PixlBit

Considering that Ultima 7 came out in 1992, and Doom came out in 93, I think anyone would be hard pressed to make that case for Super Metroid, which you can say was just refining already well trod ground, not advancing the state of the art of game design or causing a paradigm shift. In any case, I vehemently am against this need to heirarchize games that people have. I roll my eyes everytime a game site rolls out their arbitrary Top Games list. I don't see that it benefits anything to hold one game above all others, and I don't even think a rational argument for such can be made that isn't rife with bias fueled by emotionality, nostalgia, etc. I don't think any kind of thorough and cool-headed analysis would come to such a conclusion.  So essentially I agree with you, although I wouldn't say EVERY game is special. We gotta let garbage just be garbage sometimes.

Sure, that would be great. Almost horror makes any game better imo

Bro Wizardry 7 is considered one of the greatest CRPGs of all time. Vaporum would have to be special indeed to top that. Speaking of, have you played Grimoire? Heavily inspired by Wiz7. Was in development for 20 years. Yes, 20 YEARS.

Forgot to add Shadowrun.

Donkey Country 2

Super Ghouls and Ghosts

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

 Mega Man X and X2

Space Megaforce

Contra 3

Romancing SaGa 2 and 3 (if using emulator)

I don't really want to start a discussion on the topic and/or takeaway from your subject, but there are too many people who see a certain religious text and think the purpose is to copy the actions (often not peace loving) of those within, rather than take a deeper look and see what a particular story/verse is conveying. We don't do that with other mythologies. Greek citicizens didn't slay their wives' asshole suitors and execute the help because Odysseus did lol

Glad you're hanging in there. I wonder though: there is often vitriol in your blog posts. Always cursing something or someone, many times things that don't warrant that kind of reaction. You might want to watch that. You may think it's just you being you or that it's harmless, but it may be creating a negative 'energy field' for yourself, which doesn't help if you have clinical mental illness. I know a few people like this and they are not happy individuals. And yes I'm going to go here, but: there is a biblical admonishment to be careful of the words that are in our thoughts and come out of our mouths. This is an idea shared by many other religions and philosophies, as well as something touched upon by metaphysics and in self-help/improvement circles.

Just something to consider. Take care, the struggle is real.

"The games are unparalleled at stealth gameplay mechanics"  Aww hell naw. Play Thief 1 and 2 and come back to that statement. MGS plays like Pac Man in comparison. That's the reason I'd say they are overrated. Stealth games where the stealth mechanics, except in the last game maybe, are paper thin and were behind the curve as soon as Thief, with its rich and detailed immersive sim approach, dropped the same year MGS1 came out.

 From what I can tell, at least on the internet, Adventure of Link is mad underrated. It was still more popular in its day than Wind Waker, which now people are claiming they always thought was one of the best to get their counter culture points. Revisionism at its finest.

If anything it got me to thinking what makes something fun for people. That's a large topic worthy of analysis. Calling something fidgeting (i.e. manipulating objects without any goal and/or that doesn't involve risk or or is built around win/lose outcomes) may at first seem like a perjorative, and initially I was going to use it as such, but then I decided to consider why you found the platforming fun even though the thrill of courting danger isn't there as it is in similar games. From a psychological perspective, it's obvious that humans derive pleasure from non-demanding or low risk play/manipulation of objects (like a top, or a video game character) in itself, and scientific research has probably come to some conclusions why. Every video game player has probably spent time in a running in circles, throwing grenades at themselves, jumping in place, etc.  Anyway, I think it's important to dissect our notions about video games, notions of fun, quality, the point of various design approaches, etc.

I thought Tekken 1 was a turd, while 2 was great and one of the best fighters around back then. All the Tekkens after 1 were much better than it, actually.

I know not all jumps are auto corrected. That any of them are is enough for me to dismiss this element of the game as trivial. I thought to myself why is there even any lip service paid to scaling heights when falling from said heights is not a danger. Might as well have all this stuff 3 feet off the ground. It's just something for people to fidget with, which is a valid approach to game design if people derive some sort of pleasure from it I guess. It is basically the approach most AAA games take these days. For me it's akin to guys with guns who can't hurt you. Thematically contradictory and not very interesting to engage with.

As for your question, that's a big one. Off the top of my head:

Street Figher 2, Baldur's Gate 2, Super Mario 3, Assassin's Creed 2, GTA3, Tekken 2, Final Fantasy 12 (over 10, not the MMO), Street FIghter Alpha 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer. A lot more I don't have time to think of right now lol