Time for the next five and by next five I mean ten because there's a lot of fucking ties here. Thankfully, there's only one tie situation in the top ten...wait, I'm doing honorable mentions next...which is about 150 games.

All caps text meant to be screaming but is not here because I AIN'T LEARNING NONE OF THAT HTML SHIT OKAY HERES NUMBERS FIFTEEN THROUGH ELEVEN I HOPE YOU ENJOY

15. Mega Man X

Now this is the story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down, and I like to take a minute, just sit right there, I'll tell you how I became the savior of the world. Way in the future, frozen and raised, in the battlefield where I spent most of my days, ridin' on cars and being all blue and wall-jumping all over the hood, a couple of bots who were up to no good started making trouble in the neighborhood, one little loss and my pal Zero got scared and said "You're finding armor upgrades to go save the world." Up to about robot master seven or eight, I killed old Vile and reached Sigma's place, I shot him a lot, I was finally done, I became the great savior of the world. SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL-

That about sums up Mega Man X's narrative in a nutshell. What makes this work is the game uses the concept of themeing to get you involved heavily as the player by having the same ultimate desire as the main character, to be as strong as Zero. You know, everything Egoraptor has already said about this game. Hell, you should just go watch that video because there's not really much else I can add that he already hasn't said. Mega Man X is the template for a truly great sequel, even more so than Portal 2. That game perfected its mechanics, Mega Man X was an evolution of the basic design of the original series. Skill was still the name of the game, but with new ways to move around the world and to avoid attacks, shaking up the game to its core.

So why should you play Mega Man X? Why not one of the sequels? Because most of the sequels suck ass and are terrible and are bad and are baby murderers. Besides, in the case of X2 through X4, you'll appreciate what they have done far more when you understand where they take from and how they make their own additions to the formula. The other reason is that its simply one of the finest SNES games ever released, and that's a pretty damn good reason.

Thoughts from other g1s:

Lyserg.Z

A quintessential platformer. I think every gamer should give the Magaman series a try. X is one of those games that's easy to just pick up and play and serves as a great introduction to the rest of the Megaman games. The classic series is sure amazing, but Megaman X keeps what made those games so good and improves over it to make a comeback in the form of a more fast-paced action packed game. I could also ramble on about the rocking soundtrack, the story, or the gameplay in general, but really, the only thing left to say is: Play it.

ThePortlandian

I love the Mega Man series, and X is the finest in the series. Superb 16-bit music, superb controls, better powerups thanks to great armor powerups. A story I actually cared about and played the rest of the series just to continue to immerse myself in it's awesomeness. Mega Man X will be the best Mega Man ever...forever.

14. Mega Man 2/Tetris/The Walking Dead

Now, the previous tie had games that had things in common. The only thing in common among these games is that they are games. You can play them. Isn't that neat? So, forgive me for not managing to balance explaining these three games and how they each got in the list for similar reasons. When you get down to it, Mega Man 2 is here as the defining difficult platformer and the one that popularized them. Tetris is here as the most pure game that can be imagined and the entire basis for the puzzle genre. The Walking Dead is here because my floor is currently flooded with tears from other nerds, meaning it did something few other games can; get you so involved that the resulting experience can be emotionally powerful.

Tetris came about in Mother Russia, where some guy who drank vodka and most likely wore a funny coat and danced by kicking the air had a crazy idea for a game. Tetris was born and everyone who ever lived lost all free time they ever had. It's challenging, it's simple, it's addicting and it's simply one of the single greatest games that has ever been made. It's been released on countless consoles, computers and calculators, never satisfied with the free time its stolen. On top of all this, there wouldn't be a puzzle genre as we have it today if not for Tetris. No Luminous, no Chime, no Puyo Pop, none of that. Every puzzle game takes from the basis that Tetris set, and Tetris is still one of the best in its genre. There's brilliance to be found in simplicity and Tetris is living proof of this.

Now while Mega Man X is important as showing the evolution of the platforming genre, Mega Man 2 is important by getting the difficult 2D platformer to a new high and creating a classic that is still relevant today. The original Mega Man is great, but level design was still a bit rocky (see Elec Man stage). Mega Man 2 took the great ideas and gameplay of the original and refined it, creating the mark that every challenging 2D platformer needs to reach to be considered great. I didn't get to play this game until my teenage years, but it has held up fantastically. There's a reason Mega Man 9 and 10 were made, because games like Mega Man 2 are still amazing by today's standards.

