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Favorite Games of All Time

This is going to be a work-in-progress for quite some time, but having turned 30 (I am officially old), I want to compile a list of the 100 hundred games that I have enjoyed the most in my lifetime of video-gaming (probably about 25 years). Obviously, there are classics from the past that haven't held up that well over time, but the criteria I will be using to judge will be impact on me at the time in which they appeared. So if they were graphically much better than other games of the time, or if they were significantly advanced over previous games, or if they just really appealed to me at the time, then I will probably rank them pretty highly.

I'll probably be building this over the next week or two, but feel free to comment as I go.

List items

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1. Star Wars: TIE Fighter

I probably put more hours into this game than any other, ever. In high school, all I wanted to do was come home and play Tie Fighter. The combination of excellent mission structure, a really cool story (you fought for the Empire at a time when very few games allowed you to be the bad guy), and terrific gameplay had this game dominating my life. Secret missions and the general structure of the game allowed for a ton of replayability.
2. Final Fantasy VII

I beat this game 3 or 4 times. The last time through, I think I literally did everything you could do in the game (maxed out materia/character leveling, beat all the Weapons, etc., etc.). The combination of a terrific story and the depth of the materia system really hooked me. Plus that huge sword and gigantic hair gets me every time.
3. Super Street Fighter II Turbo

I got an SNES in 8th grade. I was obsessed with video games, and read the Nintendo Power issue previewing Street Fighter II probably a dozen times. And this game was everything I imagined. My brothers and I played this game religiously, and took losing to each other personally.
4. Master of Magic

Civilization meets Heroes of Might & Magic. I loved this game at the time, even though it had some game crashing bugs. Really a shame they haven't updated this or put out a sequel.
5. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Amazing for the size of the playing area and the scope of the story. One of the best plots in a game I've ever played. I've also become a big fan of the way the Elder Scrolls levels up abilities and skills.
6. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

One of the first two games I got on the SNES (my all-time favorite console). I did pretty much nothing else until I had beaten it. Just a great, great game.
7. Star Control II

Not sure who introduced me to this game, but it was amazing for its scope at the time. Hundreds of different worlds, many different races to interact with, and a shocking amount of nonlinearity for its time. Phenomenal original story that Mass Effect (intentionally or not) pays homage to.
8. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

I didn't play this until 2005, well after its release. But even then, I was amazed at how good a game this is. I have a soft spot for games featuring Lovecraftian storylines, and the story is terrific. Plus, the game screws with you by making images appear blurry, have movie-style "jump" moments, and sometimes even convincing you that something is wrong with your television set. Probably my favorite horror game.
9. BioShock

The plot sort of falls apart a little by the end, but up until you meet Andrew Ryan it's absolutely mesmerizing. The visuals are terrific, and the action is well done.
10. Sid Meier's Civilization II

This is another game that I poured hours and hours into. A step above the original, classic Civilization in almost every department.
11. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

"Time to die, bugface!" The thing that really blew me away about this game was the many options you have to resolve quests. Most of my RPG experience up until this point had been in linear games, and this element of choice was pretty revolutionary for me. Plus, playing as a Dark Side character is just so much fun.
12. The 7th Saga

My first great RPG experience on a console. I had already played a few good ones on the computer (Apple IIGS) and Gameboy, but I don't think I had really gotten into one on a console until this point. The story really drew me in initially, but it helped that it felt like there was a lot of variability in how the story could play out, which was fairly rare at that time in a world of fairly linear RPGs.
13. Fallout 3

My first experience in the world of Fallout. Not sure how I missed the first two, since I was really into PC gaming at the time, but I loved the world they created. It didn't hurt that I'm from the DC area, so seeing a lot of familiar locations was pretty haunting at times. Great story along with a massive world to explore (in typical Bethesda).
14. StarCraft

Most important RTS ever. When a game becomes a televised sport (thanks Korea!), you know it's big-time.
15. Doom II: Hell on Earth

Probably the most common social activity I did in high school. Mostly we did this locally, but I do have fond memories of playing coop with a friend of mine over a 28.8 modem. The team-killer in me wouldn't let us get past the first level, though.
16. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords

Probably actually a better game than the first one, but it didn't have the same impact on me. Plus they released it unfinished, which is a tragedy, because it was so good already, it could have been one of the best games ever if they had just pushed the release date out a couple months.
17. Tecmo Super Bowl

I was addicted to this game. When I'd go out to Nebraska for family vacations, there wasn't much to do other than run around the fields and play SNES. So we'd rent a bunch of games and sit in the basement drinking Dr. Pepper and Mt. Dew all day with my cousins. One time we set up a season, each picked our own team, and played all the way through. Took a few days, but it was pretty awesome. Also, playing this game on an emulator helped get me through law school.
18. Dragon Age: Origins
19. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Technically a much more beautiful game than Morrowind (and they fixed several huge flaws in the design as well) but the story just didn't grab me the same way.
20. Mass Effect

Can't put this above StarCon II, given how much similarity there is in the story.
21. Sid Meier's Colonization
22. Deus Ex: Invisible War

