Top 50 Video Game Franchises Countdown – #50-26

Hey, Paisanos! It's the Super Mario Bros. Super

Show! Maybe you should play something else. This

is the GCRN Top 50 Video Game Franchise Countdown.

Ready, Player One! No, I'm Player One. Nah, you're

Player Two. Give me the damn controller. No,

Player Two, you are stuck with Luigi. I am Player

One! Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right,

B, A, start. Dude, you've turned into a monster.

You made me this way. Head shot. Ow, you bastard.

Yeah, that's what you get. Hello and welcome

to the GCRN's Top 50 Video Game Franchises Countdown.

I am one of your hosts, GFG1Mike. Joining me

is that good old player two, Steve Megatron.

Hello. I'm player one. Player two. And rounding

out our video game countdown part one episode

for numbers 50 to 26. Our players three and four,

you guys can argue over which number you are.

Doug Able from Talking About My Generation, hello.

Hello. And TV's Mr. Neil. You are not ready.

So are we using a satellite, an NES satellite,

to do this? Yes. Or a four score? Four score.

Virtual boy. Virtual boy? No. No. Yeah, we all

have them. I don't want to go blind. It just

sounds wrong. on so many levels. So grab those

controllers, gamers, and get ready for the wildest

ride in the GCRN's top countdowns history. Steve,

tell us how this all came about. Well, originally,

about a year and a half ago, I really wanted

to do, it might have been longer, a top 100 video

game countdown. in the evolution of it in conversation

we were kind of talking about the fact that there's

like a million video games and we're gonna end

up with like five halos and three you know call

of duties and three battlefields and three you

know whatever there's there's so many different

franchises that you may end up with a bunch of

the same game in the same franchise being in

the same like top 25 So it was going to be, because

there's a ton of Mario games, a ton of Mario

Party, a ton of all these different franchise

games, and it would just dominate the list and

be very, very biased based on individual games.

So what the goal was, was to rank the games across

their overall merit and... based on game quality,

based on how many games, the longevity of the

franchise, and all of those things kind of combined.

And in doing so, we decided to chop the list

and do it as a top 50 rather than a top 100.

So this is actually the first top 50 list we've

ever done. may continue in the future just kind

of depends on how this goes although the nice

part about this list is not only did podcasters

get to uh have their input and submit a list

but so were the fans yep this is our first ever

pretty much 90 or 80 fan generated uh countdown

so i i will say this uh there were about 24 lists

25 lists maybe Which was still better than what

I thought we were going to get for this upfront.

It's about on par with the first Top 100 we did.

The last two Top 100s were a lot more lists but

granted it was a lot more websites involved.

So for a first run and for a Top 50 list I was

pretty blown away by the amount of different

franchises that happened to show up. There is

a grand total of, I want to say, 220 different

video game franchises that popped up. Wow. Oh

lordy. Yeah. That's a lot of video games. Yeah,

well that's not even the individual games. That's

just the franchises. No, I know. That's just

the franchises, yeah. Which was staggering. in

you know, so like there's certain franchises

where certain instances you'll break it down

specifically as far as like Batman you'll have

like Arkham like the Arkham universe instead

of just like generic Batman games or like Star

Wars there's like 50 bazillion franchises in

there so like you got Battlefront or you know

Tie Fighter or you know something Knights of

the Old Republic stuff like that where there's

more than one in that series so In that instance,

they would take precedence over their little

secondary franchise rather than the overall.

It was quite interesting. There's going to be

some people happy and some people mad based on

what pops up in this list. There's always people

who are pissed off. I will say there are things

that are in the top... And I'll reveal this after

we finish the top 50 lists over the course of

two episodes in an episode of Altered Geek. If

anybody happens to want to know specifically

where a game fell on this list, I will answer

that as long as they leave it in the comments

section. and then I will get back to it in Altered

Geeks so they'll have to listen to that as like

a follow -up haha you have to listen. So there

were quite a few games like I said that dropped

in the 100 to 51 range that probably should have

been in the top 50. I see about 15 of them for

sure that should have been in the top 50 so there's

gonna be some cranky people with that. Again,

disclaimer folks, 80 % of this list was made

up by us saying, hey fans of us, submit your

lists. These 25 lists are not 25 people within

our network or it's not just us. How many actual

GCRN people submitted lists? I think three or

four. Out of 25 folks. So if only three or four

of us actually submitted lists, it's all your

all's fault if games didn't make it. It's not

our fault. We're just giving you the results

of what you chose. Yeah, so what are some games

getting into it ahead of time that you expect

to see in the top 50? Well I think before we

do that, let's just run around the table really

quick. Neil, Doug, and I did a Talking About

My Generation Doug show. Actually, we did two

episodes on video game consoles and portables

and all that stuff, but let's run around the

table really quick and just briefly give each

of our histories of video games. Steve, you can

go first. Mine's spanning. I mean, mine's primarily

PC, but I've had experience with all of the different

consoles. Back as early as the 90s, you know

Super NES Nintendo Game Boy Game Boy Color Advance

2ds PlayStation 2 You know Gamecube all that

stuff. So I mean, I own a 360 so that's my prominent

system right now But besides PC, but it's I've

played a crap ton of games What about you Neil

Neil is Very avid game Well, I started with the

Atari 2600 but I didn't start actually liking

video games till the NES because the Atari 2600

joystick is Yeah, it's garbage belongs in a landfill.

Yeah, the only way to play Atari 2600 is with

a Genesis controller The NES the SNES the Genesis

the Sega Saturn pretty much every iteration of

the Game Boy, including the Super Game Boy. The

PlayStation 1 and 2, it pretty much stops right

there for me because after the GameCube PS2 era,

I don't know, I'm not an online gamer and graphics

don't really matter that much to me, so I'm not

wowed by today's games and I don't want like...

to buy little plastic toys for my games, and

I don't want to play online with other people.

I just want to sit on the couch and relax. So

I'm pretty much... What I have now is my PS2

setup, which plays both PlayStation 1 and 2,

and then I have my GameCube that has a little

piracy device that lets me play all my Genesis

and Super Nintendo games on it. So that's basically

my rig at the moment. What about you Doug? Oh

man, I'm afraid to go into this list. I'm kind

of like Neil in this respect I started with the

2600 had a 7800 which played 2600 games. That

was cool. I had the Nintendo. Yeah I had the

original NES jumped over to Genesis. I Still

have good god. I say this. I still have my Genesis.

I have a Dreamcast I have a Wii I have my ps3

My ps2 And let me see my ps4 and I know I'm forgetting

something that I've got sitting in here Oh, and

I have my raspberry pi to play all sorts of old

stuff as well So yeah, I I probably have all

this stuff here cutting my teeth going way back.

I still love all the retro stuff. So As for me

I started out my mom had a 2600 we skipped the

7800 And sadly, I made a poor choice in 1986

and I chose the Sega Master System over the Nintendo

Entertainment System. You chose poorly. Yes,

exactly. After that, I had several friends for

about the first year or so that the Super Nintendo

and the Genesis were out that we played at their

houses. I eventually got a Super Nintendo in

92. By 95 -96 I ended up in PC gaming land and

by somewhere around 2000 I guess it was 2000

-2001 I had PS1 and then when PS2 came out and

I'm more PC gamer right now than anything else

I don't know, I'm kind of like Neil I just want

to sit here and play the games I don't care about

online play I don't care about massive multiplayer

stuff I think the massive multiplayer stuff is

cool. I just don't care about the aspect about

playing with like, like I had steam on my computer

for about a year or so. It's like people sending

me messages on there. I'm like, who the hell

are you? What do you want? Like I don't pay attention

to that. Like any, any kind of video game system

that has an inline messaging system, like no,

we'll go away. So. All right. Anything else we

need to get out of the way before we jump into

the top 50, the 50 to 26, Steve? There is a category

called, because it'll be broken down by points,

similar to a lot of the other top 100s that we

do. There will be a list count of how many lists

that showed up on average rank, just kind of

where it average fell. And then the limited rank,

which will be taking the average of where people

ranked it, whether they ranked it really high

or not, and then obviously who ranked it and

where. But we won't read those. We'll probably

read the number one that's ranked it. Well, yeah,

probably. All right. We are going to get to the

countdown. After this... 50. So as it said with

the first number down, we have God of War. With

a resounding 136 points on 8 lists. Interesting.

Anybody know anything about this franchise? I

Know it's a game. I liked it. I thought it was

pretty decent for the series I the only the only

two that I'm missing are the ones for the PSP

But I've got all three of them. I've got all

three of the major ones for the ps3 and ps4 It's

pretty good. It's to some extent. It is a button

mashing game but It's actually halfway decent

when you look at it the storylines the the mythos

with Greek mythology tying in and it's God, I

will say it is very adult because there is a

scene in the very first one where they have Kratos

actually having sex with women and it's like

the whole bed is shaking and there's topless

women throughout the game So, oh so that's where

that comes from. Okay, the character Kratos I

was never yeah Oh, yes, so that's a little bit

of a little bit of hit there for you education

yes, the god of war series it kind of reminds

me like and I've only seen it like in the advertisements

and I've seen online plays of the game, but It

always reminded me of like that generally at

that time when that game came out it was like

what the world of warcraft ads are now it's like

wow it's just so crazy sure yeah any other thoughts

on this no god of war coming in at number 50

the highest ranker was one of our fans uh trevor

wilcox ranked it at 24 Out of our own staff,

Kevin Optimus Solo Thompson ranked it at 29.

