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(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.

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So funky and fresh but didn't make it.

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The splatoon games, one of the best online competitive "shooters" I've played. Slightly out of the splat zone.

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FTL, such an addicting simple yet extremely deep game. A classic but just missses the mark.

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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
Posted by Dvader Wed, 16 Jan 2019 06:47:24 (comments: 456)
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Sun, 24 Feb 2019 03:16:14

82. Bloodborne

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Souls games became a power house franchise and I bet Sony was feeling dumb that they let what was an exclusive go multiplatform. This lead to Sony funding an offshoot which is basically a more action oriented souls like game. Like all souls games the level design is incredible, the combat the best in the series, excellent bosses and a memorable location. The Victorian era setting really made it stand out against the more fantasy souls worlds. Now personally I like the fantasy, while BBs world was very impressive it kind of all started to blend together. The main reason I don’t hold BB as high as other souls games is the loss of a lot of the variety in builds you can make, still this allowed BB to focus on the action.

The shit just got real moment happens rather early in this game when you battle father Gascoinge, an epic one on one battle where the boss goes into rage mode which has him turn into a werewolf. It showcased how much more fast paced the combat would be for the rest of the game. I loved the usual collection of odd NPCs, oh and the terrifying gigantic lovecraftian monster that is found around the world. I also spent a bunch of time doing the optional chalice dungeons which randomizes levels and boss battles, including a bunch of exclusive ones. Bloodborne is easily one of the PS4s best games.

 
Sun, 24 Feb 2019 05:31:06

81. Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco Tides of Time

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I doubt there is a more trippy game series on this list than Ecco the Dolphin. This is about a time traveling dolphin that battles aliens who come to destroy earth, how can you not love that premise. Back in the day I reneted a lot of games from a local store and thats where I fell in love with Ecco the Dolphin. I still remember the first time I started up the game and you are in a bay with your fellow dolphins just living the life, jumping and doing flips. Controlling ecco felt like a dream, the graphics stunning for its time and the music, oh god that incredible music. But nothing happened... I talked to everyone, so whats next. Eventually I simply jumped high and boom, alien abduction! And then your adventure begins into the depths of the sea. The sea creeps me out a lot, I am not into diving and the thought of weird shit being in darkness below you is terrifying, Ecco is like diving into your worst sea nightmares. The first area are some caverns where you have to solve push block puzzles while constantly going for air pockets while battling bad fish. Then you come across this giant octopus which for whatever reason just scared the crap out of me as a kid.

But I kept pushing, and kept renting the game. I have always loved puzzles, action and exploration; Ecco gives all of those in spades. Nothing controls like Ecco does, it's a joy to jet through the ocean and use his skills to solve the mysteries of the deep and atlantis. I remember being blown away at meeting a blue whale, the sense of scale was tremendous. The final level takes place in the alien mothership where you fight knock off Xenomorphs and a gigantic alien head final boss. Ecco is easily one of the best Genesis games and I was so hooked that when the sequel hit I made sure that I put it on my list of games I wanted to own.

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A few years after the first came this excellent sequel that now takes Ecco through time. All the same elements of the first game is there and now there is the addition of these 3D time portal levels that play kind of like a sonic bonus level. There are new abillities including in certain levels the ability to morph into other sea creatures. But the best part of this sequel is the variety in environments due to the awesome time traveling story line. The best level has Ecco travel into the furture where floating beds of water hover over mountains and you must jump from one floating water bed to another. There are more aliens, prehistoric sea creatures, dinosaurs even, this game is so damn cool. Many years later a dreamcast sequel hit which sort of took the same concept and made it 3D. That game was a tad too clunky but it had some crazy almost zelda like levels and recreated the floating sea in incredible 3D graphics. This series needs to come back, the day I see a new Ecco is the day Sega of old returns.

 
Sun, 24 Feb 2019 05:39:44

The first 20 spots are done! So what do you think? Surprising? Exactly as expected?

Lets do some tidbits on what I have so far. Not one Nintendo game on the list yet. The publisher leader is so far Sega with seven games. The most represented console is PS3 with 5 games, Saturn was second with 4 games. I've already have a nice mix of genres with the most being of course action adventure games but I have a few puzzle games, some beat em ups, RPGs, shooters.

 
Sun, 24 Feb 2019 12:57:23
Well I'd like to say I'm shocked that you have put NiGHTS and DQ8 so high on your list, but realistically they made the list. That's pretty much good enough for me.

The real genuine surprise was that Resident Evil 3 was also in this grouping. I don't like any of the old school RE games, so I have a real hard time judging their quality, but I always thought that was pretty well regarded All things considered. Definitely thought any mainstream RE game would be higher, except for maybe some of the later action ones.
 
