Favorite video games of all time: 90-81

By Jeff

In case you missed 100-91, you can find it here.

You might notice that there will be very few Xbox exclusive games and no GameCube exclusive games. I don't own these systems, so I just never played a lot of these games. Sorry.

90: Marvel Ultimate Alliance (PS2, Xbox, PS3, Wii) - Considering I have never read the comics, I love the X-Men, Avengers and all those crazy Marvel characters, especially in video games. What is so enjoyable about "Ultimate Alliance" is you are not limited to one hero for a level/until you die. You get a group of four going, and then can cycle through the four. It's awesome. One second you're slashing people up with Wolverine, then the next you are flying through the air torching baddies with Thor's lighting.

89: Army of 2 (PS3, Xbox 360) - This is the first video game I played where teamwork really is vital to survival. Sure, multi-player games are all about working well with your buddy, but most of them are you both just charge forward and tear people up without a care in the world. "Army of 2" is different. You must provide suppressing fire, get the attention of the enemies and really work together. If you don't, you die. It's really the way multi-player should be.

88: Double Dragon 3 (NES) - The "Double Dragon" games are all winners, so why the third installment? Mostly because you are not limited to Jimmy and Billy Lee in this title. There are two other characters that you get along the way after besting them in combat. Yes, one of them might display racism (he is a martial artist named Chin). When I was a kid, I mostly used Chin because he had this cool diving head butt move, but who doesn't love the highly effective cyclone kick?

87: Peacekeepers (SNES) - OK, I'm going to be honest, this game is not better than similar side scrollers like "Knights of the Round". It's on this list because Swan and I played it once, loved it, and then could never find it again for years. Over time, we would talk about it and play it up like it was some phenomenal game. And then one Christmas, about 5-8 years later, my dad found the game somehow. Swan and I dominated it again and all was right in the world. But if you look at it, there is nothing special. It just brings back fun memories.

86: Robo Aleste (Sega CD) - Yes, there is a Sega CD game on this list! What a terrible system... Well, as terrible as this system is, this game is sweet. It's just a blast blowing up the millions of crazy enemies that come flying at you. Some are on the ground and can only hit you by firing weapons, while others are flying and can damage you if you fly into them. The fun thing is, half the time you can't tell if they're flying or not. So just blow it all up and enjoy! When I get the laser beam thing, there are no survivors.

85: Star Wars Battlefront II (PS2, PC, Xbox) - I'm not a big "Star Wars" nut. The first three movies were good, the next three were pretty bad and I have never read the books. This is a great game, though. When you think "Star Wars" you think Jedi knights, Dark Vader, Luke Skywalker and all the other heroes. "Battlefront II" puts you in the suit of a grunt clone soldier/storm trooper as you play through the major events of the movies. It's a fun shooter and an interesting way to approach the "Star Wars" franchise. It is also the first game I played where you had so much variety of troopers you could be, with all different sorts of weapons from shotguns to sniper rifles.

84: Monster Rancher (PS1) - This game combines two of my favorites things; music and video games. I have no idea how they did it, but this game was developed so that if you put music CD's you would get different types of monsters to train and fight.  It blew my mind! I always pop in Nirvana's "Nevermind" and get this weird cat creature that does a cyclone punch move that kills any monster as long as it hits. 

83: Super Smash Bros. (N64) - This game would probably be higher but I am terrible at it. Also, my friend Josh is pretty much unstoppable in it. Seriously, I have never seen him lose with Pikachu... ever. My friends and I could play this for hours on end growing up. This led to hours of frustration as Josh would beat the hell out of all of us, so not all of my memories are fond ones.

82: World Class Track Meet (NES) - I just like that you can get the Power Pad (20 years before "Dance, Dance Revolution) and you actually run in the events. And then for the hurdles, you actually jump! Also, has there ever been a more epic game pack than the "Super Mario Bros.", "Duck Hunt" and "World Class Track Meet"? This is also another game I was so bad at as a small kid. I'm pretty sure I fouled every long jump I tried.

81: Medal of Honor: Frontline - Man, the first mission still gives me chills when I play it. This game could be a lot of higher if it maintained the greatness of the first few missions throughout the game. Unfortunately, it basically becomes a James Bond game. You got behind enemy lines on specialized missions, infiltrating subs and just doing secret agent stuff. The mid to late levels are nothing like the pure chaos of the first few, that actually make you think you're fighting World War II. The game is still good, but its potential was so much greater.