As for The Walking Dead, many are already calling this the game of 2012. You'll have to forgive me for my lack of knowledge on this game as my laptop is shit and can't play it, but I've been paying attention and have a good idea why so many people adore it. The Walking Dead is effectively something completely new for the point and click adventure genre, or at least a revitalization of the old PC days. Where most people expect comedy, The Walking Dead goes for tragedy and drama and outright nails them through the use of choice, making everyone's playthrough personal. Every choice may not have a big impact on the ending, but it has an impact on the player. The strong writing makes you want to save everyone from this zombie apocalypse, but that simply isn't going to happen. It's a game that doesn't simply rely on cheap tricks to get you to care, it's a game that draws you in and destroys your soul while offering a small light of hope from time to time. Ultimately, every single person I know who's played this game says they will never forget it. The Walking Dead needs to be played because it's the new standard for the use of choice and story in the gaming medium.

Thoughts from other g1s:

BoxCatNation [On Tetris]

One of the most popular games of all time, but also one of the most addicting. No matter what type of gamer you are, you have most likely played this game. Tetris is one of the most approachable games ever made and is a fantastic gateway into the world of gaming.

Johnsonic7 [On Mega Man 2]

Simply put, Mega Man 2 is a very well designed 2D action-platformer with a variety of stages, bosses and weapons. The controls are tight and responsive, and the default gun is effective enough to use reliably, but limited enough to make it feel like a significant step up when you gain new weapons. Everything about the game seems extremely well considered. Well, maybe not how overpowered the metal blade is, but I don’t necessarily think that giving me the option to play the game like Contra is a bad thing. The stages are great, each with their own twist, and the bosses match that variety in lockstep. Capcom’s prowess for making excellent and memorable chip tune music is put on full display here, evidenced by the soundtrack containing some of the most covered 8-bit music anywhere. Not to mention one particularly popular track. Top to bottom, it’s just a fantastic game. It was head and shoulders above much of its competition at the time and still holds up today. Mega Man 2 is a classic in every sense of the word and more than worth checking out.

The Windwaker [On The Walking Dead]

I’m not a Walking Dead fan. I don’t watch the television show or read the comics, but this game is one of the best I’ve played in years. The story and characters leave a long-lasting impression, with Lee and Clementine spearheading some of the game’s more powerful moments. The decisions in The Walking Dead are some of the most difficult I’ve ever had to make, mainly because there are times where no decision is the right decision. Where story is concerned, The Walking Dead: The Game is one of the best in the medium. If you’ve held off playing 2012’s Game of the Year, now would be a fantastic time to brave the zombie apocalypse. For Clementine…

13. Journey and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Journey and Phoenix Wright are two very different beasts but ultimately share a similarity: Trust. PRETENSIOUS GAME EXAMANATION TIME ORIGINAL JONTRON JOKE 2012. See, when you get down to it, each game has a similar theme of trust. Journey is a game about putting your trust and safety into the hands of a complete stranger and gaining a connection without saying a single word. Phoenix Wright, on the other hand, is about trust and knowing when someone has earned it, to see the lies people tell and to know when they're being honest to save lives. PRETENTIOUS GAME EXAMANATION TIME OVER.

Journey is a sort of walk-a-bout game, but unlike other games of this ilk that force you to look at things and ask the artist what it means because they have such "deep" thoughts about "deep" things, Journey is a much more simple experience. Instead of shoving things in your face and the creator jumping out to yell a tired Nostalgia Critic joke (and now this tired joke joke is dead), the game forces you into a situation where you experience what it wants to get across. The only way to move throughout this game is to have the help of another traveler, one who can't speak to you and you can't speak to either. This creates a relationship where both players benefit by assisting each other towards the destination, all the while experiencing new and amazing, magical things together. The game can create a bond in a way no other multiplayer focused game can, taking away our usual ways of screwing ourselves over and replacing it with a system where we have to trust each other, and the result is a beautiful game that just wants people to understand that despite our differences, when identity is stripped away, we are being capable of amazing feats.

Phoenix Wright is a tad different. Trust is a key mechanic but in trying to reach a truth. The game makes you a defense lawyer, in charge of saving your client from prison of death. However, Phoenix Wright is someone with a moral code, helping people he trusts are innocence after seeing the facts and evidence. The goal from there is saving your client by finding lies and gags in logic from the various witnesses in the courtroom. Of course, the game is not particularly deep in what its trying to do. At the end of the day, Phoenix Wright was an experimental idea from some guys at Capcom that became a brilliant new type of point and click VN, relying on logic puzzles and finding contractions in testimony to succeed. Phoenix Wright is a game about seeing things for how they truly are and not what they appear to be at first. Oh, and it's hilarious. Look up Wendy Oldbag.