Interesting. Can't comment, I haven't played

it. There's some games I've played that are coming

up. That's not one of them. Next up on the list

is Tekken. With 140 points on five lists. The

highest voter was Ryan Altman. And then, of course,

our own Kevin Optimus Solo put it at 45, so he's

pretty close to where it landed. He's only four

off. I mean, I obviously can say that that should

be on the top 50 list because it's not only is

it one of the most common arcade games, but it's

also got a really long Lifespan for a fighter

Yeah, and it's had multiple games. I mean the

franchise has had multiple games over the years

I remember Tekken 1 & 2 being in arcades and

It was back when I was playing in arcades. It

was it was either it was one of three games Mortal

Kombat Tekken or Street Fighter and Most everybody

was swarming the Mortal Kombat machine. It just

looks so much cooler. Plus you get to have all

those like, you know It had that kind of 3d look

to everything when you're fighting It just enhanced

the the beatings that much more Yes, yes it did

second. I'll be honest. It wasn't one of my favorites,

but it was okay to play, you know Yeah That was

about it. I'm not a huge fighter Fighting game

type person. I mean Mortal Kombat's more my favorite,

but You know Tekken wasn't bad. I would knock

it too badly I was more of a Street Fighter guy.

So I look at this I'm more of a Dragon Ball Z

fighter, so I would rather play that Nobody has

me love for Tekken on the panel apparently We're

gonna get so much hate, man. I'm just playing.

I enjoy games. I do remember playing several

versions of the game, but I couldn't tell you

a specific thing about any of them other than

the 3D graphics. You know, weirdly enough, the

only thing that... That I know about Tekken is

that in the third game there is a comic book

character a Japanese comic book character named

gone who's in the game he's like this little

dinosaur guy and I It's like I don't know anything

else about the game other than that Just because

I'm a comic well sort of a comic guy next up

is and this is one i have no experience with

because i don't play these type of games fifa

oh no with 140 points on seven lists uh average

ranking was 31 uh david berufi ranked it at 50

uh ryan altman rated it at five and there's nobody

from the gcrn panel on here so uh The only exposure

I have to any of the FIFA games is watching them

on like MLG or championship gaming series from

DirecTV back in the day like when they would

have these massive video game tournaments on

television you see all these teams playing against

each other. That's the only exposure I have to

these games other than the commercials. Yeah,

I'm kind of the same way. The only thing that

I know about it is that it's huge in Korea I

mean even bigger than Starcraft. It's That that's

like the game that they play in in South Korea.

So that's it And I guess secretly Neil is a huge

soccer fan then. No, it's gotta be right. Come

on now I'm even more apathetic for this man toward

Madden I Just don't get it. We're gonna get hate

mail exclusively from Great Britain on this one

Like you blokes don't understand your video get

you know, they're gonna throw their bumper shoots

at us To be to be honest, it's not that I don't

like the game. I just haven't ever really played

hits It's soccer, right? Yeah, that's what I

thought Just making sure politically correct

on this or football Yeah, I was gonna say, if

you want the British tournament, it's football.

But yeah, it's soccer. The House Party Protocol,

sir? Correct. So next up on the list is... Marvel

vs. Capcom. Woohoo! Like I said, another relatable

game. And pretty much all of us here had it on

our list. Pretty much. So yeah, I think Mike

the bird man died with ranking it at number nine

Might have been probably might have been stretching

it a little bit. But um But yeah, it's it's In

the highest it shows up on this list of people

that that had it is 41 and that was mr. Neal

But it had 157 points on seven lists Definitely

see where this deserves to be on the list. I

think they've had what three of these games Yeah,

or five if you want to count the two that came

before Marvel versus or Marvel superheroes versus

Street Fighter and X -Men versus Street Fighter.

Okay Yeah, I could yeah, I could see that definitely

But yeah, I mean the I remember playing these

on the original PlayStation Remember playing

it. I think it was Marvel versus I think it was

the first Marvel versus Capcom game again I remember

playing in the arcade. That's where I remember

from yeah Yeah, that was one of the big things

back then when that when that cabinet hit out

and hit the arcades Oh my god, cuz everybody

wanted to be spider -man and you kind of had

to play it in the arcade because if you played

the PlayStation version you couldn't do tag Yeah,

no you go. It was lame And it was just as the

Sega Saturn was dying in America and it didn't

come out here and The Saturn version did support

the tag feature and I'm like goddamn it. It's

like the worst timing ever Yeah, and I remember

playing the game because you had what spider

-man Iron Man Wolverine and they had some like

insane Kill kill moves that you could do Yeah,

I really like Wolverine and in Iron Man. They

were like button smashers Yeah, Wolverine's button

-smashing Death -defying killer, you know punch

of kill everything move was his claw is his berserker

The funny thing is about Marvel versus Capcom

I remember most if not all of the Marvel side

characters I remember none of the Capcom characters

Mega Man I want to say that like some of the

dark stalkers characters were in there. Yeah,

I want to say that Well, the thing about the

capcom characters that some of them are from

games that didn't come out here There was there

was a mech fighter character in there. I got

I don't remember his name Like no one knew who

the hell he was because the game didn't come

out Captain Commando was a an obscure Super Nintendo

game I don't remember ever seeing it, but it

did come out in America Yeah. Yeah, so the Capcom

side had a very interesting roster. Yeah, I remember

playing this game with my friend back before

I had a next -gen, or at that time it was next

-gen, because I had a Sega Genesis. So I didn't

have a disc -based console at the time. But I

remember playing that and it was just a button

masher to me because I didn't know how to play

video games Very well or fighters for that matter.

So it it was just one of those things that I

was not very good at It's kind of a sloppy fighter,

but it's a good sloppy fighter It's enjoyable

for what it is. Yeah, so looking at the Capcom

side. Oh my god, Neil Akuma uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... But

I'm just saying, you look at these two lists,

unless you're a die -hard Capcom fan, which I

know a lot of people are, I'm not saying I'm

not, I'm just saying, when you have something

like Marvel taking on a video game company, you're

more apt to remember Wolverine, War Machine,

Venom, Thor, Thanos, you know, Magneto, Juggernaut.

I'm the Juggernaut, bitch! I knew that was coming.

But Marvel vs. Capcom, coming in at number 47.

Pretty awesome. 46. I feel the need, the need

for speed. Next up is the need for speed. With

a hundred and sixty -one points on six lists.

Kevin headed on as number 40. Yeah, he's not

a car guy so I would not expect him to I Would

think that this would be a little bit higher

than 46 Wait, why am I not listed in this thing?

I'm Some of them were listed. I didn't fill out

the list. Thankfully. I had help on that one.

Oh, okay Due to time. Yes. Thank you movie revolt.

Yes due to time reasons So he listed most of

everybody for for some of them Know I I could

have sworn I had this pretty high you may have

I Find out the the only reason why I say that

is because this is one of my favorite franchises

when it comes to racing games I first found Need

for Speed with the PlayStation one game Need

for Speed 3 hot pursuit It was the first time

I first ever played one of these games and then

ever since anything that wasn't like You didn't

list it, by the way. Why, what? You didn't have

it on your list. I'm looking right at it. No,

that's bull. I should have had that on my list.

No, no, no. I should have had it too, but I forgot.

No, I remember putting it on the list. No, you

had Grand Theft Auto. No, I remember putting

Need For Speed on the list. Well, it drove away.

Apparently. So as I'm saying, I remember Need

For Speed 3 Hot Pursuit on the PlayStation 1.

after that it depended on what they put out because

sometimes they would put out like the the criminal

type games like hot pursuit or hot pursuit 2

or most wanted and then they'd put out stuff

like underground or uh pro was it pro street

or something the pro street games where they

basically take you and put you into like a uh

an indy car Type of track. I was like what this

is not need for speed. What in the hell is going

on? Yeah, those were the pro streak was basically

need for speeds stab at trying to get into the

Gran Turismo and Forza market and it did work.

