Why This List Exists

I've been wanting to write this for a while. These are my top 10 favorite video games. Not ranked, just celebrated. Games that earned their spot for sentimental reasons. Some because I grew up with them. Some because they gave me memories I'll never forget. Some because their stories are just that good.

You always hear about literary classics, books that shape how people think. Video games do the same thing. People grow up with these games and they leave a mark. Video games aren't just games. They're stories you're a part of. The characters' struggles become yours. I love books, this isn't a jab, but being inside the story hits different.

Halo 2

The Franchise That Started It All

If I didn't mind bloating this list with a single franchise, Halo would take half the spots. I loved Halo: Combat Evolved like no other. It was my first real dive into the FPS genre, this incredible story brought to life in a way that just felt cool. I'm not amazing at shooters by any means, but playing through the campaigns, especially couch co-op, has a permanent soft spot for me. When I play video games, I like enjoying them with people. And couch co-op is unbeatable for that.

But I'm giving this spot to Halo 2. The story, especially bringing in the Arbiter as an ally, was so much fun. Dying over and over on Legendary was frustrating beyond belief, but winning after all that? So rewarding. Being able to play online with friends opened up something I didn't expect either. I made friends with strangers in a way I never thought possible. People you could reconnect with years later. That's wild.

Modding, Super Jumps, and the Stuff You Weren't Supposed to Do

It wasn't just the gameplay though. Halo: Combat Evolved was my first experience modding games. I remember making the turret on a Warthog invisible and turning it yellow, basically a taxi. Hilarious. And then there were the things that weren't supposed to be in the game. Super jumps in Halo 2, glitching yourself into the map, forcing the physics to launch you to insane heights, landing in places the designers never intended you to go. I even found my own super jump that I like to think I invented. Sharing that with friends, look what I found!, was one of the best feelings. I could talk about this franchise forever, and that's exactly why it's on this list.

Pokemon Blue

Where the Collecting Bug Started

How could I not include Pokemon. This franchise has been part of my life since second grade. I remember a classmate bringing a Pokemon VHS to school one day. Yes, I'm dating myself. But the teacher put it on for us to watch. In school. Best day ever.

This slot goes to Pokemon Blue. It was my first version, and I was a Squirtle starter. While most people went with Charmander because they wanted Charizard, I loved Squirtle. This game led to countless nights under the sheets with my Game Boy Color and that clip-on light attachment, playing way past when I was supposed to be asleep. Pokemon is what kickstarted my fascination with collecting, something I still pride myself on to this day.

The Ponyta Card

Quick detour from the video game talk. My first Pokemon card, well, it wasn't mine. It was my friend's. A Ponyta. What happened to that card is lore at this point. Lost to time. Or more accurately, lost at a park. Years later I tracked down a copy and gave it to him. I like to think it meant as much to him as it did to me.

World of Warcraft

Where I Learned Leadership

This is a game I spent waytoo much time on. But I loved every second. Dungeons, loot, daily quests, raiding, guilds, working together, all of it. I mained a Paladin. Started as Holy, healing raids, keeping everyone alive while they got to have all the fun. Eventually I switched to Retribution because I didn't want to always take the backseat. Sometimes you want to be the one swinging the sword.

I started during Burning Crusade, but Wrath of the Lich King was my peak. I remember being one of the first people on the server to take down three-drake Sartharion. And yes, I stood in fire. My bad. But at least as a Paladin I could bubble out of it.

Don't Stand in Fire

This game might have been my intro to leadership. I remember organizing pre-made battlegrounds, coordinating dozens of people, and leading them to victory. Raiding with my guild in PvE, studying how bosses worked, wiping and regrouping until we finally got those server firsts. Hard work, rewarded.

I sunk so much time into this game, but “sunk” feels dismissive. I spent that time intentionally. It brought me closer to people. I made real friends. I learned how to put in the work, how to collaborate, and what it means to have people depend on you. When you mess up as a healer, the raid wipes. That's it. That kind of pressure teaches you something.

Towards the end of Wrath I stepped away to focus on getting ready for college. I came back casually during Mists of Pandaria, mostly just to collect battle pets, but I couldn't get back into raiding the way I used to. Life moved on. The memories didn't go anywhere though.

Hearthstone

Paladin Loyalist

I can't lump this in with World of Warcraft even though they share a universe. I love tabletop games, including trading card games, and when Hearthstone came out I was hooked. Collecting and playing with virtual cards whenever I wanted, on the go, that was a game-changer.

The Legend Grind

I remember the first time I hit Legend rank. It was a long grind, and fittingly enough, I did it with a Paladin combo deck. Loyal to the class across games, apparently.

