(Totally random stock image of top games that has nothing to do with my list. But it looks cool.)
Welcome to my much more than top 100 games of all time list. Why is it not 100 because I found a way for my list to not be all Zelda, MGS or Mario games. I also hate the idea of only putting one or two per franchise, this is about individual games and some franchises are so good all their games are in the top. But that makes for a boring list so I wanted more games in.
The compromise I came up with is to bunch similar quality games together as one entry (example Galaxy 1 and 2). There could be two, three, maybe six games in one number. The idea being they are very close in quality so no reason to break them into separate ranks. I will order them from least favorite to favorite within that rank.
This is also a favorites list meaning if one game is ahead of another it does not necessarily mean I think its a better game, I just might have a deeper history with that game. Now toward the top of the list my favorites and what I believe to be the best games ever made are one and the same. It was not easy to pick the games I did, I constantly removed some games, put others in, rearranged the ranks many times. Ive always known my top 25 or so but the rest has been fun to explore and figure out which games have been my favorites over all these years.
Its actually kind of late so I will start officially tomorrow. But before I go I'll leave you with a few games that just missed the list.
So funky and fresh but didn't make it.
The splatoon games, one of the best online competitive "shooters" I've played. Slightly out of the splat zone.
FTL, such an addicting simple yet extremely deep game. A classic but just missses the mark.
The Longest Journey, Incredible story and the best traditional point and click adventure game I have ever played. Excellent game but lets be real, adventure games aren't my thing.
MASTER LIST
- 100. Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil Outbreak
- 99. Rogue Squadron 2
- 98. Nights
- 97. Destiny
- 96. Astro Bot
- 95. Pixeljunk Eden
- 94. Tomb Raider 2
- 93. Sim CIty 2000
- 92. Splinter Cell Blacklist
- 91. Panzer Dragoon 2 and Panzer Dragoon Saga
- 90. Shenmue 1 and 2
- 89. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 and 3
- 88. Nioh
- 87. Tetris
- 86. Darksiders
- 85. Assassin's Creed 2
- 84. Portal 1 and 2
- 83. Dragon Quest 8
- 82. BloodBorne
- 81. Ecco the Dolphin 1 and 2
- 80. Dead Space 1 and 2
- 79. Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
- 78. Kingdom Hearts 2
- 77. Mortal Kombat 1, 2 and 9
- 76. Uncharted 3, 4 and Lost Legacy
- 75. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
- 74. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- 73. Rayman Origins and Legends
- 72. Castlevania Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow
- 71. Crash Bandicoot 2
- 70. Silent Hill
- 69. Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite
- 68. Bayonetta 1 and 2
- 67. Donkey Kong Country Returns
- 66. AM2R, Metroid Prime 2 and Metroid Zero Mission
- 65. Final Fantasy 6 and 12
- 64. The World Ends With You
- 63. Hollow Knight
- 62. Chrono Trigger
- 61. Metal Gear Solid Ghost Babel
- 60. Dragon Age: Origins
- 59. Sonic Adventure 1, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors and Sonic Adventure 2
- 58. Mega Man 2
- 57. Halo 1 and 2
- 56. Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga and Paper Mario 2
- 55. Devil May Cry 1 and 4
- 54. Horizon Zero Dawn
- 53. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
- 52. Tie Fighter and X-Wing Alliance
- 51. Gran Turismo 1 and 3
- 50. Tekken 3
- 49. Legend of Zelda A Link Between Worlds and Oracle of Ages/Seasons
- 48. Sonic 1, 3 and Knuckles
- 47. God of War 3
- 46. Super Smash Bros. Melee, Brawl, Wii U and Ultimate
- 45. Metroid Prime 3
- 44. Ratchet and Clank Going Commando and A Crack in Time
- 43. GTA 3, 4, 5 and Red Dead Redemption
- 42. Mass Effect 3
- 41. Super Mario Bros, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 3D World
- 40. NFL2k1 and ESPN NFL 2K5
- 39. Ninja Gaiden
- 38. Deus Ex
- 37. Shadow of the Colossus
- 36. The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion and TES5 Skyrim
- 35. Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution and Virtua Fighter 5
- 34. Okami
- 33. The Last of Us
- 32. X-Com UFO Defense
- 31. Fallout 3 and New Vegas
- 30. Resident Evil, Resident Evil Remake and Resident Evil 5
- 29. God of War 2 and God of War 4
- 28. Red Dead Redemption 2
- 27. Metal Gear Solid 2
- 26. Devil May Cry 3
- 25. Batman Arkham Asylum, City and Knight
- 24. Legend of Zelda Wind Waker and Skyward Sword
- 23. Final Fantasy 7 and 8
- 22. The Witness
- 21. Phantasy Star Online
- 20. Half-Life 2
- 19. LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2
- 18. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- 17. Doom
- 16. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- 15. Super Metroid
- 14. Demon's Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls 3
- 13. Uncharted 2
- 12. Castlevania SOTN
- 11. Resident Evil 2, Code Veronica and Remake 2
- 10. Metal Gear Solid V
- 9. GTA Vice City and San Andreas
- 8. Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World
- 7. The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening
- 6. Mass Effect 2
- 5. Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2
- 4. Metroid Prime
1 for its time is, DMC1 means more to the genre than Bayo.
Robio it’s a free PC game, no emulator needed
Quit living in the past, man.
DMC1 is more important to gaming than Bayonetta, sure, but that doesn't mean it's a better game. Either way, they're both great, and I have no complaints with anyone picking one over the other. My only problem is Bayonetta being at 68; but it's not my list, so it's not really a complaint, either.
