You know the drill. Pick 16 games that you think deserve to be considered as the best of all time. These games will be seeded by number of votes.
Things to consider:
- Was the game influential? Has the game caused other similar games to be released? Has the game created a whole GENRE?
- Does the game withstand the test of time? If the game is a few years old, a decade old, whatever, can you still pick it up, play it, and have fun?
- Is the game fun? This shouldn't take much explaining, but some games are just damn fun and some aren't.
- Replayability. This somewhat goes hand in hand with withstanding the test of time, but it has more to do with whether you would play a game a billion times or just once (rather than whether you would pick it up and play it in ten years or something).
- Intangibles/favoritism/quirkiness/whatever: let's face it, some games just make you want to jizz your pants. However, don't go overboard with this. A game on your list should still rank well in the above qualities.
Things you should be careful about considering:
- Graphics. Listen, I'm not saying you should dismiss them altogether, but be smart about it. Superman 64 has better graphics than Super Mario Kart (SNES), but I think we can all agree it is a worse game. However, if two games are from a similar era and one has better graphics (example: GTA IV compared to Saint's Row 2), you might feel that puts you over the top.
- Don't pick games you've never played. I just would rather this be personal opinion rather than groupthink. Also, don't berate people because they don't have enough games from system X or system Y, some people have played more from certain systems than others. Hell, some people here are 16 or younger.
- Is the game "long enough"? You have to be careful about this because a lot of games that are 10+ years old might be around the 10 hour long mark or so. It's similar to the graphics thing.
- This can be up for debate, but I think we should group games from the same series together IF they are very similar. For example, I think we should just list Halo as one series and GTA III-IV as one series. However, I think we should put games from the same series that are dissimilar as single games, like NFL Blitz would be a different game from Blitz: The League. Again, we can put this up for debate. I put asterisks (*) next to games I think should be considered.
Feel free to ask questions/comment on other people's picks/comment on your own picks.
1. TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (SNES) - There were a million and one hack-n'-slashers back in that time, but I think this one reigns supreme. It had it all: awesome characters, awesome bosses, an awesome theme, awesome levels, and it's based on an awesome show. Oh, and the phrase, "Awww, shell-shock!" will probably be burned into my brain for all eternity.
2. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) - There are plenty of good Mario games. I am even going to go so far as to include two on this list. I think this is the best though. The Tanooki suit is classic, the whole game is classic.
3. *NBA Jam (multiple consoles/arcade) - There aren't a whole lot of sports games that stand out to me as "classic." NBA Jam does. This game stands out to me as one that also revolutionized a genre: No real rules? Unrealistic physics? Turbo? Playing as The President or a gorilla? Sign me up! It caused a tidal wave of games still felt today: NFL Blitz, NHL Hitz, MLB Slugfest, Redcard, NBA Ballers, NBA Street, etc., etc.
4. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) - Everything about this game kicks ass. The music, the characters, the weapons, the annoying fairy... okay, almost everything. Still, I'm thinking the franchise is still having trouble trying to recover the awesomeness that was Ocarina of Time.
5. Starcraft (PC and um, N64... sorta.) - I have a hard time putting it all into words, but this is just an extremely fun, extremely popular game. Tons of people still play it today. I think it deserves to be up here.
6. *GTA series (PS2, PS3, Xbox 360) - I'm not even a huge fan of this series, but I think it deserves to be up here anyway. People love the openness of the game, and of course being able to shoot people, set them on fire, beat a hooker, or whatever. It has led to several knockoffs, some of them good, others bad... or terrible.
7. Street Fighter II (multiple consoles/arcade) - I think it's fair to say that this game launched a ton of fighting games. What kid didn't want to shoot fireballs from his hand? And what dude still doesn't want to?
8. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis) - I don't know what it is about this game. Sonic? Tails? The chaos emeralds turning you super saiyan? Spinning through a series of tubes? I don't know, but I fucking love this game.
9. Mario Kart 64 (N64) - The other Mario Kart games are good, but this one is closest to my heart. Red shells, blue shells, green shells, gold mushrooms, shortcuts. I love it.
10. *Super Smash Bros. series (N64, GC, Wii) - I think I picked up the original the first day it came out. It didn't let me down. The concept was wacky but it works out to be one of the coolest fighting games ever.
11. *Halo series (Xbawkz, Xbawkz 360) - There are plenty of shooters out there. Few are as popular as any of the Halo games. This was probably one of the first console shooters to be really popular as an online game.
12. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS) - I played this on the 360, but it was still pretty damn great. It stands out as one of the few great 2D side-scrollers in an ever-increasing 3D world.
13. Super Metroid (SNES) - Another game I was behind the curve on. It's a terrific game, and sets up a terrific idea for the Metroid Prime games, which are also terrific.
14. *Pokemon (GB) - Okay, you might think I'm going off the deep end. Maybe I have. The pokemon games weren't really revolutionary. However, the games were wildly popular and extremely fun. I think part of the fun was just playing friends/other jackasses and beating the shit out of them.
15. *Guitar Hero (multiple consoles) - We could probably debate this a lot, but I put Guitar Hero here instead of DDR because it appeals to a wider audience. I put GH here instead of Rock Band because it's basically the same idea.
16. Super Mario 64 (N64) - This was the first and, ironically, probably the best N64 title. It had a wide selection of levels (deserts, submarine levels, carpet rides, etc.). It also made me trip balls as a kid due to the fact that I had never moved a joystick with my thumb before. Now I use my thumb to play with my joystick all the time!