Yeah Yeah III was right there with you Mike,

you know for me it was The hot pursuit. I remember

playing that I I actually first played this one

on PC and I remember actually going out and being

so excited with buying this game and playing

this game that Afterwards I had to go out and

I bought a force feedback wheel so that I could

play this driving game. Oh, yeah this and This

and the Motor City online that was part of the

Need for Speed Series Those are my two big ones

that I played and loved those series So need

for speed holds holds a high spot mine Yeah,

absolutely for me Where I really started get

into it was at like hot pursuit 3 or Need for

speed 3 hot pursuit was was fine the 1998 version

but then 2002 need for speed hot pursuit 2 came

out and I just fell in love with that game. There

was a There was a BMW Z8 in there, there was

a whole bunch of other awesome games in there,

and then the one go -to I had after that was

the 2005 Most Wanted series. When that game came

out... I was I was playing that game all the

time on the PC my buddy Sean and I were I the

funny thing is looking through some of this thing

I still have in a box in my closet I still have

a PC version of Need for Speed carbon from 2006

I think the next I have those I have the soundtrack

in the game for undercover from 2008 that was

the last one I did The after after After undercover

they had shift they had nitro they had world

hot pursuit 2010 version I wonder if they had

the admit to having Porsche leashed and And most

want those are some of the those are some of

the earlier ones. Those are pretty cool. Yeah

So apparently since we should mention this Apparently

they're gonna and I didn't know about this It's

gonna be a free -to -play MMO racing game need

for speed edge is coming this year So they're

bringing back Motor City online, but with newer

cars basically then apparently But but yeah See

a need for speed very very awesome Neil did you

ever feel the need for speed? No, I have a weird

blind spot for a lot of early PlayStation franchises,

so I had the Saturn at the time So like I never

caught up a need for speed one and the rest of

the series kind of I don't know. I never really

caught my eye so I Didn't never had it Yeah,

I didn't have much exposure to it. I've played

some of them. I've played most of these games

at least once. I just don't have all that much

exposure to them, you could say. I could definitely

see where it deserves to be there. For me all

for for me the end all be all out of the modern

era has got to be the 2005 Most wanted release

because I could sit here and play that game Forever

if I if I was so inclined to I just love that

game so much I think one of the reasons why I

love it so much is they based majority of the

world in the New England area So there's actually

rotaries in that game years. It's the need for

speed. Sounds like it should be like almost like

you can hear Jaleel White Sonic doing that. Coming

up next folks, Sonic and Knuckles. Not really.

I think we're gonna crash into a brick wall.

Crash Bandicoot at 164 points. Lists it was on

was 8. Blanchard ranked it the highest at number

9. See, I love the early games of this franchise.

Crash Bandicoot 1 and 2 were two of the best

early PlayStation games. And this is back in

the day when you could actually go into a video

store. Most kids they don't know what those things

are When you actually go into a video store and

they would have the playable demo discs You know

kids back in the day free demos used to come

on discs. You didn't have to download them through

certain Steamy programs. I remember when I used

to have to buy them or get the the demo floppy

discs for the computer Yeah, we're old people

But no, Crash Bandicoot franchise was one of

my favorites in the mid to late 90s. Absolutely

loved it. It was another one of those games that

I actually found Crash Bandicoot 2 and Need for

Speed 3 Hot Pursuit at the same time. And I just

absolutely love playing those games. I think

where I checked out with Crash is when they went

To crash team racing, which is basically crash

and his characters Mario karting. I think that's

right. Checked out of the franchise. I hate to

say this, but I unfortunately have never played

a crash bandicoot game. It's not that one. OK,

OK. Let me say it's not that I wouldn't mind

playing it. It's just that I've never had a chance

to get my hands on a copy of the game. So. So

I probably I probably if I went and looked on

like the PlayStation Network, I could probably

find it for download now But yeah, you know,

I've just never played it Neil please save us

I played a little bit of the games. I like the

first game. It's I remember that it kind of felt

like 3d platformer on rails cuz I'm like Unlike

Super Mario 64, you can just wander everywhere.

You're on a track, but yeah, it was an okay game

it was you know what it kind of picked up where

Sonic left off because after like 1995 Sonic

was just kind of gone and The funny thing with

crashes crash see okay, so we all know this Mario

And I'm sure people argue this that that you

know, Zelda was also a flagship mascot character

for Nintendo, but let's face it. Mario was the

flagship and forever will be the flagship character

of early Nintendo games. And then once Sega came

around, you had Sonic. So it was Mario versus

Sonic, Nintendo versus Sega. When Sony came out

with the PlayStation, they're like, well, screw

a video game company war. We're just going to

create two mascots and call them both our flagship

characters. And they had Crash and Spyro. Because

I remember Crash, Bandicoot, and Spyro the Dragon

being both faces of PlayStation 1. Which is kind

of weird because they were actually third party.

So eventually Crash found his way onto Nintendo

consoles. Specifically the Game Boy Advance.

But yeah, it's an okay game. Like I said, Sonic

kind of crashed into a wall, crashed there to

pick up pieces, and he had a nice run. I haven't

played any of the games recently, though. The

Crash games are from a simpler time in video

games. They really, really are. They certainly

were. I mean, I remember one of the last final

episodes of the TV series Angel, Spike is in

there with Illyria, Amy Acker's character, and

he's like, here. Just sit down relax play a little

crash bandicoot Just hearing spike the vampires

say crash bandicoot is just hilarious and also

severely dates it Well, yeah, I mean, let's face

it folks crash bandicoot did start in the 90s.

I mean so Beckman by the way, there were a lot

of like faux mascots back then you had like a

hunky skunk and awesome possum and Tie the Tasmanian

tiger And crash was like the best of those Yeah,

yeah, I mean like I said even though crash and

Spyro were third party it's still Those were

the two that I remember as as the as the The

mascots for PlayStation So go grab some fruit

folks 44 well speaking of fruit the next game

that comes up is The Sims Okay Wait No, that

can't be a joke. There's actual things there.

I know no I was saying I was joking about them

the fruit of the fruit Okay, I was gonna say

oh, yeah, I was gonna get this out of the way

right now the only Sims game I ever played was

Sims Tower and this was Had doing back in no,

we're not talking about games like Sim City.

This is like the Sims where you get the little

Yeah Then I've never played this I've seen people

try and play this and they're like here create

something with it. I'm like I'm sorry. I don't

really want to But yeah, I mean I've seen it

I know that there was a lot of popularity behind

it There were six Add -ons for it. I remember

that because my wife had all of them Including

making magic the making magic one actually had

like Harry Potter type stuff in there where you

could get wands and cast spells and brew potions

Yeah Yeah, that's it So it's basically so instead

of Letting someone go to a toy store go to the

board game island picking up the game of life

The Sims is a virtual version of the game of

life. Oh, no. No, no, I'll go a step further.

It is a virtual Barbie doll Sim that yeah, that's

more app description. Yeah it's basically like

doll people that you that you play within a house

and actually not even that it they just kind

of you just kind of build their house and and

put stuff in it and watch how they interact with

each other during the day and watch them set

the house on fire because they're idiots and

i was into i was into this hardcore for like

a year i had like a big house and you know an

arcade room and like and like all this awesome

stuff. Wait, you were into The Sims? Yeah, like

I said, only for like a year. The things you'll

learn in podcasting, folks. I didn't get any

of the expansion packs, but I had a lot of downloadable

content, fan -created content. So they had arcade

machines and all this awesome shit that you could

put in your house. And then after a while, I'm

like, why am I doing this? There's no point to

any of this like I'm watching my sims play video

games when I could be playing video games Where

it got creepy was when they had the creepy clown

pictures that I swear look just like something

right out of it and they actually had somebody

put a creepy clown that you could put in to the

game and if you if you like walled your sim up

into a room The sim would actually start going

crazy and the clown would show up. I Don't get

it. I that I learned about that once through

like game pro or something like that some magazine

I went why in the world would anybody do this?

And that was it Yeah, I just don't I Steve anything

I'm not an avid fan I realize people like it

and it's, you know, it's a thing. I just, I personally

couldn't get into it. It's for obsessive compulsive

people, I guess. I'm not saying anything either

way. It's, it's definitely a knee farm bill edge

of the. I could see that, that being like an

early type of thing before the mobile versions

of this kind of stuff. There are just no words,

folks. Again, I'm not saying anything. Moving

on. Up next is something that should be close

to some people's hearts. Kick them hearts! With

177 points and 7 lists. TFG1 Mike ranked it the

highest at 4. Have you ever played the game?

Yes! Why would I rank it that high if I didn't?

I've played the first two games, Kingdom Hearts

1 and 2 on one of the PlayStations. I think,

weren't they both on PS? It's been so long since

I've played the damn games, but no. I am so not,

and I know this is gonna be something that gets

me a lot of hate mail. I'm not a role -playing

game person at all. I'm not a Final Fantasy fan.

It's not because I dislike the franchise. I just

don't like the genre of gameplay that it is So

to see that they basically took Final Fantasy

characters and put them in Disney World Like

oh I can kind of get behind this because it's

Disney It wasn't too bad with some of the stuff

that they had in there, you know the the nightmare

Christmas land on Hercules Summit was actually

pretty good because you're going Wow and they

they actually managed to get the actual voice

actors for a lot of the stuff to come in Absolutely

the first the first two games like I said We're

pretty much what I remember playing I Do not

remember playing anything past the second one.

I don't I know I didn't do chain of memories

Which I probably should have since it was the

direct sequel to the first game, but I basically

picked up with oh Wow, that was 2005 it was ten

years ago damn But the first game I thought it

was so cool how they worked in the Disney characters

how you got Donald and goofy as your pals you

play as Sora and You have to go fight the big

bad Disney villains It was very, very cool. Anybody

else have any experiences with Kingdom Hearts?

