(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
#99 Star Wars Rogue Leader
Due to my weird Sega obsession I went two entire generations without a Nintendo console. Resident Evil was annouced to be exclsuive for the Gamecube and well I was going to follow the franchise where ever it went so it was time to buy a Nintendo console again. Enter the Gamecube, the last powerful console Nintendo made. The Gamecube was tiny but it was a beast, beating the PS2 in graphics. To showcase that, Nintendo had a huge Star Wars exclusive at launch, Rogue Leader. When I got my GC I didn't get Luigi's Mansion (in fact to this day I haven't played it), it was the mind blowing looking Star Wars game. I was a bit of a Tie Fighter snob so I looked down on the arcadey flight combat of Rogue Squadron but when I got my hands on this game I was in love. It absolutely nailed the feel of Star Wars combat with its fast quick paced action and movie quality visuals (well at the time). The game even had Wedge actor Denis Lawson perform voice acting for Wedge.
I LOVED the X-Wing novels at the time, star wars space combat scenes were some of my favorite moments. This is an entire game of that. It begins with the best Hoth battle ever put in a game and ends with my favorite battle of the saga the battle of endor. WIth loads of awesome unlockables like being able to pilot the Millenium Falcon, this game kept me playing for a very long time. A very worthy launch title, it showcased the amazing graphics the Gamecube had and was a killler exclusive. The third game never quite lived up to the second even though the entire second game is inside the third game in coop mode. Rogue Leader is one of the best flight combat games ever made.
#98 Nights Into Dreams
Everyone lets sing together now!
In the nights
Dream delight
I want to see you standing there
In the nights
Dream delight
I found someone who really cares
Lets head back to 1996 and the dawn of the 3D age. Sega had released the Saturn and recieved a lackluster response, it was missing a Sonic level game. Enter Nights Into Dreams, Sega's response to the lack of a mascot and their response to Nintendo releasing a little game called Super Mario 64 which you know kind of defined how all 3D games would be played going forward, oh and had a groundbreaking controller with some crazy thing called analog sticks. See Sega made a console built for 2D in the now 3D era and they scrambled to have an answer. Nights became that answer by default even though in reality its almost a 2D game that just so happens to have this odd 3D component to it. There was a massive ad campaign,Sega put all their effort into making Nights their big title for the Saturn.
Now lets get into my mindset in 1996. I am still a Sega loon at this time and I was secretly insanely jealous of Nintendo and Mario 64. The future was happening but not on the console I owned. I so desperately wanted that feeling of moving a character around a 3D world, its hard to describe it now cause it sounds so stupid, but the idea of walking in any 3D world was mindblowing back then. Nights had that for the Saturn, hell it even came with a terrible analogue stick controller.
Look at that monstrosity! I desperately wanted that only because it was Sega's answer to Nintendo. Thats the card I was dealt with and I went all in on supporting this 3D endevor. So I bought the game with the pad and started to play it and realized... wait this is a 2D game. Only when you "die" do you end up walking around in this really bland tiny 3D space where you need to navigate your character to an exit before an egg clock catches you. I would die on purpose just to experience 3D movement, again thats all I had so I was going to get all I could out of it. Mario it was not but I was able to get some joy in the fact that I had a game with a 3D world and an analogue stick.
Luckily the real meat of Nights is phenomenal and remains one of Sonic Teams greatest games. In essense its like a crazy 2D race against a clock where you need to perfrom stylish acrobatics through the air and fly through as many loops as possible. The game was simple to play but had a deceptively deep scoring system. It is very possible to beat one run of Nights in an hour, thats not the point of the game, the point is to master it. To achieve A ranks in every level and flawlessly defeat all the fantastic bosses. Nights took the speed and skill of Sonic and distilled it into an almost arcade like structure where you fly rather than run. There is was no game that played like it when it came out and I cant think of anything thats like it sense. When I was in the zone I would hit crazy high scrores, it was a rush that only the best skill based games give. Nights had the best graphics on the Saturn, it feautured incredibly memorable music. There was even this odd AI system dealing with these little creatures that inhabited the worlds you visited that they dubbed A-life. To this day I have no clue how it works but it is there. This was Sega still showing that they are more creative and off the wall than any developer.
The better game was Luigi’s Mansion, man.
How dare you blaspheme against the Dreams song! That is Disney quality stuff, they even get generic R and B singers to do the duet a whole new world style.
Ok you can hate that, but we can all agree Crush 40 is awesome and sonic music is the best.
This bodes well for the rest of this list
Lol wait till you find out how many sonic games made this list.
Rogue Leader still looks incredible. I missed out on Luigi's Mansion, too.
I think Nights is on a Sega thing I have on Steam...I definitely need to try it.
It would make my top 50. Maybe top 25. Probably not top 10. If Vader were to ever play it, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't like it much.