Shenmue was perfect you fiend!

I find it interesting given the current climate of complaining about "content" in destiny, and DLC and etc etc. that Ico and PoP SoT make so many lists. It was definitely a thing at the time to be pining for more streamlined games that got rid of filler.

You could argue that SotC and Met Prime also did the "longer form" better as well.

Diluted Dante wrote:

Hodge360 wrote:

IanHamlett wrote:

adkm1979 wrote:

I owned and loved every iteration of Burnout until the frustratingly poor Paradise,

go home adkm, you're drunk.

He's not drunk,he's right.

He was, until they updated the game to allow restarts, at which point he became wrong. Or possibly drunk.

Even before that it only became a problem towards the end of the game.

You failed a race.
Ah well, I'm seconds away from the start of another event.

Gamermike wrote:

1. Metroid Prime 2. Resident Evil 4 3. Metal Gear Solid 3 4. Zelda Wind Waker 5. Shadow of the Colossus 6. Advance Wars 7. Okami 8. Ico 9. Super Monkey Ball 10. Prince of Persia: SOT

Great list!!!

Yeah, I was thinking that might almost be the overall top 10 we end up with, although perhaps not in that order.

But I forgot about the Halos.

Okami and/or PoP will get the boot.

My draft top 10 Sticking with this (for now): 1, 2 and 3 are in my Best Ever list. 
1. Super Monkey Ball 
2. Worms Armageddon 
3. Mario Kart DD 

4. Virtua Tennis (1 or 2) Tennis is the perfect sport to recreate in a video game. Everything can be seen on the screen at once. It can also accommodate 4 people and 2 vs 2 is an under represented experience. It has great arcade style pick up and play control which will grow with you. It still looks pretty splendid - especially via the DC's VGA cable. There's mini games too. 

5. RType Final Initially this is just another, albeit excellent, entry in the R-Type series. Then you start to unlock different levels and ships and it becomes something more. The Score attack mode becomes the Gran Turismo of shooting games with over 100 ships, 53 force orbs, 12 options/bits, 10 kinds of missiles and 5 different dose attacks that can be mixed and matched. Endless. Also has a bizarre turn-based battle mode for 2 players. 

6. Gunbird 2 At first this looks like a hum drum by-the-number vertical shooting game but Gunbird 2 still gets attention in shmupping circles, and with good reason. There's the compulsive chaining mechanic - large scores are built by grabbing enemy dropped coins while they glint for a few frames. You also have several weapons at your disposal; each differing greatly in their effectiveness across the available cast of characters and each coming with their own risks (be it a close quarter weapon or one that requires a delay before activating) The Dreamcast version's single player mode is boosted by a novel option that lets you pick 2 characters who tag-team on each life loss. 

7. Rez A game that lets you feel the rhythm of a level. Sight, sounds and feedback in harmony and all that jazz - but what really counts is that at its core is "just" interaction boiled down to only what is enjoyable. That, and the fact that it is wrapped up in such glorious sights and sounds, is what makes this so memorable and so damn enjoyable. It's high repayability is cranked up by the unlockable extras to further extend its life and give you plenty to go back to. 

8. Mr Driller Pure arcade crack - and it's further enhanced when experienced on the Dreamcast with the beautifully responsive arcade stick. The main game is great and its challenge though short is epic in its difficulty, but it's rounded out nicely with time trial and survival modes. No matter how long I've owned this I always enjoy going back to it - the simplicity of it all means it's pretty close to Tetris in its purity. 

9. F Zero GX Sega took the best arcade style racing game ever and added their coat of polish to it. The environments have that epic feel, the tracks are magnificent and this is content packed. Time trial, practice and multi-player modes are present and correct but are now accompanied by a brutal story mode that is of the pure old-school try, try and try again paradigm. Looks gorgeous too. 

10. Warioware Inc When I first played this it was like being in mental free fall. While you won't get that rush back once you've played it to completion, it offers many different ways to replay the mini games - from the hard-core obsessive solo practice mode to the joyous multi-player modes which will last for years.



But my "nearly theres" are , in no particular order:-

Amplitude Excellent music/rhythm game requiring no extra pieces of plastic. Great tune selection and its more accessible I feel than its predecessor, Frequency.

Daytona 2001 Lovely Sega blue sky arcade racing. This jumps off the screen at you and I got the DC wheels just for this. Pity it didn't get a redux as it is more than just an arcade port.

Bangai-O More nutty stuff from Treasure. Brilliant weapon scheme that rewards risk taking is facilitated by the needle sharp teeny tiny graphics allowing the required pixel perfect maneuvering.

Castle Shikigami 2 It's a pity the PS2 version, though quite nice, is 50Hz only in PAL land. I ended up double dipping and importing the Japanese Gamecube version. It's a beautiful shmup with loads of content with a varied character lineup and an extreme mode. The risk/reward for scraping bullets which upgrades your firepower and the use of the secondary weapon which auto-collects the coins go together for compulsive old school score chasing.

