The latest copy of Edge dropped through my letterbox this morning. The 10th anniversary edition complete with a feature on the 100 best games of all time. My first thought: they've compiled this list to spark discussion and controversy. These kind of 'best 100 of all time' lists will always contain some contreversial inclusions and omissions no matter what the source, yet I expected more of Edge. For a magazine that prides itself on a more selected readership, this article certainly seem to aim for the lowest common denominator.
Anyway - to the point. The list is broken in to ten top tens from different genres. Adventure, Beat 'em up, Platform, Puzzle, Racing, Rhythm Action, RPGs, Shooters, Sports and Strategy. Quite why Rhythm Action deserves a top ten all of its own is another point entirely. So, you may be thinking, how many SNK games are in this top 100? Three, maybe four? Try one. And it's Cool Cool Toon (which just serves to illustrate the pointlessness of the top ten rhythm action games).
But this is just a list based on the opinion of Edge, right? Yes, but there's opinion, and there's idiocy. This falls somewhere in the middle. The top ten Beat 'em ups contains no KoF, no Last Blade, no Garou. It does have four Capcom games and two Virtua Fighters. The list reads:
Street Fighter II Turbo
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (GBA)
Virtua Fighter 3tb
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
Capcom Vs SNK 2
Dead or Alive 3
Rocky
Soul Calabur 2
Viewtiful Joe
Virtua Fighter Evolution
Why include two Street Fighter games and two more Capcom fighters? If this was to acknowledge the progress the series has made over the years then this is more than evident in Capcom Vs SNK 2 or to a lesser extent Marvel Vs Capcom 2. To say that at least one SNK fighter is not worthy of mention is a discredit to the developer and a discredit to the popularity of series such as KoF.
Also included in the article is the finalists in each group that were not chosen. The finalists for the Beat 'em up category were Guilty Gear X, IK+, Powerstone 2, Project Justice and Virtua Fighter 2. Two more Capcom games and another VF. No SNK games were even considered.
Metal Slug 3 made the finalists of the Shooter list, and although I would have personally chosen an MS game I can understand its omission in such a tough category and am glad that it was chosen as a finalist.
There were many, many other (non-SNK related) debatable decisions in the list, but that's for another topic.
Oh, and sorry about the sensationalist title (I know it's not true), but I thought it was in keeping with the nature of the article itself.
Anyway - to the point. The list is broken in to ten top tens from different genres. Adventure, Beat 'em up, Platform, Puzzle, Racing, Rhythm Action, RPGs, Shooters, Sports and Strategy. Quite why Rhythm Action deserves a top ten all of its own is another point entirely. So, you may be thinking, how many SNK games are in this top 100? Three, maybe four? Try one. And it's Cool Cool Toon (which just serves to illustrate the pointlessness of the top ten rhythm action games).
But this is just a list based on the opinion of Edge, right? Yes, but there's opinion, and there's idiocy. This falls somewhere in the middle. The top ten Beat 'em ups contains no KoF, no Last Blade, no Garou. It does have four Capcom games and two Virtua Fighters. The list reads:
Street Fighter II Turbo
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (GBA)
Virtua Fighter 3tb
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
Capcom Vs SNK 2
Dead or Alive 3
Rocky
Soul Calabur 2
Viewtiful Joe
Virtua Fighter Evolution
Why include two Street Fighter games and two more Capcom fighters? If this was to acknowledge the progress the series has made over the years then this is more than evident in Capcom Vs SNK 2 or to a lesser extent Marvel Vs Capcom 2. To say that at least one SNK fighter is not worthy of mention is a discredit to the developer and a discredit to the popularity of series such as KoF.
Also included in the article is the finalists in each group that were not chosen. The finalists for the Beat 'em up category were Guilty Gear X, IK+, Powerstone 2, Project Justice and Virtua Fighter 2. Two more Capcom games and another VF. No SNK games were even considered.
Metal Slug 3 made the finalists of the Shooter list, and although I would have personally chosen an MS game I can understand its omission in such a tough category and am glad that it was chosen as a finalist.
There were many, many other (non-SNK related) debatable decisions in the list, but that's for another topic.
Oh, and sorry about the sensationalist title (I know it's not true), but I thought it was in keeping with the nature of the article itself.
