Video games – Page 6 – DaveGladow.com

60 Video games I’d recommend to anyone

Let’s throw some love out there. These are my favorite video games of all time. Yes!

As is always the case with a list like this, mileage may vary. Tastes differ, and more importantly, unless you’re a fanatic collector or work in the industry in some fashion, it’s impossible to play everything. To wit, I have a giant honking blind spot in my list for basically anything released over the last 15 years or so. I thought of calling it “favorite retro games” or some such, but let’s just go with this.

But the point is this: it’s my list. These are 60 games I’ve loved experiencing, and I thought in the interest of saving my thoughts for posterity — in case anyone would find them of value — it would be good to have it all written down. Maybe my kids will look at this list someday and want to explore it or my wife will get better insight into my gaming life, or maybe it will drum up nostalgia for you regardless of your connection with me. Cool, mission accomplished!

The best NES games of all time

Hey, the NES Classic has (somewhat quietly) gone back on the market, which has made the system decidedly less rare. Way to be, Nintendo!

For the uninitiated, the NES Classic is a retro re-imagining of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, wherein 30 of the original games for the system are pre-installed on a miniaturized version (including shorter cords!) for retro-game enthusiasts.

This thing was created and released in 2016, promptly sold out, and then no one could get one. Acknowledging the demand, Nintendo has now re-(re?)-released the system … and I’ve managed to acquire one to bathe myself in the nostalgia … making it the perfect time for me to list out what I consider to be the Top 40 NES games of all time.

Why 40? Because I couldn’t narrow it down to just 30. (And I STILL left off a ton of good games.)

In cobbling this list together, I discovered less than half of my favorites made it onto the NES Classic. That should inform your purchasing decision (as should whether you already own any/most of the games on the device). For whatever it’s worth, I’ve got no regrets on my end. I’m happy to have these games now.

If some (all?) of this sounds familiar to you, I did this same rankings thing with the Super NES last year (and also offered a mini-review of that system). So feel free to check that out to decide how intelligent/dumb I am and/or engage in some Super Nintendo nostalgia.

Yes, it’s fair to say I love both of these systems. They were a big part of my teenage years.

So without further delay, here are my Top 40 NES games of all time.

Continue reading The best NES games of all time

The best Super NES games of all time

Ranking Super Nintendo games is basically an impossible task. Go through any “best-of” list around the interwebs and you’ll see an absolutely loaded selection of games, featuring some of the true all-time greats.

Looking through the selection of games for other video game systems, I have little doubt this was the greatest console of all time. There’s just so much depth.

So how do you sift through all of that?

After making my own list, I still don’t know.

I do know my inspiration came about in part because of the release of the Super NES Classic, a retro system release (featuring 20 games from the original lineup … and one new one) which I recently read has been outselling “new” consoles like the Switch and Playstation 4.

That it’s resonating in a major way is no surprise to me. I bought one myself!

Read on for a list of 30 reasons why Super Nintendo nostalgia is at an all-time high.

Continue reading The best Super NES games of all time

Some Super NES Classic thoughts

If you follow me on social media, you know I recently succumbed to my nostalgia and purchased a Super NES Classic, the retro re-release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that originally made its debut in late 1990.

It’s been 27 years? Holy crap, I’m old.

Anyway, this was mostly simpler than you might expect given Nintendo’s notorious supply and demand issues. I woke up a little early and hung out at Target for an hour before they opened. The other people in line were all remarkably friendly and the whole affair was civil and organized.

Props to Target! And props to Cait for waking up early and ferrying the kids to school for me!

So I am now in the process of playing all of the games that come pre-installed on the system. This is a treasure trove of some of the best video games that have appeared anywhere at any time. Instead of listing them here, I’ll offer some of my thoughts on a few of them, as well as the system itself. Later on down the road, I’ll do a ranking of the best games on the original system … after I’ve had a chance to play some of these classics I’d never gotten around to before.

So here goes:

Continue reading Some Super NES Classic thoughts