As Braid just barely got into my Honorable Mentions, Soulcalibur IV just barely missed out. This was the first game I got when I was gifted my 360 for my birthday, and I'm one of those shmucks who saw Yoda on the box and got it on those grounds.

This is the first traditional fighting game I owned, and after playing the story mode with all the characters and tried to "get good" with both Yoda and the secret character Starkiller, I haven't looked back as it will the be the ONLY fighting game I will have owned. While I'm a fan of Mortal Kombat as a brand and watching others play, SoulCalibur IV cemented fighting games are NOT for me. It had some fun for the time, but because I don't game online often, I only played offline and after awhile, I realized there really isn't anything to fighting games other than the same thing, over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over. But kudos to it for it making our countdown and thanks for the brief fling Soulcalibur.

Braid is a fun and novel game, and while I think it does some cool things with time manipulation and the twist is a fascinating one, for whatever reason, I've never really felt the pull to play through it again. I like the art style and the music is delightful, I guess it's just once I was able to get to the end I had my fill of it. Granted, I never felt the need to find the secret stars for the secret ending, nor do I find speedrunning it appealing (which is a bummer because beating the game in less than 45 minutes is the ONLY achievement I lack, but it requires a skill level I'll never reach). Overall it's a solid game, and I do recommend it to anyone to try at least once, but even still, it just barely took the last spot in my Honorable Mentions. Shoutouts to @MiserablePerson and @Scotty for showing it some love!

My exposure to Mario Kart is only with Mario Kart DS and Double Dash so I don't have any hands on with Wii. If I ever had a Wii, I probably would've had this at the time, as Mario Kart as a whole is one of the very few franchises I cared anything for as it pertains to Nintendo, but alas, another lifetime perhaps. I like the focus on bikes, and the concept of the Wii wheel is certainly the height of the peripheral craze for the Wii. Still, it's one of those games I wouldn't playing some time, but because of the hardware and age, I doubt I ever will.

@dipset I'm completely with you in the endlessly shooting in one area type of modes/games, but for me, the fact Left 4 Dead actually has an end by reaching the safe rooms and rescue vehicles helped me get past my aversion of that kind of thing by a LOT.

Left 4 Dead is probably my favorite co-op centric game out there. Before getting it, I was always gunshy about grabbing it because it always seemed (and it turned out to be true) that playing with people made the experience. And while I did get to play with a couple of friends a couple of times, regular play sessions never materialized (a common theme across my entire history in trying to organize playing with others). So, ultimately, the lion-share of my game time was by myself.

This game rules. I love the very simple concept: Start here, get to the end, and slaughter the waves of zombies in your path along the way. While there really isn't a story, the storytelling of the writing in the safe rooms gave a dead world life and lore. I love the focus on having a primary weapon, unlimited pistol (or the always awesome dual pistols), a healing item, and a pipe bomb, making you think on when to use them and how much ammo you should use.

But shout out to the special infected. Whenever I ran into a Tank or came across a Witch, it was absolutely terrifying, because I knew I was about to get massacred. Especially since I could almost never sneak by the Witch because either A.) She seemed to ALWAYS sit in a DOORWAY or B.) My A.I. teammates always wanted to go over and say HI!! The others should get a special mention too, as playing the distance game with Boomers to keep from getting mobbed after it puked or exploded all over you, or getting nabbed by the Smoker and having that split second of shooting in the direction of their tongue to get free before being hoisted up a side of a building lent me to being on edge every time I played.

I actually prefer the original over the sequel despite 2 having more maps, characters, melee weapons, and a couple of extra modes, and, you know, THIS WHOLE GAME within it, but just having the original feels focused and concise.

I've missed this series and have longed for the opportunities in days long forgotten to have had Xbox Live Parties with friends for a few runs, and that's why I'm SO excited for Back 4 Blood. With Turtle Rock bringing the formula around back into the zeitgeist I'm really looking forward to more nearly endless zombie slaying

And as is my custom for these countdowns, shoutouts to @Shoulderguy, @Crepe, and @kindiman for being fellow voters and showing some love to one of the best games to play with friends.

I have a couple of friends who are HUGE Tales fans and when Vesperia got announced to be remastered at Xbox's E3 2018 show, one of them said it was his announcement of the whole show with how it made him so happy.
(Reminder, that was the show that:

• Opened with the official announcement of Halo: Infinite
• Had the trio of Gears game announcements [Pop, Tactics, 5]
• Had the first (of three on that day) Kingdom Hearts III trailer
• The official announcements of DMC 5, Jump Force, Dying Light 2
• The reveal Shadows Die Twice was Sekiro
• Trailers for Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Forza Horizon 4, Metro: Exodus
• Say what you will about the final product, but the first details about Fallout 76.
• The announcement Xbox created a new studio [The Initiative], and bought four others [Undead Labs, Playground Games, Ninja Theory, and Compulsion Games]
• And what I argue is one of the best moments in all of E3 history [final product and current reputation nonwithstanding], Cyberpunk hacking Phil Spencer's sendoff speech and the first trailer since the CG announcement five years prior.

THAT was a hell of a show.)

Anyway, back to Vesperia, as I'm getting kind of bummed to discover, this is yet another entry on the countdown I'm forced to say, what is irritatingly becoming a template; "Doesn't appeal to me, have other interests within the genre, don't think I'll ever play it, and I'll listen to my friends extoll its virtues than make the investment myself."

While initially, Saint's Row being a self-admitted blatant rip-off of GTA had me never hold interest in it, I do like the fact the series has morphed into the wacky and zany side of things (thus actually making it stand out as a unique thing). But as was often the case around this time in my life, while I was trying out most new (to me) stuff in a condensed period, open worlds I didn't really warm up to (and still haven't 100%) for almost another decade. Combine that with the fact this is a sequel, and Saint's Row 2 is another game on the stack I don't foresee myself ever trying.

I have practically no connection to the Wipeout franchise and its most memorable moment is not from a game, but OF a game as I remember it was part of a PSX keynote (I THINK the 2015 one, the one that started with Uncharted 4 and FF VII: Remake). Super fast racers aren't my thing, but more power to it.

Castle Crashers never really appealed to me, but the one thing I instantly think of whenever this game is brought up is how, for me, it was synonymous with the XBLA and how it was a place where smaller games and demos had a place to thrive. So while I'll never play it, I DO have a soft spot by association because of how cool XBLA was.

And it. Is. OVER!!!

By a vote of 13-10, Resident Evil 2 has survived more than zombies and bioweapons, but you ruthless killers as well! But every time I peeked in on the results up until about a couple of hours ago, it was always close, either being one vote apart or outright tied! (Also, I counted and there were 15 participants, but 23 votes. I see you lurkers! ;-] )

Thank you one and all for participating in this one off! Again, if anyone hasn't and is interested in getting one, you can buy your own deck with the link at provided in the first post. Until next time!