“1000 Games You Must Play Before Game Over” [700 – 601]

Human progress has always been driven by a sense of adventure and unconventional thinking.
-Andre Geim

Enjoy our 1000 Games List Simulator! It’s just like the real thing only we haven’t gotten to your own must-play games, yet!

#0700. Sunset Overdrive
Ridiculous, over-the-top humor highlights a colorful world with one of the best traversal systems in gaming.
-The Mail Order Ninja Mage

#0699. Surgeon Simulator
You have never felt like a true idiot until you’ve played Surgeon Simulator.
-The Well-Red Mage

#0698. Batman: Arkham Asylum
A claustrophobic, psychological superhero game that gets into the mind of its central, mythic figure, all the while putting some great reinterpretations of the Dark Knight’s classic rogues gallery on display.
-The Badly Backlogged Mage

#0697. Mario Sports Mix
What makes a sports game more interesting for someone who doesn’t normally play sports? I would think combining basketball, hockey, volleyball, and dodgeball in order to fight a boss from the Final Fantasy series would do the trick.
-The Valiant Vision Mage

#0696. Mega Man Zero 3
Take Mega Man X, but increase the speed and the gravity of the narrative, and you’ll get the Mega Man Zero series. The third entry is arguably the series’ most tightly designed and engaging of the bunch.
-The Iron Mage

#0695. The Sims
A game which, as you become better at it, teaches you how to be better at being yourself. It puts your life in perspective: there’s only so much time to do what you want to do. Unfortunately, I’m often too busy looking after my Sims to pay any heed.
-The Purple Prose Mage

#0694. Contact
A strange DS RPG where you guide a completely normal dude through a journey to recover a spaceship’s power cells at the behest of a complete stranger that decides you, the player yourself, is much easier to talk to than the protagonist. A wise decision, friend. A wise decision.
-The Dapper Zaffre Mage

#0693. Paperboy
I imagine this game is like a cocaine addiction: irritating, stressful but insanely addictive.
-The Hopeful Sega Mage

#0692. Valkyrie Profile Lenneth
A PSP game with a unique story, battle system and multiple endings that incorporates mythology to create an experience that must not be missed.
-The Final Fourteenth Mage

#0691. Child of Light
Ubisoft Montreal’s clever little 2D RPG mixes the lyrical with a beautiful hand-drawn art style, plus a moving soundtrack from Cœur de pirate. But as an RPG its engaging, if simplistic, making for a thoroughly engaging title for anyone looking for a well measured and poignant experience.
-The Moronic Cheese Mage

#0690. Kingdom New Lands
Simplistic but so much fun, and perfect for playing on mobile devices.
-The Midnight Mystic Mage

#0689. World Cup ’98
The best football game by miles. Take its gloriously clunky mechanics for a spin and you’ll see why.
-The Red Hot Chili Mage

#0688. Tekken 3
Great fighting game with a variety of character fighting style options.
-The Shamrock Show Mage

#0687. Fusion Frenzy
-The Green Screen Mage

#0686. Red Faction
While the Martian setting is quite engaging in Red Faction, it’s best known for its terrain deformation as one of the first games to do so.
-The Timely Mage

#0685. Duck Hunt
We all tried to blast that snickering pooch to no avail, and now that LCD TVs are the norm, he’s further evaded our blows! I highly doubt Nintendo would release another gun-shaped accessory in 2019, but man, a rerelease of this game would get you in the nostalgia feels.
-The White Out Mage

#0684. Mine Storm
Let’s not forget the brief candle that was the Vectrex on this list of 1000 games! It was the only home console EVER to use a vector-only display, plus it was portable, black and white, and wielded a stylus and 3D goggles, and Mine Storm was its built-in game.
-The Well-Red Mage

#0683. Forza Motorsport 4
A brilliant track racer. A mix of real and ficticious circuits from around the globe. More cars to drive than you’ll ever need; this set the standard for all Forza Motorsport games going forward. Adding in Top Gear narration and challenges is gravy for the gearhead.
-The Slipstream Mage

#0682. DarkWatch
Vampire Cowboy. It doesn’t sound like a working concept, but it works. I enjoyed slaying other denizens of the night with guns and crossbows. I don’t remember much of this one now, but I remember having a lot of fun with the Xbox version long ago.
-The Indecisive Night Mage

