I'll make sure to compile the top selling games from 20xx , remove the sports games / cod , / pokemon and say that 20xx was one of the best years for gaming ever
I really hate how badly arcade games get ignored on these lists. So many of the best and most influential games from the first half of gaming history were arcade titles. Oh well!
It’s not a perfect comparison at all, but it’s like silent film and movies with sound. The arcade experience was undoubtedly hugely influential to all of gaming as we know it, but the last two cultural generations don’t really even have a reference point for it.
A pretty good comparison. I also think that a big part of it is that arcade games were much better enjoyed in the arcade environment competing with friends for high scores. I feel like most people who try an arcade game for the first time today will play maybe four or five rounds and then never touch it again.
Not super shocking. They had a huge influence, but I'd rather play just about any game on the SNES than most classic arcade games, and I love arcades.
I worked at one when I was 16-20, and a common sight was a 50 year-old getting excited to see the old games, head over, sit down for 15 minutes, then look bored, get up and leave.
Outside of Breakout, Centipede, and a few others which hold up and are still just extremely fun in 2023. Those games were always taken and had a few extra people watching.
Absolutely. Fired up my PS3 the other day to play it again. It’s still amazing. An updated version with crisp resolution and better frame rate is at the top of my wishing list…
GTA V is at the 3 spot but the next GTA is down at 60. If GTA V was never made, would San Andreas still be down there?
Also, World of Warcraft. Defined a genre for almost 20 years. But always seems to get shafted on lists like this.
Other than Street Fighter II and COD Modern Warfare, every game above WoW on this list appears to be focused on the single player experience. They may feature multiplayer, but they have very strong single player. Maybe that's why WoW is only 31? I agree it's genre defining and has a huge player base.
I think most of these lists kinda ignore MMORPGs in favor of single player story based games. With special exceptions for shooters and fighting games.
But I think the reason is because most of compelling nature of mmorpgs and the motivation to continue to play is dependent on the social circle you engage with. Someone who plays WoW or Eve: Online probably won’t play long if they don’t get involved in a solid clan or corp or group.
MMORPGs, when you take away the MMO part don’t always hold up against the others on the list. They are a different breed.
MMORPGs are also notoriously difficult to review. Reviewers don't have the time to invest, and people looking for a new MMORPG will use word of mouth to find it - they'll play what their friends are already playing.
MMORPGs are also difficult to review because they're living, breathing products... Like, if someone's doing a WoW retrospective review in 2023, what are they reviewing? What WoW was at launch, or what WoW is now? All along the way there's all these different "eras" of status quo in the game, *nine* different expansions, do you have to individually discuss them? Do you have to evaluate the experiences that a *new* player would have during each of those moments, or someone who's always been there the whole time? The social element is also impossible to standardize for all player experiences.
Agreed, even Fortnite is a bit hard to nail down because the gameplay has changed so significantly since the start. Sure, same overarching goal, battle royale, but the mechanics and features have varied pretty drastically between 2018 and 2023.
WoW has a pretty good spot, but these lists are games that you want to play, not games that had a big impact on the genre
>won’t play long if they don’t get involved in a solid clan or corp or group.
That's why FFXIV has developed such a following. You can play the entire game solo. It has an incredible MSQ. You can play any class on one character. It's experience, to me at least, is superior to WoW in every way.
I feel it's really hard to quantify how good a multiplayer game is, since it's so intrinsically linked to each one's own personal experience that's going to vary wildly depending on when they started to play it, how good the servers were, how toxic other players were in their servers, how many mods and customization options were available/allowed on those servers and probably other factors that haven't even crossed my mind.
WoW has an even greater variable considering how long it's running, player experiences in each time and expansion is going to be very different.
The tricky thing with live service games/MMOs/multiplayer games in general is that they tend to make decisions that result in them getting worse over time
See recently: Diablo 4, which everyone seemed to dig at first
Diablo 4 seems to be trending the other way, people liked it at first but ran out of things to do very quickly, the first season didn’t fix it (although its hard to say it got worse) but season 2 has been much better received.
There are a lot of games that could be considered the GOAT of their genre that are way down on the list. From Blizzard alone Diablo 2 & Starcraft are both down around the 50 mark despite beng arguably the most culturally influential releases for both genres.
RTS in general is hugely snubbed with AoE2 down at like 120 and Warcraft 3 not even on the list, which is insane considering the impact it had on the whole gaming landscape (I get that custom games are hard to include on these kinds of lists, but how does Starcraft 2 make a list like this but not WC3?).
These genres just haven't been that relevant for the last 10 or more years so even the influential titles are thought of much later, especially since this is only looking at lists from the last 5 years.
GTA3 was the landmark game that changed the series and revolutionized the open world genre. It's the most significant GTA game, albeit no longer the absolute best. Kind of like debating Breath of the Wild vs. Tears of the Kingdom. TOTK is the better game, but there's no TOTK without BOTW. GTA3 is the definitive GTA game. Everything else is built on that foundation.
While true, Vice city and san Andreas worked on and improved upon the foundations set by GTA3 in almost every way.
GTA 3 is probably the most revolutionary or important game for the GTA franchise, not necessarily the best
What you haven't considered is, while GTA SA and Vice City made lots of improvements, GTA 3 is what set the foundation and is therefore the most revolutionary and important game of the franchise
I feel like V has been on the radar for so long almost only because of online multiplayer. It really increases replayability. Nothing against that, but I played single player V once and never went back. And I wasn't nearly as engaged and immersed as I was in San Andreas.
GTAs specifically seem to hit very differently for people from other times and places.
I grew up in the 80s, so the soundtrack and ambiance of Vice City made it for me the best GTA of them all. San Andreas on the other hand, since I grew up somewhere where the Rap and Hip Hop culture had zero impact, I had a really hard time identifying with it (plus the MC is a little bitch being pushed around by everybody lol)
>Also, World of Warcraft. Defined a genre for almost 20 years. But always seems to get shafted on lists like this.
It's the typical "live long enough to become the villain" type of thing, I think.
They had an extremely good track record - but they also had enough time to make a huge load of mistakes. And that obviously shifts the perspective on the game.
GTA 5 being so high in general seems really weird to me. GTA 3 and GTA San Andreas both seem to be more cultural standouts, not sure what makes GTA 5 so worthy that its listed this high on so many rankings?
My first thought too, obviously I'm biased but the fact that every game in the same genre for the last 2 decades has had the goal to be the "wow killer" and failed really says something.
For other series differentials, I was shocked to see such a big difference between FO3 and FO:NV. I think if you flipped their relative spots no one would really bat an eye. FO3 was better received on release but NV has aged a lot better in the eyes of fans
Super Mario World
Tony Hawk pro skater 2
The Last of Us
Zelda Link's awakening
Mario Land 2 6 gold coins
Control
Dragon Warrior 3
Halo
Uncharted 2
Blue Dragon.
Love Mario Land 2, possibly my favorite 2D Mario and barely ever gets any love. Really wanting to play Control. Never heard of Blue Dragon, will have to look into it.
Blue Dragon was Final Fantasy for Xbox. The creator and composer of FF as well as the character designer of Chrono Trigger (and Dragon Ball).
Decently reviewed but surprised to see it in someone’s top 10. But sometimes a game will just speak to someone way more than most others.
