Top Five Video Games
Top Five is a show where the hosts categorize, rank, compare, and stratify everything… from cars to gadgets to people and movies. From stuff that is hot, and things that are not nearly as interesting – it’s Top Five.
They can steal away hours of our time, or give a respite for a few moments. This week, we run down our favorite video games.
- Direct Download
- You can subscribe to the RSS feed here.
- You can subscribe via iTunes here.
- Subscribe to the Major Spoilers Podcast Network Master Feed
- Major Spoilers Podcast Network Master Feed RSS Feed
- Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers VIP. It will help ensure The Top Five Podcast continues far into the future!
Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com
A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums.
[signoff predefined=”PayPal Donation” icon=”icon-globe”][/signoff]
28 Comments
Well my Number 5 is: FIFA Street for the PS3. wonderful soccer game where its all about the technical abilities of the player instead of the teamwork lol. but its glorious when you school your friend by giving him a Panna (for those of you who dont know, a Panna is a trick where you send the ball through the opponents legs and go around him while he stands there dumbfounded).
#4: Pokemon Silver/Soul Silver Version: my favorite game of the franchise and the one ive sunk many hours of my youth. the massive world, the countless amounts of pokemon (especially in Soul Silver) and the ability to fight against the main protagonist of the first pokemon games. overall it will have a special place in my heart.
#3 The Last Of Us by Naughty Dog games. There are games that are all about the combat like Call of Duty, then there are some games all about the story like Heavy Rain, then there’s The Last Of Us that has such an amazing Story and Combat system that work perfectly together. Not gonna spoil the story but within the first 20 minutes the story had me in tears… not many games can do that in 20 minutes but thats a zombie apocalypse for ya… i recommend this one to anybody looking for an amazing gaming experience that you could finish in about 20 hours.
#2 Mass Effect Trilogy: the reason im including all three games is because if you know anything about the Mass Effect series you would know that you can take your save file from the previous game and import it to the next game of the series, and you cant get the full Mass effect experience unless you play all three games. the option to play as a Male or Female protagonist, choosing your history (sadly not many options but it changes some dialogue options) and whether or not you want to be Good or Badass aka Paragon or Renegade. overall its a wonderful experience and its a great Space Opera story that you have full control over, and every decision you make will carry over to the next game so some of the things youve done to NPC’s can have repercussions.
here are some that didnt make the list
Kingdom Hearts Series
Dot Hack Series
Guitar Hero Series
Dynasty Warriors Series
Call of Duty Series
Beyond: Two Souls
South Park: The Stick of Truth
MY NUMBER ONE!!!!
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable for the PSP or Vita: this was the first time ive ever pulled an all nighter playing a video game because i couldnt put it down. The story is about a seventeen year old highschool student whos been bouncing around from relative to relative after his parents died in an explosion ten years prior in the same city where the kid is now. Hes been aware of a Secret Hour that appears at the stroke of Midnight called the Dark Hour where everyone else turns into coffins and all electronics stop working: He gets to the dorm room where a strange boy makes him sign a contract. all it says is “I choose this fate of my own free will” and so begins this boys adventure fighting evil entities called Shadows using his power of Persona which are a manifestation of a persons psyche. the game deals with a lot of touchy subjects like suicide, dealing with loss, revenge, sacrifice, and the most obvious where the only way to summon your Persona is to take a special Gunlike object called the Envoker and shoot yourself in your head. its supposed to represent you shattering your mental walls to let your inner self out but many a people in the US of A didnt like this action. This however doesnt change the fact that this game has a wonderful story thats very immersive and you spend many hours developing your Social Links to gain more power. its a mix of classic fantasy RPG where you climb a dungeon gaining levels and stronger equipment, and a Life Simulator where you attend class and hang out with friends. Overall this game changed my perspective of video games. Each game has a story to tell you and i was to young and naive to listen to them.
welp thats my top 5 games… Guitar Hero Metallica RUUUULZZZ
Im as much a video game enthusiast as Im a comic fan. I got my first console, NES in late 80’s at pretty much same time I leaned to read, so both, comics and video games have followed me up to this day. I’ve played so many memorable games that I coludnt even begin to think naming only five.
No idea what made the list here due to my hearing loss (legally deaf), but I’ve got my own Top 5, in no particular order.
