Annie get your light gun!

81. Age of Mythology



Forget AoE. This was my jam back in middle school. Probably wouldn’t have ever become a computer nerd without building a better PC to run it. Unleashing Zeus powers to put the whoop ass on my enemies. A fantastic RTS campaign and hours of multiplayer.

80. Freelancer



This was the greatest blind buy ever. I picked it up at EBgames at the local mall. Got home and promptly installed it to realize it was ten times better than what the box led me to believe. It was ahead of its time in some regards. Gameplay mechanics were groundbreaking. The graphics were top notch and, surprisingly, hold up today. It was supposed to be far grander than what they released but it still slapped nonetheless.

79. Solider of Fortune



Forget Postal 2. Here’s your violence on a platter. Low violence installation?! Put your big kid pants on! xD

78. Hexen: Beyond Heretic



From the same studio that brought us Solider of Fortune. More violence. Hide the kids. This is easily raven software’s best release. Peak quality from the 90s.

77. Super Mario 64



"It's a me, Mario! Hello! Okie dokie"

Need I really say more?

__________________
"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

76. Resident Evil



Soiled my pants when the dog jumped through the windows, and then noped the **** out. Had to watch a friend play and beat it because I was too chicken. So yeah, it's a miracle I don't hate dogs. Said friend wouldn't kill the dogs if his dog was in the room, so dude got straight up mauled quite a few times.

75. Battlezone





Less is more. The greatest tank game from the 80s and 90s. I played this on my dad’s work computer. I don’t know why he had it, but man was it a hoot.

74. Sonic 2



Speedrunning before it was a thing.

73. Asteroids



Freaking Asteroids, man. Gaming foundations. It’s one of those classics that’s been remade and copied more times than we can count.

72. Lunar: The Silver Star



WHY IS EVERYONE YELLING IN THIS GAME?!

iykyk

71. Wave Race 64



The wave mechanics on this game were groundbreaking and hold up today. And you can race dolphins. So that’s cool.

70. 3D Pinball - Space Cadet



Thank you for the memories Windows XP. They put you out to pasture but you're always be the fattest cow in my heart. Great news is this is still available in the Microsoft Store.

69. Brick Breaker



A clone of the classic game Breakout that was preloaded on BlackBerry phones. I played this game way more than I care to admit and it was always the best way to kill time waiting in public. Oil change? Brick Breaker. Doctor's office? Brick Breaker. Checkout at stores before the advent of self-checkout? Brick Breaker. Oh man, how I miss it. Using the trackwheel to control the paddle was a thing of beauty.

68. Star Wars Episode 1: Racer



Easily one of the best Star Wars games ever. And the best excuse for why Episode 1 is not as bad as everyone shits on it. I mean, how many movies inspire a game with hours of gameplay from a 15 minute segment. I dare say you can't name any other game that meets that criteria. So drink your protein shake and get your midi-chlorian count up. Do you even pod race, bro?

67. The Need for Speed: Special Edition



Easily one of the best games from EA. Long before they started shoveling turds. I remember playing this game and letting myself get pulled over repeatedly until I got arrested. That or flying off the track at insane speeds and crashing. Good times.

66. GoldenEye 007



Pizza, cake, and this game. A sure sign of a bitchin party. Words and controllers would be hurled. Friendships would be tested. But only the man with the golden gun would be left standing victorious.

66. Snake



Thank you Nokia for the greatest mobile game ever created. I remember when cell phones became affordable in the 00s and mom got her first phone: the Nokia 3310. While the phone was affordable the service was outrageously expensive, so it was only for emergencies. And real emergencies at that. Not "oh god, I forgot to set the VCR" emergencies. So since it wasn't used as a phone guess who got to set high scores while waiting in the car?

65. Hover!



Another blast from the past. This was high tech in 1995. An addictive game, too. It came on CD copies of Windows 95 and was designed to showcase multimedia capabilities of computers at the time. Seriously y’all, Microsoft has done more for gaming than most companies currently in the business. Send those thank you cards to Redmond.

64. Vectorman 2



SEGA spent a good chunk of its early years trying to come up with a Mario killer. We all know Sonic, but a lot of people seem to forget about the guy that came after known as Vectorman. The first game was a pretty standard affair platformer, but the sequel was where it really found its legs. Highly detailed sprites, killer soundtrack, and tight controls. He might have only been a collection of floating sprites, but he had the firepower to back it up. He helped length the era of 16bit gaming by a few extra years, and this is easily one of the best games I ever played for the Genesis.

Flashback: A young Takoma asks if she can play this game. Her brother stingily tells her that she can do the "really easy part" of a final mission. As she spectacularly fails to use a laser watch to break through a door in the bottom of a train car, he sighs deeply.