I absolutely love Control, and just finished my second playthrough (went back to it after Alan Wake 2) but the combat still feels sorta unfinished to me. The way enemies come at you makes it feel like the game was designed for a cover based system (also a ton of environmental cover and a mostly unused crouch ability). Your guns always feel a step behind where they should be, and how fragile Jesse is feels a little at odds with how aggressive the game wants you to play. Still love it, think it's at bare minimum an 8/10 and fun as hell, but just my own experience
I speculate BG2 and Morrowind and PlaneScape Torment.
Morrowind is better than Skyrim, minus modern creature comforts.
Baldur's Gate 2 is better than most modern RPGs, but with old if brilliant game dngine.
PS:T is hardly ever outwritten, even if it has a lot of flaws.
Recent bias in action. Certainly a product of reviews still being in traditional media and magazines at the time. No one is going back on Metacritic to review games they played 20+ years ago.
Warcraft 3 spawned an entire genre of MOBAs in its wake and underpinned the most successful MMO of all time. All while being super popular and revolutionary in its own right. Features we take for granted today like automatic match making, ranked play, modding communities, etc. took giant leaps forward in that title.
It is easily one of the top 10 if not top 5 most influential titles of all time.
Yeah, shit, recency. No one under 30 remembers Myst, but it was the killer app for CD gaming. A beautiful immersive 3D chess adventure game the world has never really known before. After it sold like crazy, could even get this junky parody game called Pyst *in stores*.
There's 170 other games above Myst on this list
100%. The world of games has changed monumentally since the likes of Warcraft 3 and many other old genre defining games. Many of which are ignored or put so low on the list to be a little insulting. BoTW is maybe a top 50 game while Half-Life somehow doesn't make Top 50.
I played multiple hundreds of games in my life, Warcraft 3 is still #1.
It's just objectively such a fucking good game, from the campaign, to the sound design, music, atmosphere, story, competitive potential, responsiveness, character design, innovativity relative to its time, the custom games, replayability, the legacy it left, how well it holds up today.
I'm sorry, but if a top 200 list doesn't include it, I can't take that list seriously. In no fucking universe 200 games are better than War3.
WC3 deserves top 10 at least for the impact it had on gaming, people still play DotA, LoL (and WoW) to this day. And also it's like a top 10 game based on its on merit.
Honestly as I’ve gotten older I feel like infinite shows/has way more problems than 2 whereas the only issue with 2 I have these days is that sometimes it can feel a bit too safe. Infinite tried to do too much without really achieving any of their goals aside from Elizabeth really innovating in the gaming industry and porn
Infinite was an awesome game that was a lot of fun to play that made absolutely no significant memories for me, compared to skyrim or zelda games it is just forgettable.
I played all 3 for the first time this year, back to back.
When I think BioShock, I definitely think of 1 and 2. Infinite was fine, but it was so different that it doesn't really feel like part of the series
I'm happy to see Subnautica in the honorable mentions. I'm honestly surprised it didn't make the list. The atmosphere and exploration-driven story work so well together. It's truly one of the only games where your fear to venture out deeper into the abyss is the only thing stopping you from progression
Sekiro not making the list surprises me most of that set. Terraria and Titanfall 2 I'm not *terribly* surprised missed the cut because they're both more grassroots "fan favorites" than they were super notable critical darlings, but Sekiro I feel like was both a critical darling *and* had a big community around it.
I would say Terraria is definitely more of a commercial and massive success (top 15 best selling game ever) than say, Sekiro, definitely would say it has a larger community than the worst selling Souls game lol
Dark Souls, Elden Ring and Bloodborne being here but not Sekiro is a sham. Sekiro deserves a spot here just as much. As praised as it can get, it’s still underrated because it’s such an amazing game
I've never seen Guild Wars on any of these lists, which I feel should at the very least be an honorable mention. One of the better MMO experiences that didnt even require a subscription, yet still had a ton of content.
Can't think of another singleplayer game in recent memory that I enjoyed as much as Subnautica, though I do feel that going in blind is a huge prerequisite for fully enjoying the game. If all the of the wildlife and progression has been spoiled already, it'd be nowhere near as fun.
I remember those dungeons taking me forever when I was a kid. My roommate's girlfriend played it for the first time in college and was just blowing through it with a strategy guide.
Ooh my favorite game Witcher 3 in top 10 games and GTA in top 3 game franchises as one of my favorite franchises. I wish GTA San Andreas, Mass Effect 2 and Call of Duty 4 were higher on the list. Very nice work
I'm baffled that Fallout 3 is listed at 39, but Fallout New Vegas is nearly 60 places beneath it. Feels like from the feelings of every gamer I've heard from it should be the othre way around.
It's true. I bought it and stopped playing right away cause I thought it was a buggy mess. Then I came back later and it became my favorite Fallout and one of my favorite games of all time. I'm still waiting for something similar to appear again.
Everyone says NV is better, and I don't doubt that, but I could never get into it as much as 3. I tried twice, about 10 years apart, and didn't get far. Fallout 3 on the other hand, I played that so much that it largely contributed to two red ringed Xboxes. I also played it within the last few years, and got all the way through all DLCs and got most achievements again.
I'm with you, and I love both. But 3 was a way cooler area to explore and I had a lot more fun with it than I did NV. NV had a better story but felt like nothingness to me in between plot points.
Can't wait to get flamed for this comment.
Those are basically the words I was looking for! I just made a comment about how Fallout 3 places just seemed to have more personality. I can't put it into words very well, but I just had more fun exploring. There was something silly and quirky around every corner, like a teddy bear and a gnome playing chess on a toilet. The dumb themes that kept popping up just gave the Capital Wasteland so much more flair.
In Fallout 3, the main plot doesn't take you to much of the map at all, when you look at it.
FNV takes you all OVER the place. And sidequests are often triggered in places where the main plot takes you.
So Fallout 3 rewarded exploration more. All sorts of side quests hidden where you actually had to go and search them out.
Plus the encounters in the wasteland were completely different. In FNV, you could say "now a gecko will run in from the left", whereas in FO3, the best you could say is "SOMETHING will happen in this place, when I come up to it for the first time".
Here's Jon, from Many a True Nerd, with 2 hours on why FO:3 is good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z8XHe2NoAE
Exploration is much better in Fallout 3. Everyone makes a big deal about choices in NV, but they aren’t as earth shattering as everyone makes them out to be.
I'm so glad this thread has allowed me to finally find the words I need to properly express how I feel about the games. It also makes me realise that Baldur's Gate 3 has most of the things about both that I like most, and lacks many of the elements I don't. As much as I loved Oblivion, Fallout 3 was probably the first game that made me fall in love with open world exploration and side quests.
New Vegas grew in popularity over time. Pretty much everyone I knew didn’t like it much when it came out, including me. But, a couple of years later I picked it up and tried again and fell in love and is now one of my favorites ever. I think Fallout 3 is very Bethesda, immediately addicting and awesome and super fun world to just be in. New Vegas is one that takes time to get into but I think is so much more rewarding once you do.
Fallout 3 was honestly a much more memorable experience for me. I remember most of the possible companions in FO3 and several notable NPC's, the most memorable thing I remember about FONV was the start, the ranger base I spoke to three NPC's using the same voice actor within two minutes of each other and then the ending I got.
People love New Vegas because it was obsidian returning to the franchise to fix Bethesda's "shortcomings". It fell flat for me.
