Top 25 of this Decade: #1

First, I would like to mention how fun this project was to put together. It wasn’t easy choosing which games to put on my list, and what place they landed in as well. There’s a long list of games that many of you will point out as missing, but I have my reasons for what I chose, as you all have seen. There’s a few big titles that I just didn’t get into, or outright disliked, a few I have yet to play (Uncharted 2 is a big one) and there’s a few that I own, started playing and didn’t have a chance to finish (Batman Arkham Asylum, Persona 4, Yakuza, Demon’s Souls) I know if I spent more time with those four, at least one would have cracked my top 25.

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Lets quickly recap the choices I made thus far -

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25. Crazy Taxi (Sega Dreamcast)

24. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Microsoft Xbox 360)

23. Dead Rising (Microsoft Xbox 360)

22. Burnout Paradise (Microsoft Xbox 360)

21. Star Wars Battlefront 2 (Microsoft Xbox)

20. Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast (PC)

19. Borderlands (Microsoft Xbox 360)

18. Champions of Norrath (Sony Playstation 2)

17. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Microsoft Xbox 360)

16. Tony Hawk Underground (Sony Playstation 2)

15. Mass Effect (Microsoft Xbox 360)

14. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS)

13. Indigo Prophecy (Microsoft Xbox)

12. Metroid Prime (Nintendo Gamecube)

11. The Orange Box (Microsoft Xbox 360)

10. Guitar Hero: Metallica (Microsoft Xbox 360)

09. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo Wii)

08. Super Mario Strikers (Nintendo Gamecube)

07. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Microsoft Xbox)

06. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Game Boy Advance)

05. Fallout 3 (Microsoft Xbox 360)

04. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Microsoft Xbox 360)

03. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Sony Playstation 2)

02. Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64)

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The time has finally come….my choice for the best game of this decade. This game has meant a lot to me over the years. I’ve probably spent more time playing this game than numbers two through ten combined. It wasn’t just an addiction, but a way of life, of sorts. As good as I got at it, I never tried to take the world on, which I do regret. Not to mention, this isn’t a title that would be at the top of most peoples lists when it comes to the best game they have played this decade, but as you can see, my tastes in games are quite eccentric.

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This is it! My game of the decade is….

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Street Fighter Anniversary – Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike
Microsoft XBox
US Release Date: February 22, 2005

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What is it?
After years of milking the Street Fighter 2 name, we are finally treated to a Street Fighter 3. With parrying (pressing your controller into an attack, which enables you to potentially punish them), they turned the new series of Street Fighter titles from moderately accessible to anyone, to something of a hardcore following. While timing was key in the older titles, Street Fighter 3 took it up a level. If you can read your opponents moves, you can turn the battle to your favor and punish them for even the slightest of mistakes.

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As with the Street Fighter 2 series, Street Fighter 3 had a few incarnations. The New Generation was a rough first draft of sorts – you’re able to understand it, yet it lacked the final draft to make it work for you. Street Fighter 3: Second Impact was that title that just needed a proof reading for it to become the a legendary tale. Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike was released, and it reads like best seller. Although it was released in 1999 in the arcades, a home version with online capabilities did not come around until early 2005, with previous incarnations lacking any sort of online play. Parrying timers feel perfect, there’s enough variety of characters (though I would have loved maybe three more), the multiplayer aspect felt spot on, and everything else has been refined and tuned to a near perfection. To those outside the hardcore fighting game players, 3S was never a big deal. To those that craved competition, to those that craved mind games and a tremendous amount of unpredictability, Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike was their messiah.

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Why did it make my list?
Lets get this out of the way – I know the arcade version was released in 1999, but the choice reflects its home system release on the Microsoft Xbox. Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike has had a profound impact on my life as a gamer, from its arcade release, to its release on the Sega Dreamcast, right on through to the offline Playstation 2 version, and then the online Xbox version. As with Crazy Taxi, the arcade versions were indeed released in 1999, however it wasn’t until this decade that the game was released on a home system.