Outrun 2006 Coast to coast This is the best update of a classic game I have ever played and 1ups the truly excellent Tempest 2000. It's a love letter to the original game. So much to see and do while pulling off ludicrous drifts. Beautiful.

Pro Pinball Trilogy No other game on this list has the quality of being liked so much while being so ruthless - I am useless at this. Three tables immaculately presented as a simulation. The operator menu accessed via the simulated dot matrix display lets you look at arcade operator style book-keeping records, adjust the age of the table or activate tournament mode. When played via the Dreamcast's VGA connection it just looks gorgeous and there is no such thing as a quick game of this.

Ico I tend to avoid games that are played through once, but this is too beautiful to ignore. A glorious big atmospheric puzzle. I found the simple act of handholding genuinely touching.

Cosmic Smash If you want to talk about design aesthetics take a look at this stunning, beautiful, abstract score attack game. This was nudged out by Rez as it holds up a wee bit better when it comes to replayability, but this is glorious.

Kururin Squash The genius of the GBA game is brought to the Gamecube with 4 player racing on offer plus a handful of Monkey Ball style mini-games. Lovely looking game which sadly is import only.

Diluted Dante wrote:

That was the theory. It didn't take account of the bigger desire to repeat the one you failed.

That was my first instinct when I'd fail a race but it was way more satisfying to just start a new event wherever I was.

I think the 3DS was the first region locked handheld.

I think the DSi was actually the first one. Which is why no one bought it.

I think I have 18 proper ordered lists so far. Its starting to take shape. 2 race horse at the moment by the looks of it, very close.

Would it not be this:

A little late in reading this thread...

My list is:

Gamecube Zelda - 4 Swords:
This missed out very narrowly on my greatest games ever list. With GBA's for controllers and 4 players, it's incredible. Modern designers need to study this game for new online ideas. Left 4 Dead is close, but the way the game leverages key Zelda tenets really impresses. It's actually one of the games that's made me laugh the most. Some of the level design is slapstick comic genius of the highest order.

Gran Turismo 3: 
Seriously, even Polyphony itself have had trouble making a better racing game.

Resident Evil 4: 
Probably the most polished game made in that generation.

Ico: 
Very memorable, unsual concept and well executed.

Advance Wars:
Nintendo again making something work, before anyone thought it might be a good idea. Now the world's stuck with Clash Of Clans FFS.

SF Alpha 3: 
Obligatory...

Half Life 2: 
Didn't get to play it at the time, but it's still the only FPS that I fucks wit'.

Pro Evolution 3 or 4:
I'll go with 3. Master league side had Scholes as captain...

Astroboy on the GBA:
Still one of the best 2D action throwbacks you'll find on any system.

Final Fantasy 12: 
For as much as I've played and seen of it. Still need to play through it properly. The battle system was amazing, and that means more to me than FF10's arguably more artful setting.

Not sure how it matches up to some of the other lists I've made, and I keep thinking I've forgotten some vital titles, but it's a list...

I think I might have done it. I went back to compare against my best games evarrr and found that somewhere along the line, Kessen got the dunt. I certainly thought long and hard before I deleted it. To be honest, depending on when you asked me, any of my top 20 could be in my top 10. I think the top four, but certainly the top 2, would feature every time, though.

1. Ico
2. Shadow of the Colossus
3. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
4. Burnout
5. Freedom Fighters
6. Dropship: United Peace Force
7. Red Dead Revolver
8. Smugglers’ Run
9. Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
10. SSX

Ok, maybe it's only the bottom four that could change. I DON'T KNOW STOP MAKING ME PICK!

As an aside, I would never shortlist FIFA or Madden, despite how many hours I spent playing them. It feels like listing air and water as your favourite things to consume.

@dynamite: good list. Thanks for participating! Shame you never did a proper list for the 7th gen that I could count.

1. Super Monkey Ball
2. Kuru Kuru Kururin
3. Wario Ware Inc, or Twisted (GBA).  Pick either, best entires in the series imo.
4. Halo: CE
6. Bangai-O (DC)
5. Astro Boy (GBA)
6. Ninja Gaiden
7. Pro Evolution...6, I think.  Possibly 5.
8. Quake III: Arena (DC)
9. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
10. Ecco: Defender of the Future
11. Shenmue II
12. Advance Wars
13. Ico
14. Wind Waker (would be in the mix without the tri-force quest)
15. Amped
Edit: 16. Super Magnetic Neo

Everyone else seems to be doing it, so nearest misses: Sly Cooper, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, Fire Emblem, Mario Kart SC, Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Chu Chu Rocket, MSR, Skies of Arcadia, Halo 2.