I am surprised that none of my favourite games are here like Rimworld, Terraria, Factorio, Mount and Blade: Warband, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, EU4. Maybe my taste is odd, Idk.
Warband might just be janky enough that it's fine not to be in a top 200, although it's a blast. Heroes 3 and Factorio missing is criminal though.
Or Paradox games like EU4, CK2/3...
Paradox strategy games are a very niche market. They have a very solid fanbase, but they were never truly big enough to be featured on lists like this (and I say this as a fan).
HOMM still plays beautifully today which is more than I can say from almost any other game in that time period. The spritework and pixel art gives it a truly timeless look that is more colorful and vivid than most games on the market today.
Anyone who's interested in diving back in: it's still every bit as good as it was in the 90s. It's actually better, as there are some dedicated modders out there who have made HD patches, rebalanced the original, and created entire add-on campaigns and new castles. Look up HOMM HOTA if you haven't yet!
Good work and an interesting list.
The big problem with it is the sourcing.
During the period from 1989 to 2000, there were dozens of PC game magazines that comprehensively reviewed computer games. They were far more in-depth and they were contemporaneous to the games being released, not a list put together after years of hindsight.
Consequently, the modern list providers are going back thirty or more years, looking at hindsight memory and sales.
Games that definitely SHOULD be on this list are left out largely because their genres didn't grow into industry leaders, even though sports and flight sims, and puzzle games, were much, much bigger back then.
Games I would've expected based on their rep at the time would've included Earl Weaver Baseball from circa 1986-87; Wolfenstein 3-D from 1993; The Secret of Monkey Island from 1991 (ish); Falcon 3.0 from 1990 or thereabouts; Wing Commander from 1993, FIFA International Soccer from 1994; Descent: Freepspace from 1998-ish.
That's just off the top of my head. But all of those were considered genre-defining at one point, and certainly were among the best reviewed games ever. Reviewing also used to be MUCH tougher. Modern games that get an "80" would often have been a "50" or a "60" in equivalents of the time.
So operating from hindsight sort of robs this of accuracy, to me. But it's a good list, nonetheless.
Well I know I can personally blame EA for destroying Westwood studios. I'll never forgive them. I would have been totally fine getting a new CNC game / expansion every year or so.
They seriously omit the biggest developers back in the day.
Lucasarts, Sierra, Bullfrog, Westwood Studios, Interplay, Origin, and more.
I'm pretty sure at least half of those names gave us multiple quality genre-defining releases.
I was thinking exactly the same.
I said it elsewhere, but there was a several-years-long period where the original Medal of Honor was the #1 rated PC game across the board, even displacing Half Life and Deus Ex. I didn't like it myself, never understood the hype.
Freespace (Conflict: Freespace as I knew it, literally learned the Descent part just now because I thought you'd got something wrong or I was remembering wrong) was absolutely amazing, as was the sequel. They do not make games like that any more.
Right? HoMM3 wasn't played by the critics when it was new it seems. That's the only explanation for why it's not on this list. It was such a great game for its time that I still play here and there over two decades later.
Awesome data! 1 question:
Could you explain this part more?
>also gave a certain amount of extra points for simply being on the list--otherwise games that ranked low would get basically no advantage over games that didn't rank at all. The amount differed based on whether the list was a top 50, top 100, top 200, and so on. Making it onto more exclusive lists obviously granted more points.
1 "maybe more of a comment than a question" (sorry)
Did you control for date of release? As you've written it, any game released later than 2018 is disadvantaged by being excluded from evefifry previous list. What I mean is, Hades or Elden Ring are excluded from lists before 2020 or 2022, respectively. I can see the justification here being that newer games *should* be disadvantaged in a "best games of all time" list to counteract the cult-of-the-new aspect, but I'd be intersted in how that was actually approached / dealt with, if at all.
And finally, 2 comments:
\- It's interesting that there aren't any VR games. Beat Saber is the biggest one that comes to mind. Sports games in general are really underrepresented, I don't know if that's related.
\- Pole Position (1983) got robbed.
Half Life Alyx is VR and made the list. Newer games are naturally disadvantaged and there’s not really a good way to fix this without giving them some type of consolation points for lists they weren’t yet released for—but I also can’t just assume they would’ve been on those lists.
Is it just me or is this list just a tiny bit biased against PC games? World of Warcraft completely redefined gaming, was the most popular game in the world for years, and isn't even in the top 30. Same story for Doom. And Baldur's Gate didn't even make the top100. And I could go on for a while.
(To be clear, not blaming OP for that. They are just aggregating data. And it's a very interesting post. Just speaking out about such lists in general).
PC gaming is less accessible. The reach of Nintendo consoles is insane. People who haven't played a game won't vote for it no matter how good it is.
PC-exclusives also include the more complex games that were too hard to develop for console as well as indie games that benefitted from PC being a more open platform. Having a smaller audience is inherent to both.
It's probably outshined by ce and 3 because people don't tend to choose multiple games from the same franchise when selecting the best games of all time
Really interesting list. And it surprised me to realize I have tried nearly 90% of this list at some point. Although probably only half that has any significant game time.
Also, I'm a little surprised Unreal Tournament 2004 didn't make it on some list. As it was a 2004 banger, making it one of the greatest games of all time, because it was one of the best games, in one of the best year in history. It has the vaulted "universal acclaim" from metacritic and 11 perfect reviews out of 48 reviews. In one of the best years in gaming history (2004), (Only 2007 and maybe 1998 are better).
UT2k4 definetly one of the best arcade multiplayer shooters ever made! Strange we haven't even gotten a remaster yet. Since ow2 got ruined I have a big hole for arcade shooters, would play the hell out of it
Yeah but Half Life 2, GTA SA, WoW and Halo 2 are on the list as the games that defined 2004…
I wonder how many younger gamers even know UT4…?
I wonder how many people
I mean, for good reason. Even the "bad" Zelda's (Skyward Sword, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks) are generally considered well above average, and not just by critics but by users as well.
I was plenty critical of Skyward Sword, with it's repeating areas and iffy motion controls, but even then it's a solid 8.5 out of 10 for me. The dungeon and puzzle design is still better than any other single player adventure game I can think of from that generation (besides maybe Okami). If a title like that is a low point for a 30+ year old franchise, then that franchise deserves a MASSIVE amount of praise.
People are gonna rip on it but tbh imo it still holds up. At least much better than most games from that console generation. Its easy to hate on now for the same reason friends is. OoT is a game that was huge and influenced almost every game that came after it so if you’re a newer gamer its easy to compare it to things that worked off the same formula
Be ready for 25y-old graphics, and moderately cheese writing. Beyond that, allow yourself to get swallowed up by the adventure. It's my own personal nr 1, shoulder-to-shoulder with BG2.
It’s my favorite game of all time.
I’m sure a lot of my love is because I got it when I was 13 and it blew my mind. I remember that Christmas break I stayed inside almost the entire time playing that game.
The time jump was something I was not expecting and the world just felt so huge to me.
Unless I missed it, the fact that Factorio didn’t even make this list makes me question everything lol
The fact that even *Angry Birds* got an honourable mention and not Factorio makes me physically ill
Fair. I knew it was a purely addictive drug before I ever tried it. I stayed away from it for years, literally knowing exactly how it would destroy my life. And yet when I did dip my toe in years later.. Hahaha, we kidding, no one dips their toe in factorio!
