Mike is bored as hell

My game has been canceled tonight, and the Bulls game will not be televised in my area, which I find odd. I live in the Chicago area. Either way, I have decided to write an article that has absolutely nothing to do with basketball tonight, because honestly, I am getting pretty sick of everything I do involving basketball. So I will focus on a new medium tonight: video games. My top 10 favorite video games of all time, in fact. So, in an attempt to enjoy the pre-SOPA/PIPA internet, I will review and discuss several games that I consider to be among the best of all time. (My opinion may piss you off, and I have not played a lot of games that are considered great. So this is really a list of "Greatest games of all time that I have actually played.")

10. Pokemon (Series)

An 18 year old kid (man in some places, although I can admit I am not very mature) should not be writing about Pokemon. But as someone who grew up with the game, how can I not include this game on my list? I'm not exactly a fan of RPG's, in fact, I have spent a large amount of my life hating on them. I mean, Final Fantasy and many other games that are loved by millions on the internet are, in my opinion, are some of the most overrated and boring games I have ever attempted to play. So what makes Pokemon different? Maybe I was young when I started playing. But maybe, just maybe, there was finally an RPG made that got me hooked. My favorite game of the series would have to be the 2nd generation, Gold/Silver/Crystal. I was able to get my hands on a copy of Crystal the day it came out, and every once in awhile, when I have to spend a large amount of time on the toilet, I put it in the ol' Gameboy Color and pass the time away.

What made Crystal so great was the very large map, the numerous choices in Pokemon that a person had, and the (at the time) gripping storyline. It was marketed towards 8 year olds. And I was an 8 year old. Mission accomplished, Nintendo. Also, to be completely honest, Heracross is still the most badass-yet-weird-looking game character ever.

9. Guitar Hero/Rock Band (Series)

Yeah, as you can already tell from my first two games, I am a nerd. And of course, you have 2 questions. Yes, I can play on expert, easily. And no, I have never learned how to play a real guitar. But when I was younger, around junior high age, I was invited to a kid's birthday party. That's where I first played Guitar Hero 2, and after that, I begged my parents for it for Christmas. Suffice to say, this was a great Christmas present. I have gotten many uses out of the game, and it has also introduced me to 2 of the worst-yet-amazing songs I have ever heard.

8. Call of Duty: Black Ops/Modern Warfare

Same game, essentially. I normally hate Call of Duty, but 4 (Modern Warfare) was great, and Black Ops was 4 with zombies. Sounds like a winning formula to me.

7. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Nostalgia is blinding me. I first played this game when I was 4 and too young to realize what was going on. I went back and beat it over the summer and realized a lot of the racist and sexual undertones in this game. Go ahead and play it, you will wonder what the hell you are doing. At one point, one of the bad guys refers to "only wanting the Princess's cake," followed by *stunned silence* and him saying "Wait, that came out wrong." It did have one of the greatest games songs ever.

I get a lot of strange looks walking around school while whistling this.

6. WWF No Mercy

I was a wrestling fan for awhile. This was probably the only wrestling game that I liked. Sadly, I didn't get much time to play it, but I can tell from my short time with it that it is head and shoulders above any other game on this list.

More on the way later, this is a 2 part series.