Well, I did a quick RPG list, so now I figured I' d expand. This is a pretty comprehensive list, and they won' t be presented in any particular order; I' ll be bouncing around between years and between systems.

Top 100:

Ace Combat 4
Halo
Viewtiful Joe
Twisted Metal: Black
Devil May Cry
Metroid Prime
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Final Fantasy X
Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Suikoden III
Ninja Gaiden
Animal Crossing
Final Fantasy X-2
Madden 2004
Prince of Persia
Max Payne 2
Soul Calibur 2
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Onimusha 2
Resident Evil: Code Veronica X
Resident Evil 0
Red Faction
Deathrow
Eternal Darkness
Beyond Good and Evil
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
Need for Speed: Underground
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Shadow of Destiny
Project Gotham Racing 2
Hot Shots Golf 3
XenoSaga
MechAssault
Warcraft III
NBA Street Vol. 2
Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
SSX
007: Everything or Nothing
Kingdom Hearts
Skies of Arcadia: Legends
Gran Turismo 3
Top Spin
Burnout 2
Amplitude
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance
Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance 2
Call of Duty
Unreal Tournament 2004
Gitaroo-Man
Mafia
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Super Mario Sunshine
Ratchet and Clank
Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
ICO
Jak and Daxter
Jak II
Far Cry
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Moto GP 2
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven
TimeSplitters 2
Medal of Honor: Frontline
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Champions of Norrath
Soul Reaver 2
Neverwinter Nights
Guilty Gear X2
Command and Conquer: Generals
Panzer Dragoon Orta
F-Zero GX
Otogi: Wrath of Demons
Dark Cloud 2
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
MVP Baseball 2004
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Klonoa 2: Lunatea' s Veil
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Mark of Kri
Midnight Club 2
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
NCAA Football 2004
Onimusha: Warlords
Syberia
Tekken Tag Tournament
Rainbow Six 3
Tony Hawk' s Pro Skater 4
Winning Eleven 7
Zone of the Enders: The 2cd Run
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
Super Monkey Ball 2
Super Smash Brothers Melee
Rallisport Challenge
Battlefield 1942

And my idea of the Top 25?

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto III
Final Fantasy X
Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Halo
Gran Turismo 3
Ninja Gaiden
Devil May Cry
Battlefield 1942
Metroid Prime
Final Fantasy X-2
Unreal Tournament 2004
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Prince of Persia
Max Payne 2
Eternal Darkness
Madden 2004
Far Cry
Project Gotham Racing 2
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
F-Zero GX
Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
Call of Duty

And I am also personally partial to Suikoden III, Deathrow, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, BG: DA I, II, Champions of Norrath, The Mark of Kri, Gitaroo-Man, and Hot Shots Golf 3.

Not a bad list

I' m going to go for my take on the top 25 (in no particular order), because I' m not even sure if I' ve played 100 games from this generation :-s


Metroid Prime
Halo
Splinter Cell
Beyond Good and Evil
Project Zero
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance/SOL
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution
Gran Turismo 3/Concept
Pikmin
Ikaruga
Gun Valkyrie (screw popular opinion, eh?)
Knights of the Old Republic
Freelancer
Counter Strike 1.6
Prince of Persia: SOT
F-ZERO GX
Genma Onimusha/Onimusha Warlords
Final Fantasy X
Zelda: Wind Waker
Viewtiful Joe
Phantasy Star Online Ep 1 and 2
Jet Set Radio Future
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Project Gotham Racing (not as good as MSR - weird, huh?)
Gulity Gear XX2

It' s a very difficult list to compile: I' ve probably played about 30 games from this generation. Inhenrently, it' s nowhere near comprehensive, simply a personal opinion.

Once Gaiden makes it out in the UK, I might end up adding it to the list - then again, maybe not.

Preacher: I think it' s interesting to see the difference in a " top" list between someone in the U.S. and someone in the U.K. You haven' t gotten the spectacular NG yet? I don' t think Disgaea: HoD was released over there either, and it may never get released, unfortunately.

After seeing your list, I' m thinking about trying to replace a couple of games on my list with Ikaruga and Jet Set Radio Future. Neither are my type of game, but they probably deserve to be on a top list...believe it or not, those lists up there took me a WHILE.

Oh, and just for the record everyone, I' ve replaced Rez with Mafia.

You bloody swines forgot ALL of the Army Men games! :p

I did the Army Men: Green Rogue review for GW a while back...I think I described the gameplay as " where good control goes to die."

The top 100 seems to be pretty comprehensive and I' d probably agree with it.

As for the top 25 you really need to replace Ratchet & Clank 2 with either Jak 1 or Mario Sunshine. I also think you have a few too many action adventure titles in there. Plus Winning Eleven 7 and ICO really should be included.

Gossi: Hey, I' m an RPG fan, so trust me, I want RPGs to dominate just about everything, but that hasn' t been the case this generation. However, the big ones (FF X, KotoR, Suikoden III, etc.) are represented here.

And R&C 2 is better than both the original Jak and SMS, IMO. ICO is a great game, but worthy of a top 25 finish? Personally, I don' t think I can knock any of those out of the top 25 to put ICO in.

Super Mario Sunshine was a disgrace to the franchise imo.

Super Mario Sunshine was a disgrace to public service announcements about pollution.

