles did not end there. When I got home and started playing, my dad got upset at the GameBoy! The regular GBA did not have a back-light for the screen. Concerned about my eyes he went back and returned the system that same day.

I was devastated for the next week. Luckily my dad asked around and we were recommended the newly released GameBoy Advance SP (that came out that same week) with the back-light screen. He was going to get me the silver one, but I decided to be picky and we went all over the city until we found the red one at some Walmart - mainly because the red color matched the red plastic of the Ruby cartridge.

The 3rd generation of Pokemon is to this day my favorite, and my first starter (Sceptile) to this day exists. He traveled the Generations of Pokemon games and now resides in my Omega Ruby version. This Generation also is home to my favorite Pokemon of all time, that being Latios. I few years later I got Emerald, and it became my primary 3rd Gen game. My file has 9 of my friends in it (from mixing records) and a total play time of 437hours. (I will also admit that the ending theme during the credits to this day gets me to almost cry)


Need for Speed Underground (PC) - This is another racing game I had a lot of fun with. I got it in late 2003, and I will never forget how realistic the graphics looked to me at the time. The game was very fun. My good friend at the time also had it and it was fun going over to his house and racing him split-screen. Did anyone else go the opposite way on the racing downtown track just to collide head on with other contestants when you're bored?
I also really fell in love with that one design choice where you could paint a red rose right across the side of your car. In the future when I am a rich douche bag, I will totally get a black Mitsubishi Eclipse with that red rose paint job. 8)


Sly Cooper 1-3 (PS2) - Released in 2002, this was my first PS2 game I owned. Sly 1 was fantastic. A perfect blend of a good story and very fun gameplay. That game has one of the best game designs for its time. I remember I was stuck in that crocodile boss when I had to do button commands to dodge attacks - man did that part frustrate me. There really isn't as much I can say about this game as the others. It was my first game on the PS2, and I loved it. I skipped the second one, but got the third game on release.

Later on I got the PS3 HD collection, replayed the games (#2 for the first time), appreciated how fun they are, and to this day consider this trilogy great.


Naruto Ultimate Ninja 1-5 (PS2) - Does anyone remember the days when we had 14 playable characters and everyone was happy? Well, I do. The original Ultimate Ninja released in Japan in late 2003 and made its way to North America in June of 2006. Naruto was becoming a national phenomenon around that time, everyone was talking about it at school. I was part of a Naruto club, we all went by names of characters form the show, I was known as Neji in that club haha. The only Naruto games out at that time were Clash of Ninja (GC) and Ninja Council (GBA). I never owned the GameCube, so while all my friends were enjoying the 3D fighter that was CoN, I was stuck with the portable side-scroller that could be beaten in 2 hours (not that I minded, great game).

You can imagine how happy I was to learn that a Naruto game was coming to the PS2 (the only home console I owned). Interestingly enough, it released on my friend's birthday. We both got it from BestBuy and beat it that same night. Then we proceeded to fight each other, and I started to rage as I continuously got my ass handed to me since I sucked at inputting button commands during Ultimate Jutsus.

It was an interesting time in my life. Anime was huge in the 2000s, we as as a class would argue with our Gr.6 Homeroom teacher that InuYasha and Naruto are better than Ghost in the Shell - which he religiously watched. We had great shows on TV, school was fun, every day we'd go to each others houses and play games. During lunch we'd watch YouTube videos of Ultimate Ninja 3 and be amazed - remember that 2006 YouTube? It was simple but amazing - you could find all sorts of things on it back then. Each following year in Spring I would get the sequel: UN 2, 3, and 4. Ultimate Ninja 5 never came out in the West, and it wasn't until 2011 that I imported the European version of UN 5. Yet to this day the original Ultimate Ninja remains my favorite Naruto game, I have 288 hours played. It is my ritual to play a few rounds every summer.


