Pinpoint gameplay and a feel that hasn't aged a day: some games are still a joy with a controller in hand, years later. This Top 100 gathers the retro games with the most polished gameplay, based on RomWize's reassessed scores. For each one: its current score, its versions, their rarity and their collector value.
"Behind its remake looks, this title hides a hundred-odd stages that turn platforming into a puzzle: Mario jumps, handstands and hurls objects to reach the key, then the door. The wealth of the moveset and the ingenuity of the levels still hold up perfectly. A benchmark often cited as one of the genre's peaks on the system."
"At these supersonic speeds, everything becomes anticipation: memorising the layouts, triggering the airbrakes at the right instant and placing your shots without easing off. The anti-gravity gliding sensation, married to a cult electro soundtrack, delivers an intact rush. The textures have aged, but the purity of the piloting and the sense of rhythm remain a peak of futuristic racing."
"Weapon-based combat rests on an eight-direction movement and a guard system of exemplary clarity that rewards positioning as much as reflexes. The fluidity of the bouts and the balance of the roster make for a versus fighter both approachable and deep. A genre benchmark whose immediate accessibility and technical richness still win players over."
"Donning costumes, sniffing out secret exits and stringing together wildly inventive levels confirms the structural genius of this landmark. The razor-sharp handling responds to perfection, and the generosity of the content feels inexhaustible. It's hard to build a more solid 2D platformer, and the fun stays whole decades on."
"Switching between Link and his wolf form, taming an arsenal of items and tackling dungeons of constant inventiveness: the adventure unspools mechanics of remarkable fluidity. Horseback duels and hidden techniques thicken an already generous combat. More classic than revolutionary, but executed with such care that it stays a pleasure from start to finish."
"Donning costumes, sniffing out secret exits and stringing together wildly inventive levels confirms the structural genius of this landmark. The razor-sharp handling responds to perfection, and the generosity of the content feels inexhaustible. It's hard to build a more solid 2D platformer, and the fun stays whole decades on."
"Stacking Jokers until the multiplier rockets into absurd territory is the engine of a ferocious addiction. The poker hook is a clean pretext, but the depth comes from synergies each run reinvents. The risk of routine exists, yet the sheer variety of combinations keeps boredom at bay for ages. In handheld mode, putting it down is impossible."
"Exploring Rapture and Columbia retains a rare evocative power, and it's that atmosphere, more than the shooting, that carries the trilogy. Mixing weapons with genetic powers still has its kick, and the first game's moral choice still hits. On pure gameplay terms the firefights show their age against today's standards, but the writing and staging more than make up for it. Carrying these three remasters on Switch is a luxury, and for anyone who never visited these fallen utopias, the chance is ideal."
"Collapsing sets, blazing escapes and outsized set-pieces punctuate an adventure where climbing, shooting and exploration flow seamlessly into one another. The melee gains in variety, the staging in scale. If the gunplay divides a little, this third installment keeps a sense of spectacle and a pacing that have lost none of their sweep."
"Costumes with varied powers, a world map, and abundant secrets vastly expand the formula without sacrificing any of Mario's perfect momentum. Flying with the leaf or swimming in the frog suit reinvents every level. The peak of the 8-bit platformer, it retains a richness of game design and a handling that remain an absolute."
"Gliding, soaring and bouncing wall to wall delivers a flow of movement few metroidvanias reach. The deeper combat varies your approach without breaking that lightness, and the escape chases tighten the nerves like little else. A few technical hiccups linger, but the precision of the jumps and the readable level design keep every traversal a pure pleasure."
"Moving freely around the arena with the 8-Way Run, juggling weapon reach and sidesteps: the duel breathes space and fluidity. Ported to Dreamcast with a perfection that made history, this armed combat keeps an exemplary readability and elegance. Few fighting games feel this natural in the hands, even today."
"Firing in every direction, hopping onto a tank and freeing prisoners flows together with joyous fluidity, carried by extraordinary animation. Every screen bursts with detail and gags, and the generosity of the action never flags. Short but wildly dense, this foundational run-'n'-gun still delivers explosive thrills, especially in co-op."
"Holding all of Skyrim in your hands changes everything: scale a peak on a whim, loot a house, abandon a quest to chase a wolf. Combat is basic and the engine stiff, but the freedom to improvise your own adventure stays rare and intoxicating. People still dive back in because few sandboxes swallow a player so completely."
"This complete edition of the third installment brings together the adventure and its multiplayer content around spectacular staging and supple handling. Climbing, gunfights and grand set-pieces flow without a dull moment. Fuller than ever, it offers the richest version of a blockbuster whose flair remains intact."
"Methodically severing the Necromorphs' limbs instead of aiming for the head upends your shooting reflexes and sustains constant tension. Resource management and the diegetic, interface-free HUD heighten the dread. A model of space survival horror, it retains precise, oppressive gameplay that still chills the blood today."
"Running, jumping and striking in time, sometimes to the exact beat of the music, anchors a platformer of contagious fluidity and joy. The inventive level design and four-player co-op multiply the fun. The peak of the 2D genre, it keeps controls of absolute precision and a freshness that hasn't lost a thing."
"The arrival of the revert connects ramps to manuals and throws open the door to near-infinite combos that multiply the joy of arcade skating. The compact, frenetic levels invite you to trace ever wilder lines. The controls respond on a dime, and this quest for the perfect combo, immediate and addictive, holds an effectiveness that time has not dulled."
"Faster and more spectacular than its predecessor, this entry keeps the surgical dismemberment while opening the pacing up to exhilarating action set-pieces. Stasis and telekinesis enrich an already clever arsenal. A rare balance of horror and action, it retains precise handling and an intensity that make it an exemplary sequel."
"Everything revolves around a three-day cycle replayed over and over, where you reorganise your actions to the minute while the masks transform Link and his abilities. This bold clockwork delivers a dense adventure where every detour counts. More demanding than most, it rewards ingenuity and remains one of Nintendo's most original game structures."