#0681. Metal Storm
An overlooked run and gunner with a fantastic gravity inverse mechanic. Some of the best graphics on the NES.
-The New Age Retro Mage

#0680. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Widely considered one of the best platformers ever made, the creativity on display in this title is unrivaled. Still, the wonderful music seals the deal, making this game something special to truly savor.
-The Normal Mage

#0679. Battle Chef Brigade
Iron Chef, but you gotta kill for your ingredients.
-The Wandering Mage

#0678. Flashback
A slick platform-adventure that involves players in an amazing futuristic world and a deeply immersive storyline. The stylish character animations alone make this a game worth enjoying.
-The Regional Exclusive Mage

#0677. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
It cannot be denied that Mario Kart is one of the best ways to bring gamers together, as well as non-gamers. Perfect for couch co-op and an experience everyone should have.
-The Off-Centered Earth Mage

#0676. Funk of Titans
A very unique platform runner where you must dance your way to the top and defeat all the Greek gods that get in your way.
-The Kingly Yellow Mage

#0675. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
Ever wanted to party hard in a club, drink blood, argue with STOP signs and explore a haunted mansion? This game may be for you. Gameplay differs based on the clan you choose.
-The Blood-Stained Metal Mage

#0674. Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones 
-The Silver Sentinel Mage

#0673. Columns
Fast-paced Tetris-meets-tic-tac-toe.
-The Bookwarm Mage

#0672. Civilization 2
This Civilization was the one that put Civilization on the map. After the faltering of the first (not really, but that’s neither here or there), Civ 2 got everything else right. Perfect game to calm down after playing The Sims 2!
-The Keeper of the Darkness Flame Mage

#0671. Risk of Rain
This 2D class-based roguelite is still the most rewarding run-based game I’ve played and has sucked up more time than any other title on my Vita. And I use(d) my Vita *a lot*. The pixely visuals are wonderful, the soundtrack is otherworldly, and unlocking new power-ups and classes always kept me coming back for more, even if I failed miserably.
-The Middle-aged Horror Mage

#0670. Tales of Symphonia
The Tales series is staggeringly massive, even if it isn’t all interconnected. While the story did basically steal all of three different mythologies to craft its story, it was everything the nerd in me wanted when started playing those many years ago. Lloyd and company offer a rich and in depth adventure full of things to learn and do and see.
-The Ink-Stained Mage

#0669. Bubble Bobble
AKA the best multiplayer co-op game ever made!
-The Bizzaro Mage

#0668. Blazing Lazers
One of the best space shooters on the Turbo Grafx16. Visually stunning, great music and the powered up weapons are pretty badass. Not the most difficult game, which makes it great for the novice or someone looking to relax and have fun.
-The Beer Mage

#0667. Descent
While not originally marketed as a “6 degrees of freedom” game, it was the first in a series to popularize a brand of first-person shooter that has been relatively forgotten since the mid-nineties. Descent has you pilot a starship through the caverns of an asteroid in search of colored keys (a la Doom) to open up news areas. The “6 degrees of freedom” refers to the fact that you can move in any direction.
-The Optimistically Sentimental Alabaster Mage

#0666. Super Star Wars
Blast the heck out of womp rats and giant scorpions! Who cares if it’s not like the movie?
-The Blue Moon Mage

#0665. Dynasty Warriors 4
Later entries in the Dynasty Warriors franchise might boast more characters, but I think 4 had a great balance of options while keeping the gameplay simple enough that anyone could pick it up with ease. Ploughing through thousands of enemy soldiers with Oriental metal blaring is just incredibly satisfying.
-The Sometimes Vaguely Philosophical Mage

#0664. Braid
A puzzle platformer that uses time-bending as its featured mechanic. Also includes a twist in its minimalist story.
-The ABXY Mage

#0663. Star Fox 64
A remake of the original Star Fox game for the SNES, Star Fox 64 was probably the best on-rails shooter and best Star Fox game ever released. Future attempts could never replicate this game’s success and it gave me a mantra that I follow to this day: “Never give up! Trust your Instincts!” Also, DO A BARREL ROLL!
-The Hyperactive Coffee Mage

#0662. Kameo Elements of Power
A lot of people might scoff at the inclusion of this title, but it is a Zelda-ish game with so much charm you would think Nintendo made it.
-The Mail Order Ninja Mage