Bleach: Blade Battlers (PS2) - This is a game that I consider a big lost opportunity for SEGA. After it released in Japan in late 2006, it quickly made it's way on the bucket lists of every Bleach fan. Little did we know that we would never get it here in the West. This was still around the time that anime was huge here in Canada, and everyone watched Bionix (Canadian Toonami equivalent). Me and my buddies were hyped for this game as it supported 4 player brawls. It was the ultimate party game.

I was lucky that one of my friends imported the game, and we played it A LOT. At the same time, we were unlucky since he moved to a different province just months after.
When he moved, we wanted to import the game again. We didn't get around to doing it until much later though. By then, the anime craze died down, and the PS2 was an old system. We also all played that Wii Bleach game, Shattered Blade, but it was only 2 player and not as fun. I guess the saying "there is a right time and place for everything" is applicable in this case? For that time, this game was gold - it's too bad we couldn't enjoy it at its prime. But nonetheless, I still love it.


Fullmetal Alchemist: and the Broken Angel (PS2) - Released in early 2005 this is one of the hardest games based on an anime you can play. This game will break you. I will admit though, it's a personal guilty pleasure of mine. Upon getting the game, it took me nearly a year to get to the final boss - only to realize I was under-levelled to fight her. Unfortunately, due to the game's design, leaving to grind is impossible. I was stuck on a hard final boss that I couldn't beat.. with no way to train. Upon realizing that, I had no choice but to restart the game.

The second playthrough began in the summer of 2006. I never even got to the final boss that summer, then school started, and I got distracted. This was all middle school. In my first year of high school (2008) I came back to the game... this time with a friend. We got to the final boss. We couldn't beat her. We gave up.

The 4th time I came back to the game was during March break of 2010, by myself, and determined to beat it. I got halfway.. I got distracted. I returned during March break of 2011 - and I finally beat it. I think this is the longest time it ever took me to beat a game. I also think I have it memorized. Every attempt and trap the game has to screw you over, I have them permanently engraved in my mind. I believe that I am the best player of this game in the world . And now that I wrote about it.. I kinda wanna replay it again.. and cry at the ending again.


.hack//G.U. Vol. 1-3 (PS2) - I will admit, I prefer the GU games to IMOQ. I think the original games really captured me with the music and the idea of a game within a game. Upon beating them (and regrettably selling them) - I fell out of .hack for a while. I still owned the .hack cards, and I still liked the anime, but I didn't care for .hack for a while. It wasn't until I saw the promotional page in Shonen Jump for Vol. 1 of GU that my passion for the series we reignited.

But due to financial reasons, I never bought Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 -- instead I rented them from blockbuster. It was also around 2007 that I started following this site. I would keep checking the main page daily in hopes of finding more news on the release of the next volume (though it wasn't until way later that I joined the boards.. mainly to moan about my disapproval of how CC2 is handling the series these days).

I did however buy Vol. 3 on release in September 2007, mainly because my birthday was approaching. It was an exciting time to know I owned the latest volume of a .hack game and I had all the time in the world to play it. No more deadlines on when to return the game! The game was great, I loved it.
I think the funniest and greatest memory I have is of the day I beat it. It was February 2008, and it was snowing like hell that day. I remember pretending to be sick to stay at home - and it worked! Both my parents were at work, all my friends were at school, the snowfall was heavy, it was 9am in the morning, and I had the entire day to experience the finale of the GU saga. It was amazing. Even as a clueless middle school kid, I was moved by the ending. Very touching. Though it wasn't until 2013 that I replayed the game for the 5th time and actually beaten the forest of death post game dungeon and gotten Tabby on my team.


Persona 3 (PS2) - This game came out in August of 2007, so right before going to school. At that time I had no clue what Persona was, or what Shin Megami Tensei was for that matter. The Internet recommended the game, and we all know the Internet does not lie... haha. People said it's good, it was an anime RPG, sooooo I was definitely on board! It's funny thinking back how I wanted to beat it before school started.. heh.