Well... I do. Obsessive -compulsive much? This

is a game series that I do not like. And I started

out liking it, but it's... Well, you brought

up Chain of Memories, and let me tell you something,

you can skip that, because it's a card battle

game. Oh, okay. No wonder I skipped it. Yeah,

the thing is, the two major games are okay. They're

nice action RPGs, but all of the portable side

games, first of all, they all sound like they

have random name generator names. Some of the

names are really odd. Yeah, let's see. Kingdom

Hearts Coded, Kingdom Hearts 358 by 2Days. Yeah,

that's the weird one. uh... birth by sleep yeah

kingdom hearts x yeah and it's like it's like

all to avoid actually making kingdom hearts three

and yeah uh... i'd never actually finished the

first game i got pretty far and then i'm like

you know i'm really not having that much fun

with this i don't know what it is i think the

camera's too close and there's just no matter

where you go your cops will be getting barraged

by the heartless and it's like oh my god get

the hell off me and that was the one biggest

problem and one of the reasons why i almost wish

this was on pc to have better camera controls

because you had to control the camera with the

analog sticks with one of the you had to move

yourself with one of the analog sticks you had

to control the camera with the other one and

it's like oh my god the camera angles in that

first game were just Horrible at times and by

the way Donald and goofy are stupid and I don't

mean their characters I mean their their artificial

intelligence. They will burn through your inventory

Like oh you need to be healed here. It's like

no I can conserve this No, they just screw you

over and again, even though the first game is

only 10 years old or so It just doesn't seem

like it's been that long. And it's one of those

things where, was it only that long since that

game to where the artificial intelligence wasn't

that good of the side characters? Like, serious?

Like, really? You couldn't make them a little

bit better? And then when Kingdom Hearts 2 came

along, I was just so ready to have another Kingdom

Hearts game. I thought it was just so cool. And

one other thing, just from an aesthetic point

of view, we've talked about like anime on other

podcasts and it's like the Kingdom Hearts style

is everything I don't like about anime. It's

the spiky head character with like zippers and

buckles all over his clothing. I'm like, who

designed this? Get out of here. Give me Rick

Hunter. Yeah Interesting note here though before

we move on to the next number in the countdown

Kingdom Hearts 2 was mr. Miyagi's last voice

role before his death November 2005 I'm really

interested to see what Kingdom Hearts 3 brings

us if we ever get the game. I know they keep

saying Oh, it's coming. It's coming. It's coming.

They've been saying that for ten years They dropped

they dropped major hints and Disney infinity

With it and then now Disney infinity is being

killed. So What are they gonna do now? I throw

everybody into Kingdom Hearts. I think they're

just trying to out delay Duke Nukem forever That

that's true couldn't take him a while then And

I assume you've never played these games Steve,

nope no interest And I don't have a PlayStation

so May the heartless be with you Well now that

we've talked about two games we really don't

care for that's moving to one that's along the

same lines What the hell? I'd like to throw you

under the bus. So yeah, we can build cities.

Zim City. Okay, this wasn't bad. This was one

of my more favorite games on the PC. I used to

play this a lot when I was younger and the only

unfortunate part is when the PC speaker would

kick on when the city decided to self -implode.

And it would wake up my family in the middle

of the night. I got so much crap for that when

I was a kid. Yeah, it was quite interesting having

that happen. But yeah, I really enjoyed this

series, and I played it through SimCity 2000.

I never did play the more recent SimCity versions,

but it was one of my favorite games, and Kevin

ranked it at number six, even though it looks

like a devil sign on the screen. Basically what

he's saying is he's pulling a mrs. Bobby Boucher

this game is the devil I Wasn't that bad. I like

it. I especially loved it with the very first

time I ever played it was on the Mac God help

me. I can't believe I'm thinking system 7 on

a Mac The black and white graphics. I know actually

it had color but it was like it was like $16

But it was actually kind of fun because I remember

shift FUNDS for funds and it would give you like

You could generate a million dollars at a time

to go out and buy everything and build your build

your city up I think Donald Trump is should be

in the sins then You can't forget, in the game,

the city decides to blow itself up with natural

disasters, so there's nothing you can do to save

it. That's true. As I tried to say earlier, even

though I got it mixed up, with the SimCity franchise,

the only one I ever actually ended up playing

was Sims Tower. I enjoyed the game, but now that

I'm trying to remember it, I'm drawing a blank.

So this is another one of your obsessive compulsives,

Neil? I had it and I played it for a short while.

Again, it's one of those games that kind of just

fizzles out because there's no goal, there's

no point. It's just like you build up a city

and you try to keep it going and you inevitably

fail because of all you just do. It just grows

to the ground. I'm gonna stop you there, Neil,

because there is, depending upon the version

that you're playing, there are goals for some

of them. If you played on the Super Nintendo

version, you actually had goals that you had

to acquire before it would go on to the next

level. Not like it was anything really special,

but, you know, you'd be like, oh, here, you get

the mayor's house, now that you've advanced the

level and you've created X number of citizens.

Or, you know, they'd say, oh, here, now you can

build a stadium because you created this much.

It was stupid. Nintendo's smart knew that it

had to actually be a game. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't

play for too long. It was fun for what it was.

Yeah, I'm just kind of building a city. And yeah,

the only way to really play it is to just cheat

and print money up front, which again is just

a license to fail. Yes, yeah, I was trying to

think of which which politician Would be most

appropriate for that and really all of them,

but in the news, you know, yeah Trump. Yeah Well,

just for money that works. Okay, that's not for

politics It's not my fault my opponent sent a

tornado to the city All right, my answer is I've

been posting on Facebook for everybody because

aliens that's it Oh boy. Alright, so maybe we'll

have an alien game come up. Or Batman, who knows?

So, if you're Michael Bay, these are technically

aliens. We have the Teenage Mutant Turtles. Don't!

Oh no. which you know just go there which collectively

there's a bunch of ninja turtle games um i have

to say that it ranked at 182 points on five lists

uh average rank was uh 14 .6 limited rank was

11 i ranked it at eight even though it looks

like a dancing musical note um so yeah i ranked

it the highest because you get a lot of great

uh tmnt games um whether it be The fighter games

whether it be the you know hyper stone highest

or the you know It really any of them. They're

all really a lot of fun to play even though they're

Really easy difficult really you're forgetting

the whole damn level in that that damn level

in ultra version Yeah, I probably forget because

I never actually completed any of them But they

were fun the the bit that I did play and I remember

playing these in the arcade too So The yeah,

the the original arcade game was awesome. Yeah

original NES game was was pretty cool as well

Past that the only other awesome one that I can

remember is Turtles in Time, which is technically

the hyper stone heist, but um turtles in time

i remember because it was right around yeah it

was in yeah 91 it was in the arcade and that

was right around when the second movie came out

i'm like turtles four turtles in time what the

hell because it it does say in the game teenage

ninja turtles four and i'm like wait what us

looking at it looking like okay well they get

all the all the classic cartoon elements here

and oh okay this is nice this is nice hey there's

an f -zero level because please tell me not tell

me no one didn't think of f -zero in that one

future level what I remember about the turtles

games is I remember having a lot of the handheld

games like the They weren't Tiger Electronics

games, but they were traditional handheld games.

I think past Turtles 4, what I enjoyed was...

There was one, not Mutant Melee... There was

one recently that came out... I think it was

one of the fighter games that came out recently.

Yeah, they did I want to say they did like a

a Like a remastered version of it that ended

up smashed up. That's what it is. Smash up. Yeah,

that's That's what it was absolutely love that

but yeah turtles games I think for me what's

cool about the turtles games honestly outside

of like my turtles in time actually being able

to use the characters as well as she did in the

arcade is the music because the music from Turtles

in Time and the original NES game is just epic.

I thought that was great. Yeah, I love all of

the old brawler type games for the arcade and

the home console ports. The home console port

of the original arcade game is amazing. They

took all the levels and just made them way longer

and then they added a couple new ones. Turtles

4 was also the same way, they added a bunch of

shit to that. If you try to play, what is it,

the reshell version of that, a lot of people

are like, there's shit missing. I'm like, no,

that's actually how the arcade game was. The

SNES version is way bigger. And the Hyperstone

Heist, it's kind of... Turtles 4, but it kind

of isn't. It's got the plot of the Manhattan

Project, which is Turtles 3, but it's got the

graphics of the arcade games. And it's kind of

like a compilation game. It's got levels from

this game and that game. It has the surfing level

that was only in Turtles 3. So that's actually

a really interesting game to play. It's hard

as hell, but... Yeah, I like that one the the

Game Boy ones two out of the three are good.

I don't like the second one the Try to think

I think there was like a later Game Boy advanced

one. That was pretty good the After a while,

you know, I didn't really get into the fighters

and I didn't get into Any of the 3d ones, so

I'm pretty much like exclusively classic turtles

except for that first one Which is just like

god -awful screw that that damn stage. Yeah Although

Mike Matai does point out, and he's right, that

if you play that level and you switch your turtle

halfway through, you can actually survive. Still,

that's, like, stupid. You shouldn't have to do

that. Yeah, you shouldn't have to give up a turtle

for it. Well, next up is something that's getting

into a franchise that has a sub -franchise. Can

you take any ganders at what? Mmm too bad. I'm

Italian. It's I'm zero. Oh some friends Star

Wars Battlefront Which was points at 184 lists

seven Birdman Dodd ranked it at 12 For the highest

Yeah battlefront boy, this is this is like the

FPS that came out well after dark forces and

all that stuff, right? Yeah, okay never played

it. Sorry. It's it's out right now I think there's

a battlefront 2 coming or something like that,

but uh Battlefront 1 came out November 2015 technically

I wouldn't argue that it's a franchise I mean

it is but it isn't I don't know I know that there

were previous games that came out early on yeah

the Yeah, see Battlefront 2015 is almost like

the reimagining the original Battlefront. But

the new Battlefront actually is like a bridge

between 6 and 7. Yeah, yeah. The original Battlefront

came out in 2004. And then Battlefront II was...