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Flat out, this is the greatest fighting game I have ever played, and borderline one of the greatest games I have ever played. I’m not just talking about tournament playing, I’m not talking about tournament watching. I’m talking about the overall experience. Everything that 3S does, it does with a precision and grace that has yet been duplicated, or surpassed. 2D fighter wise, it looked great back then, and it still holds its own well enough today. It’s got extremely responsive controls, and is built better than most any fighting game before it, and even after it. Sure, it’s got some mostly forgettable tunes, but other effects are well done. It’s got everything going for it, and then some. Single player wise, it’s still a fun game. Hook that baby online or play with someone in the same room, and you’re in a whole new world.

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As a multiplayer fighting game, it’s phenomenal, and unmatched even to this day. I have played enough fighting games to last me the rest of my life, from Guilty Gear, to Tekken, to even Street Fighter 4. None of them hold a candle to the depth and strategy that I find in 3S. The parry game opens up a lot of opportunities, whether you’re the one parrying, or being the one that is getting parried. This isn’t a game that you want to slap buttons with and hope for the best. Like most fighting games, if you don’t know what you’re doing against someone that does, you’re gonna get embarrassed.

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With the release of Street Fighter Anniversary on the Xbox, we were all given the opportunity to take our battles against other players from around the world. Sure, it doesn’t beat the arcade experience, and you can always argue that you’ll never face the Justin Wong’s of the game through Xbox Live. But with a predominately lag free experience with players in the same country as you, and a decent enough connection with players around the world, it’s the next best thing for those that do not have any access to a 3rd Strike arcade cabinet. The amazing thing is that there’s still a decent number of people playing at any given time, nearly five years after its release onto the Xbox.

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I could go on all day and all night about my experiences with 3rd Strike. I can mention classic battles I’ve had online involving last second, miracle wins. I can go on about the couple of tournaments I played, my casual games with Justin Wong that, I have to admit, were some of the most enjoyable games I have ever played, single or multiplayer. As a fighting game, the memories, good times, bad times and all the times I ever had with 3rd Strike has yet to be duplicated. As a game in general, it’s among the top five greatest games I have ever played. If this were a proper review, my rating would be near perfect score, but we won’t go there just yet. But regardless, online, offline, single player, multiplayer, casual, hardcore, any which way you play it, Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike is a masterpiece in the fighting game genre, the best game I have played this decade, and one of the greatest games I have ever played in the 25 years or so of gaming.

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My biggest regret

I don’t like to toot my own horn, but back in the days, I was really good. If I stayed at it and didn’t stop playing several times, and actually entered tournaments, I would have been a household name in the fighting game community. Okay maybe not, but I used to own Chinatown Fair in New York City convincingly during that stretch of time. That’s 100% true. Nothing beat paying a train fare to get there, $1.25 for some coffee at the coffee shop nearby, and barely spend $1.00 the whole day, while racking up 20+ win streaks and walking home afterward with a grin like no other. Each time I quit playing and came back, I lost more and more of my skill with 3S, though maintained my absurd parrying. I know I could have done extremely well on any tournament I entered between 2001 and 2004. Hell, the two local console tournaments I did last year, I fared extremely well in. A shame I never tried tournaments during my prime.

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Well, there you have it, folks! Those were the 25 video games that I felt were the best games I played this decade. It was a long, difficult process, but I do not regret any of my choices. These 25 titles, I believe, are must play games that no one should pass on in any way, shape or form.

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Finally, as most of you know, I will be launching my 365//365 project starting January 1st. 365 game reviews, one a day, for 365 days next year, all by yours truly. It’s a massive project, and I’m having a load of fun putting it all together, and I hope you all have fun reading it all. For more information, head on over to http://bit.ly/7134QX and pass that link and info on to all your gaming friends, casual or hardcore! I hope you all enjoyed my Top 25 of this Decade, and I hope you all enjoy my project, 365//365: 365 reviews in 365 days!