Persona 3 was a painful experience from start to finish. It had great music, high school anime characters, "digimon" you can collect and fight with... "I've played plenty of these kind of games" I kept saying to myself. So then why was I having so much trouble with it?
Persona 3 was a hard learning curve. I never experienced games quite like it. The fundamental mechanics seemed straightforward, but the deeper systems of the gameplay were too much for me. I didn't know how to use the Internet that well back then - it was a teach yourself trial and error approach. On top of that was the dark and gloomy story, which made me feel uneasy.

Saying all that, it was an experience. I struggled my way through it, and I finally beat it. I felt satisfied, for two reasons. One, I learned how to beat hard games. And two, I was moved by the story. I don't know how, but I knew the main character passed away. It was very vague, and many people did not get the ending. But I knew.. It was a bittersweet moment and I felt conflicted. It was the first time a game showed me a "happy ending.. but not really" type of conclusion. Also.. I gotta fault the game for this one thing.. high school life is not as exciting as they hyped me up for it..


Pokemon Diamond (DS) - Yes, I got another Pokemon game on this list. While Ruby is my favorite game (and my first Pokemon game), I think Diamond and Pearl are the games I've anticipated the most in my life. The hype was real for these games. I remember TV commercials, every store that sold games had giant posters everywhere, gaming magazines had monthly scoops, toys, plushies, stickers, Nintendo DS special editions. Heck, my dad had a Master Card that had Dialga on it.

Every day I would hang out with my friends at the park after school, play Mystery Dungeon Blue/Red, and just anticipate these games. It was the subject of discussion before, during, and after school. I remember looking at the sky during sunset/dusk and comparing the orange-purple part of the sky to Palkia and the already dark night sky to Dialga. I was obsessed.

Interestingly, out of all my friends I wanted Pearl, but ended up with Diamond. I did not have a DS until May, and the games came out in April of 2007. I remember running with one of my friends to Blockbuster during lunch to pick up his Diamond, only to be disappointed it was sold out. He ended up getting Pearl because he didn't want to wait. Similar things happened with a few other friends who missed out on Diamond (I guess the more popular version) and ended up with Pearl. It was hard to find these games. They were sold out everywhere. I guess it's no surprise they remain the best selling DS games of all time. In late May my dad went to get my Pearl at BestBuy, but they were sold out, so he got me Diamond. I was upset, but over time started preferring the Diamond version, and now I like it better. Funny how that works.


Rune Factory Frontier (Wii) - God I love RF Frontier. If you haven't played this masterpiece, you must! Get a Wii and play it!
I was introduced to this game in 2009 through a YouTuber who did playthroughs. I had no interest in this game, but watched the playthrough because I liked her commentary. That's when the game started to grow on me. It looked beautiful, sounded beautiful, had fun farming and battling mechanics, and plenty of cute girls to seduce - amazing! In all seriousness though, this game is so damn peaceful. It's very relaxing, cute and colorful. It's the definition of serenity.

By the time I got the game, it was out of print. I found a used copy for $70 only for it to get a re-print a few months later. I think it's dirt cheap in a bunch of places now. If you like harvest moon games, or never played them, try this one out. It's very addicting. Even to this day I sometimes visit the game's website to enjoy the peaceful music - it's so soothing. Hint: take the personality quiz to see who your best match for marrying in the game is! ------> http://www.runefactoryfrontier.com/


Catherine (PS3) - Catherine was a blind buy for me, almost. It came out in July of 2011 and I picked it up on my way from summer school. I took next year's English over the summer to avoid having to read books throughout the school year, and that day I was in a great mood after receiving a final grade of 98% in the course. I randomly stopped by an EB Games, just for fun. There I saw this gem. My only knowledge of the game was a few random reviews I saw a week earlier giving the game 9's, and that trusty ATLUS logo. "In ATLUS I trust" I thought - and I got the game.

There isn't much to say. The game is a masterpiece. It's beautiful, it's interesting, it's fun, it's challenging, at times it's funny, and at times it's scary - just a fantastic work of fiction. I highly recommend this game to practically anyone. It's worth it.
On a side note: the summer of 2011 was crazy, I got Catherine, DW Gundam 3, and Bleach Soul Ignition - all of which are amazing games I love.




