A while ago I had created my top 25 favorite games I have ever played. It took me 1-2 hours of deciding which game was better. Note that I have probably played well over 200 games! If for someone reason a game you really like is not on this list:
1. I don't like it as much as you do.
2. Never heard of it.
3. Haven't played it yet.
Here are the games and the systems I played them on.
25. GoldenEye 007 (N64)
24. ICO (PS2)
23. Bioshock (Xbox360)
22. Okami (PS2)
21. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC)
20. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)
19. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
18. Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
17. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
16. Mass Effect 2 (Xbox360)
15. Metal Gear Solid (PSX)
14. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
13. Resident Evil 4 (GC)
12. The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (SNES)
11. Half-Life 2 (PC)
10. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
9. Super Mario 64 (N64)
8. Final Fantasy X (PS2)
7. Metroid Prime (GC)
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
5. Super Metroid (SNES)
4. Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
3. Final Fantasy VII (PSX)
2. Chrono Trigger (SNES)
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
I would like to know what you guys think, any compliments or complaints would be fine.
Joined: 6/11/2006
Posts: 818
Location: Arboga, Sweden
The major problem with any "Top 1000"-list is this: Nostalgia is a wonderful thing until we actually go back and experience it.
Now, I can't argue with opinions (Except for Final Fantasy X. What the hell?), so I won't comment on the actual list, but the issue is that, like you stated, you have played over 200 games, and to make a top 25 out of that is quite impossible. For this list to be fair and all that, you'd need to sit down and replay EVERY game again to be able to give a fair view on the list. To spend 25 - 50 hours is a great effort, but to be able to be totally fair, you should sit down and play through ICO and Bioshock, to be able to find out which one you really enjoy the most.
What I'm trying to get at is that I might be able to compile a top 50 list of the games I've enjoyed the most, but I could never rank them. That's just too hard. I know, that's what she said.
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
My personal top 10 of the games that come to my mind at the moment:
1. Super Smash Brothers Melee
(really high number of advanced techniques that abuse glitches in the game makes this really exciting, especially if you have friends who are also willing to dedicate huge chunks of their time it takes to learn them)
2. Zelda: Ocarina of Time
(it's one of the most impressive games on a first play-through and its many glitches added a LOT of replay value to it for me)
3. Starcraft: Broodwar
(really deep, best RTS game of all time if you ask me. go watch the korean pro-gamers play it to be totally blown away)
4. Sonic 3 & Knuckles
(lock-on cartridge technology - how cool is that? i've beaten it for more than 15 times already and it's still fun to come back to it after a long pause)
5. Chrono Trigger
(THE best rpg if you ask me. it solves so many of the problems i have with usual rpgs, has a great story, parallel worlds, nice battle system and one of the best video game soundtracks of all time if you ask me)
6. Fire Emblem Series
(the games are really alike, so i couldn't really pick a specific title. after beating a few of them it gets pretty boring though)
7. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
(speed, action, collecting souls, weapons, a hidden plot twist, i really dig it)
8. Final Fantasy V
(best ff game if you ask me. i really liked the job system in this one)
9. Banjo Kazooie
(gruntilda's rhymes, the music, the presentation make this such an awfully cute game. and it's fun and challenging too.)
10. Mario's Super Picross
(I love puzzles and found that game really challenging. It forces you to come up with some very creative methods of solving nonogramic logic puzzles.)
Edit: Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition! I'd put that as number 6 instead. So much fun, so much speed, very challenging!
Also, the Castle of Dr. Brain series are really fun.
Day of the Tentacle is my favourite point and click game.
I will probably edit this again if I have the time to. >_>
The major problem with any "Top 1000"-list is this: Nostalgia is a wonderful thing until we actually go back and experience it... For this list to be fair and all that, you'd need to sit down and replay EVERY game again to be able to give a fair view on the list.
I'd say Nostalgia would still interfere with the list, as playing the game would bring back memories of enjoying it the first time around.
The nice thing about opinion threads is that no one is wrong, but we sure can yell to high hell that they are!
My personal list:
20. Star Wars (Arcade)
19. Tapper
18. Transport Tycoon
17. Lemmings
16. Final Fantasy IV
15. Dragon Warrior
14. Age of Empires II
13. Virtua-Tennis
12. Starcraft
11. Jedi Power Battles (Dreamcast)
10. Left 4 Dead 2
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade)
8. Super Mario Bros. 3
7. Burger King Pocket Bike Racer
6. Mega Man 3
5. Actraiser
4. Legend of the Mystical Ninja
3. Shining Force
2. Final Fantasy VII
1. Quest for Glory: So You Want To Be a Hero
My list is interesting, as there are a lot of unexpected games on that list. I have some form of connection or memory to every game on my list.