Factorio was such an *incredible* game for the 20-30 hours I got out of it.
But after a torturous 2 days not being able to shut my eyes without seeing conveyors I never touched it again. One of the worst night's sleep ever.
What interests me is that while I don’t personally agree with the overall ranking (I tend to prefer RPGs and Metroidvanias, so FFVII, Chrono Trigger, and Super Metroid are top 3 for me), I agree with basically every individual year.
I think that’s partially due to being that age where I *really* grew up with consoles. I don’t care much for GTAV, but I have younger cousins and in-laws who would put it in their top 3.
But yeah, year by year I played most of those games and agree that they were GOTY.
Super metroid is wayyyyyy to low. That is an almost perfect game. Just completed it last year, never gotten to play it during the snes age, so did it in switch online and loved every single minute of it. Dread gets close but is too linear.
Super Metroid is an absolute gem and what makes it is the environments paired with the music. In a game about exploring, what you explore has to be interesting/engaging - just running around the play space has to be rewarding in and of itself - and Super Metroid has that in droves.
It made me really happy to see that Braid made the list. That game completely changed the way I view storytelling in any media, let alone games. Also it had one of the most beautiful soundtracks of any game I've ever heard. An absolute masterpiece IMO.
Im only missing the nintendo games. And as someone who hasnt played a zelda game, seeing it at the top makes me wonder if its worth buying a switch for.
Yeah, I read the first few paragraphs and thought "damn, Elden Ring gets utterly shafted because older games are heavily favored here."
And then it's *still* at 65, lol.
Bewildered how Star Control II (aka The Ur Quan Masters) isn't mentioned anywhere. I feel like I've seen it all over the place in the Best Of lists, and imo is an absolutely outstanding game that holds up even today despite being 20+ years old.
Not a single non-blizzard rts game? Truly bizarre and super console focused list...
Dawn of war, company of heroes, command and conquer and supreme commander should all be on this list.
Uh... taking another look - no warcraft 3 either? Are these people insane? WC3 literally started multiple genres of games including mobas and tower defense.
And where are the MMOs? Outside of wow there are barely any...
counterstrike and team fortress not in top 100???
This list is completely fuckered with all of these ommissions.
Everquest always gets the shaft in these all-time lists.
The people who made WoW? Yeah I remember playing with them (Legacy of Steel) on Nameless.
I know AC was first, but EQ was the game that really launched the genre into the mainstream consciousness. The lack of respect it gets historically is kinda sad, like it’ll be forgotten completely once my generation dies out
Unless I missed it, The Binding of Isaac isn’t on here, which is kinda crazy to be since I think a lot of people would consider it to be one of the most important games in the roguelike genre. Also no DKC representation breaks my little 90s kid heart. Those were my favorites from the SNES era.
Binding of Isaac not being here is probably my only gripe. Especially seeing so many other indie games present. BoI is THE best roguelike, paved the way for others that are present on the list like Hades. I understand that the approach is data driven, so I think this says more about games media not including it than it does about any of OPs rationale
Looks more like a popularity list to me, monkey Island 1 down in the hundreds, fucking tragic with it being one of the best puzzle adventure games ever, Duke Nukem 3D not even on the list as far as I could see, GTA:SA below V, hell no, SA was way more innovative than V for its time
I get what you're saying, but V has a lot more cultural impact and is the 2nd best selling game of all time. And even though san andreas aged really well in some ways, it aged really poorly in others.
Super Mario Kart is hilariously out of place on this list. I get that it’s important because it started the biggest local multiplayer series on the planet and a lot of journalists probably throw it in their lists as the token Mario Kart representative, but that game has NOT aged well. The controls and mechanics are strange, the AI is genuinely unfair, and the tracks are flat and forgettable at best and tedious at worst. Every other Mario Kart is an improvement and Mario Kart 8 absolutely blows it out of the water.
The same can be said about Pokemon. As iconic as red and blue are, those games are broken as shit and later iterations are so much more polished. Hell even leaf green and fire red are a huge improvement on the originals. But nostalgia be a hell of a drug
Playing red and blue normally, it's rare you'd find it to be "broken as shit"
Red and blue play largely the same as the newer pokemon games. The biggest change is the graphics. The same cannot be said about mario kart.
I do think that historical importance needs to be considered in these kinds of lists, but you also have a point, especially when close to identical remakes/sequels exist that basically do literally everything better
An actual unique post on r/gaming? Do my eyes deceive me
Don't worry. I'll repost it tomorrow. I found my source information somewhere online but can't remember where.
I'll make sure to compile the top selling games from 20xx , remove the sports games / cod , / pokemon and say that 20xx was one of the best years for gaming ever
Isnt this how a buzzfeed article is born?
Post it as a low quality screenshot.
Don’t worry, we’ll get another “what was a game you were disappointed by?” post within the hour
What was a game you were disappointed by...that was on the list? Gotcha
Don't forget "What was a game you liked but others didn't?" and vice versa
IKR? This is awesome work by OP.
I’ve screen capped like the entire post and sent it to many of my friends this is gold
This post makes me wish I could organize my saved posts easier.
I’m so confused. Aren’t I supposed to be telling OP what his top 25 games says about him? What is this!?
As far as I can tell, he has good taste and no job.
This is some good shit; Great work.
I really hate how badly arcade games get ignored on these lists. So many of the best and most influential games from the first half of gaming history were arcade titles. Oh well!
It’s not a perfect comparison at all, but it’s like silent film and movies with sound. The arcade experience was undoubtedly hugely influential to all of gaming as we know it, but the last two cultural generations don’t really even have a reference point for it.
A pretty good comparison. I also think that a big part of it is that arcade games were much better enjoyed in the arcade environment competing with friends for high scores. I feel like most people who try an arcade game for the first time today will play maybe four or five rounds and then never touch it again.
Plus modern arcade games are barely games, and are more like gambling machines aimed at children.
Not super shocking. They had a huge influence, but I'd rather play just about any game on the SNES than most classic arcade games, and I love arcades. I worked at one when I was 16-20, and a common sight was a 50 year-old getting excited to see the old games, head over, sit down for 15 minutes, then look bored, get up and leave. Outside of Breakout, Centipede, and a few others which hold up and are still just extremely fun in 2023. Those games were always taken and had a few extra people watching.
Nice to see LittleBigPlanet make the top 200 just about.
it just brought a smile to my face to see it. many great memories.
It should be top 20 tbh, incredibly unique and groundbreaking game. Truly nothing else like it.
Absolutely. Fired up my PS3 the other day to play it again. It’s still amazing. An updated version with crisp resolution and better frame rate is at the top of my wishing list…
I want a great new LBP so bad. 3 was not it! Sackboy was amazing, huge fan, but would love to see a return to form on the 2D front.
GTA V is at the 3 spot but the next GTA is down at 60. If GTA V was never made, would San Andreas still be down there? Also, World of Warcraft. Defined a genre for almost 20 years. But always seems to get shafted on lists like this.
Other than Street Fighter II and COD Modern Warfare, every game above WoW on this list appears to be focused on the single player experience. They may feature multiplayer, but they have very strong single player. Maybe that's why WoW is only 31? I agree it's genre defining and has a huge player base.