There are many other games I love, but I simply can't go over all of them. I am already writing this post for almost an hour, and I could go on forever haha. There are plenty of notable mentions I have, the likes of:

Suikoden V (PS2) - How I rented it, loved it, refused to buy it out when Blockbuster was going bankrupt, and now hate myself since it's impossible to find.
The Original Star Wars: Battlefront (PC) and GTA 3 (PC) - For being crazy fun mindless entertainment.
Valkyria Chronicales (PS3) - For being an underrated gem of last Generation. I would never have found this beauty if it wasn't for Shonen Jump Magazine. Am I ever glad they're doing an updated PS4 port!
Tales of Symphonia (GC) - It was one hell of a summer when me and my best bud rented it and tried to beat it in one week. Remember the 2 discs the game was on because it was too much for a single disc release? Remember those ice puzzles near the end of the game? Remember how long that game was? Good times.

1) Ninja Gaiden Black- At the time I had a strong bias against all 3d hack and slash games. My brother had bought this on whim and I told him he wasted his money. Ironically he ended up not liking it while the game completely annihilated my bias against the genre. Also it was the first game I ever tried to actively be good at. I reached like top 100 on leader boards for the sake of a contest they had at the time but I still failed. Still play it every couple of years. Beaten it so many times I've lost count

2)Pokemon gold game boy color/heart gold- Met my BFF of 16 years because of this game. Like literally if this game didn't exist a lot stuff in my life would've been different lol. My bff actually deleted my game file behind my back because he couldn't beat my Mewtwo even with the help of gameshark...our friendship survived that fiasco.

3)Zelda ocarina of time- First time a game has ever "amazed me" plus I got super into it like I used to make up stories while I played and pretend it was me in the game. I was like 10. I remember I had played Zelda Dx for gameboy first and my friend told there was a 3d version of the game and I was like "no fucking way!" My mind couldn't grasp that something like Ocarina of time could possibility exist at the time.

4)Resident evil 1/2(overall my favorite franchise ever)- I used to play this game a lot with my uncle and cousin and sleep over their home. We bonded over it. Fun experience. Not fan of the direction revelations 1 and 2 are taking the series but w/e I enjoyed 6 straight games in a row, plus spin offs, so I had a good run with it. If people want more revelations crap let them have it.

5) Bayonetta 1- This game had everything I wanted from an action hack and slash game although it was pretty easy to master relatively speaking. To me it's almost perfect. Seriously though buy any games made by Platinum Games. They are keeping the 3d action genre alive. Without them we'd have nothing but crap existing in the genre; not counting Soul's serious since those games are a different experience. Support them. They are also the people who made Metal Gear: Rising.

6)Smash brother melee and wii u- I once got into a fight because of melee when I was a teen. Lesson I learned form that experience: People can only take so much shit talking before they crack.

7)Skyrim(elderscrolls franchise): There is a dark part of me that enjoys stealing shit and fantasizes about it...this game fulfills that need for me.

8)Street Fighter 4- First game where I ever won a local tournament in. I felt like the fucking man that day. My ego had never been feed so well. Also the game is really good. I kinda suck now. I blame the military. I joined them and my practice completely stopped. Like a tiny part of me resents the army for that lmao. I know it sounds stupid but I can't help it.

9) There are more game's I like a lot but nothing that I would put in a top ten favorites of all time. Maybe The last of us or Bioshock or Splinter cell or Batman. Not sure though. Can't really decide. Halo 2 too...um I'll consider these honorable mentions I guess.

