All the formalities are over and it's time to get down to business. Let's kick off the GOTBP Five Year Anniversary tournament with round one. We have three matchups this week, all between great games. But I am looking for the best of the best, my favorite game that I've played over the last five years. So, it's time to get this thing kicked off.
Preliminary Round Matchup One
(6) F-Zero GX vs. (11) Grim Fandango
We start with the lowest seed in the bracket, a PC style adventure/point and click title that I reviewed earlier this year. I have to qualify something here, as it is the only game in the bracket with a 9.25 score and one of many titles with that score. I went backed and looked at all the games I had given that score and decided that GF was the best of them, even if only by a small margin. Mega Man X4 and Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon were also in consideration. But honestly, I don't think any of them would have stood a chance in this round. Because F-Zero GX is an absolute juggernaut.
Reviewed back in 2020, F-Zero GX received a 9.75 and has a first round matchup largely because of how loaded that year was. Off-hand, I know I gave it a higher score than at least three of the games seeded above it. And that is coming from someone that absolutely hates racing games. F-Zero GX provides a sense of speed like no other racing game I have played. It had incredible course design, smooth controls and beautiful graphics, maybe the best of the entire 6th generation. It's so easy to pick up, all you need to do is accelarate, boost and steer. But it is unbelievably tough to master. This game is incredible and gives you a rush like no other game I have played including the ones ranked ahead of it on this list.
That's not to say GF has nothing to offer. It has great, memorable characters and an outstanding story. It has a good variety of puzzles to solve that are challenging, yet very fair. It's still deliberately paced, but it's one of the faster moving adventure games from its era. There's a reason this won game of the year the same year Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2 and The Legend of Zelda:Ocarina of time came out. But there's also a reason that an active racing game hater is rating a racing game so highly. F-Zero moves on and Nintendo still needs to make a new one (and no, F-Zero 100 or whatever it's called doesn't count).
(6) F-Zero GX over (11) Grim Fandango
Preliminary Round Matchup 2
(7) Final Fantasy VII Remake vs. (10) Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
You know, I almost decided to remove any 8th and 9th gen games I played from contention for the bracket, because they really aren't what I focus on and are kind of their own thing. But then you get into some murky territory. Are Chained Echoes and Sea of Stars eligible? Because those are certainly 8th gen games, even if they are specifically designed to not play like them. What about something like 2064:Read Only Memories? Are 7th gen games too modern? If I had to filter out the "actively modern" 8th gen games, I think there would be about four that would have gotten the boot, and FFVII Remake would have been one of them (Horizon: Zero Dawn, Vampyr and Yakuza: Like a Dragon were the others off the top of my head). That's a bit ridiculous, plus FFVIIR is very clearly rooted in old school gaming culture, so I felt it warranted inclusion.
Besides, it's a great game even when you put aside nostalgia for the original. That's another cop out argument, just like aged poorly. That's not to say some developers don't use nostalgia to separate you from you money. Hell, Square is one of the worst culprits (looking at you, all of you stupid mobile games). But FFVIIR is a phenomenal game, it has great graphics, engaging gameplay and a fleshed-out story that will feel right at home to fans of the original while also not alienating newcomers. If anything, I think it strays a little too far from the original, I really had to learn to love the fact that it's not a turn based JRPG. But again, this isn't about nostalgia. This is about how good the game was and if I put the words "Final Fantasy" out of my head before I played it, I would have enjoyed it the same, if not more. I played this early in 2020, probably the last game I have ever bought and will ever buy on release, and initially gave it a 9.5 (reviewed early in 2020) but upped the score to a 9.75 at my year-end review. Since it had its score adjusted, I gave F-Zero the edge in terms of an identical score tiebreaker. I wouldn't want to have people saying nostalgia for the original, which is on my 10's list, clouded my judgement.