5 – Monster Rancher 2 – Before I had ever even heard of Pokemon, I was a fan of games that let you raise and battle monsters. I adored the first Monster Rancher, but when Monster Rancher 2 came out I was even more hooked. In many ways, it wasn’t all that different from the first game, but that isn’t a bad thing. It added a few new monsters, new events and mechanics and such. I have so many fond memories of spending a full weekend going through every single CD in the house and jotting in a notebook which CD made which monster, then raising and combining my favorites for stronger monsters or hybrids. It is one of the very, very few games that I have actually owned multiple copies of (because it got worn out, stolen, broken, etc.).
4 – Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Despite being a HUGE Star Wars fan, I was never all that fond of the majority of Star Wars games. Aside from the old arcade game, the only Star Wars video games I’ve ever truly enjoyed were Star Wars Galaxies (MMO), LEGO Star Wars and KOTOR. The idea of an RPG in a Star Wars setting had me hooked before I even got the game, and then the game itself exceeded my expectations. Even without all the cool visual mods made by other players (like those that made certain armors look like other iconic Star Wars armors), the game had great replay value with all the choices you could make that could alter the overall story.
3 – Pokemon Conquest – Blending the cuteness of Pokemon with a tactics game, how could I not fall in love? I’m normally not a fan of Pokemon games outside the main series, but I was hooked on that game as soon as I got my hands on it. I still play it every so often, picking it up every couple of months and playing for 3 or 4 weeks before playing something else for a while.
2 – LEGO – Okay, not a single game, but I can’t choose. I love the franchise based LEGO games, like LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman and so on.
1 – Final Fantasy – I spent so many days (yes, full days) playing that game. It was also the first virtual console game I purchased on my Wii. There may be many newer games with prettier graphics and more complex game mechanics, but I still love that game in all of it’s 8-bit glory.
I haven’t had a chance to listen to the show yet so apologise for any duplications.
1. Elite, one of my first gaming experinces and one that still holds up as a triumph of skill an imagination or technical limitations. Board your trusty Corbra mk III and explore trade and fight across eight galaxies in your quest to be Elite!
2. James Bond:GoldenEye. You are James Bond! I considered several N64 games but went with this one because nothing beats the seeing the look on your friends face as you destroy him with a perfectly placed grenade.
3. Super mario world. When I was a kid there was only one truly important question, sonic or Mario? At the time my vote went to the hyperactive hedgehog but over time I’ve come to appreciate the understated genius of the portly plumber and SMW is the perfect showcase for him.
4. Company of Heroes. Fast paced rts building on the success of Dawn of War CoH brings the battle of Normandy to your PC. Expertly balanced and executed with heart breaking detail.
5. No one Lives Forever. That rarest of beasts a FPS with a female protagonist! Cate Archer 1960’s super spy uses stealth and skill to fight enemy agents and sexism. Stylish witty and very very hard. A must for fans of Agent Carter
Bubbling under: X-wing, Duke Nukem, Civilization, Doom, Day of the Tentacle, Zelda, Mario Kart, Deus Ex, Hostile Waters, Operation Wolf and Portal
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GAUNTLET-LEGENDS-Atari-1998-Arcade-video-game-Perfect-shape-4-player-D-D-Classic-/291495116002
That is Gauntlet Legends… NOT Gauntlet ;)
#5 The Witcher 3: This one could be because it’s what I’m currently playing but the scope of this game is huge and the story has been interesting. I’ve really enjoyed the combat, crafting and just jumping on Roach (your horse) and going to every question mark on the map to see what’s there.
#4 Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: This is a fantastic game with one of the best worlds and adventures.
#3 Final fantasy 6 : What I think is the best of the Super Nintendo era of final fantasy game with the epic story and great cast of characters. Close second being Final Fantasy 4
#2 Elder Scrolls Skyrim : I put 150 hours into this game. The most time I’ve put into any game. I love this game the exploration, leveling up and wierd things that would happen in the open world were fantastic.
#1 Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age : This is a great RPG that uses psychic energy or psynergy instead of magic and the four elements (fire,earth,wind,and water) with the collections of elemental djinns that would give you classes when equipped in different combinations and summon gods and beasts from mythology in beautiful 2-d sprites(the game is 3-d). The game is broken up into two games why I included both and has the party from the first game joining up with the party of the second game half way through lost age to save the world.
