Japan Gaming Guide

The countdown continues…

90. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (PC/Amiga)

The greatest text adventure in the history of the universe, if you don’t know what a text adventure is – try this.  If your boss doesn’t know what a text adventure is you can play it at work.

89. Gran Turismo (Playstation)

Before Gran Turismo most games had 5 or 6 cars and a few tracks.  This was the first game to give the player everything but the kitchen sink, hundreds of cars, and the right balance of realism and action.  The sequel added more bells and whistles than the aging playstation could cope with and ran like a pig, but the third game saw the series return to form.

88. Rainbow Islands (Arcade/Amiga)

A charismatic platform game – deceptively simple at first it comes to life when you start trying to collect the bonuses in the correct order to unlock the secrets.

87. Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)

Because police chases never get boring.

86. Metroid Prime (Gamecube)

Gloriously atmospheric adventure/shooter hybrid.  Another Super Nintendo classic rubbed with the 3d stick.

85. Ferrari Challenge (Dreamcast)

Pure high quality racing – in some ways Yu Suzuki’s game was too hardcore for its own good. As with stablemate Virtua Fighter 3tb, the player was presented with brilliantly realised environments  and perfectly tuned gameplay – but very little structure to the game.  Ferrari Challenge demanded perseverance – but it rewarded those faithful enough to stick with it.

84. Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis/Megadrive)

The sheer buzz of tearing through green hill zone even faster than the game could scroll was one of gaming’s great moments.  Sonic had a charisma and charm that outshone the occasionally clunky level design

83. Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)

This has one of the best soundtracks of any game ever – the music fits so well with the gameplay and helps you suspend disbelief as you sink into the turbo charged roller blades of a faux-Tokyo cyber graffiti gang.

82. Star Raiders (Spectrum)

Saving games was fraught with peril in the 8-bit days.  It often involved tapes, which often didn’t load what was saved onto them.  Star Raiders let you save the galaxy in a single play session.  Fantastic.

81. Bomb Jack (Spectrum/Arcade)

Another game which only really showed its teeth once you started going for the tricky bonuses – in this case collecting all the onscreen bombs in order whilst avoiding the bad guys.  Simple, but compelling.

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