#0661. Another World
Eric Chahi’s Another World (aka Out of this World) is an early cinematic experience in gaming which proved highly influential.
-The Well-Red Mage

#0660. Daytona USA
A ’90s multiplayer racing sim that’s so good it’s STILL available in arcades and cinemas to this day.
-The Badly Backlogged Mage

#0659. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
For those who want full control of the Force, this might be a good place to start. The Wii’s control scheme can also help you feel even more that you have that kind of power
-The Valiant Vision Mage

#0658. Mega Man Battle Network 5
The peak of the Battle Network series, it brings the series to the new generation of the DS, and it does so exceptionally. It simply improves on the formula and brings a fun new story along with it.
-The Iron Mage

#0657. Bejeweled
The first tile-matching game to achieve popularity since Tetris. It might be a controversial pick, but its successors are what gaming now is to millions of people. Thus, it set a new template that has changed the way games are monetised and distributed.
-The Purple Prose Mage

#0656. Quarth
Space invaders if your enemies were Tetris blocks and the only way to defeat them was to fire more blocks at them. Simple, but a Game Boy staple.
-The Dapper Zaffre Mage

#0655. WWF Wrestlefest
I know it’s a wrestling game, but in an era of naff NES wrestling games, this cartoony arcade behemoth was king.
-The Hopeful Sega Mage

#0654. Digimon World
One of the best monster-raising games and I still hold out hope that one day it will be ported! Raise Digimon from eggs and train them whilst you end up saving File Island.
-The Final Fourteenth Mage

#0653. Thumper
Rhymic violence. Drool’s music-driven indie gem is like a sensory overload, with perfect timing required as you guide a bug-like creature through space to a pounding dance soundtrack. Intense stuff.
-The Moronic Cheese Mage

#0652. Graveyard Keeper
Stardew Valley but with dead bodies.
-The Midnight Mystic Mage

#0651. Super Monkey Ball
A unique concept that makes for a challenging game with a great sense of fun.
-The Red Hot Chili Mage

#0650. Crash Bandicoot
A different type of hero in this game. Run and spin into objects. A lot of fun for any age.
-The Shamrock Show Mage

#0649. Brute Force 
-The Green Screen Mage

#0648. Onimusha
Onimusha is a dark, brutal samurai game set in an alternate feudal Japan. Timing and technique are your best chances at surviving the horde of demons.
-The Timely Mage

#0647. Super Mario Party
Oh my goodness, this game is so much fun! One of the best couch co-ops ever! The mini-games will have you and your buddies in stitches!
-The White Out Mage

#0646. Hyper Light Drifter
Text-book indie pixel art, minimalistic presentation, non-verbal storytelling, and tight, skill-based combat turn Hyper Light Drifter into a haunting, acid-toned reverie. This is one of my favorite games from the year it released and I really do think it is a must-play.
-The Well-Red Mage

#0645. Pikmin
Shigeru Miyamoto’s childhood adventures in his garden come to life. A brilliant RTS game with a challenging time element to manage, all while keeping your little Pikmin helpers scavenging for parts to help you repair your crashed ship.
-The Slipstream Mage

#0644. Mario Party 5
Better Graphics than the first 4 games, less gimmicky than the next 5 games. Most fun I ever had upsetting my friends.
-The Indecisive Night Mage

#0643. Shantae Half-Genie Hero
Beautifully animated with polished gameplay. You can’t not love Shantae.
-The New Age Retro Mage

#0642. Bejeweled 2
There’s nothing wrong with simple, and PopCap Games found the perfect sweet spot of minimalist gameplay refined to a science. It’s the sophisticated gamer’s casual game, if you will.
-The Normal Mage

#0641. Neverwinter Nights
The original PC game, not the MMO. For the person who wanted to play MMOs but didn’t want the online elements.
-The Wandering Mage

#0640. Night Trap
Love it or hate it, Night Trap is influential in the history of video-games as we know them today. Technically impressive for its time and blurred the line between movies and interactivity.
-The Regional Exclusive Mage

#0639. Octopath Traveler
The quintessential JRPG experience with a stellar story line and a truly original graphical design. Not only that, but with the Switch you can play what is a truly amazing experience on the go!
-The Off-Centered Earth Mage

