Time Magazines Top 100 Video Games of All Time

http://techland.time.com/2012/11/15/all-time-100-video-games/slide/all/

What do you guys think?

They didn't even put the good mass effect game on there so no.

I think it's hilarious/great that Katamari Damacy is on that list. Also no Fallout 3 that I could see...or Pokemon boo. Also Mass Effect 2 > Mass Effect 3.

Pretty terrible; for the most part they didn't seem to bother picking the best game out of a series and just picked the first or most recognizable title.

Dune II might be the first RTS but it is a dreadful game.

Time Magazine still exists? Alright let me take a look at the list...

Generic as hell, ME3 on there is a laugh. Not 2, you know, the universally beloved one (for the most part). I always hate these here's 100 games, go. Put them in an order of importance, make a stand, have an opinion. Just throwing 100 popular games into the decades they were released doesn't tell anyone anything.

EDIT: Also.....NO PERSONA 4?! WHAT THE FUCK?!

It looks like it was made by a room full of people. It's just a list of random popular games.

Has there ever been a good Top 100 games of all time list?

There are a lot of really solid choices on that list. I don't see any glaring problems, especially considering that this coming from a mainstream non-gaming news source. I mean, come on, they gave Demon's Souls a spot! That's great. Sure, there are some questionable entries (Arkham City instead of Asylum?? ME3 instead of ME2??) but on the whole, not bad.

@Icicle7x3: EGM had a pretty good one in 2000 I think it was; never seen one online though.

Can we not have ten 100 best games ever made lists every year? Thanks.

No fucks given.

Of all time? Eh maybe not but they did pick some great games.

I laugh at all of you that forget people have opinions.

The top whatever lists are so useless, but for what it is it doesn`t seem like TERRIBLE list.

@Sackmanjones: I thought everyone universally agreed on the top 100 games, that didn't happen?

Wasn't the first Mega Man mostly regarded as not very good? Mega Man 2 should be on that list instead.

@Nightriff said:

Time Magazine still exist?

LOL

Time Magazine's List of 100 "Games that We've Heard of that Might be Important to Video Game History, Perhaps".

This seemed more like a list of historically important games, considering how far back they go.

@Apathylad said:

This seemed more like a list of historically important games, considering how far back they go.

Basically this.

I remember ranting about G4's Top 100 game list one time on this site, but then I realized how pointless that was. I see no reason to rant or praise this list.

@Redbullet685 said:

@Apathylad said:

This seemed more like a list of historically important games, considering how far back they go.

Basically this.

Yeah. There are definitely games that aren't necessarily the greatest, but had some sort of huge impact one way or another.

I appreciate they had a bunch of formerly Maxis titles. My addiction to The Sims and expansion packs is a dark chapter of my young life but I accept that it happened. I'm more glad they covered SimCity 2000, which more rightfully was one of my bigger addictions back in the day.

Oh and they actually even have Chrono Trigger. That's a pleasant surprise.

I don't know what offends me more, the presence of Angry Birds, or Mass Effect 3. Solitaire is strange, too. The fact that Wii Sports is on the list makes the HARDCORE gamer in my cry. I've played Desktop Tower Defense, and I was bored in about 10 seconds. (The polls show that readers of this article think that this browser game is better than Cave Story. THIS IS HERESY.)

Does Marathon merit inclusion? I had never heard of the game until Bungie became popular with the launch of Halo, and I just assumed that Marathon was no big deal. Can anyone provide some insight?

Of course, Shadow of the Colossus and Metroid Prime are there, so we're cool.

As someone else said, it looks like they just selected the first or most popular entry in a series. I don't know a single person who says that the original Castlevania more than Symphony of the Night, or would argue that it is superior. Dracula's Curse, maybe, but not the original. If you are out there, please prove me wrong.

Mass effect 3?

What...

@BoG: Angry Birds was on the list? Then any credit I gave them earlier I redact, that's horrible.