2000 whenever the hell I don't remember Battlefront

one and two were only a year apart. Okay. Yeah

this one I I know that because I played battlefield

a lot of people play this because it's developed

by the same people I I've looked at it like it

looks interesting, but there's a lot of glitches

and it's very clunky Just from the video I've

watched of it Mean it's an interesting concept

because you get to play as like Luke and Vader

and the Emperor and Leia and Guido and Han and

all those kind of characters so I mean it's kind

of cool in that sense, but I don't know if it

has like lasting longevity as far as first -person

shooter The only I'll say this now and I'll say

this later if any other Star Wars games come

up on this half of the countdown the only Star

Wars game ever actually went and played was the

arcade version of Star Wars the trilogy game

where it's this big giant enclosure you actually

sit in it you have surround sound speakers behind

you and you get to pick between Battle of Yavin,

Battle of Hoth or Battle of Endor basically the

first three movies That's really the only I remember

barely playing super return of the Jedi on SNES

but Wow, you missed out on a lot Mike there.

Yeah, the NES version the the arcade the vector

graphics version of Star Wars. Oh Wow, yeah,

you missed out a lot. Yeah Neil never played

it Never played any of it Well, if we're just

talking about exclusively about Battlefront,

I never got into it. I'm not an FPS guy. Yeah,

it looks like there's been at least this makes

five games in the series. They had the original

Battlefront 2004, second one in 2005, then Renegade

Squadron in 2007 and Elite Squadron in 2009 and

the latest Battlefront that came out in 2015.

Um, so I guess it is a franchise. There's no

Kyle Katarn. I don't care. Sorry. And I'm sure

a lot of people that are listening to this are

going to find our lack of interest disturbing.

Here's something that's coming up that I have

no knowledge of. I hope that somebody here does,

but it's like, is this a game yet to be released

as well coming all right i know it's sub games

and i know it's main title i've just never played

any of them uh... you might say someone might

have to take an arrow to the knee uh... uh...

no words like don't really know scrolls uh...

so you get like uh... maro and oblivion in skyrim

all under this little flag so Yeah, I am take

this opportunity to get something to drink. I'll

be right back No, you're not leaving Yeah, there's

like 15 games under this franchise Yeah, there's

there's a new Elder Scrolls legends coming out

or if it's under you know, I Played a touch of

oblivion and went yeah I'm sorry. Oh, that's

pretty Skyrim. Yeah I just, I know the game only

because of the arrow to the knee thing. Yeah,

I have no interest in the series whatsoever.

I know a lot of people wasted a lot of their

life playing Skyrim. I know a lot of people,

Dodd, that spent hours upon hours upon hours

playing Skyrim. Oh, he's trying to get me to

play it, I just... I don't have that kind of

time. Haley Bailey did rank it at 6 and Michael

Wilson ranked it at 7. I do know that people

do enjoy it. I have seen it played before. One

of my friends showed me that if you kill one

of the town's people, they all start coming after

you and you earn bad points. I've seen that and

it's funny in that regard. I have no interest

in playing it. It's like a World of Warcraft

to me. Another one of those type that I don't

get into. Well, World of Warcraft at least had

some humor in it, especially if you actually

knew the people who made the game. I speak to

that only because I actually used to work for

them at the time when I was there, when the game

was coming out. But that's beside the point.

Pity the fool. Yeah It's the only thing I remember

from World of Warcraft is the mr. T ads All right,

so we are apparently no longer using the elder

scrolls next up on the list is Kind of a RPG

FPS Is there such a thing I guess so according

to what it says on It's a page online It is called

Borderlands Six lists Michael Wilson gave it

a ten cheek lover gave it six on their number

six on their list Birdman of course has it on

his list So yeah, I Like this series. I still

have it. I play it still The first one I thought

was really good the second one when they brought

in the handsome Jack I was kind of like, okay

look, you're just annoying as hell, but There's

a lot of a lot of little things in there. That's

just hilarious and wrong Tiny Tina who is I want

to say she's supposed to be like a seven or eight

year old and she talks about how she's got You

have to she sends you out on a mission to go

get one of her toys and she goes, ah, check out

the gazungas on her. Ah Yeah, I mean it's wrong

on so many levels but It's actually a really

good good FPS RPG type of thing. Yeah, I like

it. It's I'm I probably should have put it on

my list and didn't not my cup of tea. I know

Michael Wilson swears by these games. I was recording

with him a couple nights ago for the Phineas

and Ferb show that we're gonna be doing and actually

it was a couple weeks ago and I saw on Facebook

somewhere something someone posted a link about

Borderlands 3 and I'm like oh hey Michael look

he's like of course there's gonna be a Borderlands

3 Well, I should probably mention for those Mm

-hmm tales of the Borderlands, which is like

telltale games came out with this thing. Yeah

Don't just don't I think he liked it. I think

I don't know why he liked it, but I think he

did like it it is an adventure style game, but

It just did not carry. Well, I got it for free

like the first I want to say the first two episodes

of it or something like that Through PlayStation

Network it would yeah Yeah, I have I have no

interest in it I'd rather play portal. I Kind

of agree with you there. Yeah 37 never has been

The phrase eat me been so true And that's coming

in at number 37 in a row. Kirby. 197 points with

seven lists. He was ranked number six on Scanner

51's list. And yeah. Wow, Kevin gave it 44. He

wasn't... I don't know. And then Neil put it

at 15, so... I can't remember if I put this on

my list or not. If I didn't, that's just... heresy

Kirby is the Nintendo version of the Megamate

it sucks and blows I'm not saying that the games

are I'm saying the character of Kirby it's the

Nintendo version of the Megamate it sucks and

blows yes yes but can you guys but can't you

whistle I think I made that joke twice in the

last week and a half I don't know. Kirby is the

great child of Mr. Iwata. Basically, Nintendo's

genius. Not really the best at running the company,

but God, he was great at making games. And characters.

Yeah, and characters. But yeah, most of my exposure

to Kirby, like I'd played a couple of the games

on the Super Nintendo back in the day. I never

owned a Super Nintendo. So I really didn't have

that much exposure with it as far as that I played

other people's but um I've played some of the

Mostly I've used them on Smash Brothers like

all the Smash Brothers games he's in them So

I've gotten to enjoy the character a lot from

that But uh, yeah, that's that's about my exposure

I'm showing my age but that's I enjoyed the character.

I remember Kirby in Dreamland. I remember a few

of his first games, but yeah, you're right. I

mean, it's pretty much, and you know, he's one

of the only people, one of the only characters

on this half of the countdown at this point,

outside of a few other ones. Oh God, Neil, I'm

surprised I didn't think about putting this in

pixels. Kirby right back at you. He's got his

own cartoon series. Oh God pixels in the animation

is never gonna die folks Wow But I remember playing

a few of his games but like Steve said I pretty

much remember using him in Super Smash Brothers

and Smash Brothers all that stuff The games are

just so they're so good. They're they're kind

of I hate to say it but baby Platform games there,

but they're really good. They're really fun to

play. They're just not very difficult and Yeah,

you Trying to think of what other games is like

basically you like Mike said you suck in enemies,

but you also take their powers So you'll get

you'll suck in an enemy and you'll get like the

sword or like a fire whip or something It's really

cool. It's very Very creative system and the

NES one is really good. It's like the I believe

it is the largest NES game in terms of file size

that was ever released in North America. It's

it's like and it shows because the graphics are

amazing. It's almost like it almost looks like

a Genesis game because of how graphically good

it is. It doesn't it doesn't look like a Nintendo

game. Yeah, it's like leaps and bounds above

virtually anything else on the system. And unfortunately,

Kirby seems to come along at the end of the system

cycle all the time. Because Kirby's Adventure

and Kirby's Dream Land 3 were both released at

the very end of a system lifespan. So not a lot

of people got to play them, but they're classics.

Definitely get them on Virtual Console. Well,

this game, I'm not sure how much I'm gonna be

able to talk about. But it came in at 215 points

on seven lists it is civilization Okay, it's

that whole sim city kind of feel but It was I

liked it. I the the second one was one of my

favorites Especially when you got into where

you'd like see the advisors If you have if you

have the Civilization two or higher. They actually

put like video clips in and the entertainment

advisor was hilarious because He would start

out in like a toga and then as as you progress

through Civilization and you started getting

things further on He would change he would still

be an Elvis like an Elvis impersonator but he

would start out the toga and then he'd work his

way up and he'd be like wearing Elizabethan garb

and Finally you get into modern times and he's

he's Elvis and he comes out and he says the people

they love you Yeah, I remember people talking

about Civ 5 But I've never actually I've never

actually really seen these games I'm looking

at some of these images now and it just doesn't

look like Kind of reminds me of Age of Empires.