Sun, 24 Feb 2019 13:00:05

Nintendo dominating the top twenty?

 
Sun, 24 Feb 2019 17:58:07

Coming soon, slicing up babies, blood showers, and lots of friendship.

 
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 05:01:58

80. Dead Space 1 and 2

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RE4 changed third person shooters forever, since its release the over the shoulder aiming became very popular with big time action games. Many fans of RE were left wondering what happened to the horror aspects. Dead Space swooped on in to fill that void, create a horror themed game with the mechanics and action of RE4, the result is a horror game classic and the start of a short lived but great series. Dead Space takes the Alien concept of being on a dead ship filled with alien monsters and builds an increidble game around it. The ship itself opens up slowly like like a metroid map almost, it's done in a way where there isnt really much exploring, you are being pushed forward but the way the ship keeps opening up to the player gives the feel of exploring a huge ship. Visceral studios nailed the atmosphere and did what RE was failing to do, create a location that puts fear into the player while still delivering an action title.

Make no mistake Dead Space is an action game, it is not some old school survival horror game. I loved the big hook of needed to dismember the enemies with your weapons rather than doing the usual bullet weak spots. Now you have to aim at limbs that come out of all kinds of directions. Who doesn't love shooting a metal saw out and seeing a monster split in half, its awesome. There were cool space floating segments  where you had to solve simple puzzles, a few good boss battles and generally a well paced game that was very lengthy. Dead Space is a great video game from top to bottom but like most great franchises the sequel out classes it in nearly every way.

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Dead Space 2 is one of the best third person shooters ever made. Its still creepy but it sort of does away with the whole explore a big ship concept and instead goes the more RE4 route of just taking you on a roller coaster of hell. Better weapons, better skills, better enemies, better setpieces, better bosses, more variety, its brilliant. The part that stays with me the most though is entering a child nursery that has been infected with this alien shit. i dont't know about you but creepy baby rooms are scary. It's even scarier when there are killer alien psycho babies!!!! That section was nuts, killing babies! Dead Space 2 is an honerary action RE game to me, we can throw out RE6 and put this one in it's place.

 
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 05:27:32

79. Blood Omen Legacy of Kain

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Vay Victus!

This one holds a special place in my heart as it is the first PS1 game I personally owned. I had a saturn, my brother thankfully got a PS1, I thought I had the better console, that lasted all of 4 months until Resident Evil hit and I knew I made a horrible mistake. My brother was moving out so I wanted a PS of my own, come holiday time I was gifted one and the first game I got was Legacy of Kain. I subscribed to the magazine Gamefan (amazing magazine) and they had a cover story on this crazy vampire game that looked like a Zelda title. A mature giant sized Zelda game, hell yes I am so in. It was also the first PS game I got that came in a jewel case, before it PS1 was using giant plastic boxes (I still have my brothers OG Resident Evil 1 box). Back then CG cutscenes were still the most prolific way games told stories and Kain had some of the best I have ever seen at the time.

What really set it apart from any other was the incredible voice acting and writing, the best in the business at the time. Simon Templeman voiced Kain who was the games narrator allowing you to hear the inner thoughts of a man turned vampire and the thirst for power that came with it. Something as simple as the description of the abilities and items were done in such an eloquent and descriptive way, like a macabre Shakespearen play. The world was so rich in character, I play so many games these days that throw out names and locations and its all noise, I forget them as soon as the system turns off. Kain had a way world building that made every scene and location memorable. Nosgoth, the necromancer Mortanius, Vorador, Malek, the pillars and so much more are engraved in my mind because of how rich this world was.

The gameplay was fun, it was no Zelda but it's still a great top down action RPG. The load times were too frequent and some dungeons wore out their welcome but overall I greatly enjoyed playing it. The lenth truly made it feel like an epic, the world is large, lots of great story beats keeps the action moving along. It was challenging too at times, combat while a bit stiff was chalneging and required a good mastery of all of Kain's skills and weapons. They just don't make them like this anymore, such a great original world, compelling characters, and a fictional history that makes you want to stay and live in this world. Plus it was so damn cool, pressing a button and having blood fly from the throats of victims right into Kain's mouth never got old, and it refilled your health so it served a purpose. This is one of the key games that defined that magical era when games were becoming multifaceted products, not just a series of levels to play through. Part of me wants a sequel done in this top down style, shame it's the only one like it in the series.  

 
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 05:30:36

Any guesses as to whats coming in the next ten spots?

 
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 10:43:26

LOTS of Sonic.

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