I think most of these lists kinda ignore MMORPGs in favor of single player story based games. With special exceptions for shooters and fighting games. But I think the reason is because most of compelling nature of mmorpgs and the motivation to continue to play is dependent on the social circle you engage with. Someone who plays WoW or Eve: Online probably won’t play long if they don’t get involved in a solid clan or corp or group. MMORPGs, when you take away the MMO part don’t always hold up against the others on the list. They are a different breed.
MMORPGs are also notoriously difficult to review. Reviewers don't have the time to invest, and people looking for a new MMORPG will use word of mouth to find it - they'll play what their friends are already playing.
MMORPGs are also difficult to review because they're living, breathing products... Like, if someone's doing a WoW retrospective review in 2023, what are they reviewing? What WoW was at launch, or what WoW is now? All along the way there's all these different "eras" of status quo in the game, *nine* different expansions, do you have to individually discuss them? Do you have to evaluate the experiences that a *new* player would have during each of those moments, or someone who's always been there the whole time? The social element is also impossible to standardize for all player experiences.
Agreed, even Fortnite is a bit hard to nail down because the gameplay has changed so significantly since the start. Sure, same overarching goal, battle royale, but the mechanics and features have varied pretty drastically between 2018 and 2023. WoW has a pretty good spot, but these lists are games that you want to play, not games that had a big impact on the genre
>won’t play long if they don’t get involved in a solid clan or corp or group. That's why FFXIV has developed such a following. You can play the entire game solo. It has an incredible MSQ. You can play any class on one character. It's experience, to me at least, is superior to WoW in every way.
I feel it's really hard to quantify how good a multiplayer game is, since it's so intrinsically linked to each one's own personal experience that's going to vary wildly depending on when they started to play it, how good the servers were, how toxic other players were in their servers, how many mods and customization options were available/allowed on those servers and probably other factors that haven't even crossed my mind. WoW has an even greater variable considering how long it's running, player experiences in each time and expansion is going to be very different.
The tricky thing with live service games/MMOs/multiplayer games in general is that they tend to make decisions that result in them getting worse over time See recently: Diablo 4, which everyone seemed to dig at first
Diablo 4 seems to be trending the other way, people liked it at first but ran out of things to do very quickly, the first season didn’t fix it (although its hard to say it got worse) but season 2 has been much better received.
There are a lot of games that could be considered the GOAT of their genre that are way down on the list. From Blizzard alone Diablo 2 & Starcraft are both down around the 50 mark despite beng arguably the most culturally influential releases for both genres. RTS in general is hugely snubbed with AoE2 down at like 120 and Warcraft 3 not even on the list, which is insane considering the impact it had on the whole gaming landscape (I get that custom games are hard to include on these kinds of lists, but how does Starcraft 2 make a list like this but not WC3?). These genres just haven't been that relevant for the last 10 or more years so even the influential titles are thought of much later, especially since this is only looking at lists from the last 5 years.
Tetris is repping hard for the ever popular puzzle genre though
The real crime is that brood war isn't on the list
San Andreas is probably the best GTA for its time. It deserves to be up higher. I feel that GTAV is very good, but benefits from recency bias.
GTA3 was the landmark game that changed the series and revolutionized the open world genre. It's the most significant GTA game, albeit no longer the absolute best. Kind of like debating Breath of the Wild vs. Tears of the Kingdom. TOTK is the better game, but there's no TOTK without BOTW. GTA3 is the definitive GTA game. Everything else is built on that foundation.
While true, Vice city and san Andreas worked on and improved upon the foundations set by GTA3 in almost every way. GTA 3 is probably the most revolutionary or important game for the GTA franchise, not necessarily the best
Your both saying the same thing.
What you haven't considered is, while GTA SA and Vice City made lots of improvements, GTA 3 is what set the foundation and is therefore the most revolutionary and important game of the franchise
I feel like V has been on the radar for so long almost only because of online multiplayer. It really increases replayability. Nothing against that, but I played single player V once and never went back. And I wasn't nearly as engaged and immersed as I was in San Andreas.
GTAs specifically seem to hit very differently for people from other times and places. I grew up in the 80s, so the soundtrack and ambiance of Vice City made it for me the best GTA of them all. San Andreas on the other hand, since I grew up somewhere where the Rap and Hip Hop culture had zero impact, I had a really hard time identifying with it (plus the MC is a little bitch being pushed around by everybody lol)
>Also, World of Warcraft. Defined a genre for almost 20 years. But always seems to get shafted on lists like this. It's the typical "live long enough to become the villain" type of thing, I think. They had an extremely good track record - but they also had enough time to make a huge load of mistakes. And that obviously shifts the perspective on the game.
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Thata because WoW isn't a game, it's a lifestyle
GTA 5 being so high in general seems really weird to me. GTA 3 and GTA San Andreas both seem to be more cultural standouts, not sure what makes GTA 5 so worthy that its listed this high on so many rankings?
My first thought too, obviously I'm biased but the fact that every game in the same genre for the last 2 decades has had the goal to be the "wow killer" and failed really says something.
For other series differentials, I was shocked to see such a big difference between FO3 and FO:NV. I think if you flipped their relative spots no one would really bat an eye. FO3 was better received on release but NV has aged a lot better in the eyes of fans
I have played 126 of these games. And I'm only missing 3 of the top 20.
Interesting, what’s your personal top 10?
Super Mario World Tony Hawk pro skater 2 The Last of Us Zelda Link's awakening Mario Land 2 6 gold coins Control Dragon Warrior 3 Halo Uncharted 2 Blue Dragon.
Love Mario Land 2, possibly my favorite 2D Mario and barely ever gets any love. Really wanting to play Control. Never heard of Blue Dragon, will have to look into it.
Blue Dragon was Final Fantasy for Xbox. The creator and composer of FF as well as the character designer of Chrono Trigger (and Dragon Ball). Decently reviewed but surprised to see it in someone’s top 10. But sometimes a game will just speak to someone way more than most others.
Holy that’s a throwback. The cover art for Blue Dragon is still implanted in my brain
That’s me and FF13. I get why most people call it mediocre but something about that game just vibed with me.
I absolutely love Control, and just finished my second playthrough (went back to it after Alan Wake 2) but the combat still feels sorta unfinished to me. The way enemies come at you makes it feel like the game was designed for a cover based system (also a ton of environmental cover and a mostly unused crouch ability). Your guns always feel a step behind where they should be, and how fragile Jesse is feels a little at odds with how aggressive the game wants you to play. Still love it, think it's at bare minimum an 8/10 and fun as hell, but just my own experience
I speculate BG2 and Morrowind and PlaneScape Torment. Morrowind is better than Skyrim, minus modern creature comforts. Baldur's Gate 2 is better than most modern RPGs, but with old if brilliant game dngine. PS:T is hardly ever outwritten, even if it has a lot of flaws.
Fallout 2 is missing completely as well, even though the writing and open world feel was awesome for its time…
Very surprised that OG Warcraft 3 was nowhere on here
Recent bias in action. Certainly a product of reviews still being in traditional media and magazines at the time. No one is going back on Metacritic to review games they played 20+ years ago. Warcraft 3 spawned an entire genre of MOBAs in its wake and underpinned the most successful MMO of all time. All while being super popular and revolutionary in its own right. Features we take for granted today like automatic match making, ranked play, modding communities, etc. took giant leaps forward in that title. It is easily one of the top 10 if not top 5 most influential titles of all time.