This top five is hard for me because I could mention ten more games I’ve loved like Super Mario Galaxy the best of the 3d marios, Super Metroid, Dragon Age, Knights of the Old Republic, Pokemon Red my first RPG, Super Smash Brothers, Bastion (great music),the Castlevania games for the Gameboy Advance.
Damn! Super Mario Galaxy reminded me how much I love MarioKart! What an awesome world they put out
I think in a few months I would have Witcher 3 on my list with you. Graphics alone garner an honorable mention and the attention to detail is brilliant.
5) Child of Light: a newer game to me. I love this so much! A friend gifted it to me on steam, and I played through the entire game over a month of weekends. More difficult than you think it should be on the surface, its graphics are gorgeous. As you progress through the game you collect pieces of the story and find out who your stepmother really is, and who you really are. A haunting fairytale that will have you tearing up near the end. Loved it!
4) For years me and small group of friends played DDO(Dungeons and Dragons online) as a way to keep in touch. We had played DnD together once before, but my husband and I were so new it was difficult to play with the larger more experienced group and they didn’t want to wait for us to learn. We would meet every Friday or Saturday (sometimes both) night and tackle different quests through out the game. When slowly, but surely, all the member of the group all moved back to the same city though, we stopped playing one by one. I invested way too much money in this game! It lead to my husband and I playing in an AD&D group (4 years now), playing 4th edition at a local gaming store which lead to play testing 5e and eventually us spinning off into our own DnD 5e group too. What a rich world. It also led to me looking up DnD podcasts on iTunes and I found Critical Hit and the Major Spoilers crew. You’re mine forever now…
3) Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. I had a roommate with an Xbox360 and he bought me this game for my birthday. I played it every chance I got, or until he kicked me off the xbox360. In every other way though, he was a terrible terrible person to live with and soon this game became an escape from that. Eventually I had to kick him out and the xbox went with him. I still have the game though (just no way to play it!)
2)Sims3. I have invested hundreds of hours into this game. Its migrated computers with me. It has its own little place to save on our server here at home. After years of watching me play it my husband decided to try and now I can’t get him to stop. Its crack. Rags to riches, getting the woohoo, trying out all the lifetime rewards. l’d Stay Away unless you want to lose 6 hours you needed for the rest of your life. I now have to plan time to play it about once a month.
1)Its silly, its to keep my eyes and hands busy when I have to listen to something longer like ooh podcasts, or online lectures or phone messages or waiting for customer service to finally get to you on the phone… Both Cubemen and Cubemen2 keep me busy for quick “just occupy my brain while I wait” time. Strategic tower defence and skirmish game. I am really not all the good, but I still love it.
Also rans:
If I look at hours played Starbound would have to be on this list, I’ve been playing it since the beta opened up. But the most recent incarnation has been so frustrating that I finally got uhm “help” online from the forums so I could progress past the first solar system. My favorite part is the sandbox part of the game. Its optional quests can be interesting and change things up a little.
Q*Bert on the Intellivision system: I was so good at this by age 6 my Dad would bring his friends over to challenge me on the weekends and I would wipe the floor with them :)
Wipeout (1995, 1996, 1999): many many hours played against my brother on this, had awesome music to race to. Every time I hear the Chemical Brothers Smack My B*tch Up I still feel like racing something really fast down a tube.
I started game back in the day of the Commodore 64, went through the Amiga 500 and 1200, before becoming a PC gamer in like 1994. I never got into consoles until Playstation 2, and I didn’t really use my first PS2 that much, because I was a poor student. I should probably have more old games on my list, because I too am kinda old, but a lot of them doesn’t really hold up today.
5: The Walking Dead Season 1/2
I love the comic books, and I really like the show. This is a games full of feels, as the young say. So many hard choices, and I actually shed a tear in Season 2, when a character from Season 1 returned. I was so invested in the story, and was so, so happy to see him again. Not great game mechanics, but an amazing story.
4: SSX Tricky
My reason to own a PS2: The SSX Series. Tricky is the best in the series, over the top snowboard action, and a split screen option. It’s just so much fun, fast, and crazy with some solid music.