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
Hm... There's a lot of games one your lists that I've never had the chance to play but would really like to, such as Shadow of the Colossus. Still, my top ten list:
10. Burnout 3
09. Bioshock
08. F-Zero GX
07. Montezuma's Return
06. F-Zero
05. Quake II
04. Myst
03. Super Mario 64
02. Ocarina of Time
01. Secret of Mana
A slightly strange list, I know, but I mostly ranked it on whatever I played the most. For me, actually finishing a game (let alone more than once) means I really like it.
Joined: 8/26/2006
Posts: 1139
Location: United Kingdom
I can see why some people get upset any time a "Top XX of all time" turns up, but personally I find them useful. I can tell from titles that I am familiar with whether or not I agree with their taste and if I do I greatly enjoy checking out those that I am not familiar with (I do this with more than just video games). I've found many of the titles listed so far to be interesting, here is my list for whatever it is worth.
1. Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
2. Chrono Trigger (SNES)
3. Pokemon Blue (GB)
4. Metal Gear Solid (PSX)
5. Terranigma (SNES)
6. Final Fantasy 7 (PSX)
7. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Genesis)
8. Golden Axe (Genesis)
9. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)
10. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
11. Super Mario 64 (N64)
12. Sonic Advance (GBA)
13. Pokemon Silver (GBC)
14. Sonic Advance 2 (GBA)
15. Lion King (Genesis)
16. Streets of Rage (Genesis)
17. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
18. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA)
19. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
20. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GCN)
21. Mega Man 2 (NES)
22. Super Castlevania 4 (SNES)
23. Crash Bandicoot (PSX)
24. Trip World (GB)
25. DoReMi Fantasy (SNES)
Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
Since it would be almost impossible to rank them in any sort of order, I just divided them into tiers. I did this quick, so I may have missed some, but this is pretty accurate:
Tip-top tier:
Earthbound (SNES)
Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
Secret of Evermore (SNES)
Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
Braid (XBLA)
Top tier:
Final Fantasy III (SNES)
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
Pokemon Blue (GB)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GEN)
Brave Fencer Musashi (PSX)
Lunar 2: EBC (PSX)
God of War (PS2)
God of War II (PS2)
The rest of my favs:
The Legend of Zelda (NES)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GCN)
Streets of Rage 2 (GEN)
Sonic the Hedgehog (GEN)
Sonic 3 & Knuckles (GEN)
Lunar: SSSC (PSX)
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (PSX)
Resident Evil 2 (PSX)
Xenogears (PSX)
Banjo-Kazooie (N64)
Paper Mario (N64)
Super Mario 64 (N64)
Grand Theft Auto: SA (PS2)
Katamari Damacy (PS2)
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
Ah well, I had to make my own. Y'know, for fun!
25 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
24 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
23 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
22 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
21 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
20 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
19 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
18 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
17 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
16 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
15 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
14 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
13 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
12 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
11 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
10 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
9 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
8 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
7 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
6 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
5 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
4 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
3 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
2 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
1 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
Nah, just kidding.
I had 131 games I played and really liked to sort out. To make a representative top 25 list, I used ALJ Tournament Maker to create a big random epic tournament where I chose my games, one from two. Here are the results (with the platforms I played on in parentheses).
25 Mario Kart 64 (N64)
24 Marvel vs Capcom (Arcade)
23 Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (PS2/Arcade)
22 Super Mario Bros 3 (NES)
21 Luigi's Mansion (GC)
20 Rez HD (XBLA)
19 Portal (PC/XBLA)
18 Super Mario Sunshine (GC)
17 Super Mario World (SNES/GBA)
16 Wario World (GC)
15 Diddy Kong Racing (N64)
14 Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (Genesis/PC)
13 Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (GC)
12 Taiko no Tatsujin 7 (PS2)
11 Super Smash Bros (N64)
10 Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
9 Rayman 3 (GC/PC)
8 Sonic Rush (DS)
7 Super Smash Bros Melee (GC)
6 Marvel vs Capcom 2 (XBLA)
5 Team Fortress 2 (PC)
4 Super Mario 64 (N64)
3 Sonic CD (PC)
2 Rayman (DOS)
1 Rayman 2 (PC)
Just to make your hearts stop, I disliked the Zelda franchise, including Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past.
