(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
TMNT: The Arcade Game and Turtles in Time are two of my all time favourite games. Awesome stuff those games. I remember walking into my local arcade and seeing TMNT sitting there when it first came out. My jaw hit the floor. Immediately me and three other locals pumped in a bunch of quarters to play the game from start to finish right there and then. I can’t imagine the amount of money I spent on the game throughout the years. Your welcome Konami.
Beat-em-ups are a genre I feel have aged terribly. Which is sad because despite having great style such as graphics and music, the gameplay is basically braindead. Streets of Rage 2 is really the only one I can play for more than ten minutes and not get bored. Sure there's also Mazin Mutant Saga and The Ninja Warriors but those aren't really traditional beat-em-ups.
88. Nioh
Souls games created a whole new sub genre of action RPGs that few if any could replicate well. Enter Team Ninja who lately didn’t have the best track record but they do know action, they wanted to make their version of the souls but with faster paced combat which lead to Nioh. I first played Nioh on a beta months before release, it threw many game systems at you with all sorts of loot and menus full of stats that didn’t make much sense. It didn’t click for me so I decided to pass when it came out. When the full game did release it was met with great praise and many said the game was much improved over the beta, the praise was so overwhelming that I decided to give it a shot and I am so glad I did.
Nioh’s combat system is fantastic, the reason being the combat rewards attacking by refilling your stamina, this leads to a game where attacking is favored. Combine that with a three stance system that changes the attacks of every weapon type and now you have one hell of an in depth combat system that makes souls games seem tame. Now this game doesn’t have the level design or enemy variety that a souks games does, but it was their first go at this kind of game so I give them a pass. What I couldn’t believe is just how huge the game was, it can take over 30 hours for one go and that just unlocks harder modes where mastery is really needed.
While the game doesn’t have the vast interconnected world of souls it has interesting smaller levels with some cool themes. Trap infested mansions, a destroyed dock, ruined villages and more. I was enthralled with every moment of this game and it gave me a sense of challenge that not even souls reached, almost like a mix of Ninja Gaiden and Souls. I will for sure get the sequel day one, Nioh is going to be one of the premier action game franchises in gaming.
And Nioh.... Yeah, I still want to play that.
87. Tetris
What needs to be said about Tetris, its a perfect simple puzzle game that will stand the test of time. My love for Tetris didn't start with the Game Boy, in fact I never had Tetris for Game Boy, I had Tetris NES. The Nintendo version, not the Tengen knockoff one. Here is the thing, the NES version didn't have the official russian theme song that the game boy had so I don't associate that with Tetris. NES had three songs and one of them was Dance of the Suger Plum Fairies from the Nutcracker, why I have no clue but to me thats the Tetris theme song. The best part of the NES version was the challenge mode that had Nintendo characters appear on the screen. When you beat their challenge they get added to the end screen. If you beat it with all you get an ending screen that was the precursor to Smash bros, all famous Nintendo characters together, I loved it. Tetris was one of my most played NES games and it was a hit with the family. It's the only game my mom would ever want to play, my sister enjoyed it as well.
But Tetris has no generation boundaries, it just keeps on going generation after generation. During my high school years Tetris was found on my TI-83 calculator. Lunch break and home room were battlegrounds for epic Tetris competitions between friends. Who can get the highest score and not be caught by the teacher. I bought Tetris DS because like Tetris NES it starred Nintendo characters, it also introduced me to modern tetris where you can CHEAT and spin the tetromino for ever on the line. When was that decided? I am a purist, screw that spin crap.
Recently Tetris is back in a big way. The excellent Tetris Effect was one of the best games of last year and just this week Tetris 99 hit which puts all other battle royale games to shame! There is something so primal about quickly loading up a game of tetris with 99 other people playing to see who can outlast all, that quick but fullfilling game that can be had in minutes. Its the essence of what sold Tetris on the Game Boy in the first place.
Same here. I probably put hundreds of dollars into arcade machines. I loved TMNT, almost always playing as Donatello.