3: Terraria
Almost 250 hours of gameplay clocked on Steam. It’s kinda like Minecraft, but a 2D scroller: You dig for better materials, craft new weapons, defend NPCs against zombies, fight huge bosses. The first time I started the game, 10 hours of my life disappeared, I forgot to drink and eat, I just played, and played, and played, got dizzy, ate some food, drank some water, and played some more. The best part: the game is really cheap, and there’s a new content update coming soon. And you can play it on almost any computer, console, or phone/tablet.
2. Day of the Tentacle
The pinnacle of SCUMM games by LucasArts. A purple tentacle with arms is trying to take over the world, yes! A crazy and fun adventure game by Tim Schafer. I usually go back and play this maybe once every year. And it’s being remade, just like Grim Fandango.
1. Knights of the Old Republic
I love me some Star Wars, and KOTOR is THE best Star Wars game. I’m not a huge RPG guy, but KOTOR is great, has a great story and holds up today. I go back maybe once a year, and play it through again. I’ve even considered getting the Xbox version, because it runs on 360, just to be able to play it on my big screen tv.
StarCraft 2 could be on the list, but I really suck at the game, and prefer to watch pros play it. Star Wars: Rebellion is also on my also-ran list with Fallout 3, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons, Age of Empires II, Dune II, Counter-Strike, and the Quake 2 mod: Action Quake 2.
SSX Tricky!! Such an amazingly fun game!
Yes, I also enjoy the first a lot, but Tricky is the best.
I’ve been told I would like Terreria a lot because I like Starbound. I’ve been dithering over Knights of the Old Republic, maybe I will just have to break down and get it!
I never really got into Starbound because I bought it early on, and the development came to a crawl at some point. That game is actually the reason why I don’t trust Early Access anymore – it’s been over 1½ years, and the game is still not out of Early Access. In that time, Terraria is well on the way to get it’s second major content update for free.
The Steam sale is going on, grab both cheap and have a lot of fun. Remember to drink and eat, I totally forget that, when I play Terraria.
They’ve done a couple major updates lately with Starbound, your may be surprised. But its likely that your original character is now gone. I will have to look into those! These days I play games like that with a timer on!
#5 Dark Souls
Oh I love this game. Challenging, dark, gives a sense of exploration, and a good stand against making things too easy in gaming.
#4 StarCraft 2
This is a versatile strategy game, that I have enjoyed on several occasions. The non-mirrored units makes it a hell to balance for the developers, but generally makes it fun to play against stranger and friend alike.
#3 Shovel Knight
I love the fact that this is a solid platformer, in the form of a retro 8-bit game. It is enjoyable, challenging, without being unfair to the players in the spirit of old arcade and early games. Story is easy, but with a nice twist, and I felt the tugging of the heartstrings on occation.
#2 Shadows of the Collosus
This is one of the few games I revisit every few years. It is such a great story, told in an unusual way when compared to most other games, with puzzle, combat, exploration and mystery all wrapped in a scarf. And the entire experience feels so satisfying.
#1 Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
Oh, I only got this on a whim way back in the early oughts. Originally I got Vampire The Masquerade: Redemption, but there was an error with the game, and they happened to be out. So I picked this one up, and it became my “go-to” game for the next three years. Got sick, and had too stay home? Great, BG2 all day swaddled in blankets and covers. Tired? Great, more BG2 at home.
I actually started min-maxing with this game, which has remained with me to this day.
Also ran:
Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 8, Beyond good and evil, Psychonauts, Sonic the Hedgehog (series), Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, StarCraft, Child of Light, Far Cry, and Bastion
#5 Brothers
I have this game on my list because it feature some of the best use of input manipulation to instill emotion I’ve ever seen in gaming. It is a top-down puzzle game and it is amazing and not too hard.
#4 Civilization
You start with a little nomadic tribe and end up going to Alpha Centauri. Ghandi declaring nuclear war on you, need I say more?
#3 Beyond Good and Evil
This is Ubisoft take on Legend of Zelda. You play a photo journalist trying to uncover the truth on a secret conspiracy by alien invaders. You take pictures of wildlife to earn money. Also humor is omnipresent in the story.
#2 X-Com
The original. This is my gaming classic I go back to when I get bored. A desesperate fight against a stronger opponent that is slowly eroding what you have. A tactical system that make squad tactics necessary to survive.
#1 Crusader Kings 2
This is Game of thrones : the video game. You are a lord of a medieval country and need to manage your vassals, your claims, your children. This game generate so many stories. From the captured crusader, forced to convert that becomes the empror’s spymaster and most trusted man to a wife that kills all your kids to insure it is hers that get the throne, she may even plan your own death.
