What have been your ten best game experiences?

I finally played Last of Us last winter, and I really enjoyed it. Just bought my first Assassin’s Creed game (Black Flag for the Switch). I’d love to see gamers’ 10 favorite experiences of the past 40 years of gaming.

I’ve mainly been a Nintendo fanboy, but I had an Xbox period as well and loved Hit an 2: Silent Assassin and GTA: Vice City.

Contra (NES)
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father (PC)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
NHL 95 (Sega Genesis)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
Goldeneye: 007 (N64)
Battlefield 1 (PS4)
Rocket League (PS4)
The Last of Us Remastered (PS4)
Apex Legends (PS4)

*I completely missed the PS2/PS3 (and related) console generations

**I just finished TLOU2 several night ago and loved it, but it’s too fresh for me to include it here

I need to play that Castlevania game.

Oh shit I forgot Apex Legends

Dark Souls (PC)
Diablo 2 (PC)
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS1)
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (PC)
Age of Empires 2 (PC)
Dawn of War 2 (PC)
Gran Turismo 4 (PS2)
Pillars of Eternity (PC)
Half-Life 2 (PC)

That was extremely tough.

1 Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GC) - A college buddy and I played this game regularly for 20 years. We’ve moved on to Super Rush.
2 Timesplitters 2 (GC) - Same buddy and I put in countless hours together on this couch co-op. I also spent forever doing all the challenges to open characters. I did it, but a thief broke into my house and stole the Wii with the card.
3 Zelda TotK (Switch) - I have great memories of most of the Zelda games. I didn’t immediately love this game, but 300 hours later, I do.
4 Ninja Gaiden (NES) - When I only had a few games, this was one of them. I got good at it. Once I even beat it without dying.
5 Mario Odyssey (Switch) - I love Mario. This is my favorite Mario game by a lot.
6 Mario Kart 64 (N64) - This was my first Mario Kart game. I used to play this with my future wife and her family a ton. Summer of 99. Best summer of my life. This game was a huge part of it.
7 GTA: Vice City (Xbox) - This is the only GTA game I’ve ever played. I will buy a PS5 to play VI.
8 Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (Xbox) - I loved this game. I played the one after it (Blood Money?) but nothing beyond that.
9 Super Monkey Ball 2 (GC) - It’s all about the mini games. Monkey Target and Monkey Fight in particular.
10 Temple Run 2 (iOS) - This is the only phone game I ever really got into. My legs fell asleep on the shitter more than once because of this game.

Trag's list rules. I haven't played a lot of yours, Daft. I wasn't a Nintendo kid, unfortunately.

Same. I haven’t played one on yours, though my foray into Tony Hawk was part 3 on the GameCube, and I loved it so much. Darth Maul was an unlockable character. That game and SSX Tricky were top 20 experiences.

SSX was amazing. I think I spent the most time with #3. Loved the radio aspect and the way you gradually unlocked sections until one final race down the entire mountain. And you could choose your own route, complete with shortcuts you had discovered in your travels. It just felt epic.

Some great calls from other lists:

Diablo II
FF 7 (almost had this myself)
Tony Hawk 2
Half-Life 2 (haven’t actually played it but I get it, I played a good bit of the first one)
Mario Kart 64
Hitman 2 (love the PS4 installments)

I’ll never get the love for GTA

Contra is a great call as far as experiences go. I remember playing it with my best friend in elementary school. When my kids got old enough, we went through it together. Last spring, my best friend at work and I had a free hour because seniors were done early. We agreed it was the one thing missing from our friendship, so I brought in the mini and we crushed it. Well, we may have lost a step, but we prevailed eventually.

I still think it’s one of the best ever openings to a game: You drop down, music starts, and within seconds you’re shooting guys and trying to outrun an exploding bridge.

Contra 3 is my fav but the first one is great too.

I haven’t played any of the systems after ps2, or anything on PC since duke nukem, but my picks are:

Super Ghouls n Ghosts
Mario 3
Super R-Type
SSX Tricky
Tony Hawk 2
Blaster Master
Resident Evil 2
Super Castlevania
Mario Kart…probably Wii but maybe N64
Adventure Island

Damn Super R-Type was awesome. Also Life Force.

Resident Evil 2 was so difficult. Clunky controls, fixed (often unfavorable) camera angles, limited ammo, fucking zombies everywhere. God damn. Great atmosphere though.

I played the original remake on GameCube, and I loved that experience. Got down to one round of ammo at one point. Also have two lasting memories: 1) the sound of zombie feet running. 2) creeping stealthily and all of a sudden a dog burst through the window.

I never played 2 or 3. I played 4 on the Wii. My two RE experiences have been great.