Thoughts from other g1s:

Ferret75 [On Journey]

Journey is one of the best games out there that prove the medium's potential to exist as a great art form, not merely a form of mindless entertainment. The graphics look gorgeous with pleasant orchestrated audio to couple the visuals. As you work through a set of varied environments on a literal journey to a central light beacon, you will be exposed to a variety of emotions ranging from wonder to comfort to fear to even sadness. The controls are intuitive and simple to adapt to, ensuring that newcomers to the game will be able to pick up right away. One of the most interesting mechanics in the game is the online cooperation; another player shows up during your adventure, and with limited communication and a lack of clear identity until the end, there's a special bonding that optionally occurs, one without bias.

theentertainmentguy [On Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]

A game where you don’t even need to like the visual novel genre to enjoy this masterpiece. The humor, the seriousness, and the memorable characters it was perfect with simple gameplay that made you think like a detective (even though you’re supposed to be an attorney)I would play this on trips and get weird looks because I would laugh uncontrollably and yell ”OBJECTION” even though you don’t have to.

12. Super Mario Bros.

Well, we all had a feeling this would find its way on here. I mean, it's Super Mario Bros. This is quite possibly the single most played and known game of all time. If you play a lot of videogames and you have yet to actually play this game, you need to fix that as fast as you possibly can. There is absolutely no excuse. You can emulate this with incredible ease, for christ's sake. Hell, there are flash versions of this game. Stop reading this. Go play this game. DO IT RIGHT THE FUCK NOW YOU WORTHLESS CASUAL.

So there was this guy named Mario and he was a plumber and Italian but it is never established if he's from Italy or the Bronx. That doesn't really matter anymore because he now lives in a place where mushrooms make people grow to massive sizes and giant turtles that can breathe fire want to get it on with the only human being seen in the entire world until endless sequels and spin-offs later. So, as a fat Italian plumber, you do what comes natural. You jump on things to kill them and travel to castles to fight the same fire breathing turtle each time to rescue the princess but she's never there until the last one. These are things everyone knows.

SERIOUSLY, PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. PLAY THIS. srs this is like the birth of the platformer and the game that saved videogames PLAY THIS.

Thoughts from other g1s:

Woodyman

Since this list is for games everyone should play I decided to go with a lot of retro titles, or titles that are examples of their genre. Super Mario Bros 1 is just that. It was the first game I ever played and the first one many other gamers played, but not only that, it’s a great example of game design. Sure the first level is easy to us, but for new gamers and gamers who never played it before. The game gets progressively harder with each level throwing more and tougher elements at you. Then when you beat the entire game and mastered the techniques, they give you a hard mode to play. What better game to start with than the grandfather of games?

TheLouzer

It's really one of the games that started everything. If you plan on having any gaming pedigree, this should be on your list of games at least played, if not beaten.

11. Half-Life 2/Super Metroid/Pokemon Gen 2 (S/G/C)

And we close off the bottom ten with three absolute classics. The game that put Valve on everyone's radar, the game largely considered the greatest SNES game of all time and what many Pokemon fans consider to be the high point of the series (BIAS, WAT'S THAT?). The fact that these three didn't reach into the top ten should tell you that you're in for some really special games. But hey, we'll get to those later. First things first, these three earned their time in the spot light.

Half-Life 2 is the tale of Gordon Freeman, or rather the continuation of his story. He took part in an experiment that opened a riff and started a new Hell on Earth via alien invasion, and he now finds himself in the future where humanity is enslaved to their alien overlords. However, Freeman is practically a Jesus figure now and whips the resistance into a frenzy to save the world from complete alien control. Half-Life 2 is a game on a track, but unlike modern day 'MURICA FPS games, its actually done well. Half-Life 2 is a game with no cutscenes, giving the player some interactive power at all times. The story is told as you, the player, take part and always remain in control of the character you control. Interesting mythology, likable characters, great mechanics and fun set pieces have helped engrained Half-Life 2 into the minds of many gamers as the best game ever created. The gravity gun is just icing on the cake.