...Dear lord is a list like this gonna be tough. I will list various games I can either play to this very day and still damn enjoy them or games that were really influential to me through my life, but it's not really going to be ordered in any way.
- Games I can still damned play and enjoy them:
- Unreal Tournament 2004
- Rayman (1, 2 and 3)
- Super Mario World
- Half Life (1, 2 and episodes)
- Portal
- Castlevanias (any of them, really)
- Metroids (well, the 2D ones, I never played the Prime Trilogy, Other M or the DS games)
- Tetris, obviously
- MOTHER series
- Call of Duty (1 and 2)
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas/Vice City
- Cave Story
- Games I hold a lot of nostalgic value for
- Unreal Tournament 99
- Worms Armageddon/World Party
- Rayman Designer (which was Rayman one with a level designer, how cool was that?)
- Halo
- Counter Strike
- Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko
- Croc
- Grand Theft Auto: 2
- Wololo Age of Empires 2
- Empire Earth
There are many games I've forgotten and many, many more I've missed in their entirety, but this list should cover everything on my mind. Special Mention must go to Team Fortress 2, which I sunk around 500+ hours into over the years, before Valve ruined it I got bored of it.
Were I to write this list down one or two years ago, I probably would have called it my all-time favorite game. Oh, how opinions can change.
The major problem with any "Top 1000"-list is this: Nostalgia is a wonderful thing until we actually go back and experience it.
This is certainly true. For example, I bought Tomb Raider 3 back when it was released, and it was back then and for a long time one of the best and most exciting games I had ever played, and I fondly remember those times. (It was also still a time when I played the same game more than once through, the second time trying to find all the secrets and whatever else the game had to offer.) Back then the graphics, level design and gameplay were absolutely marvelous. Some of the levels were simply astounding and thrilling.
Of course that was in 1998.
If I played Tomb Raider 3 today for the first time, I would consider it quite crappy. The graphics are horrible even compared to contemporary games (such as Quake2), the level geometry is horrible and limited (the game engine is so primitive that the entire level must be divided into a horizontal grid of large squares, each square consisting of two triangles, only the height of the corners being free), and the story is quite simplistic by today's standards.
I have had this exact experience with other games. There are certain old games which are considered some of the best in existence, but I haven't played them until quite recently. When I do, it often happens that the game looks and feels like crap, and even the story isn't all that compelling, so I really can't understand what people are talking about. It must be a nostalgia filter thing. It might have been cool at the time, but these certain games have not withstood the test of time very well. (One quintessential example of this would be Psychonauts.)
Of course there are other games which are today as good as they were back when they were released, and have lost nothing of their charm. In most cases they are 2D games (in my case usually JRPG ones). Good 2D games certainly have a tendency to survive the pass of time much better than their 3D counterparts.
Joined: 8/6/2006
Posts: 784
Location: Connecticut, USA
Warp wrote:
Of course there are other games which are today as good as they were back when they were released, and have lost nothing of their charm. In most cases they are 2D games (in my case usually JRPG ones). Good 2D games certainly have a tendency to survive the pass of time much better than their 3D counterparts.
I know exactly what you mean. The game's story and plot can transcend the fact that the game is old.
As far as graphics go, something can be 2D but have great graphics despite this "limitation". The art in Final Fantasy III (USA) is a testament to this.
Wow, some of these lists have been interesting, I don't know everybodys opinions would be so diversed. But then again, I suppose some of those games I haven't played yet, or some games you guys haven't played. Still, quite interesting.
[...] the game engine is so primitive that the entire level must be divided into a horizontal grid of large squares, each square consisting of two triangles, only the height of the corners being free [...]
This is still often the case, the squares just got smaller.
[...] the game engine is so primitive that the entire level must be divided into a horizontal grid of large squares, each square consisting of two triangles, only the height of the corners being free [...]
This is still often the case, the squares just got smaller.
I'm not so sure of that. Basic collision detection against the scenery has advanced quite a lot in the past decade (plus now there's some orders of magnitude more processing power to calculate), so there's little need to restrict the shape of the scenery nowadays. Most games I have seen don't seem to have any such obvious game engine limitation. (If they do, the level designers are pretty good at hiding it. Not something impossible, mind you. Back in the era of Doom, if you didn't know the exact limitations of the rendering engine, some levels were designed surprisingly well to hide these limitations and one could get easily fooled into thinking the level of freedom in level design was higher than it really was.)