I Can see that a little? Yeah, except Age of

Empires burned out Well, yeah, no, I know that

I'm saying because I've never actually seen most

of the sieve stuff Looking at some of the images

like the main game screen in Civ 2 You know looking

at that. It reminds me of the the topographical

Age of Empires stuff But Yeah, I could see that

being on here. I really don't have much to comment

on this because I've not played it. I know that

they go all the way from like the beginning of

time into outer space and starships and things

like that, but it's the Sid Meier. They did some

spinoffs with it later on where they went to

Alpha Centauri and that's kind of part of it

is as you play the game. The big thing is that

you're going to launch and leave earth and go

to Alpha Centauri, which is the closest closest

star that they think has capability of life But

it's all in all I think it is a good series if

you guys haven't played it I would recommend

at least trying trying it see if you can find

like the old Civ 2 or Civ 3 Civ 4 Some of them

they have one. I want to say it's Civ 5 for the

PlayStation which, eh, it's okay. It's clunky

because you have to play with it. It's meant

for a mouse, like, you know, point and click

type thing. Having to try and play it with a

game pad and the analog joysticks, it's difficult.

It's frustrating with that. So if you can play

it on a PC, do it that way. Well, here's another

one that's gonna be rhyming with what you typed

in that chat box. It comes in at 223 points with

seven lists and the highest voter is unknown

because they didn't put their name And then there's

Matt Stewart who was number nine it is Gears

of War All righty then yeah As far as I know

it's a first -person shooter I know it's on Xbox.

Yeah, it's done by Epic Games, which also was

responsible for the Unreal Tournament series.

And there's been four games in the franchise.

It's actually a third -person shooter, so you

usually see the character. But yeah, it's been

on only Microsoft systems. It's kind of an exclusive,

kind of like Halo. Yeah, the guy that developed

it actually used to work on Unreal tournaments,

so it's kind of funny that it's split off from

there. Yeah, I don't know too much about it.

I haven't really had a chance to play it. It's

on my eventual get -to list. Especially lately

I've been playing a lot of first -person shooters

so I can kind of see that Gears of War 4 is upcoming

but they have had one two three and Gears of

War judgment So I'll say the only thing I know

about this game Paul jr. Made a bike for American

Chopper that ended up down at Comic Con and I

saw the bike. Oh Okay I know nothing about this

game. When I said I was a classic gaming guy,

I meant it, folks. People listening to this have

got to be like, get the hell out of here, you

RPG hipster. Go play your Langrisser. Wow, that's

pulling something out of your ass right there.

I know nothing about this. Well, it's only gonna

be uphill from here next up on the agenda is

something I know a lot about And it's got 224

points on seven lists Highest voter was Ryan

Altman and cheek lover at 8th on their list.

I ranked it at 16 It is the command and conquer

series Know a lot about the series because I've

played all of the games other than like the renegades

I I love renegades renegade was the only one

I really played wasn't that the first person

shooter? Yes, that's why I played it I still

to this day play on real tournament or not. What

am I going on your own? I'm reading something

about on real tournament on gears of war command

and conquer. I still play red alert to this day

It's actually still installed on my computer

here and in my laptop. So that's my my go -to

just Guilty pleasure game just to sit there and

mess with it Even though I realize that there's

unreal turn heard red alert three Yes, me sequels

my head right now There's red alert three. I

have not played that one but I've played like

the Tiberium stuff and the The original games

red alert to or to the expansion red alert one

and then that expansion It's it's it's a really

fun strategy game. Yeah, I like the very first

one they came out with when they had I can't

remember the bad guy team and they had Yeah GDI

I love playing this GDI I never actually beat

the game as nod but that was like one of my favorite

strategy games up until starcraft came in and

i was just like oh my god the music for it i

love the music as stupid as it is you know just

the the gdi music when you have the commando

and running around and i'm just like this is

great i love this game especially when they walk

around and go acknowledged yes and then you could

uh You could put your troops in certain areas

and I loved it when you got the Like red alert

to brought the prism towers and the prism tanks,

but you got the Tesla tanks and the Tesla coils

in red alert in the expansion for that and We

actually used to hook up we had an Ethernet cord

in at my dad's house And we would hook it up

between two computers and play network with this

game. So it was one of those games that we had

a lot of fun playing and like I said I still

play Red Alert 2 to this day and it's still entertaining.

Granted I know how to beat the game blindfolded

but I just played it for something that I could

mindlessly shut off and just destroy the computer.

That's what I use renegade for because I am so

renegade is a first and third person shooter

it mixes between the two That's I absolutely

love playing that game back in the day I Feel

bad because I've never played red alert or red

alert to or any of the anything with like the

Tesla towers and I really want to and I think

at the time my computer had just taken a dump

and I had no cash couldn't go out and buy a new

one So I missed out on all the red alerts. Funny

thing is, now you can buy the entire series on

Steam. Or Origin, I believe it is. Yeah, Origin.

You can buy like the entire series for like 20,

30 bucks or something. And it's like every Command

& Conquer game. And I, because I recently actually,

because I have an Origin account for Battlefield,

I got Red Alert 2 on that for free. like a full

version that doesn't need any kind of patch to

run without a disc right so oh yeah moving on

next up with 229 points on six lists we have

uh highest rank is four and five by uh marion

and trevor wilcox so we have lego games this

is like all of the lego games encompassing So,

Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, all that stuff.

I don't know if you remember the first ever Lego

game to come out. No, I don't. It came out in

like the 90s because I owned it. Oh, damn. It

was like the Something Brick Adventure. Game

I'm trying to god. Yes. I remember I remember

this now. I don't remember what the game was

called, but I remember it now It was like Lego

Island The Lego Lego Island the brick adventure

something like that. Yeah, the brick adventure.

Yeah, it was made by mindscape and it came out

in 1997 I remember playing this stupid game and

the computer that I had at the time because it

you know Obviously they weren't made for this

kind of stuff right at that point Used to run

like garbage so the game would like kind of jump

along while I was trying to drive these You know

do the skateboard trying to build stuff trying

to chase the stupid guy in a car And it was it

was fun at the time for what it was but it was

terrible Yeah, I assume that that by uh saying

lego games what people are mainly talking about

are the uh the traveler sale games which is like

you said lego batman lego uh star wars you know

they're lumping these all these lego games together

into one big pot i guess i guess what they're

saying is that everything is awesome a little

bit with my with my nephew they're they're okay

games they're They're fun. So the licensed property

games started with Lego creator Harry Potter.

Yeah, and then we went into Star Wars and then

Indiana Jones and Batman rock Lego rock band.

Oh my god. They did that Yes, yes, they did my

favorite so far though is Lego dimensions. It's

It is a guilty pleasure. I will admit that freely.

I want one called Lego dementia. I'm not sure

I remember what that is. I forget how many characters

are in it, but they're not important enough to

remember. Apparently this year at some point.

They're going to be coming out with Marvel's

Avengers and Star Wars the farce awakens They

already they already came out with the Avengers

one. I own it Okay, well force awakens. I'm just

Force awakens drops Next week. Yeah, June Something

like that. I have to say that the best thing

about these games is that your kids can play

them, and you don't have to step on Legos. Yeah,

that's true. Which is like, unique pain. There

is nothing like stepping on a Lego. There's also

nothing like stepping on a Lincoln Log either,

so... But Lego Dimensions is probably the only

one that I would actively seek out. uh... it

they have some interesting packs in here they've

got a dc comics pack they've got a scooby -doo

pack they've got a jurassic world pack they've

got uh... ghostbusters the ghostbusters run is

pretty awesome uh... are they all male? please

tell me they're all male yes yes they are thank

god they are what does that say about the dress?

that's a hate mail to Mike if you think of it

Yeah, and it's all the original stuff, so it's

pretty good When you come out like I'll have

to let you play it so you can see how it's like

And just to clarify I don't care that they're

females. I just don't think that they should

be those females Can we get to Batman yet, please

Somebody has to have put that Sunsoft game on

here somewhere coming in at 250 points on nine

lists we have doom The doom franchise the original

for a person shooter that was actually good I

Know I said I thought Castle Wolfenstein was

good, getting to kill Hitler. Come on. Wolfenstein

3D is amazing. For its time. Yeah. You know what's

really surprised me on this list? Is if Myst

even shows up anywhere. Oh my god. Wow. You wanted

to hear me talk bad about a game. I couldn't

tell you where it ended up. No! The only thing

the only bad thing I'm gonna say about doom here

is that they came out with four books based on

it and I Don't know which is worse No, no the

books are right up there. It's it's a tough call

I kid you not because after the first book It

can't get any worse, can it? And you keep reading

it because you just want to know. It's like an

accident that you can't stop looking at. So basically

what he's saying, folks, is the Doom books are

essentially like... Hell on Earth? No, no. They're

like the Donkey Show on Clerks 2. Yeah, I was

knee deep in the dead, we'll put it that way.

Level of Doom 1. Yeah, I... Sticking strictly

with the games, I really enjoyed the first Doom

game. I really really enjoyed Doom 2. Then they

came out with Ultimate Doom where they kind of

had an extra wad file that went to Doom 1 and

then they had Final Doom which were basically

a continuation of Doom 2 and it was two new packs.