Super Metroid is still considered to be the high point of the strong Metroid series, but why? Because it's fucking amazing, that's why. Super Metroid is a game that made exploration outside the RPG genre far more popular by showing how strong a blueprint this could be for a game. The previous games in the series were good but at times confusing with their huge caverns and lack of maps. Super Metroid fixes this issue and makes the experience far more exciting and cinematic with the power of the SNES, with screen filling bosses and disgusting monsters. The Castlevania series wouldn't be what it is now if not for this game laying out their foundation. Even the first person Prime games take lessons from Super Metroid with their worlds.

Pokemon's second gen of Silver, Gold and Crystal is easily the biggest improvement the series has ever had. The modern games today have far improved battle systems, balance and all of that, but Pokemon's second gen took the great ideas of the first gen and made them much better. The special stat was divided into two, two new types were introduced, the berry system came into existence, Pokemon could hold items to use as needed, the monster list exploded by 100 and they managed to fit the entire first generation into its cartage as the second half of the adventure. It was not only massive but the most complete Pokemon gen ever. Every future gen needs to look back at the second and thank it for all it changed.

Thoughts from other g1s:

someperson [On Half-Life 2]

Nearly a decade old, yet it hasn't aged a day. The perfect mesh between the old-school PC shooter (no chest-high walls! No 'two guns at a time' bullshit!) with the modern FPS.

QuickMan [On Super Metroid]

Super Metroid is all about exploration. I've played through this game hundreds of times and I still have never gotten 100% because I refuse to use walkthroughs. Throw in the brief but touching story and this game is the complete package.

Distrotion [On Pokemon Gen 2]

Pokemon Red and Blue where a great game. They had flaws, but even so, they are stilll fun games even up to this date. So what the sequel? IT WAS THE BEST SEQUEL EVER MADE! It's hard for me not to fanboy over the game as it is quite litterally the first game I ever asked for and wanted and I played it more than any other game I have ever played in my life to a point where I know it almost by heart. The game, from a technical stand point, was a complete upgrade from the original series. It added time based event using an in-game clock and callendar system, completely implemented the use of gender and breeding, had a phone system that included hints to time based events as well as possible battle invitations, added new types of pokemon and expanded the pokemon library up to 251. Not only that, it was the first game in the series to have a mascot legendary. Not only that, it was the only game to have two "countries" included in it and with a grand total of 16 gym leaders combined. The game is also the first to have contests you can participate in, the first to have the freidnship leveling system as well as the first game to actually have someone help you save moneyalthough she would often spend it on some stupid potion or a fucking pokemon doll. The game is also a sequel and anyone who pays attention to the smaller details can see just how well it was protrayed in the game. Team rocket, once a feared and powerful crime organization, has been reduced to a group of confused, unorganized punks, many gym leaders have a different attitude towards your challenge, some areas have been abandoned or even completely demolished. The only actual bad thing one will take note upon is the radio tower in kanto, which is built where a fucking cemetary was! Even so, everything pertaining to the game is a complete step up from the originals: Better inventory, specialized poke balls and held items that can affect a pokemon's efficiency are various improvements the game introduced. Everything about the game had not only been thought about, it had been cared for in ways no other game was. Even the order of the gym's and their designs show just how much thought went into the the game Gym #1: teaches toy that you must defeat trainers to get to a gym leader. Gym #2: Teaches you that you don't have to beat all the trainers in the gym to challenge the gym leader. Gym #3: Teaches you that there might be multiple way to get to the gym leader(and that not all gym leaders like to lose) Gym #4: Teaches you that some Gym's do have puzzles. Gym #5: Teaches you that some puzzles will lead to dead ends. Gym #6: Teaches you that some Gym's require you to do something before hand(als teaches you that life is unfair.....poor jasmine ;-; ) Gym #7: Trains you for the puzzles in cave you must cross to get to the last Gym. Gym #8: Puts all the puzzle skills you have to the test. It also confirms that Claire is Tsundere.

After that, you face the elite 4 and then go to Kanto, face the gym leaders there, which put what you learned from johto to good use. Then, after you have beaten all 16 gyms, you will gain access to Mt. Silver. Once you reach the end, you will face the ultimate challenge: Red. The simple fact that the final boss is the main character from the original is just mindblowing, and he's no push over either, so you will get your ass kicked if yo aren't well prepared.

And that's the bottom ten games, chosen by the g1 community. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a lot of coffee because the honorable mentions are going to take forever. Subscribe and stay tuned.