#0638. Red Faction: Armageddon
A third-person action-adventure title that might not be everyone’s favorite, but still has an interesting setting with fun mechanics. Plus, the horde mode adds a tons of replayability.
-The Kingly Yellow Mage

#0637. Umineko When They Cry
What starts out as a lighthearted visual novel about a family, an island and an inheritance soon escalates into a gripping horror about murder, the occult and the supernatural. One of the best stories out there, with an incredible soundtrack that perfectly frames the horrific events.
-The Blood-Stained Metal Mage

#0636. Uncanny Valley 
-The Silver Sentinel Mage

#0635. Bomberman 64
Addictive multiplayer and solo quests, explorations and explosions galore.
-The Bookwarm Mage

#0634. The Sims 2
Creating your own family of the boy or girl you liked in middle/high school (creepy now looking back on it). Sims 2 is what really took the Sims to another level of playing with the freedom and options it gave players. And putting burglars in pools with no ladders was always a plus
-The Keeper of the Darkness Flame Mage

#0633. Wandersong
Part 2D puzzle platformer, part emotional rollercoaster, Wandersong was my pick for 2018’s hidden gem. Solve problems and save the world with the power of self-affirmation, friendship, and music!
-The Middle-aged Horror Mage

#0632. Ikaruga
The Godfather of the bullet hell genre. Its difficulty and pinpoint controls and timing helped unleash an entire wave of similar games.
-The Ink-Stained Mage

#0631. Sonic the Hedgehog [Master System]
My first ever game, one that provided a stiff challenge, good level design and even better music.
-The Bizzaro Mage

#0630. Keystone Kapers
You’re a police officer in a mall chasing after a robber who stole some money. Here’s the kicker: he’s got a head start on you and if he reaches the far side of the roof he’s going to get away. Jump over shopping carts, radios and duck under toy airplanes. Traverse the elevators and nab the bad guy. The first video game I ever played in my life and its still one of my favorites.
-The Beer Mage

#0629. The Last Remnant
An RPG for the world! Square has always been a studio and publisher known for developing its own tools and game engines in-house, but they decided to take a chance and develop an entirely new IP utilizing the Unreal Engine. While not an amazing game, since Last Remnant suffers from a pretty boring story, what it lacks in plot, it makes up for with design elements and unique mechanics for a turn-based JRPG.
-The Optimistically Sentimental Alabaster Mage

#0628. Mario Superstar Baseball
Baseball except not boring.
-The Blue Moon Mage

#0627. Cultist Simulator
From some of the minds behind Failbetter Studios’ titles like Sunless Skies and Fallen London, Cultist Simulator is a tabletop-like delving into the depths of madness. It captures genuine Lovecraftian themes better than any title bearing his actual name.
-The Sometimes Vaguely Philosophical Mage

#0626. WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness
A carefully crafted RTS that pits humans against orcs in either a campaign or local and online multiplayer. The best of the original Warcraft games that would inspire WoW.
-The ABXY Mage

#0625. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
The third iteration of the Mario and Luigi RPG series, this one featured an additional character: The King of Koopas himself! There are so many hilarous moments in the game, but the best of them all is anytime Bowser does battle as a Kaiju monster!
-The Hyperactive Coffee Mage

#0624. Infamous First Light
Though this started as a DLC expansion, it quickly turned into a separate campaign, completely stand alone from the main game. I loved Second Son, but Fetch has a cooler arc, brilliant powers, and a perfectly sized story.
-The Mail Order Ninja Mage

#0623. Alien vs Predator [Arcade]
Capcom beat ’em ups were a staple of the 90’s arcade scene and this licensed game brought together a duo of great action horror franchises. You know… for kids!
-The Well-Red Mage

#0622. Mark of the Ninja
One of the best stealth games of all time. If you’ve ever hated a stealth section, play this game and see how good it is when it WORKS.
-The Badly Backlogged Mage

#0621. Fire Emblem Fates
The story of Corrin in Fire Emblem Fates is split into three – yes, “split”. These branching stories took more time for a lot of people than it was seemingly worth for them, seemingly because none of the three stories was as great as it could have been.
-The Valiant Vision Mage

#0620. Ys II
A perfect sequel, it opens up the game world and introduces to us tighter gameplay and a plethora of absurd yet fantastic new mechanics, such as being able to transform into a monster and converse with other monsters.
-The Iron Mage