It was like the plutonium something and then

the they had something else after that but then

they they rebooted again and came out with like

doom 3 and then now they've got this newest version

so it's definitely got a long -lasting franchise

the wad files are amazing i remember there were

so many of those there were wads basically turned

it into an alien game the the alien version of

doom that you could download from the internet

back then was better than the actual FPS Doom

game that came out on, I don't know, was it on

the Jaguar? That game was awful and the Doom

version was amazing. I loved where you could

add on wad files of like, there was one where

somebody skinned the game to have Star Trek The

Next Generation levels and Star Trek weapons

and costumes. So like you were killing red shirts.

You could put the Nazis from doom or from Wolfenstein

into doom which which What what like complete

360 because they they actually made a level in

one of the later versions of doom that That had

a Wolfenstein level. I think it was a hidden

level Well, they did that again in Wolfenstein

the old blood Yeah, but this this series definitely

had a long -lasting franchise and to answer the

question about this that was number 117 It had

three voters, so just wanted to get that out

there before we concluded doom Speaking of which,

I played Doom the other day, or Doom 2, on my

computer, if we're online. Yes. They had it on

a site that you could actually play it through

a flash player type thing. So I was like, oh,

and the cheat codes still work. Because I remember

them all. IDKFA to get the keys and the weapons

and ammo, and then IDDQD for god mode, and IDClip

for clipping so you can walk through the walls.

Ladies and gentlemen, VCRN's Top 50 Video Games

just gave you Chico's The Doom 2, yay! Well,

it works for all the Doom games, actually. There's

also ID, LEV, and then you type in the level

number and it'll jump to that level too. Then

aside... Also, never play these games on a console.

No. No. PC only. PC only. 31 coming up with 272

points on a list we have a game that i and michael

wilson ranked at the highest michael wilson ranked

in six i ranked it at seven didn't did it didn't

um sorry i saw the doom song thing um no let's

not sing the dude no damn it neil invader's um

um Number 31 is Diablo I've played all those

games. I've played Diablo 1 and back when in

the day when they had the clans and I played

Diablo 2 for the longest time plus It was fun

when you had people try and beat you when they

hacked their character heavily and then you had

a special Hacking program where you could de

-hack their character down to level 1 and then

all of their items would drop You couldn't pick

them up, but it was just hilarious to watch And

then of course doom or Diablo 3 is out and I

bought that when I came out and Played through

the expansion. I have not played that game in

about six months But I still load it periodically

to update it because it's online only But I still

enjoy the game. I don't play any of the earlier

ones anymore, but I still enjoy playing Diablo

3 Well, I don't know if you remember but they

had an expansion for the original Diablo. Yep,

and they gave you a monk in that one Yep, and

I remember playing the monk and I thought that

was pretty cool And then Diablo 2 came out and

I was like, holy crap. This is a whole new game.

I Played the crap out of that. So did I I Enjoyed

it. I my favorite character to play as was the

necromancer and I used to After I would beat

the game of course I'd go back through and I'd

continue leveling up until it was just impossible

and then I would hack the character so I could

have 30 skeletons and 30 mage skeletons running

around and I could just stand there and let my

henchmen do all the work for me Great great game.

Yes Difficult game but very great So next up

we have with 291 points on ten lists and the

highest ranker here was Doug and Trevor at six

and this is Gran Turismo Hey, this is a pretty

good series I liked it I actually own every single

one of the Gran Turismo games that have come

out so far and It I will say that it probably

is one of those games that gets better if you

have a wheel I Stupidly when I had Gran Turismo

for right after I bought Gran Turismo for I tried

to buy Logitech had this wheel and they had this

attachment that you could Put between your legs.

You're supposed to like sit on it and steer with

the wheel Don't ever do that. It's like trying

to drive a truck You think yeah Yeah, but it

is it is an awesome series the everything with

it is spot -on like the original tracks If you

watch if you watch actual racing up at Laguna

Seca it is the track is exactly the same you

can actually see and Hit the spot hit the stopping

points just before the corkscrew when you come

down in Laguna Seca and it is It is spot -on

it the cars feel like that the the audio sounds

like that They did a excellent excellent job

for it for everything on that game. I Remember

way back when when this gave these get the series

first started it was like Coming from Need for

Speed trying to play one of these games. It's

like night and day obviously, and I'm just so

like I prefer Being able to crash into cop cars

then just you know Taking another left turn and

another left turn No, I I actually have two of

these games. I've not played them yet, but they

were courtesy of Birdman. So yeah They're they're

good games. If you want realism, they're they're

actually pretty spot -on the only downside to

them Is that you can't actually crash them and

pick up like major damage Well, I take that back

because you do have the ability in four it is

there in four to turn on damage but you don't

actually like get to see a fender being bent

up or anything like that because Ford and Jaguar

and all that they you know, they got their tits

in a ringer about We don't want to see our cars

having damage. We want them look pristine and

look exactly like they are This is part of us

letting you see the the advanced models You said

Ben Defender. All I can think of is Hot Rod talking

a cup in the movie. He didn't even bend a fender.

It all comes back to Transformers, folks. Stop

taking the low road night. No, no, no. That's

your job. You always do that. I like the low

road. Anyway. So yeah, Gran Turismo. Neil, ever

play a racing game like this one? Nope, I mean

I appreciate it for what for what it is, but

I I don't have a very good relationship with

racing games in general, but That one it's just

like it just seems like you're just driving around

and nothing exciting happens So not really my

thing I can understand if you're like a car enthusiast

like this must be like Jay Leno's favorite game

or something But it's it's just not for me Well

a car guy you lose cars and they do have they

do have in four they actually have This this

Jay Leno Blastoline Brothers car that they made

and you can drive it So it's something you can

unlock and drive in the game you can blow stuff

up NASCAR because I turn around and I'd smash

the cars going the opposite direction and Mario

Kart 64 So waiting for that one This is Kevin

Conway and I am the goddamn Batman Steve just

killed our spirits folks and we can't tell you

why we'll tell you why next week at the end of

the show. Yep Yes People are gonna be upset about

that one, too. Yeah, so coming in at 297 points

on nine lists I have it at number six on my list,

so I'm the highest ranger. It is the Batman Arkham

games. They're about to re -release those. Yes,

they're about to re -release Arkham Asylum and

City remastered with all of the DLC for the Xbox

One and PS4. I love how that trailer makes it

sound like it's a brand new game for a brand

new generation Well, it is for a new generation

because it came out like ten years ago And it

was those first two games were only on ps3. So

well, they were an Xbox 360 Well, I'm thinking

Sony anyway Yeah, cuz I have them through the

360 I actually and I have all the DLC to them

too. But uh I have Arkham Origins, but that's

a completely different company, and I wasn't

as fond with that. Anyways, that completes the

Kevin Conroy universe of the Batman games with

Mark Hamill and so on. Those are just some superbly

done Batman games. Something that we've never

seen before that, and probably won't see again

after Arkham Knight. I hope that they do this

treatment with some more of the DC characters

But I it's hard to say but I really love this

year you want to see a Superman type game like

this no, but I think I'd like to see like flash

or like green arrow or Okay, okay characters

that are more grounded not Superman. Can you

imagine? Yeah, can you imagine a? Arkham asylum

or city type game like the way that it's You

know, the way that it's done with the open world

and all that, with the Green Lantern Corps, and

have as many of them as you possibly can. They

tried to have a Green Lantern game, and it sucked.

Well, that's because the movie did shitty. Well,

that's because the mechanics of the game sucked,

too. So, yeah. But yeah, the series, I think,

was really a well -done thing, and I really enjoy

it, and I'm kind of glad that it hit on the list

at all. I think outside of the graphics and the

voice acting and all that stuff, the thing with

the two Arkham games, Asylum and City, is you

had Paul Dini on writing. I mean, you can't go

wrong with Paul Dini on writing. I remember reading

the trade paperback for Arkham City that tied

events between Asylum and City. It was just absolutely

amazing. I don't know where we are, but I sure

hope the natives are friendly. Hello, can you

tell us where we are? Why, Tetris, of course.

Any blockhead knows that. I'm Mayor Squaresley.

Unusable. Line piece. No, no, no. Line piece.

Lord, you have forsaken us all. Coming in on

number 28 is... With 307 points on 10 lists,

it is ranked number seven on Rachel Manning's

and five on David Baruffi's. It is Tetris. What?

Hey, it's a movie. Oh, no. No, you had to bring

that down. You rat bastard. See, I didn't even

rank this because I wasn't even sure if Tetris

could be a franchise. I'm like, but it's just

a puzzle game. I mean, it's been it's been like

reinvented a couple of times. They tried to make

a Tetris to. And what was the other one? It was

like Tetris Attack, which doesn't even, I don't

think that one even counts. Puzzle League. See,

I think for me, where this counts as a video

game franchise is how many platforms. And how

many times it keeps reappearing. I suppose. Right.

Yeah. I mean, there's so many different platforms

I've played this game on and so many different

versions of it. But yeah, good old Tetris. Yeah,

good old Mayor Squaresley. Oh God damn it Mike.

