If you’ve been on the Twitterverse any time in the past week or so, you’ve might’ve seen #GameStruck4 trending or being retweeted/liked by your favorite content creators. Now you’re probably asking “Johnny, what does it mean?” Well let me tell you.

#GameStruck4 is choosing four of the most impactful games you have played. It’s such a cool concept just seeing what video games hold such a significant place in a gamer’s heart. Back on topic though, let me give you readers my #GameStruck4 and give you the low down as to why these games have been so impactful.

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Tell me that this isn’t one of the best PlayStation games ever made, and I’ll fight you.

Back on topic, this game literally made me appreciate sequels so much. That sentence sounds weird I know, but hear me out. The jump from Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune to Uncharted 2 is so wide you wouldn’t even know they’re the same series. The story was well done, and the gameplay Naughty Dog improved upon immensely by adding stealthy combat options. Not to mention the scale and set pieces were so phenomenally well done I replayed the game 7 or 8 times (including the PS4 collection). There was multiplayer/co-op, and it was fun for a bit. However, the single player was so good, it didn’t need the extra content.

This game is an example of a sequel done right, which is what I meant 6 sentences ago.

     2. Kingdom Hearts 2

Ah, yes. Another sequel. Well unfortunately this whole list is full of sequels, but at least they’re good choices.

Kingdom Hearts 2 is possibly one of my favorite PS2 games of all time, and that says a lot.  It’s crazy because I did not like Kingdom Hearts because the gameplay didn’t feel good at all. The camera control was weird, and quite honestly, I didn’t understand how the game worked. I jumped into Kingdom Hearts 2, and I never looked back.

Say what you will about the weird story that tries to overcompensate by adding in every possible Disney character, but I’ll be danged (didn’t want to cuss in the blog ya know?) if it wasn’t an amazing experience.

The Roxas and Axel fight? So good that I made a separate save file just to relive the fight whenever I wanted to.

The 1000 Heartless battle? Classic.

The final boss fight against Xemnas with Sora and Riku? Unforgettable.

Fighting Sephiroth? Awful, but made me feel good when I beat him.

Not to mention the other great fights and experiences in the game. This is the only Kingdom Hearts game I’ve beat, and I’m glad it was this once.

     3. Spider-Man 2

If you tell me this isn’t one of the greatest super hero games ever made, we can’t be friends. The only excuse you could have is if you’ve never played it, but even then I’ll still be salty.

This game was so good. The inclusion of New York and letting you swing through the city boosted the games replayability, since   Spider-Man 1 was a linear experience and you’d die if you hit the city level. The combat in this game was fully fleshed out, and introduced the ability to dodge attacks and counter those attacks. Also you could upgrade Spidey to give him new abilities such as stringing up bad guys to light posts. So meaty. The web swinging was so good, I’d web swing around the city doing nothing but fighting bad guys and admiring the PS2 rendition of New York.

This game alone is the reason why we’re seeing the resurrection of comic book hero video games that are actually good ala Batman Arkham series and hopefully, the new Spider-Man game coming out this year. We salute you Spider-Man 2.

    4. Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3

Finally, to me, this is the best Dragon Ball Z fighting game of all time. Don’t argue with me because I will not accept it.

Similar to my Kingdom Hearts experience, I did not like Budokai 1 and I did not play Budokai 2. When I got my hands on this entry though, it was epic. The story mode was fun, and while playing the story mode you could find the Dragon Balls and you’d be granted a wish. The best wish was unlocking a “breakthrough” of a character which means you’d unlock all that characters abilities. The fighting was simple, but effective allowing the easy use of special techniques by pressing a combination of a direction on the d-pad and the ki-blast button (on PS2 it was circle).

Listen, in retrospect this was the pinnacle of DBZ. The roster included 42 characters, and none of that BS inflation where Super Saiyan 1 Goku and Super Saiyan 2 Goku are two different characters. I hate that crap. You’d get one Goku and he’d have all of his abilities/power ups mapped to that one character. None of that 3D nonsense either. That kind of gave me motion sickness.

That concludes my list! This was hard to do especially since there’s been so many games that have meant a lot to me. However, these are the top 4 that I’ve put the most time into, and have made me really appreciate the culture of video gaming. Let me know what you guys think about my list in the comments below or on Twitter.