#0619. Myst
The objective is to discover the objective, with no cues or direct instruction. Myst is a precursor to casual games that have since opened up gaming to the softcore crowd.
-The Purple Prose Mage

#0618. Half Minute Hero
Fun little puzzle game on the PSP where you have only 30 seconds to grind your way to the stage’s boss in order to save the world! Branching paths, multiple game modes, and optional objectives make for good replay on a game that already has a solid soundtrack.
-The Dapper Zaffre Mage

#0617. Sensible Soccer
This was the football game before the Pro Evolution/FIFA axis of terror took over the market.
-The Hopeful Sega Mage

#0616. Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk
I personally feel that Atelier Ayesha was the gateway game that brought a lot of new people into the Atelier series. Removing the time limit allowed a lot of people to dip their toes into the series. Plus the ability to get all of the endings in a single playthrough made this adorable alchemy based game a hit!
-The Final Fourteenth Mage

#0615. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
Potentially the most insane game ever created, Konami’s utterly bizarre title confounds at every corner with its Eastern influences. But it’s also an engaging N64 3D platformer (even if the camera has a mind of its own) with engaging ideas… even if a lot of them are totally absurd.
-The Moronic Cheese Mage

#0614. Guitar Hero: World Tour
My favorite game of the musical controller era.
-The Midnight Mystic Mage

#0613. Pokémon Pearl
I still regret trading a Lv.100 Torterra into my team just to beat the Elite Four. Partly because it was cheating, partly because it didn’t help anyway.
-The Red Hot Chili Mage

#0612. King of Fighters ’97
A top fighting game in arcade gameplay. High power attacks and special combos.
-The Shamrock Show Mage

#0611. Mad Dash Racing
-The Green Screen Mage

#0610. Ace Combat 4
What makes Ace Combat such a great flight simulator is it balances realism with fun, accessible gameplay. It respects the aircraft and pilots like Gran Turismo does its cars and tracks, while also telling a serious tale and serving up some great dogfights.
-The Timely Mage

#0609. Adventures of Lolo
Two heads are better than one. I played through this game with hubby and we only beat it through teamwork. It really made us think!
-The White Out Mage

#0608. Centipede
An iconic bug-blaster from the golden age of arcades which traded space ships in the outer macrocosm for a tiny adventure in the microcosm. But don’t let that fool you: Centipede is a coin-munching slugfest that’s no walk in the park. I loved playing with the original trackball inserted in the cabinet.
-The Well-Red Mage

#0607. Assassin’s Creed: Origins 
A terrific jumping-on point for those new to the AC series. Origins is worth the visit just to explore the vast recreation of Ancient Egypt. An impressive and expansive recreation of Ancient Egypt during the Ptolemaic period. But the main story and characters are compelling enough to have this game be capable of standing out without the AC logo slapped on the box. The Discovery Tour mode (free!) is amazing and let’s you explore Ancient Egypt as a tourist.
-The Slipstream Mage

#0606. Star Wars Demolition
Did you play Tank for Atari? Did you enjoy it? This is better. It let you explore what it was like for different vehicles from the Star Wars series in combat, also allowing you to purchase more vehicles (Yes, we used to do this without credit cards).
-The Indecisive Night Mage

#0605. Killer7
Strange, twisted and dark. Suda51 wasn’t messing around when he and his team crafted this game.
-The New Age Retro Mage

#0604. Angry Birds
Time travel is real. If I ever wanted to travel about four hours into the future, all I had to do was play this game that, for the longest time, was preloaded into the Chrome browser. While many gamers scoff, I think Angry Birds is casual gameplay perfected.
-The Normal Mage

#0603. Saints Row 4
Saints Row 3 went off the rails and established the series firmly as more than a GTA knockoff. SR4 picks up the rails and beats SR3 with them.
-The Wandering Mage

#0602. Radiant Historia
Much like its main source of inspiration, Chrono Trigger, Radiant Historia is a clever time-travelling RPG with a unique combat system and plenty of interesting quests to participate in.
-The Regional Exclusive Mage

#0601. Doom 2016
The best Doom experience. Straight up brutal combat and the best example of a first-person shooter in my opinion.
-The Off-Centered Earth Mage

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage, Mage Cast, or Story Mode.