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61. Super Mario Bros.

It’s difficult to believe that the financial juggernaut that is the video game industry was once in such dire straits that many business analysts doubted the long-term viability of North American video games, but in 1983 the Atari “crash” bankrupted several video game companies and almost destroyed the young industry. The game most responsible for resurrecting the video game industry was 1985’s Super Mario Bros. which, along with the NES, boosted game sales in North America and shifted the balance of power to Japan. Super Mario Bros. is the story of the titular character and his quest to rescue Princess Toadstool from Bowser. It established Mario and Nintendo as household names and has since spawned multiple sequels, spin-offs and dozens of imitators.

62. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

There are a lot of great Star Wars video games but Knights of the Old Republic, a role-playing game set 4000 years before the Galactic Empire, might be the best. Designed by BioWare (Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights), Knights of the Old Republic asks players to create and customize a character who is then thrust into a galaxy-wide struggle between the forces of good and evil. Throughout the game, which takes place across several planets, the main character is joined by up to nine party members, all of whom can be equipped, customized and upgraded. Knights of the Old Republic also features an alignment system, whereby the main character’s actions and words determine whether he or she walks a path toward the light side or dark side of the Force.

63. Mario Tennis

Mario’s tennis career began on the short-lived Virtual Boy, but the first truly great Mario tennis game was the N64 classic Mario Tennis. Featuring over a dozen playable Nintendo mascots, including Waluigi (in his first video game appearance), Mario Tennis is a blast to play in single-player mode and insanely fun in multiplayer mode; up to four players can play in singles and doubles matches. Game modes include standards like Exhibition and Tournament and novelties like Ring Shot, Bowser Stage and Piranha Challenge. In Bowser stage, players can gather items by striking item boxes with a tennis ball and then use the collected items against their opponent. Mario Tennis was followed five years later by Mario Power Tennis on the Nintendo Gamecube.

64. Tetris DS

Although some worthy successors to the original Game Boy classic Tetris have appeared on home consoles, Tetris has and always will belong on handheld systems. One of the best handheld Tetris titles is Tetris DS, an amazing package of puzzle games and not merely a reiteration of the classic puzzle game. Tetris DS features six game modes, Standard, Mission, Push, Touch, Catch and Puzzle, all of which have a classic Nintendo theme. Not all modes are created equal, however; Touch mode, which allows players to move blocks with the DS stylus, is not nearly as engaging as Push mode, which frantically pits the player against a rival player or the CPU. Standard, Mission and Push mode each have multiplayer modes which can be played online (with as many as ten players).

65. Diddy Kong Racing

Many gamers point to Mario Kart 64 as the pinnacle of N64 racing, but it’s not nearly as good as Rareware’s Diddy Kong Racing. Unlike similar kart-racing games, Diddy Kong Racing allows players to choose from three vehicles, karts, hovercrafts and airplanes, although some vehicles are proscribed on certain courses. All tracks are laid out along a similar model, with boost markers and floating balloons which award players with various power-ups. What makes Diddy Kong Racing particularly engaging is its one-player adventure mode, in which Diddy travels among worlds, competing in races, unlocking battle stages and ultimately racing against a world boss. Several characters from Diddy Kong Racing, including Banjo and Conker, would later star in their own action games.

66. God of War

Greek mythology gets a bit of a facelift in Sony’s God of War, a dark and bloody tale of war, revenge and betrayal. Players control Kratos, a Spartan warrior who once swore allegiance to Ares, the Greek god of war, but who now seeks to destroy his former patron. Aided by other Olympians, Kratos embarks on an odyssey that brings him into contact with mythological beasts, deadly traps and horrible memories from his past. Although players must use Kratos’ formidable fighting skills to defeat hordes of nasty enemies, God of War is not merely an action game; it features adventure elements, like puzzle-solving, and platform elements, like scaling vertical cliffs and swinging between ropes hanging over the burning ruins of Athens.

67. NiGHTS into Dreams…

Sega may not design their games for everybody, but they know their audience and produce games accordingly. One of their sleeper hits (forgive the pun) is NiGHTS into Dreams…, a magical journey into the dreams of a young girl and boy, whose real-world insecurities are affecting the fabric of the dream world. In the many stages of the game, Claris and Elliot become NiGHTS, a genderless aeriel acrobat who seems to be the personification of courage. As NiGHTS, the youngsters fly through the dream world, avoiding enemies, collecting blue orbs and rescuing “Ideyas” from “Ideya captures.” At the end of each stage is a dream boss. Players can play through NiGHTS into Dreams… as both Claris and Elliot; finishing the game with both characters unlocks a very moving ending.

68. Gran Turismo

Racing games can be neatly divided between arcade titles with exaggerated physics and simulation titles which feature vehicles that perform like their real-world counterparts. Gran Turismo is the grandfather of the latter category, rich in detail, exhaustive in its customization and second-to-none in terms of car selection. While Gran Turismo features an arcade mode, the core of the game is simulation mode, in which players earn driver’s licenses to qualify for events, earn trophies (and credits), and unlock cars. Credits earned by winning championships can be used to purchase cars and replaceable parts. Gran Turismo features eleven tracks and 178 cars, all of which are modeled on authentic high-performance vehicles.

69. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

It may share a name with Super Mario World, but Yoshi’s Island has little to do with the premiere game on the SNES. Set years before Super Mario World and all other Super Mario games, Yoshi’s Island follows a clan of noble, friendly dinosaur-like animals called Yoshis who help the infant Mario find and rescue his kidnapped twin brother. Yoshi’s Island represents a high watermark in the platform genre, containing what one would expect from a well-designed platform game along with several unanticipated features, including mini-games, an innovative scoring system and stages which require as much foresight and strategic thinking as good timing and quick reflexes. In some stages Yoshis gain the ability to transform into a number of vehicles, including a helicopter and submarine.

70. Doom 3

The Doom franchise has a strong legacy to uphold, considering the first installment is largely responsible for the popularity of the first-person shooter. Doom 3 builds on the foundation built by Doom and Doom II, surpassing both in terms of atmosphere, graphics, gameplay and pure horror. Not necessarily a continuation of the storylines of the first two Doom games, Doom 3 is more a retelling of the events of Doom, in which hell literally breaks loose in a human research facility on Mars. Apart from its graphics and sound effects, which are superb, Doom 3 is a truly scary game, featuring lots of chills, thrills and spills. Adding to the sense of apprehension in the game is a weapon system which allows the hero to carry either a firearm or a flashlight, never both simultaneously.