Classic Video Games Bucket List

Occult SS experiments and the castle to escape again, this time on the Quake III engine.

Time periods instead of islands, plus a motorbike, a jet ski and a plane; the best of the Naughty Dog three.

The first of the run without the official WRC licence, so every car carries an invented livery.

The other half of the linked pair, with a harp that moves Link between two eras of the same island.

Four more campaigns and a shelf of new artefacts bolted onto Heroes II by Cyberlore in 1997.

The 1989 original: lay down three kinds of zone, watch the traffic, then send a monster through it.

Road & Track supplied the car data and the police arrive out of oncoming traffic; the 1994 original, on 3DO first.

GDI against the Brotherhood of Nod over tiberium, briefed by actors on video; Westwood, 1995.

Diddy and Dixie through Kaptain K. Rool's pirate world; the hardest and best of the Rare trilogy.

Kreia argues with every choice you make; Obsidian in a year, unfinished, and better for the argument.

A war of succession in Ivalice fought on isometric grids, with job classes and a script about class.

The two-minute timer dropped for open parks where the pros skating beside you hand out the goals.

A lombax, a robot on his back and a catalogue of weapons to buy; Insomniac start the run in 2002.

A damage model that scratches the paint before it bends the panels, and a career that promotes you between championships.

47 leaves the asylum for Hong Kong and Budapest, with no saves and a garrotte; the series working itself out.

Roxas for the first hours, then Sora with drive forms; the combat that made the series worth defending.

RECS builds a fresh course out of a typed-in code, so the trilogy closes with a track generator.

An arcade mode that finally puts a rival on the stage beside you, over the championship the first game shipped with.

Fly for the Rebellion in 1993, managing shields and laser power by keyboard; the sim TIE Fighter answers.

The slide, Rush the robot dog and eight more masters, then the doc robot rematches.

The 1995 original: four towns, a hero who carries an army between them and a week that ends when everyone has moved.

The revert, so a vert line never has to end; Canada, Airport and a soundtrack led by Motorhead.

Garrett takes a third job, and walks into the Shalebridge Cradle, the most frightening level ever built.

The heroes walk onto the battlefield and fight in person, the one change the series never repeated.

Rumours spread in Sumaru City start coming true; the half of Persona 2 the West did not get until 2011.

One car, one stage, no assists and a rally school to teach the handbrake; still patched by its community.

Hoenn, double battles and a plot about the sea and the land.

Cars with wheels taller than the body, so they keep going upside down; Psygnosis at the end of the PlayStation.

Pick up fares and drop them at the door before the meter runs out, to a soundtrack of The Offspring.

The arcade-perfect one, and the last before the series went online.