Super Mario Sunshine is an odd one. I hated it for ages and took me an age to amass 20 Shines and then all of a sudden it clicked and it was great. Still the original Jak and Daxter is better. The sequel was a bit rubbish by comparison. And as for R&C and it' s sequel they' re OK but nothing special. I think most people would regard something other than R&C2 as being the best 3D platformer. Plus I though you were supposed to be objective? Anyhow if I were to pick my favourite it would have to be Ape Escape 2. It' s got monkeys in it which are always great and Sony Europe did a cracking localisation job full of brilliant British humour that was later butchered by Ubisoft for the American release. Idiots!

Umm...I am being objective as I can be. R&C 2 is one of the highest scoring games on any system.

R&C 2 Gamerankings Average: 91.2%

Jak and Daxter: 89.2%

Furthermore, most people I know would put R&C 2 over both Jaks and SMS without even thinking twice about it. In fact, one particular friend lists R&C 2 as one of his favorite games of this generation; in the top 3. Personally, I think R&C 2 is superior to Jak in terms of diversity and control of gameplay, graphics, and presentation. Story-wise, both are about the same, IMO.

But there' s no such thing as a top 100 list that is universally true, so it doesn' t really matter.

The original JAK & DAXTER was one of those games that gamers were split down the middle about... MANY gamers HATED IT and MANY gamers LOVED IT!

Me, I ranked JAK & DAXTER as the WORST platformer I played this generation. I hated that damm game. I rented it and finished it 3 days later, hating almost every minute of it... Why did I even bother then? Back then I tried to finish everything I started and invested a little time in. I hated the seemless world, I wish it was broken up into different levels like traditional platformers. The game was also a constant collect-a-thon AND it had possibly the worst soundtrack of any game released this generation. I swear, I have yet to hear worst - I was literally yawn and my eye lids were getting heavy while listening to that atrocious music. The only real high point of the game in my opinion was Daxter and his wise cracks. The best part of the gameplay to me was when you rode stuff like vehicles (didn' t you ride an animal to?). Those portions were ok but just weren' t enough.
Mario Sunshine was a little better but not by much.

Now as far as platformers in general goes, my personal pick for best platformers this generation are a few oldies :D

1. KLONOA 2
2. Sonic Adventure
3. Donald Duck: Goin Quackers


I' ve only played a demo of Ratchet and Clank 2 so I can' t really rank it yet but if it has very little exploration and lots of platforming and action elements then it' ll definitely rank high with me!

Klonoa 2 is fantastic; it' s on my top 100 list, if you hadn' t noticed.

Sonic...meh, just more of the same, IMO.

You should definitely try R&C 2. It' s not only the best platformer out there, IMO, but also one of the very best games of this or any generation.

Klonoa II was absolutely amazing! I think it' s probably the only platformer that I just kept wishing didn' t end. I' m not even sure if 500 levels would have been enough, LOL...

Also I forgot to mention the amazing Viewtiful Joe!

Have you ever played the Donald Duck Goin Quackers game? lol.. I LOVE that game cause it has both a 3D and a 2D engine... The levels alternate from 3D forward scrolling platforming levels to 2D side scrolling ones. THAT' s how I wish platformers were done. I also wish they were all done in the style Klonoa 2 was done!

I LOVE that game cause it has both a 3D and a 2D engine... The levels alternate from 3D forward scrolling platforming levels to 2D side scrolling ones.

Now would it be too much to ask for more games to do this? If the Castlevania: LoI had been like this...OMG...' drools' The only style that' s kind of like Klonoa, with the combination of 2D and 3D environments was Contra: Shattered Soldier. Of course, the games we' re talking about just don' t sell well, regardless of how good they are...thus the reason why we don' t see any of them anymore.

I thought Castlevania: LOI did a fantastic job of recreating the setting and game structure of the originals.

Yes, it was in 3D, but the restricted camera, whilst annoying at first, basically made the game 2D in terms of play. Very impressive.

Though the best jump from 2D to 3D is Metroid Prime, without a doubt. It is beyond a shadow of a doubt the best translation I' ve ever played. It just feels right, exactly how I expected a 3D Metroid to play.

Marvellous stuff. Best GC game out there IMO.

terry, I' d have to agree that Jak and Daxter wasn' t all that enjoyable. This is just my opinion though. Nothing really popped out to me.

I loved both Sonic Adventures. SA2 had my friends and me up for and entire night trying to beat the game. Man, those last levels with Sonic were nuts! Trying to grind the confusing mass of rails drove me mad. In the end though I flt like I had really accomplished something by beating it. That' s when you know a game was worth while.

I REALLY wanted to love Sonic Adventure 2, and I would have If not for the damm Knuckles and Rogues levels!! Being forced to play their levels totally ruined the game for me.

That was what totally ROCKED about the original Sonic Adventure, you could select which characters you wanted to play as.

I just couldn' t bring myself to finish CV: LoI. The environments were way too repetitive, the story wasn' t nearly as involving as I wanted it to be, and the maze-like format of the castle was quite uninteresting and bland, IMO. I liked what it did, in terms of 2D to 3D relation, but other than that...well, I just couldn' t get into it. It was a pretty good game, but not what I wanted it to be.

IMO, nothing beats CV: SotN.