(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
Holy Shit. Since 2002 I though I knew what Freedom Force was, but I didn't. I've been confusing it for Freedom Fighters!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Fighters_(video_game)
Is Freedom Fighters considered to be a good game?
Coincidentally, both Freedom Fighters and Freedom Force were relatively well received at the time, and are now cult classics.
That's Said, as a person who prefers an expansive overworld to explore rather than dungeons, this has always been a favorite.
I loved WW from the first day. The only thing I didn't like was the search for the tricot was pieces. They dragged down that part of the game. The rest is gold.
Skyward Sword was great and a lot of fun at the time. I believe it was even my goty. However, after Breath of the Wild I do not believe I could return to it and enjoy. BOTW is so much better in my opinion.
Freedom Fighters was fantastic. IO Interactive were on a role back then in the days before Kayne & Lynch. I still have FF on the og Xbox. It's too bad they never did a sequel.
This was more the issue than anything else. The art style was cool as hell but making Link literally look like a kindergarten kid, when you've already shown off an even more mature Link than OOT.....AND you're console is about to go head to head with the Xbox & Master Chief.....well, it made them look very out of touch at the time. This was also when Rare was still part of Nintendo & they had shown off cute & cuddly cell shaded Joanna Dark for the next Perfect Dark too. It was like wtf are these guys doing?
If they had used a darker theme like we've seen in many other cell shaded games since then, I don't think the backlash would have been so strong.
Regardless of all that though, the game itself while good is far from the best Zelda game. The art style is the only reason anyone cares about it anymore.
This reminds me that I really need to play through Wind Waker HD on the Wii U. I played through a fair portion on the GameCube version but got sidetracked and never finished it. I need to rectify that mistake.
While the art (and narrative) are certainly worthy enough for people to still care about it without needing any other reason, some of the dungeons are top tier Zelda (the forest one with all the flying is super fun) and some of the boss fights are as well (final battle against Ganon, for instance), not to mention it has by far the best setting and exploration. Sailing may not have been for everyone, but it was a perfect combination of mystery, relaxation and excitement for me, and if you were into mapping the entire ocean as I was, then the triforce quest wasn't really in the least bit jarring, either; though criticism of it is more valid than most criticism levelled at The Wind Waker.
I loved Wind Waker back in the day. I enjoyed the sailing and the general daftness of it all. There was so many character in everything. But yes, it was too easy and there were too few dungeons. The triforce hunt, while clearly padding, didn't bother me much. It was a treasure hunt in a game about sailing and pirates, it made sense. Having to buy the maps from Tingle however, did not.
Skyward Sword was a mixed bag for me. I didn't care much for the 'proto-races' that appeared in the game. The weazles, the squid like Zora, ... The gameplay however was very good, with enemies that required specific kind of slashes. The battels against Grihahim were excillerating as well. The final boss was a dud though. I always felt that this game was held back by the feeble processing power of the Wii. In cutscenes the impressionist style they were going for was realized so much more fully, with all kinds of particle effects and post processing that just wasn't possible during gameplay. If this game ever sees a remake I hope Nintendo will add in all the graphical flourishes that the Wii just couldn't cope with. All in all I enjoyed the game, but it wasn't as memorable as most other mainline Zelda games.
My major problems with WW were the easy difficulty, the fetch quest & the constantly having to play the flute to change the direction of the wind. It got really aggravating to me towards the end. You could tell they just kind of rushed it out the door.