@BoG said:

Does Marathon merit inclusion? I had never heard of the game until Bungie became popular with the launch of Halo, and I just assumed that Marathon was no big deal. Can anyone provide some insight?

I'd say Marathon made games like Halo possible. It also proved shooters can be story-driven, considering it was thick with plot and characters (even though everything was presented through terminals of text throughout the game, it was pretty well-written for the time. According to the TIME article it actually predated Quake as it was released at around '94 and was one of the first games to allow for aiming via the mouse instead of awkward Doom-like autoaim.) I played it myself and I can see how the story would've been a huge draw back then and precedent-setting.

@BoG said:

Does Marathon merit inclusion? I had never heard of the game until Bungie became popular with the launch of Halo, and I just assumed that Marathon was no big deal. Can anyone provide some insight?

Not sure if you read the individual entries, but that gives some context to their decisions. Marathon was apparently (according to them) the first shooter to have mouse look. Some other people have pointed out that this sounds more like a "most influential" list more than a "best ever" list. If you look at it that way, being the first shooter with mouse look would certainly count as all sorts of influential.

That's a really shitty list. It's the first list I can remember where Super Metroid was missing and that's weird because that's clearly the greatest game of all-time. Science proved that back in '97.

@Sackmanjones: I thought everyone universally agreed on the top 100 games, that didn't happen?

@Fredchuckdave said:

Pretty terrible; for the most part they didn't seem to bother picking the best game out of a series and just picked the first or most recognizable title.

don't all top x games ever lists do this?

@Sackmanjones said:

@Nightriff

@Sackmanjones: I thought everyone universally agreed on the top 100 games, that didn't happen?

Of course not. You know how I know? I follow the money

Who did it lead you too? Was it Jeff?

@Dalai: It's the same issue, Link to the Past is better than the first Zelda, Super Metroid is better than Metroid, Megaman 2 is better than Megaman, Resident Evil 4 is much better than the first RE (unless its the REmake on the Gamecube).

@Video_Game_King said:

Time Magazine's List of 100 "Games that We've Heard of that Might be Important to Video Game History, Perhaps".

"First 100 Video Games We Thought Of Off the Top Of Our Heads"

@BoG: Marathon had dual wielding I guess, revolutionary!

I clicked the link, just to make sure that KOTOR was on there. It is...so I am cool with the list.

Its a bad list

So they out in Bioshock but not System Shock 2? What the fuck?!

I appreciated the old school icons. Really not a "best all time" list so much as games that moved the standard somehow or have some lasting historical relevance. For example, Banjo is in many ways an improvement and evolution of Mario64, but come on. Shout out to Demon's Souls! Fuck yeah!

gah, oblivion?! both morrowind and skyrim were better, FAR better.

HA! This list is awesome. Specifically rejects some of the obvious picks, as made evident by the two N64 picks and ignoring Ocarina of Time and the LOADS of SNES-era picks ignoring LTTP and Super Metroid.

I applaud them. Is it the appropriate list? Probably not. But I actually think there's a lot to like about it.

Also, I hate to say it guys, but the ending of ME3 basically makes ME2 inessential to the storyline. None of the characters rejoin your party, the Collectors never matter again, and the Illusive Man and Cerberus are basically reintroduced as the Galactic Empire and Grand Moff Tarkin/Darth Vader. You can say ME2 is the best game all you like, but a large part of that was because it was trading on the promise of 3, and 3 said "eh, we're gonna do our own thing" Metal Gear Solid 4-style.

@aceofspudz said:

@Video_Game_King said:

Time Magazine's List of 100 "Games that We've Heard of that Might be Important to Video Game History, Perhaps".

"First 100 Video Games We Thought Of Off the Top Of Our Heads"

It's funny because it's (probably) true.

.

Also, the entire reason the list exists is to get 102 page clicks from every reader, and 102 banner ads.