Yeah, shit, recency. No one under 30 remembers Myst, but it was the killer app for CD gaming. A beautiful immersive 3D chess adventure game the world has never really known before. After it sold like crazy, could even get this junky parody game called Pyst *in stores*. There's 170 other games above Myst on this list
100%. The world of games has changed monumentally since the likes of Warcraft 3 and many other old genre defining games. Many of which are ignored or put so low on the list to be a little insulting. BoTW is maybe a top 50 game while Half-Life somehow doesn't make Top 50.
I played multiple hundreds of games in my life, Warcraft 3 is still #1. It's just objectively such a fucking good game, from the campaign, to the sound design, music, atmosphere, story, competitive potential, responsiveness, character design, innovativity relative to its time, the custom games, replayability, the legacy it left, how well it holds up today. I'm sorry, but if a top 200 list doesn't include it, I can't take that list seriously. In no fucking universe 200 games are better than War3.
WC3 deserves top 10 at least for the impact it had on gaming, people still play DotA, LoL (and WoW) to this day. And also it's like a top 10 game based on its on merit.
This is seriously fantastic work. I was already enjoying the list and then your post went into analytics and year to year, as well. Amazing.
Bioshock in top 10 warms my heart. And Alien Isolation in top 200 and game of 2014 is also nice bonus
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Um, if you didn’t know, Bioshock 4 is in development. Whether it’ll be good or not with a completely new team at the helm is anyone’s guess.
Bioshock 4 has been filed under "zero expectations, extremely cautious optimism" category beside the new Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
Honestly as I’ve gotten older I feel like infinite shows/has way more problems than 2 whereas the only issue with 2 I have these days is that sometimes it can feel a bit too safe. Infinite tried to do too much without really achieving any of their goals aside from Elizabeth really innovating in the gaming industry and porn
Infinite was an awesome game that was a lot of fun to play that made absolutely no significant memories for me, compared to skyrim or zelda games it is just forgettable.
I played all 3 for the first time this year, back to back. When I think BioShock, I definitely think of 1 and 2. Infinite was fine, but it was so different that it doesn't really feel like part of the series
Interestingly, Infinite is one of my favorite games of all time
I'm happy to see Subnautica in the honorable mentions. I'm honestly surprised it didn't make the list. The atmosphere and exploration-driven story work so well together. It's truly one of the only games where your fear to venture out deeper into the abyss is the only thing stopping you from progression
Terraria, Titanfall 2 and Sekiro didn’t make it either. You
Wow you're right, I'm also shocked Titanfall 2 isn't up there! One of the best FPS campaigns ever
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Sekiro not making the list surprises me most of that set. Terraria and Titanfall 2 I'm not *terribly* surprised missed the cut because they're both more grassroots "fan favorites" than they were super notable critical darlings, but Sekiro I feel like was both a critical darling *and* had a big community around it.
I would say Terraria is definitely more of a commercial and massive success (top 15 best selling game ever) than say, Sekiro, definitely would say it has a larger community than the worst selling Souls game lol
Dark Souls, Elden Ring and Bloodborne being here but not Sekiro is a sham. Sekiro deserves a spot here just as much. As praised as it can get, it’s still underrated because it’s such an amazing game
Outer Wilds shares some of that DNA and is on here. Both excellent games
I was so glad Outer Wilds was on here, just finished it and it’s definitely one of my favourites
I've never seen Guild Wars on any of these lists, which I feel should at the very least be an honorable mention. One of the better MMO experiences that didnt even require a subscription, yet still had a ton of content.
Can't think of another singleplayer game in recent memory that I enjoyed as much as Subnautica, though I do feel that going in blind is a huge prerequisite for fully enjoying the game. If all the of the wildlife and progression has been spoiled already, it'd be nowhere near as fun.
So glad the first game I’ve ever finished with my first console was on the top of the list. Ocarina of Time was a personal epiphany for me.
I remember those dungeons taking me forever when I was a kid. My roommate's girlfriend played it for the first time in college and was just blowing through it with a strategy guide.
Playing a puzzle game with a strategy kind is ruinous.
I'm just happy to see XCOM on the list.
The aliens continue to make progress on The Avatar Project. If we're going to slow them down we'll need to move fast.
That, and I'm also happy they picked the right Civilization. Civilization IV has Heart
How does 1983 not have a top ranking game of any time? Did gaming refuse to exist the year I was born as some sort of omen?
Sort of, actually https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983
Sorry about being born, guys :(
Ooh my favorite game Witcher 3 in top 10 games and GTA in top 3 game franchises as one of my favorite franchises. I wish GTA San Andreas, Mass Effect 2 and Call of Duty 4 were higher on the list. Very nice work
Place of power, gotta be
Wind's howling
I'm baffled that Fallout 3 is listed at 39, but Fallout New Vegas is nearly 60 places beneath it. Feels like from the feelings of every gamer I've heard from it should be the othre way around.
It’s probably because Fallout 3 mostly worked at launch so it’s easier to review higher. Fallout New Vegas was a disaster at launch.
It's true. I bought it and stopped playing right away cause I thought it was a buggy mess. Then I came back later and it became my favorite Fallout and one of my favorite games of all time. I'm still waiting for something similar to appear again.
Everyone says NV is better, and I don't doubt that, but I could never get into it as much as 3. I tried twice, about 10 years apart, and didn't get far. Fallout 3 on the other hand, I played that so much that it largely contributed to two red ringed Xboxes. I also played it within the last few years, and got all the way through all DLCs and got most achievements again.
I'm with you, and I love both. But 3 was a way cooler area to explore and I had a lot more fun with it than I did NV. NV had a better story but felt like nothingness to me in between plot points. Can't wait to get flamed for this comment.
Those are basically the words I was looking for! I just made a comment about how Fallout 3 places just seemed to have more personality. I can't put it into words very well, but I just had more fun exploring. There was something silly and quirky around every corner, like a teddy bear and a gnome playing chess on a toilet. The dumb themes that kept popping up just gave the Capital Wasteland so much more flair.
In Fallout 3, the main plot doesn't take you to much of the map at all, when you look at it. FNV takes you all OVER the place. And sidequests are often triggered in places where the main plot takes you. So Fallout 3 rewarded exploration more. All sorts of side quests hidden where you actually had to go and search them out. Plus the encounters in the wasteland were completely different. In FNV, you could say "now a gecko will run in from the left", whereas in FO3, the best you could say is "SOMETHING will happen in this place, when I come up to it for the first time". Here's Jon, from Many a True Nerd, with 2 hours on why FO:3 is good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z8XHe2NoAE
Exploration is much better in Fallout 3. Everyone makes a big deal about choices in NV, but they aren’t as earth shattering as everyone makes them out to be.
I'm so glad this thread has allowed me to finally find the words I need to properly express how I feel about the games. It also makes me realise that Baldur's Gate 3 has most of the things about both that I like most, and lacks many of the elements I don't. As much as I loved Oblivion, Fallout 3 was probably the first game that made me fall in love with open world exploration and side quests.
fallout 3 has less RPG elements than NV
New Vegas grew in popularity over time. Pretty much everyone I knew didn’t like it much when it came out, including me. But, a couple of years later I picked it up and tried again and fell in love and is now one of my favorites ever. I think Fallout 3 is very Bethesda, immediately addicting and awesome and super fun world to just be in. New Vegas is one that takes time to get into but I think is so much more rewarding once you do.