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4083
Location: The Netherlands
Here's my list:
1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
2. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) (no, this is not fanboyism, the SMG games just both give me an awesome, pleasant feeling when playing it unlike any other game I've ever played)
3. F-Zero GX (GCN)
4. Mega Man X6 (PSX)
5. Mega Man X2 (SNES)
6. Dungeon Keeper (PC)
7. Jazz Jackrabbit (DOS)
8. Earthbound (SNES)
9. Grand Theft Auto 2 (PC)
10. Transport Tycoon (PC)
11. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
12. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN)
13. Super Mario 64 (N64)
14. Pokémon Red (GB)
15. Mega Man X8 (PC)
16. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
17. Transport Tycoon Deluxe (PC)
18. Kirby Super Star (SNES)
19. Age of Mythology (PC)
20. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
21. Age of Empires III (PC)
22. Mega Man ZX (DS)
23. Diablo II (PC)
24. Mega Man 6 (NES)
25. Super Mario Bros. (NES)
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa
<dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects.
<Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits
<adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Here's mine (I guess it will explain my disregard to the majority of Nintendo-centric titles). Alphabetic order cause ranking them individually would be hell.
Games I fondly love and still play regularly/occasionally:
• ADoM
• Armed Police BatRider
• Battle Garegga
• DoDonPachi
• Heroes of Might & Magic II
• Heroes of Might & Magic III
• Quake 3
• Touhou 07: Perfect Cherry Blossom
• Tetris the Grand Master (via Texmaster)
• Unreal Tournament (the original, sequels are more elaborate but they have largely lost the charm)
• Worms Armageddon
Games I've fondly loved but ultimately got tired of upon sinking dozens and hundreds of hours into:
• Bridge Construction Set (aka Pontifex)
• Carmageddon
• Contra Hard Corps
• Crimsonland
• Diablo
• Diablo II LoD
• Donkey Kong Country 2
• ElastoMania
• Exile 3 (spent lots of time with it, but never beat it — it's huge and fucking tough)
• Fallout 2
• Gradius V
• Spelunky (maybe I'll return to it some day)
• Starcraft
• Super Castlevania IV
• Super Metroid
• other 2D Worms games (3D ones lack strategy cause drowning is ridiculously easy there)
Games I consider great but haven't had much incentive to replay:
• Alien Soldier (it's kicking my ass ;_;)
• Braid (fun and well-designed)
• Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
• Cave Story (played through thrice, beat the TLB)
• Deus Ex
• Half-Life (played through the original thrice)
• Half-Life 2 w/episodes (played through the original twice, once through each episode)
• Iji (this one is a bit underrated; got stuck playing a perfect pacifist on the hardest difficulty after Ultimortal)
• Last Scenario (a JRPG that didn't make me cringe and dump it halfways, for once)
• MDK (amazing game Jet Force Gemini failed at copying)
• Planescape: Torment (awesome writing and characters, but very crude gameplay)
• Portal (great idea, but puzzles were either too easy or too demanding on speed/precision)
• Quake
• Within a Deep Forest (great mechanics, very easy to pick up)
Possible future candidates (depending on whether they will stand the test of time):
• DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu (w/Black Label and Arrange modes)
• DoDonPachi DaiOuJou (w/Black Label, Arrange)
• Ketsui (w/Arrange)
• Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 (w/Black Label, Arrange)
Something like that. Too few platformers in the list (despite them being one of my favorite genres), but I'm really picky. Another problem is I've skipped pretty much entire generations of console games that I have neither hopes nor desire to make up for.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
• Iji (this one is a bit underrated; got stuck playing a perfect pacifist on the hardest difficulty after Ultimortal)
Huh? Do you mean reallyjoel's dad difficulty? The one that's a joke difficulty level which is pretty much physically impossible until someone enables TAS conditions?
Huh? Do you mean reallyjoel's dad difficulty? The one that's a joke difficulty level which is pretty much physically impossible until someone enables TAS conditions?
No, I mean the second hardest. I just don't remember its name and don't have a game with me at the moment. I wouldn't bother going full pacifist on Ultimortal, that's just too much.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
No, I mean the second hardest. I just don't remember its name and don't have a game with me at the moment. I wouldn't bother going full pacifist on Ultimortal, that's just too much.
I found Ultimortal easier than the second hardest difficulty, primarily because without upgrades, I wasn't hanging around trying to collect nano. I was just getting the job done with a minimum of fuss.