The original X-Com is so hard by today’s standards. I played it again maybe a year ago, and got wrecked. But I loved it back in the day.
I suspect that years of playing Civ led to my Sims3 addiction! Beyond Good and Evil sounds awesome
Brothers. If ever a game can make a case for video games as art Brothers is it. Quite possibly the best short game. Visual and tactile story telling of some seriously high caliber.
Great pick.
Love me some XCOM. The original was great.
Oh boy, this is a tough one.
#5: Super Mario 3 – I spent endless nights playing Mario 3, “hacking” it with the game genie and writing down cool codes we discovered like start and stay a pirana plant or jump so high it takes 30s to land.
#4: Dragon Quest – DQ began my love of role-playing games. It’s a short game that an adult can best in 10hours easy, but as a child I wasn’t able to grasp the game fully. I never stopped trying though.
#3 The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time – I played this game so much, likely more then any other console game. It got to the point I started running challenge runs. I completed the game with without dieing, then with only 3 hearts, and the hardest one without using the sword except where strictly needed (twice) when you first get the sword you need to cut a bush, and the killing blow on final form Ganon must come from the master sword. You can hit him with the big goron hammer 80ish times but he won’t die.
#2: Final Fantasy VI – My first Final Fantasy, and the first game I capped the play time counter on. FFVI os an amazing game. From it’s diverse and massive cast to Kefka the (imo) best villain of any FF, and an epic musical score.
#1 World of Warcraft – I’ve played WoW since launch. I’ve made steadfast friends, life long enemies, been an officer in a top 30 guild, organized a raid group consistently for 7 straight years, and /played for more then a full year. Last I checked I have logged over 380 days of play time on my main character. What is that? Math don’t fail me! 8000 hours? I can only name two things I’ve stuck with longer, my wife (Also a avid gamer) and my job.
5. Quake: I spent countless hours sucking at this game and getting destroyed.
4. World of Warcraft: I think of WiW like a drug addict things of sobriety. There was time before WoW, the destructive but fun WoW times, and the years since I quit.
3. Tony Hawk: I got pretty good at this one. The series went downhill after the 3rd one.
2. Tetris: I spent an entire summer playing Tetris and competing against my step brothers.
1. Assassin’s Creed: I love them all. They all have faults but all are a blast to play.
Also Rans:
Final Fantasy 7, Day of the Tentacle, Old Republic, DOOM, Legend of Zelda for the N64, Command and Conquer, Mario 64, Mario Kart
Here’s a Top Five I have actually enough to say about to warrant making a post!
5 – Super Mario Brothers 3 (NES) I thought about going with the original classic, the first video game I ever owned, but in the end I had to give the nod to Bros 3, which I sunk the most time into and even bought on Virtual Console so that I could play it again. It’s also the first game back in the day that I ever beat (I did cheat though).
4 – NBA Jam (Sega) I played the heck out of this too, and I didn’t even own a Genesis. But every time I was over at my piano teacher’s house I would play NBA Jam with her son until my mom came to pick me up.
3 – Blades of Steel (NES) Now this one I probably played the most out of any video game ever made. I still could hum the victory song that played as the winning team skated around the ice and got their picture taken with their sticks held high. There was also a great little weakness in the goalie’s AI where if you shot the puck upwards at a very narrow angle you almost never missed.
2 – Pokemon Gold Version (Game Boy Color) Now we get to the handheld game that started it all for me, literally the reason I bought a Game Boy Color in the first place. I was hooked on the series from then on and eventually completed the National Pokédex in Pokemon Ruby. It then took a while before I could repeat the feat, especially since I try to collect what the uber collectors call a “Live Pokédex”, where you don’t just have a little entry for each monster, but you actually have every single one in the PC.
1 – The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (Wii) Even greater than my obsession with Pokémon is my penchant for The Legend of Zelda. One of my favourite T-shirts prominently features Link blowing on an NES cartridge instead of an ocarina. Just like number 5 though it was difficult to chose just one of Link’s adventures to pick above all the rest. But I had to give the nod to Wind Waker because it had, in my opinion, the most engrossing story. From the frozen-in-time kingdom beneath the sea to the expressive facial expressions making every character seem to come to life, to the heart-breaking ending this game had an incredible story that makes it my #1 video game of all time.
