81-90

81. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!

Anyone who has ever played Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out (also known as Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream or simply Punch-Out!!) will never forget it. Punch-Out is one of those rare games which triggers almost immediate nostalgia; it belongs in the conversation with Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda not only because it’s a great NES game but because it acts as a miniature time machine. In Punch-Out players control Little Mac, an amateur boxer who rises in the professional boxing circuit as he tackles tougher and tougher fighters. His opponents, who sadly appear in hindsight as unapologetically stereotyped, are perhaps the most memorable part of the game: who can forget Piston Honda, Von Kaiser and King Hippo?

82. F-Zero

One of the reasons the Super Nintendo can justifiably be called the greatest video game console of all time is that it supports so many great games from so many different genres. In the racing category no game shined brighter on the SNES than F-Zero, the premiere game in the futuristic, high-speed franchise. In F-Zero, players control incredibly fast hovercars which zoom around fifteen tracks with jumps, hairpin turns and hazards which include landmines and magnets. The variety of tracks and excellent soundtrack in F-Zero make it an enduring classic; its low number of drivable cars (four) is its only real drawback. F-Zero was one of the first games to use “Mode 7,” a graphical innovation which makes games appear more realistic by creating an impression of 3D graphics.

83. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

It took several years for a Zelda game to arrive on a Nintendo handheld system, but the end result was worth any wait. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is one of only a few Zelda games which takes place outside of Hyrule; in fact it features none of the elements which traditionally appear in Zelda games: Ganon, Princess Zelda and the Triforce. Link’s Awakening follows Link’s adventures on Koholint Island, an isolated isle ruled over by the Wind Fish. Aiding him in his quest to recover items and brave dangerous dungeons are several non-player characters, including newcomer Marin. Link’s Awakening will never compete with some of the console Zelda games, but remains a fun, unique and sometimes irreverent take on The Legend of Zelda.

84. James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

Ever since 1997, video games featuring James Bond have struggled to match the greatness of GoldenEye 007; only in 2003 did Electronic Arts design a game worthy of mention in the same breath as GoldenEye: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing. Featuring a storyline independent of those penned by Ian Fleming, Everything or Nothing is a brand new chapter in the life of James Bond and MI6, although it has some connections to earlier events in Bond’s life. Electronic Arts brought in several James Bond actors to voice their characters in the game; these include Pierce Brosnan, John Cleese and Judi Dench. Everything or Nothing is only the second Bond game played in the third-person and the first to feature a two-player cooperative mode.

85. Fable: The Lost Chapters

It may not be everything Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios promised, but Fable: The Lost Chapters is an excellent RPG experience in which players have unprecedented control over their character’s actions, decisions, diet and appearance, all of which have small and large effects on his standing in the game world. In Fable, the morally good actions taken by the hero will draw him toward a positive alignment (townspeople will treat him kindly and applaud on his arrival); sinful actions, like killing civilians and breaking laws, will result in a negative alignment. The positively aligned hero will gradually earn fairer features (blond hair and light skin) and a halo above his head; the negatively aligned hero will bear glowing red eyes and horns.

86. Jet Force Gemini

It’s safe to say that Rare dominated video games in the 1990s. Games like Battletoads, Killer Instinct and Donkey Kong Country appeared on the NES and SNES and won popular and critical approval, but it was the N64 library where Rare made its most important contributions. Although it’s neither as influential as GoldenEye nor as innovative as Blast Corps, Jet Force Gemini belongs to the best Rare had to offer in the ‘90s. Jet Force Gemini is a third-person shooter which features three playable members of an intergalactic police force: siblings Juno and Vela and their dog Lupus. The game is easily one of Rare’s most ambitious titles, featuring over a dozen huge worlds to explore, a large assortment of weapons and several hidden items to collect.

87. Super Smash Bros. Melee

The original Super Smash Bros. was a real treat for Nintendo fans; a crossover fighting game, Smash Bros. allowed up to four players to play as their favorite Nintendo mascots in a variety of Nintendo-themed battlefields. Although Smash Bros. represented a great concept and was undoubtedly fun to play with a group of friends, it featured a single-player mode that appeared largely as an afterthought. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, however, HAL Laboratory complemented incredibly deep multiplayer modes with several terrific single-player modes, including “Classic Mode,” “Adventure Mode,” “Event Mode,” and several mini-games like “Home Run Contest” and “Target Test.” Melee features a total of 26 playable characters, 14 more than its predecessor.

88. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

Wrongly derided as a “Doom clone,” Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is a unique game and one of the best first-person shooters on the Nintendo 64. Released in early 1997, when the N64 was still young, Turok gave players a mature-rated shooter set in the Lost Land, a forgotten territory inhabited by ruins, jungles and many deadly creatures, including dinosaurs. Although Turok features the standard gun fights between the hero and hordes of violent enemies, the game also allows players to explore the three-dimensional world of the Lost Land by climbing, swimming and jumping across chasms; in hidden areas players can find items, powerful weapons and artifacts. The emphasis in Turok on open environments (as opposed to the closed-in corridors of Doom) separates it from the pack.

89. Jade Empire

BioWare’s follow-up to the massively successful Knights of the Old Republic is an outstanding RPG in its own right, one which borrows from and enhances some of the elements found in its predecessor. Jade Empire is set in a fictional Chinese empire where the restless dead are troubling the land. As a young student at a secluded martial arts training school, players are quickly and violently torn from their peaceful surroundings and set on a path to bring peace to the land. Along the way, players are joined by several unique companions and forced to overcome several obstacles, some of which point to a sinister force at the heart of the empire. Jade Empire features an innovative combat system and a morality gauge which allows players to follow aggressive or pacifist philosophies.

90. NHL ‘94

Generally considered to be the best of the NHL franchise and one of the best sporting games of all time, NHL ’94 uses the engine and overhead camera of its immediate predecessor NHLPA Hockey ’93, although it introduces a new “one timer” move in which players can shoot the puck directly off an incoming pass. What makes NHL ’94 one of the all-time greats of the sports genre is its commitment to realism; players won’t find any arcade exaggerations or unrealistic physics. NHL ’94 was officially licensed by the National Hockey League and by the NHL Players Association and thus features player names and team logos (including the now defunct Hartford Whalers). The game includes four play modes, including exhibition, shootout and a single-game or seven-game Stanley Cup series.