By: Cameron Tyo
February 15th, 2025
Today, I felt nostalgic thinking about the video games I used to play as a child. I started to remember the countless hours I poured into games such as Pokemon Black 2. A game in which I had to share with my brothers. It would be a surprise to see what new Pokemon were caught when I wasn’t playing or, in some cases, regrettably released. Sometimes, I wouldn’t know where to progress as I wasn’t the one playing when the dialogue hinted at where to go. Such good times. I remember enjoying games but not being able to beat them due to not knowing where to go without a guide or when a kid wasn’t able to beat certain minigames due to biting a stylus I needed to use to do so. Bowser’s Inside Story: I’m looking at you. I remember getting destroyed in Sonic and never being able to beat the second zone of the classical Sonic games. And all the Mario games I played. Such nostalgia brought me back to thinking of the games I play today. Some are not in the genre I played when I grew up, but there are a ton of series whose games I still play and love to this day. And with that, I wanted to briefly go over my top ten favorite video games of all time for fun and nostalgia’s sake.
10. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Released on July 29th, 2022 for Nintendo Switch)
First off, we have Xenoblade Chronicles 3. While the Xenoblade games do tie into one another, you don’t have to play them to understand the story. With this in mind, I think Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is suitable for newcomers. The Ouroboros combat system is fun to try out, and seeing the backstories of the six playable characters is also great as you go through deserted fields, snowy caps, and even developing cities to find and destroy the flame clocks, which are at the forefront of powering the evil in the world. The music and gameplay are great, and there are many missions to do that can serve as mini-stores to hear. The game is long, but you’ll be having too much fun to care. Doesn’t hold as much nostalgia as some of these games, but it is still great fun.
9. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Released on November 4th, 2004, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo Switch (NSO), Nintendo 3DS, Wii U)
Next up, we have The Minish cap. I played this on Nintendo Switch Online. The story is your simple Zelda fare. Royalty is threatened by a dark force that some legendary item can defeat. You, as Link, must go to different dungeons to find pieces of this fragment to save the day. I liked the shrinking ability in the game, sort of like the one that was in Four Swords, which you need to utilize in puzzles to pass obstacles and get to certain parts of the map. I enjoyed the game’s dungeons, too, with the Cave of Flames and Palace of Winds being my favorite. I also like that it is not one of the easiest nor hardest Zelda games, perfect for anyone on the fence about Zelda to play.
8. Mario Kart Wii (Released on April 27th, 2008-U.S for Wii)
You think something like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would be on this list, right? With its many selections, of course, and characters. However, Mario Kart Wii is on here, and nostalgia plays a big factor. This was the game I played the most when I was a kid; the Wii console, in general, was just so good. I remember playing Coconut Mall over and over, as well as the Lightning and Crown cups, which are probably the two best final retro and modern cups in Mario Kart’s history. They balance difficulty with fun very well. This game also introduced bikes, which I enjoyed playing with, as well as scrweing around by trying to play the courses backward.
7. New Super Mario Bros Wii (Released on November 12th, 2009 for Wii)
While Mario Kart Wii is my most played Mario Kart game, the honor of my most played Wii game has got to go to New Super Mario Bros Wii. This game was one of the first games to introduce four-player multiplayer, and I remember the anger I’d feel when my brother felt it funny to purposely throw me into enemies and holes but then laugh while exacting revenge when I did the same back to him. I loved the level design. Heck, even the autoscrolling levels. Swimming in bubbles, hopping on els, and timing jumps over circular spike chains were such great experiences and added to fun and unique platforming challenges. I loved the castle levels of each world and the mechanics they would throw at you. I also fondly remember bubbling myself during Bowser’s Castle for the level portion until we got to the boss battle. I love the final chase, where you must let Bowser’s fireballs break certain parts of the wall to move forward.
6. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Released on November 21st, 1991, SNES, Nintendo Switch (NSO), Gameboy Advance, etc)
This was the first Zelda game I played, and I was iffy about doing so. However, when I got used to mechanics and inventory handling, exploration in the game became much smoother and more fun for me. I remember, as a child, thinking the game was super short when you completed three dungeons only to have the game have you go to a dark world to complete even more palaces/dungeons. I loved Turtle Rock and Dark Palace and the bosses that reside there. I remember terrorizing the chickens in Kakariko village and also some of the minigames, some stupid and fun, others annoying. I liked the music. You obviously had the main Zelda theme but also the mystifying but beautiful piano melody of the fairy fountain. I recommend this Zelda game, as well as Minish Cap, as one of their first Zelda games. I’m also going to say it. I prefer the 2D Zelda games to the 3D ones.
5. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles (Released on October 17th, 1994, lock on of Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles, Sega Genesis, through collections on XBOX, Switch, etc)
I absolutely love the Sonic franchise. I’ve consumed most of the games, all of the movies, and the IDW comics. I played almost all the classic games when I was young on the Sega Genesis collection for the Xbox. I never beat any of the Sonic games until I was older, but Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles certainly take the cake for being my favorite. It introduces Knuckles and begins the trend of having an extra boss if you collect all chaos emeralds. The zones are absolutely amazing. Hydrocity Zone, Lava Reef Zone, and Flying Battery Zone are some of my favorites. Whether that is because of the environment, the quick loops you go through, platforming challenges, etc. And the music is bumping. Hydrocity and Flying Battery Zone have some of my favorite music; Hydrocity is jazzy and gives off that feeling of rushing on after and through loops, while Flying Battery has a boom bass playing throughout as you infiltrate an airship and swing on propellers, etc. The game also has peak special stages as well.
4. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Released on July 26th, 2019 for Nintendo Switch)
Fire Emblem: Three Houses blends the strategic RPG style of the game the fans of the series already come to expect with a sort of life sim similar to Persona. The maps you get to play on are well designed, and the plot, while not the most extravagant, is told well with what it needs to accomplish. Creating bonds and treachery amongst one another in the monastery creates an intriguing plot nonetheless. A plot with an end you want to get to, which causes you to be excited to play through the game using the variety of unique characters there are to choose from. Not only that, but the maps you play and the characters you also play with can differ depending on which of the three routes you decide to go to and whose stories vastly change when you get to the second part of the game.
3. Earthbound (Released on June 5th, 1995, SNES, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch (NSO), Nintendo 3DS, Wii U)
Earthbound, while highly ranked, is actually my most recently played game. In fact, this year was the first time I played it. However, straight out the gate, I was able to enjoy the charming and quirky dialogue frequented throughout the town’s residents, as well as the absurdity of the scenarios Ness and his friends found themselves in. Some of them even relate to themes of social corruption, greed, and desire that we see today despite the game being released a little while ago. The bizarrely bright colors and weirdly funky music fighting whatever normal or not-so-normal enemies you were fighting were great. The story and ending were beautiful and frightening to witness, and the dungeons and puzzles were fun to conquer despite how difficult some of them could get. However, no matter how many times I died, I just wanted to load my save file and continue doing what was necessary for Ness and his friends to save the world.
2. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Released on May 29th, 2020 for Nintendo Switch)
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, a remaster of the Wii game, is just such a great game. The sheer vastness of the lands you get to cover both the green, luminescent and lavish worlds of the Bionis and the mechanical factory-based grounds of the Mechonis is amazing to walk around for hours soaking in the environment while listening to the music and completing sidequest. There have been countless times when I just go to Valek Mountain or Gaur Plains to either see the beautiful snowy landscape while listening to the peaceful music of Valek Mountain or explore up and down Gaur Plains while listening to the jam of that area. The gameplay seems complex but for the most part is simple but fun, and I love the characters and depth of the story which makes you laugh, cry, think of life. I know I’ve been ranting about this game. My reason for loving the game probably doesn’t sound too concise, but this game has one of my favorite balances between gameplay and story and, in fact, is the game I’ve played the longest. But yet it isn’t my favorite game.
1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Released on May 23rd, 2010 for Wii)
I know a lot of people like the first of the series better, but I think 2 is arguably the better game, and being one of the first video games I ever played, I absolutely adore it. There are tons of boss battles I love replaying, like the final Bowser Jr. battle, where you must make your way up to the top of his Boom Bunker and crash it down. I also like his boss battle in his machine in Fearsome Fleet. I also have nostalgia for a lot of the levels. I love all the levels in World 1; I have a great memory of struggling in the first level of the second world, and I remember feeling so much joy when I beat it and was able to move on with the game. The galaxies are so creative in their environment. A typical water level will have more to it than that. As well as your typical grassland. There is an element of scenery added to make the otherwise generic environment appealing to look at and explore. Spin jumping in the clouds, passing obstacles in desert places, using different powerups to break boulders, creating platforms on fire, etc., make the variety of gameplay in platforming unique and fun. The story is well, Mario. You’ll know where the plot is going, but you’ll enjoy it. The music is incredible. The music that plays in Fluffy Bluff is orchestrated beautifully. Again, it’s more rambling, but I truly enjoy this game. It is the game that got me into playing video games.
And there are my top ten video games of all time. If your game isn’t on this list, don’t fret. There are many other games that I absolutely adore that I couldn’t include just for number constraints, but they are still great in my boat.