Honorable Mentions: Mortal Kombat (Sega), NFL Blitz (GameCube), Silent Hill (Playstation).
#5. Tachyon: The Fringe. Hands down the best space combat simulator ever. Plus Bruce Campbell.
#4. FIFA – best sports game ever.
#3. I tried putting my favorite “sandbox” game here but got stuck between red Dead redemption (gta: tombstone) and Assassins Creed 2.
#2. Mass Effect Trilogy. It is all one long video game and no matter how frustrated you get with the ending it is still one of the best.
#1. Baldur’s Gate 2. It set the bar so high that people have spent the better part of the last 17 years trying to recreate the magic. Just played through 2 months ago and it still holds up.
Honorable mention goes to AC: Black Sails, Diablo 2, Skyrim, ken Griffey jr baseball, state of decay, dragon age origins
5. Final fantasy X: The first final fantasy I finished. I particularly like the love story between Tidus and Yuna two very different individuals
one boisterous and selfish and the other meak and selfless, who become better by learning from eachother. Also Auron is the awesome gaurdian who would continue to protect even after death. Of course the real draw is the gameplay and while many of the minigames outright suck, blitzball is one of the most awesome minigames ever and the turn based combat with visable turn order, a veriaty of status effects/elemental types (even if they aren’t allways capitilized on) and the ability to customize the characters to an extensive degree including the overdrive meter makes it one of the best turn based combat games I’ve ever played. Plus controlable summons.
4. Dark Cloud 2: The basic premise for Dark Cloud 2’s story is a princess travels back in time to thwart the efforts of an antognist who rewriting history and she allys herself with a scrappy mechanic whose mother was from the time period the princess is from…Yay wibbly wobbly timey wimey. The real draw of the game for me is the veriaty of mechanics and activities the game offers, even if they aren’t allways as polished as I would like. You can dungeon crawl while upgrading your weapons until they transform pokemon style, stop to play golf with time warps and go fishing, take a bunch of pictures so you can piece together ideas for inventions, and then rebuild the world with all the crap you’ve acumulated so that the future stays right on course.
3. Paper Mario: The story isn’t anything special but it also manages to balance humor and seriousness better than most of the mario RPGs in my opinion. Special mention goes to twinks arc and the fact that peach manages to do useful things while still believably being unable to escape. Meanwhile the combat is even more refined than FFX reducing the scale of all stats from five digits to two so that every hit to and from the enemy feels important and the timed hits give a little bit of reflex based skill to add to the tension of a fights. The minigames aren’t
terribly special but the mario based easter eggs and some solid sidequests make up for that, also solid music.
2. Minecraft: My list used to consist entirely of RPGs, then I played minecraft. You really have to have some idea of what you as a player
want to do before you can really apreciate minecrafts greatness, but once you do it can be one of the best games ever. You can fight all sorts of monsters in dangerous places, make huge comprehensive pictures, construct all sorts of machines with redstone, or just blow up the world. If you throw mods into the mix you can do all of the above while playing pokemon, dragon ball z or portal. The best part though is several hours later no matter what you do the world you were playing in will be different and that lasting physical impact on the world is something few other games I’ve played enable.
1. Paper Mario & the thousand year door: The best of all the mario RPGs hands down. The main story isn’t great, but the backstory is actually a pretty epic story of heros sealing a great evil and protecting the sealing crystals even after being cursed. The side stories could ALL be games in themselves, seriously climbing the ranks of a wrestling federation and exploring a treaure island with undead pirates. The combat from the first paper mario but with even more useful star powers and an audiance system where doing well with timed hits earns more star power as well as occasionally free items. All this is enhanced with allys that now have their own health and more badges for mario. Finally some of the best music in the mario RPG series and more solid sidequests.
Also Rans
super mario rpg: this used to be my favorite game and still has some of my favorite music in games, is easy to pick up and play and has the only example of the instakill star power up in a mario RPG.
sly cooper 2: I love the original sly cooper trilogy and sly 2 is my favorite. Nice blend of platforming and stealth, with all the missions
in a level leading up to a big heist.
suikoden 3: 6 seperate perspectives on a war, 108 characters to populate a castle, all sorts of rediculous sidequests