Besides, it's not the only nostalgic game in this matchup. I was largely done with Mortal Kombat when I first heard about Deadly Alliance (I reviewed it in 2021), put off by years of stupidity and mediocrity from the franchise. I never liked Mortal Kombat 4 and honestly, always found MK 3 and its ilk to be massively overrated. From the gameplay changes (running and 20 button long dial-a-combos) to the over-the-top silliness (Babalities and Friendships), my interest in the series was at an all-time low. I guess I still had some hope, because I decided to ask for MKDA for Christmas back in '02 and lo and behold, there it was under my tree. It was the first game I fired up that day and right away I realized that Mortal Kombat was back. Yeah, there were still dial-a-combos, but they were much more manageable. All the silliness was gone, each character had only one fatality and they were almost all brutal. Honestly, they almost re-set a little too hard, there were no stage fatalities and even as far back as MK2 everyone had at least two fatalities. But it was just so fun, and for the first time in my life as a gamer, it didn't feel like I was the only person that thought so. Because mine wasn't the only house where Santa dropped off a copy of Deadly Alliance. Because the next day at wrestling practice, it's all my teammates would talk about. I was always kind of an outcast, a huge nerd in a world of popular kids, when it came to wrestling. But for the year that MK was hot, I was actually part of the team. We spent countless hours playing this game, even going so far as to bring a TV and PS2 to the team camp we used to go to together. That was great and all, but Deadly Alliance would still be an awesome game independent all that.
Still, I don't think it was quite as great as FFVIIR. I can't think of many remakes that brought a world and characters I was so attached to into a modern setting so well. The original Resident Evil remake is probably the only one that did it better. I wasn't a huge fan of some of the story changes at first, but they grew on me once I realized this game is more of a re-imagining than a straight up remake. I almost started to like the whole "alternate timeline" or whatever it is they were going for...almost. MKDA was a great fighting game, but it's far from my favorite and I think it could have been improved in a lot of ways. It's still an all-time classic and a must play, but FFVIIR wins here.
(7) Final Fantasy VII Remake over (10) Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Preliminary Round Matchup 3
(8) Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millenium vs. (9) Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
We close the prelims with the first matchup between games with identical scores. Both are once again victims of 2020 being such a strong year, either would have been GOTY or tied for the top score in any other year. Both are outstanding, must play games and in many ways wre very underrated. Shadows is a frequent target of the "aged poorly" people and Phantasy Star is a JRPG on a console not known for the genre that competed against a console that was filled with them. These games are seeded right next to each other...and yet this one wasn't really a close decision for me.
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is an excellent game. When I first got behind the wheel of a snowspeeder and started taking down Imperial walkers, my mind was blown. The full 3D, third-person shooting was also revolutionary at the time, games just didn't look and play like this on console. So, so many games look like this now that I'm surprised Shadows hasn't ever received its due. Its camera isn't perfect, but it's worlds better than what you would see in its contemporaries. It has some great levels with a variety of challenges and locations, has fun and useful weapons and a solid original story that fits neatly between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." It's a bit surprising, since Shadows was such a big deal when it was released, but it never really has been given the credit I feel it deserves.
But even though they scored the same, Phantasy Star IV is a cut above, so much so to the point I think I might have to bump its score up to a 9.75. So, so many people missed out on this series when it came out, largely because of the system it was on. A quick search on Sega Genesis RPGs won't turn up too many results, many of which will actually be adventure games starring elves with swords. But just because there isn't quantity doesn't mean there isn't quality. I was a little disappointed by the Shining Force games, they are very, very good but I didn't love them as much as most people seem to. But I would put PSIV up against any Super Nintendo RPG. The SNES has a bevy of iconic RPGs, but even as a huge fan I will admit they often covered largely similar territory. The Phantasy Star series was revolutionary for its time, giving us things like sci-fi settings and character deaths long before others in the genre were doing those things. Its story isn't the best, but it is told very well and presented with really cool comic book style panels. Its world building is top notch and its core characters are outstanding, even if the secondary ones weren't great. PSIV had its share of problems, many of them are RPG pet peeves of mine (the biggest one: it doesn't tell you what any of the items do) and a few mechanics that were considered dated even when it came out (not being able to choose your party members). But it's an all-time classic, it moves on.
(8) Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millenium over (9) Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Well, no surprises here, it's all chalk. That makes the next round pretty easy to put together.
(1) Shin Megami Tensei:Nocturne vs. (8) Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millenium
(2) Suikoden II vs. (7) Final Fantasy VII Remake
(3) Star Fox 64 vs. (6) F-Zero GX
(4) Sonic Mania vs. (5) Sweet Home
Should make for some interesting matchups.
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