Yeah, but I don't want to play it on the computer.
65. Final Fantasy 6 and 12
Final Fantasy, THE JRPG series. I wont get into my history with this franchise much here, thats for a later date but I like many fell in love after 7. Still back in the 90s I had many game magazines and one of the most advertised games was Final Fantasy 3. Ads with a red background and a moogle with a sword, I knew of it's reputation but with no SNES I never played it, nor did I care to play any RPG back then. So I played FF6 when I picked up FF Anthology on the PS1 and even then I waited many years to finally sit down and play it. First thing that stood out were the impressive mode 7 graphics which attempted to create incredible moments using spirtes. It worked, we all know the legendary opera house scene, mechs in the snow and the incredible final battle with Kefka.
The coolest thing about FF6 is how there is no main protagonist, it is a true ensemble cast with great characters. The combat system was really good with lots of options catering to the strength of the different characters. Locke doing his theiving, Sabin with his Street Fighter like inputs for attacks, Mog's dancing techniques, they all did something different. It was a huge cast with many optional characters and ways to build your squad, in terms of customization and content FF6 is easily one of the best in the series. Then came the incredible moments and the last part of the game which was a huge shock to me. SPOILER ALERT, the world is destroyed and you as Celes get to explore the world in any way you want and recruit your team again seeing how they are a year later. Great game from top to bottom and worthy of all the praise it gets.
This is probably the only game on this list I never actually finished but I promise I will soon. The reason was not that I got bored but that my save file got corrupted at the very end and I refused to replay 50+ hours to reach that point again. But wow what a 50 hours those were. I was very dissapointed by FF9 and 10, 9 just felt to bland and 10 I don't know what people saw in that linear fest. FFXII was a big departure to the FF formula but it brought back the large open world missing from 10. It used a modified MMO structure but made for single player by creating the gambit system where you use if then statements to create an auto attack template. One would ask why do I want the game to auto fight for me, well fights are now real time and you cant control three characters at once in real time so this method helped the AI work exactly as you want, and it works.
But the best part of 12 is the incredible world of Ivalice that is full of dangers and places to explore. I remember being lost in this massive desert and finding bridges that were filled with Bombs, super high level bombs that would nuke my team. Clearly I should not have been there yet but I explored and tried my best top advance and find high quality treasures. That freedom made this game feel like a grand adventure. Like 6 there is no true main protagonist in 12, the story is mostly built around politics but the great characters and moments really keeps the story engaging, even if its not the series best. Everything else though is sublime,to me its the last excellent FF game.
I did get bored with FFXII, but finished it.
MMORPGs without the MMO part aren't much fun.
How grindy is VI?
64. The World Ends With You
There are certain games that are so unqiue, fresh and cool that they stand out like a beacon of light in a sea of clones. The World Ends With You is one of those games thats hard to classify, it's hard to even describe and because of that it's a game you will never forget. This is one of Square's best games and it came out at the time exclusive for the DS, a game built around having two screens, touch controls and even the mic. Because of this TWEWY has a wild combat system where you control two characters at the same time using two completely different modes of input, sure it was a littke complicated but it worked. Having to track two sets of enemies, press buttons in sequence while swiping the touch screen was an exercise in reflexes and awareness. I loved the challenge, the progress of the combat system was so well done with a high celing and good post game content.
The gameplay was just one area where this game shined, everything about TWEWY is flashy and cool. The visuals, the story, the characters and my god THE MUSIC. The story hooked me right away Neku is without memories and is thrust into the undead world where the dead compete in a game to earn their life back. Neku's memory loss is the perfect conduit for the player to remain in the dark and slowly unravel the rules of the game and by that extension the rules of this world. It has the feel of a visual novel, like 999, but with a base game that is as deep as any Square RPG. I was hooked from the start, the story has great twists and turns and the game has great pacing to keep the combat interesting throughout. And during all of it is the best hip hop/ Jpop soundtrack an RPG has ever had, every time Calling came on I was singing along
I have not played any of the remakes, I honestly don't even know how this game works without a DS, I feel it has to lose a little bit of its soul. It's great that Square is keeping this game relevant, I can't think of a game of theirs more worthy of sequel. I think this is the best DS game, you would be a fool to not play it if you have a DS.
63. Hollow Knight
Castlevania SOTN, Super Metroid and Hollow Knight, thats how great this game is, it joins those other masterpieces as the best metroidvanias ever made. I played Hollow Knight last year a few months after it was released. I heard the buzz, I didn't believe it at first. Even when playing the game for an hour or two I felt I had judged the game correctly, its just an ok metroidvania with a Souls twist to dying. Then the world began to open up piece by piece, deeper I went into this endless labrynth. More mysterious NPCs and enemies would by found. Totally secret optional areas would be uncovered. The combat was constantly evolving with new skills that aid in traversal and during battles. That combat system becomes the best 2D combat system I have ever played.
What makes Hollow Knight special is how perfectly tuned the combat is and how the bosses compliment that combat. It truly does take inspiration from souls, those epic boss battles are gatekeepers to new areas. They will test your gaming skills to the max, some brutaly so in ways that remind me of the hardest Souls battles. It's a massive game too, 40 hours or so with all content. Castlevania and Metroid are not nearly as big, once again the Souls philosophy of world building is the direct insprtation here. There are so many moments that just stand out and created permanent gaming memories for me like the time I finished the max level of the gladiator arena, discovering how to reach the true ending and battliing that insane final boss, and the platforming genius of the light world. This is one of the best metroidvanias and indie games of all time, lets hope the sequel lives up to the first.