Come on It's it's it's Optimus Primal as Mayor

Squaresley. You don't bring in Captain N. Of

course you do. You bring Captain N in somewhere

I mean, it's not like we're gonna have Burger

Time show up on this list. There are some nice

creative iterations of Tetris. The one I like

the most on PlayStation 1 is called Tetris Plus,

where there's a little guy in the puzzle area,

and you've got to get him to the door. It's usually

at the bottom of the screen. To do that, you

have to clear away the blocks. I think you can

actually crush him. There's a spiked ceiling

that's coming down. It's a really neat Variation

on the game. It's really fun and I recommend

anyone like go find that And of course the original

Game Boy version still the best I I love that

version The original Game Boy version is always

gonna be the best version for me It really really

is because that was a game that you could it

didn't matter how many times you You played it

or whatever you could always have it be interesting

every single time out um and it's even better

to play it now because you can actually see it

yeah that's it's very very true take that dmg

But yeah, I mean Tetris is always Tetris is one

of those things that I've always loved it because

of not only the gameplay but just the just the

music in it it's got some of the coolest the

Gameboy version is some of the has some of the

coolest music some classical Russian pieces that

I don't know the names of But yeah, they're that

music is awesome There's also a Game Boy Color

version, which doesn't have those tunes, but

it's it's still a good version. Well, I unfortunately

regret putting this on my Raspberry Pi because

now my wife sees that I'm playing with the Nintendo

version games and she really goes, hey, hey,

can we play Tetris? And then she proceeds to

kick my ass and dance to the music when she's

playing it. So I'm like, yeah, we're not playing

this anymore. I'm taking it off. Tetris is so

amazing because that that was the original casual

game. It was the original game that got parents

playing games. In fact, my parents used to borrow

the goddamn Gameboy from me. And in fact, they

didn't even call it the Gameboy. They called

it Tetris. They're like, can I borrow Tetris?

Like, God damn it. I want to play Mario. Yeah.

The music since you brought it up track type

C on Gameboy is an arranged version of French

suite number three and B minor which was done

by Johann Sebastian Bach And type A is by someone

I can't even pronounce so I'm not even gonna

try that cops here something probably out of

it No, I know how to pronounce it touch it. Whatever.

Yeah Damn it, Doug, you ass! Tetris sees master

of blocks. Line piece! He's a cruel and vengeful

god! Tetris God by College Humor is the best

Tetris skit ever. I still have that on a CD.

Yeah. Absolutely. It'll be in the episode here

somewhere. 27. Next up on the list is at 310

points on 11 lists. Number 2 on David Bruffey's

list. I think it's the highest one. And then

number 8 on Doug's. And number 4 on the unknown

lister. We have... Madden. Wow, I can't believe

I actually put it that high. Sports ball! Yay!

The I'll say this the early Madden I liked it

The early mad before they went to pay something.

Yes Yeah back a little like that 95 and so I

loved it then now not so much I Have no comment

I don't play sports games unless it's hockey

we get a clip of Frank Caliendo doing Madden

in this Oh, please! Please! Like, do the one

where he's describing how football works, it's

hilarious. And Brett Favre. Brett Favre, yeah.

You gotta have him talking about Brett Favre.

No, Brett Favre. I think the only Madden game

I've ever played was Madden 2000. I think that's

the only one I ever played. Because I was more

of a NFL Blitz fan than anything else. NFL Blitz

basically just let you do whatever the hell you

wanted to. Actually, I just remembered something.

The Madden engine on Sega Genesis was actually

modified once and converted into Newton League

football, which is my only real experience with

the Madden franchise. Well, you know that it

was also used for the Joe Montana football, right?

Oh, that's right. The Madden people had to make

their own competition because I guess the Joe

Montana game was falling behind. That's hilarious.

That's one of my favorite classic gaming stories.

So yay, sports ball! Coming up next with 337

points on Ted List. It's number one on Brad Mull's

list, number two on my list, and it's number

nine on Doug's list. It is...Battlefield. I remember

playing...1932 in Vietnam. The coolest thing

at the time with battlefield Vietnam was I believe

and I could be wrong about this But I believe

it was the first one that allowed you to use

your own music in it Which was really really

cool But I just love the battlefield series Because

they explore multiple versions of war hell they

even have a futuristic one 2142 which is in my

closet somewhere, but I just love the... You're

talking about video game realism. This franchise

is pretty damn good. Yeah, they've had like 1941,

Vietnam, 1942, an expansion of that. They've

had, you know, Battlefield 2, 2142, Bad Company,

Bad Company 2 online. They've had... Battlefield

3, 4, Hardline, and then 1 is coming out later

this year. I've played some of the earlier Battlefields

online back in the early 2000s with my brother

online, which funny enough, I wasn't very good

then. And I've actually gotten better now by

playing Battlefield 4 with my family, my dad,

and my brother's play. And I have it on the 360

and on my PC so I play it consistently between

the two My favorite thing to do is run through

the game with a M law which I don't know what

that's short for but it's It's an anti -tank

gun kind of like an RPG, but not yes. I refer

to it as Megatron's fusion cannon And I use it

as a sniper rifle and I'm really good with it

A fusion cannon as a sniper rifle. That's just

scary. Well, it's overkill because if I take

them out, I take around the scenery with them,

maybe part of the building, and I'll take out

their buddies, too. So... You're that bastard

who does that. Yeah. They hate me in close quarters

because if I'm about to be shot and killed, I

point at the ground and I kill us both. If I'm

going, I'm taking somebody with me. I'm that

guy that sits on the other side of the map and

I wait until I see these guys shooting my teammates

and then I stand there and I just I nail them

with the my M law, but I'm also good with the

the claymores too. They hate me for that reason

too. I could talk all night on that game, but

anybody else have thoughts on it? I'm trying

to look up this weapon you're talking about.

The M law? Yeah. I'll say this battlefield the

early battlefields. I thought were great. I Didn't

care much for battlefield three, which it just

seemed to kind of spiral down for me bad company

kind of redeemed itself because I thought there

was a bit more humor in that and It just seemed

a little bit more arcade, I guess But you know

other than that I did like the series it just

was like three and 3 and 4, and when they went

into the future, I kind of went, eh, that's when

I lost interest. Yeah, 2142 is not the best in

the series. I gotta say, though, like, I mean,

out of the entire franchise, like, even the early

games, okay, so you had Battlefield 1942, you

had Battlefield 1943, you had Battlefield Vietnam.

I thought the... way of doing these games was

they were going to showcase various wars in world

history. And then they jumped the shark with

2142, basically going into the future. And then

I thought they jumped the shark again last year

with Hardline, because Hardline to me, when I

saw the trailer, and Steve you can tell me if

I'm wrong about this, it basically looks like

Battlefield meets Grand Theft Auto. It is. See

that's not a battlefield game to me a battlefield

Lee It's basically got the dynamics of battlefield

you run through stuff you Basically, it's cops

and robbers. That's what you're actually playing

and it's but it's got the the mission dynamics

of Battlefield built in and so it's more it's

more battlefield, but it's still basically all

they do is retheme instead of being You know

the the the Chinese or or whatever and Americans

you're playing cops and robbers It's it's the

same premise. It's just you know you're changing

the the skin of the The heroes and villains that's

basically all it is I prefer when they actually

do war stuff So yeah, that's our Top that's number

26. So that's the first half of the countdown.

We're gonna take a quick break come back with

Final reactions after this we brought the entire

Convention Center to the brink of an inter -genre

geek war We're going to tackle this podcast thing.

We've got to do something really special. It

has to be cool daily in audio form and undetectable

by radar, something that screams summer. I know,

let's do a Phineas and Ferb review podcast. We'll

call it the Podcast Organization Without a Quillacronym,

or Pauka for short. What do you think? I think

if we're not careful, Candice is going to bust

us. You can find Pauka on the GeekCast, Radio

Network, iTunes, Blog Talk Radio, and all of

the other methods you find podcasts. Alright

folks, that's numbers 50 to 26 here on the GCR

in top 50 video game franchise countdown. Neil,

final thoughts on the first half of the countdown?

Pretty diverse mix so far. I know I'm kind of

like a niche gamer, so like there are a lot of

these PC games coming up where I'm like, uh,

kind of sit over here quietly, but I'm sure.

That there will be much more for me to talk about

in the uh, top 25 Let's hope I mean because I

have no idea what to expect out of this countdown.

I expect some plumbers maybe a head And some

some guy in a green tunic who swings his sword

around My god, if there's none of that. There's

a serious problem with people out there We will

riot on this with without saying there are about

like 10 modern games Maybe about about I would

say a good half of the the list is gonna be modern

games and a good half is gonna be classic But

I don't I can't like give away what they are

and where they placed There might be riots. I

don't know Yeah, well, but I think all the games

that ended up in the top 25 from what I'm seeing

actually deserve to be in the top 25 Okay, that

that's fair So it's it looks very These are like

iconic franchises that everybody knows like all

25 so That's good All right, there you have it

First half of the top 50 next week is the top

25 reveal Steve where can the people find you

online on the Twitter's at SCP 21 Neil P Lynn

Bailey on Twitter And occasionally, Nilsama.

Yes, occasionally. Yeah. Doug. Oh, man. You're

opening it up again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know.

Just saying. At spruzzout, S -P -R -Z -O -U -T.

Is there some Brussels in there somewhere? I

am, of course, at TF2. And Mike, you can follow

at GeekCastRadio for all the other network updates.

Thank you for listening, until next time.