But it wasn't just ranked. Battlegrounds became its own obsession. Playing with friends, coordinating strategies, winning together in that mode, those are some of my favorite video game moments. Collecting is clearly a theme with me and these games. I keep coming back to it.

Fable

Where Your Choices Actually Mattered

The world in Fable was just so much fun. Quirky, medieval, full of magic and wonder. The voice acting was hilarious, which gave the game this personality that most RPGs at the time didn't have. I've always been drawn to magic and medieval themes, and Fable nailed both while not taking itself too seriously.

What I loved most was that the decisions you made actually mattered. They affected how your character looked, how people treated you, and the outcomes of the world around you. I always went good. For the most part. I did go evil on one playthrough to get a specific weapon, but I felt too guilty to stick with it. With games like this I try to play justly, like the characters are real. But not having access to a really cool weapon is also heartbreaking. So I'd usually just reset and go back to being the good guy. Every time.

The Demon Door Vocabulary Lesson

There were these Demon Doors scattered throughout the world that would give you a riddle before they'd open. One specific memory that stuck with me: a Demon Door told me, “I need to see your Combat Multiplier get higher before I swing ajar.” What's funny is that it was a vocabulary lesson at the same time. I had no idea what “ajar” meant at the time. But I'll never forget now.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

The Game That Never Ends

If I had to pick one game as my all-time favorite, it's Skyrim. It's always Skyrim. Oblivion brought me into the genre and I loved so much of it, especially the quests. But Skyrim elevated everything. The world is incredible, the lore within it even more so. Even just the dozens of books you'd find scattered throughout the world, each one with its own story, added so much depth. This is a game I could play until the sun started coming up without realizing it, just completely lost in everything it had to offer.

Mage at Heart

I always went mage, or battle mage. I just love magic. Especially in Oblivion where you could create your own spells. But in Skyrim, my favorite thing was using Incinerate with the Impact perk to stagger dragons out of the sky mid-flight. Just freezing them in place over and over. There's something deeply satisfying about that.

The Collector's Museum

Owning homes and decorating them with things I'd collected was half the game for me. One of every weapon. Anything special. Quest items, cool things I'd stumble across, all carefully placed on display. Even though I knew no one would ever see them. That's the collector in me. It didn't matter that it was just for myself.

Bioshock

Am I in a Movie?

I loved the storytelling in this game. Finding audiotapes scattered throughout Rapture that expanded the lore. The grit of the setting, this crumbling underwater utopia dripping with atmosphere. It felt like a period piece, even though the world was completely fictional and pseudo-sci-fi. Walking into Rapture for the first time, I remember thinking, am I in a movie?

The horror elements, the unique gameplay, the way the world itself told the story, it was all so cool to me. Bioshock is one of the few games that made me feel like I was reading a great book and living inside it at the same time. It's actually one I need to go back and replay. Infinite is on my list too.

Donkey Kong Country

My Dad Pulled Me Out of School

Now we're going way back. One of my earliest video game memories is my dad randomly pulling me out of school one day. Looking back, he probably just had the day off and wanted to spend time with me. We played Diddy Kong's Quest together all day. I was in kindergarten, so I don't remember how far we got or if we beat it. But I remember the day.

Even today, Donkey Kong Country feels timeless. That's something the Super Nintendo just did great. The graphics never really feel dated. I love it as a platformer, and there are others that do the genre really well too, but the way DKC handled co-op was special. You play and I watch. Then I play and you watch. There's this almost competitive tension to it. Part of you wants your partner to lose so you can play, but not really, because you want to win together. It's a funny juxtaposition of thought. It's also a lesson in patience.

But this pick isn't really just about the game. It's about my dad choosing to spend the day with me, and video games being the thing we did together. Couch co-op keeps coming up when I think about my best memories with video games, and this one might be the purest example of why.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The One That Always Brings Friends Together

This one always brings my friends together. I've loved this franchise for as long as I can remember. It's so much fun, little tournaments with friends, 1v1s, 8-player free-for-alls, 2v2s, it doesn't matter. The bragging rights after winning were always hilarious.

Bring Your Own Controller

We'd always bring our own controllers. Was it for luck? I don't know, but it felt like it mattered. I loved picking the most annoying characters in the game. Floating around the stage with Villager's slingshot or Isabelle's fishing rod, hearing everyone complain about how it's unfair. Well, come get me then! It's all in good fun, and this is one that has led to countless laughs and great times. Shout out to the Isabelle and Villager mains.

Nine Down, One to Go

Looking back at this list, some themes keep showing up. Collecting. Couch co-op. Playing with friends. Being part of a story bigger than yourself. These games didn't just entertain me. They taught me to collect things nobody asked me to collect, lead people I'd never met, and care way too much about fictional worlds.

I'm still figuring out the final pick. Check back soon.