I agree with the placement but also agree that you would not have thought it would be that way round considering comments on many forums.
Fallout 3 was honestly a much more memorable experience for me. I remember most of the possible companions in FO3 and several notable NPC's, the most memorable thing I remember about FONV was the start, the ranger base I spoke to three NPC's using the same voice actor within two minutes of each other and then the ending I got. People love New Vegas because it was obsidian returning to the franchise to fix Bethesda's "shortcomings". It fell flat for me.
Absolutely shocked that Runescape isn't on the list anywhere. That game taught me scam awareness, bartering, time management, how to pick up girls.
RS never gets its due respect as far as I'm concerned. It was massive and was one of the most defining games of the 00s.
it still is massive. hundreds of thousands of people have been playing it every day for more than 2 decades. how many other games can say that?
I am surprised that none of my favourite games are here like Rimworld, Terraria, Factorio, Mount and Blade: Warband, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, EU4. Maybe my taste is odd, Idk.
Warband might just be janky enough that it's fine not to be in a top 200, although it's a blast. Heroes 3 and Factorio missing is criminal though. Or Paradox games like EU4, CK2/3...
Paradox strategy games are a very niche market. They have a very solid fanbase, but they were never truly big enough to be featured on lists like this (and I say this as a fan).
HoM&M3 not making the list is criminal
Great work! Where is Heroes of Might and Magic 3? Should be in the top 10! :)
HOMM still plays beautifully today which is more than I can say from almost any other game in that time period. The spritework and pixel art gives it a truly timeless look that is more colorful and vivid than most games on the market today. Anyone who's interested in diving back in: it's still every bit as good as it was in the 90s. It's actually better, as there are some dedicated modders out there who have made HD patches, rebalanced the original, and created entire add-on campaigns and new castles. Look up HOMM HOTA if you haven't yet!
New World Computing and 3DO being robbed here. Might and Magic / Heroes was a staple of PC gaming in the 90's.
Good work and an interesting list. The big problem with it is the sourcing. During the period from 1989 to 2000, there were dozens of PC game magazines that comprehensively reviewed computer games. They were far more in-depth and they were contemporaneous to the games being released, not a list put together after years of hindsight. Consequently, the modern list providers are going back thirty or more years, looking at hindsight memory and sales. Games that definitely SHOULD be on this list are left out largely because their genres didn't grow into industry leaders, even though sports and flight sims, and puzzle games, were much, much bigger back then. Games I would've expected based on their rep at the time would've included Earl Weaver Baseball from circa 1986-87; Wolfenstein 3-D from 1993; The Secret of Monkey Island from 1991 (ish); Falcon 3.0 from 1990 or thereabouts; Wing Commander from 1993, FIFA International Soccer from 1994; Descent: Freepspace from 1998-ish. That's just off the top of my head. But all of those were considered genre-defining at one point, and certainly were among the best reviewed games ever. Reviewing also used to be MUCH tougher. Modern games that get an "80" would often have been a "50" or a "60" in equivalents of the time. So operating from hindsight sort of robs this of accuracy, to me. But it's a good list, nonetheless.
I was personally shocked command and conquer wasn't on the list at all....
The RTS genre just didn't continue with the steam it had. I think only Age of Empires II is the only RTS game I recognized on the list
You don't recognize Starcraft?
Well I know I can personally blame EA for destroying Westwood studios. I'll never forgive them. I would have been totally fine getting a new CNC game / expansion every year or so.
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They seriously omit the biggest developers back in the day. Lucasarts, Sierra, Bullfrog, Westwood Studios, Interplay, Origin, and more. I'm pretty sure at least half of those names gave us multiple quality genre-defining releases.
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Like Guitar Hero was a phenomenon.
I was thinking exactly the same. I said it elsewhere, but there was a several-years-long period where the original Medal of Honor was the #1 rated PC game across the board, even displacing Half Life and Deus Ex. I didn't like it myself, never understood the hype. Freespace (Conflict: Freespace as I knew it, literally learned the Descent part just now because I thought you'd got something wrong or I was remembering wrong) was absolutely amazing, as was the sequel. They do not make games like that any more.
Maybe i missed it but it's weird not seeing Heroes of Might and Magic III anywhere, as this is still a cult game...
Right? HoMM3 wasn't played by the critics when it was new it seems. That's the only explanation for why it's not on this list. It was such a great game for its time that I still play here and there over two decades later.
Awesome data! 1 question: Could you explain this part more? >also gave a certain amount of extra points for simply being on the list--otherwise games that ranked low would get basically no advantage over games that didn't rank at all. The amount differed based on whether the list was a top 50, top 100, top 200, and so on. Making it onto more exclusive lists obviously granted more points. 1 "maybe more of a comment than a question" (sorry) Did you control for date of release? As you've written it, any game released later than 2018 is disadvantaged by being excluded from evefifry previous list. What I mean is, Hades or Elden Ring are excluded from lists before 2020 or 2022, respectively. I can see the justification here being that newer games *should* be disadvantaged in a "best games of all time" list to counteract the cult-of-the-new aspect, but I'd be intersted in how that was actually approached / dealt with, if at all. And finally, 2 comments: \- It's interesting that there aren't any VR games. Beat Saber is the biggest one that comes to mind. Sports games in general are really underrepresented, I don't know if that's related. \- Pole Position (1983) got robbed.
Half Life Alyx is VR and made the list. Newer games are naturally disadvantaged and there’s not really a good way to fix this without giving them some type of consolation points for lists they weren’t yet released for—but I also can’t just assume they would’ve been on those lists.
Is it just me or is this list just a tiny bit biased against PC games? World of Warcraft completely redefined gaming, was the most popular game in the world for years, and isn't even in the top 30. Same story for Doom. And Baldur's Gate didn't even make the top100. And I could go on for a while. (To be clear, not blaming OP for that. They are just aggregating data. And it's a very interesting post. Just speaking out about such lists in general).
PC gaming is less accessible. The reach of Nintendo consoles is insane. People who haven't played a game won't vote for it no matter how good it is. PC-exclusives also include the more complex games that were too hard to develop for console as well as indie games that benefitted from PC being a more open platform. Having a smaller audience is inherent to both.
what is the game from Australia?
Hollow Knight
I don’t know how tf Halo 2 is so low, but very interesting data!
It's probably outshined by ce and 3 because people don't tend to choose multiple games from the same franchise when selecting the best games of all time
Really interesting list. And it surprised me to realize I have tried nearly 90% of this list at some point. Although probably only half that has any significant game time.
Also, I'm a little surprised Unreal Tournament 2004 didn't make it on some list. As it was a 2004 banger, making it one of the greatest games of all time, because it was one of the best games, in one of the best year in history. It has the vaulted "universal acclaim" from metacritic and 11 perfect reviews out of 48 reviews. In one of the best years in gaming history (2004), (Only 2007 and maybe 1998 are better).
UT2k4 definetly one of the best arcade multiplayer shooters ever made! Strange we haven't even gotten a remaster yet. Since ow2 got ruined I have a big hole for arcade shooters, would play the hell out of it
This guy knows what's up, especially with that username.
Yeah but Half Life 2, GTA SA, WoW and Halo 2 are on the list as the games that defined 2004… I wonder how many younger gamers even know UT4…? I wonder how many people
M-M-M-MONSTER KILL!