Pokemon Silver/Gold Version
When I was a kid growing up in the late '90s, Pokemon Silver WAS my life. All of my friends had either gold or silver as well, and all of our interaction was based around those games. The pokemon craze was at its height, and these games quickly became as ubiquitous to our socializing as tea is to the British. When we were waiting for our parents after school, we played G/S. When we went over to each other's houses, we spent the entire damn day playing G/S. When we talked on the phone, it was always about G/S! I ended up with a pokemon team that was hand-leveled to level 99 (not with a rare candy code), and any one of them could solo the entire elite 4 (in fact, I used the elite 4 as their primary source of exp after they hit level 70). And I was damn proud of them. My total play time was over 400 hours on just that file (I had more than one cartridge). Sadly the battery on the cartridge died long ago, but by some miracle my team still exists on my Pokemon Stadium 2 cartridge. I need to find a way of getting them into a more modern game for safety. Oh, did I mention this game had the best post-game content of all time? Nothing like beating a game and getting what is essentially an upgraded version of its predecessor as a reward!

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Ah here it is, the grandfather of all modern open-world RPGs. It was my introduction to both the Zelda series and this gameplay type, and I still see its influence in just about every open-world RPG that comes out these days. The game became so influential and beloved that after Wind Waker, Nintendo's next Zelda game was basically a re-imagining of OOT in an attempt to replicate its magic.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I actually consider MM to be superior to OOT. Sure the world was smaller and there was a 3-day time limit before everything went bye-bye, but the quirkiness of this game and the depth of the world, characters, and gameplay were completely unreal at the time. MM pushed the N64 so hard that stock N64s couldn't even run the game, you needed to install a larger RAM module just to play it. I still have fond memories of playing this game with my best friend as we frantically raced to collect all of the masks before the moon fell. Oh, and the dungeons in this game were even crazier and more creative than the ones in OOT, especially the Stone Temple.

Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age
These are, without a doubt, the best RPGs I have ever played. Everything from the art style to the music to the characters and the story just works together perfectly, and when I first played these games I literally wanted to live in Weyard. By the way, every single tune in the game is wonderful and I can still hear them if I think about the area they played in.

Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition
A modern gem and a game one can live in. My total play time is probably over 800 hours by now, and I have created a huge variety of characters. The beauty of the game is that there are so many factions and towns that one can forego the main quest entirely and just roleplay in the Mojave wasteland for hundreds of hours. That's actually what I do most of the time. And if you ever need a change of scenery, the diverse assortment of expansions has you covered.

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag
One might assume from the title that this is a typical Assassin's Creed game, but what it actually is is an open world piracy simulator with Assassin's Creed window dressing. There are far too few games that do what this game does, and even fewer that do it so well. Before I played this, the only AAA game I had played that even came close to this in terms of gameplay was Wind Waker.

Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time
I bought this at a game store back in 2004 without knowing anything about it other than its cover box had some awesome artwork. Little did I know I was in for a 100-hour epic I'd never forget. The game is so large it takes up 2 DVDs, and that was huge for a 6th-gen game. The game's story, particularly its ending, also introduced me to concepts that influenced me later in life.

SoulCalibur 3
IMO this game was the pinnacle of the series. It had a huge roster, great costumes, great arenas, a playable boss character, a metric shitload of single-player content unequaled in any other fighting game I've ever played, and a character creation system that blew my mind back in the day. If Namco ever remastered it, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

Persona 4 Golden
I haven't actually finished this one yet, but it's already one of my favorites. The character writing and development is superb, and the plot has more twists than the spear of longinus. The characters feel like human beings, and often when I'm playing I think stuff like, "I wonder if Rise wants to hang out" or "I wonder how Chie is doing" instead of thinking of interacting with them strictly in gameplay terms.

Final Fantasy IX
The best of the FF series IMO, edging out even FFVII. Don't let the cutesy art style turn you off, this is a damn good RPG and it gets surprisingly dark at times.

Final Fantasy VII
A legend among video games. If you're into video games then you've already heard everything about the game, not much I can add to all of that. The game's legend speaks for it.

South Park: The Stick of Truth
It may be short for an RPG, but I was laughing heartily the entire time. Easily one of the most hilarious games ever made, and well worth the $60 I paid for it despite the simplistic visuals and gameplay.