Jetforce

Perhaps an odd choice for a personal GOAT, but let me explain. I grew up playing Donkey Kong 64. After playing that to death, along with Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue and Super Mario 64, you get tired of predictable enemies that always stay in their zone and are easily overpowered. When I picked up Jet Force Gemini, it was as if the beautiful, charming worlds of RareWare platformers came alive and started shooting at you, actually trying to kill you. Modern gamers will naturally have great difficulties with the unorthodox controls, but anyone like me who has played with only one stick most of his life will find that everything translates surprisingly well. For instance, it seems weird that the C-left and C-right buttons are used for strafing. However, you realize pretty quickly that this somehow functions exactly the same as the C-buttons do in 3D platformers. Even though they're movement buttons, the way you use them with the stick feels the same. For another thing (and I wish this was possible in modern games) when you use the advanced controls, you can switch flawlessly between two uniquely complementary control modes: platformer and shooter. The platformer mode resembles a stripped down N64 platformer layout, allowing lateral movement control with the stick directly with reference to the camera's viewpoint. Shooter mode uses the C-buttons for lateral movement, leaving the stick free for aiming weapons. This allows the player to do amazing things like using the stick to aim precisely, flicking the same stick back to point the player's gun behind the camera, then using the mode switch button to jerk the camera 180 degrees behind the character for some more fully-accurate shooting. Controls aren't the only great thing about the game, however. The charming characters, setting, and environments are everything you would expect from Rare, and, while many people complain about being required to find all the "Tribals" to complete the game, I love how this gives the game more of a "no man left behind" vibe. I had some great times discovering where those brats were hiding. This is in part because the level design is well worth avoiding spoilers for, always giving you ways to get to places you had no idea were there. More importantly, though, the score is amazing. Usually we think of David Wise as being Rare's top composer, but I think Robin Beanland has him beat here. (As proof, I would offer instances where Wise copied Jet Force Gemini tracks for Donkey Kong 64. That soundtrack is my childhood, but the similarities are noticeable in retrospect.) The music simply has to be experienced. Personally, I never minded that the level introductions were unskippable--the music's just that good! P.S. Framerate drop is as much of a thing in this game as any in its time, but old-timers like me think of that as slow motion. It feels weird in newer games when some big explosion happens and the camera just shakes.