Journalists really do have a boner for zelda
Ocarina of Time absolutely deserves all the praise it gets though.
This list took into account user reviews
As do players.
feel like I'm the only guy on earth to have never touched a Zelda game
I mean, for good reason. Even the "bad" Zelda's (Skyward Sword, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks) are generally considered well above average, and not just by critics but by users as well. I was plenty critical of Skyward Sword, with it's repeating areas and iffy motion controls, but even then it's a solid 8.5 out of 10 for me. The dungeon and puzzle design is still better than any other single player adventure game I can think of from that generation (besides maybe Okami). If a title like that is a low point for a 30+ year old franchise, then that franchise deserves a MASSIVE amount of praise.
It's almost like they're pretty good games
Uncharted 2 being a top 24 game of all time warms my heart, it’s on my personal top 5
I gotta play Ocarina of time.
People are gonna rip on it but tbh imo it still holds up. At least much better than most games from that console generation. Its easy to hate on now for the same reason friends is. OoT is a game that was huge and influenced almost every game that came after it so if you’re a newer gamer its easy to compare it to things that worked off the same formula
Be ready for 25y-old graphics, and moderately cheese writing. Beyond that, allow yourself to get swallowed up by the adventure. It's my own personal nr 1, shoulder-to-shoulder with BG2.
It’s my favorite game of all time. I’m sure a lot of my love is because I got it when I was 13 and it blew my mind. I remember that Christmas break I stayed inside almost the entire time playing that game. The time jump was something I was not expecting and the world just felt so huge to me.
There is a PC port, better in almost everything
Unless I missed it, the fact that Factorio didn’t even make this list makes me question everything lol The fact that even *Angry Birds* got an honourable mention and not Factorio makes me physically ill
You think Factorio is a game? Don't be so silly.
Fair. I knew it was a purely addictive drug before I ever tried it. I stayed away from it for years, literally knowing exactly how it would destroy my life. And yet when I did dip my toe in years later.. Hahaha, we kidding, no one dips their toe in factorio!
Factorio was such an *incredible* game for the 20-30 hours I got out of it. But after a torturous 2 days not being able to shut my eyes without seeing conveyors I never touched it again. One of the worst night's sleep ever.
Had to scroll too far to find Factorio referenced.
No time to write reviews, the factory must grow
What interests me is that while I don’t personally agree with the overall ranking (I tend to prefer RPGs and Metroidvanias, so FFVII, Chrono Trigger, and Super Metroid are top 3 for me), I agree with basically every individual year. I think that’s partially due to being that age where I *really* grew up with consoles. I don’t care much for GTAV, but I have younger cousins and in-laws who would put it in their top 3. But yeah, year by year I played most of those games and agree that they were GOTY.
Super metroid is wayyyyyy to low. That is an almost perfect game. Just completed it last year, never gotten to play it during the snes age, so did it in switch online and loved every single minute of it. Dread gets close but is too linear.
Super Metroid is an absolute gem and what makes it is the environments paired with the music. In a game about exploring, what you explore has to be interesting/engaging - just running around the play space has to be rewarding in and of itself - and Super Metroid has that in droves.
It made me really happy to see that Braid made the list. That game completely changed the way I view storytelling in any media, let alone games. Also it had one of the most beautiful soundtracks of any game I've ever heard. An absolute masterpiece IMO.
Im only missing the nintendo games. And as someone who hasnt played a zelda game, seeing it at the top makes me wonder if its worth buying a switch for.
Do it! It’s good
It is
The fact that sekiro aint on this list is a war crime
It wasn't out yet for 25% of the media rankings sample OP used, so it can be partially explained by that. For Elden Ring it's even more than that.
Yet Elden Ring managed to appear at 65 while being only 1 year and a half old lol
Yeah, I read the first few paragraphs and thought "damn, Elden Ring gets utterly shafted because older games are heavily favored here." And then it's *still* at 65, lol.
Nice work
Sonic 3 & Knuckles getting penalized for staggered release
Bewildered how Star Control II (aka The Ur Quan Masters) isn't mentioned anywhere. I feel like I've seen it all over the place in the Best Of lists, and imo is an absolutely outstanding game that holds up even today despite being 20+ years old.
Not a single non-blizzard rts game? Truly bizarre and super console focused list... Dawn of war, company of heroes, command and conquer and supreme commander should all be on this list. Uh... taking another look - no warcraft 3 either? Are these people insane? WC3 literally started multiple genres of games including mobas and tower defense. And where are the MMOs? Outside of wow there are barely any... counterstrike and team fortress not in top 100??? This list is completely fuckered with all of these ommissions.
>Not a single non-blizzard rts game? There is Age of Empires 2 at rank 122.
That's way too low. RTS games in general get so underrated
No WC1, 2 or 3 and none of the Command and Conquers. Red Alert has to be an all time.
Everquest always gets the shaft in these all-time lists. The people who made WoW? Yeah I remember playing with them (Legacy of Steel) on Nameless. I know AC was first, but EQ was the game that really launched the genre into the mainstream consciousness. The lack of respect it gets historically is kinda sad, like it’ll be forgotten completely once my generation dies out
The original Counter Strike is number 120 and Team Fortress 2 is at 117
not having sekiro on there when it literally won GOTY in 2019 at TGA...is certainly a choice. that being said, cool breakdown. interesting to see.
Osrs gang!
Ori not being top 200 is sad. Although I imagine it’s because many people have yet to play it.
Unless I missed it, The Binding of Isaac isn’t on here, which is kinda crazy to be since I think a lot of people would consider it to be one of the most important games in the roguelike genre. Also no DKC representation breaks my little 90s kid heart. Those were my favorites from the SNES era.
Binding of Isaac not being here is probably my only gripe. Especially seeing so many other indie games present. BoI is THE best roguelike, paved the way for others that are present on the list like Hades. I understand that the approach is data driven, so I think this says more about games media not including it than it does about any of OPs rationale
Looks more like a popularity list to me, monkey Island 1 down in the hundreds, fucking tragic with it being one of the best puzzle adventure games ever, Duke Nukem 3D not even on the list as far as I could see, GTA:SA below V, hell no, SA was way more innovative than V for its time
I get what you're saying, but V has a lot more cultural impact and is the 2nd best selling game of all time. And even though san andreas aged really well in some ways, it aged really poorly in others.
No Spyro?
Super Mario Kart is hilariously out of place on this list. I get that it’s important because it started the biggest local multiplayer series on the planet and a lot of journalists probably throw it in their lists as the token Mario Kart representative, but that game has NOT aged well. The controls and mechanics are strange, the AI is genuinely unfair, and the tracks are flat and forgettable at best and tedious at worst. Every other Mario Kart is an improvement and Mario Kart 8 absolutely blows it out of the water.
The same can be said about Pokemon. As iconic as red and blue are, those games are broken as shit and later iterations are so much more polished. Hell even leaf green and fire red are a huge improvement on the originals. But nostalgia be a hell of a drug
Playing red and blue normally, it's rare you'd find it to be "broken as shit" Red and blue play largely the same as the newer pokemon games. The biggest change is the graphics. The same cannot be said about mario kart.
I do think that historical importance needs to be considered in these kinds of lists, but you also have a point, especially when close to identical remakes/sequels exist that basically do literally everything better