I may be the only person that liked this one more than the first one. That could be because I played this one first (on the Xbox) and didn't actually play the first one until 2009, almost a decade after its release. While the story here was not as good as the first one, the progression of the game felt a bit better and the shooter aspects and graphics were definitely improved.
23. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
24. The Legend of Zelda
25. Ms. Pac-Man

I didn't get into this game until law school, when I had a tabletop machine at the pizza joint right next to my dorm. I would order pizza and then put in a quarter and see how many points I could get until my order was up. By the end of my first semester, I was able to get max points on the first level or two and avoid dying until somewhere around banana stage. Great replayability, even now.
26. Betrayal at Krondor
27. Dead Space
28. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
29. WWF WrestleMania 2000
30. Final Fantasy Legend II
31. Final Fantasy Adventure
32. Braid

This game is perhaps the best example of the video game as art. Seeing the ending for the first time was one of my favorite moments in video games.
33. Karateka

The first game I ever beat. The ending has a slightly notorious scene where you rescue the girl, but if you walk up to her (in your ninja crouch) she kills you. The only way to win is to run into her arms. Needless to say, I wasn't aware of this the first time I beat the final boss, and was devastated, but I ended up beating it another dozen times.
34. Alien Legacy
35. Sam & Max Hit the Road
36. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
37. Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares
38. Final Fantasy VI
39. Super Mario 64
40. Super Mario Bros. 3
41. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
42. Deus Ex
43. Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle
44. Super Mario World
45. Smash TV
46. NBA Jam
47. Star Control 3
48. Mega Man 2
49. The Oregon Trail
50. Portal
51. Might and Magic: Book I
52. Minesweeper
53. Bard's Tale
54. Super Mario Kart
55. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
56. Quake
57. Sid Meier's Civilization
58. The Witcher
59. Baseball Stars
60. NHLPA Hockey '93

This game was phenomenal for its time. Glass would break, you could get in fights, you could injure the best players on the other team, you could even hit opposing players in the head with the puck (this was hard to do). The game even kept track of how many crosschecks you had in a game. Obviously, that became my goal.
61. Golden Axe
62. Earl Weaver Baseball
63. Dynasty Warriors 6
64. God of War
65. MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
66. Max Payne
67. Quake III Arena
68. Montezuma's Revenge
69. Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers
70. Contra
71. Super Mario Bros. 2

This was a pretty big break from the original, and a lot of people didn't like it as much, but I had a blast playing it. The choice of characters (with real differences between them), the little slot machine mini-game between levels, and the bizarre bosses were a lot of fun. And this was one of the first NES games I ever managed to beat.
72. Assassin's Creed II
73. Super Mario Bros.

Just a classic. I looked this up recently: this game sold over 40 million copies. To put it into perspective, that's about three times as many people as are playing World of Warcraft.
74. Star Fox 64
75. Doom
76. Double Dragon
77. SimCity
78. Quake II
79. 1942
80. Marble Madness
81. Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
82. Assassin's Creed
83. Excitebike
84. Final Fantasy IX
85. Grand Theft Auto III
86. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
87. Final Fantasy VIII
88. Wolfenstein 3D
89. Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA

Wookie Wookie by Machoman. Says it all.
90. Secret of Mana
91. Final Fantasy X
92. The Dig
93. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
94. Stunts
95. 3D Pinball: Space Cadet
96. Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor
97. Star Control
98. DuckTales
99. Super Metroid
100. Crackdown
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5 Comments

mzuckerm

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Edited By mzuckerm

@Darviathar: The list actually goes on for more than 100 games. It's still a work in progress as I try to figure out how I'd actually rank them all, and so a lot of these are approximations for now.

I was hoping Elemental: War of Magic would be a decent Masters of Magic follow-up, but it's been incredibly disappointing so far.

13 years ago

Darviathar

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Edited By Darviathar

Wow. 50 games. Now I'm ashamed of my list of 10! You've got a few on here that should have at least made my "honorable mention" list for my top 10. Betrayal at Krondor, Tie fighter, Might and Magic (I'd go with 4 and 5, the Xeen games). I'm glad to see someone else still hopes for a Masters of Magic sequel all these years later.

13 years ago

ahoodedfigure

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Edited By ahoodedfigure

Always good to see typed-up descriptions. Helps makes these lists more personalized.

13 years ago

mzuckerm

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Edited By mzuckerm

@KillyDarko: I feel the same way. I've been playing games for more than 20 years now, so any full list is going to take a long time to put together. That's why this list is very incomplete (and in bad order) right now. I'll be adjusting it when I can spare some more time.

13 years ago

KillyDarko

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Edited By KillyDarko

I've been wanting do to one of these for a long time now, but the games are too many and the time is too little... :( Maybe when I'm finally able to take a real vacation I'll get my hands on doing so.
Anyway, you've got some really good games there, and definitely some will also be on my (future) list :)

13 years ago

mzuckerm

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Favorite Games of All Time

List items

1. Star Wars: TIE Fighter

2. Final Fantasy VII

3. Super Street Fighter II Turbo

4. Master of Magic

5. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

6. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

7. Star Control II

8. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

9. BioShock

10. Sid Meier's Civilization II

11. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

12. The 7th Saga

13. Fallout 3

14. StarCraft

15. Doom II: Hell on Earth

16. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords

17. Tecmo Super Bowl

18. Dragon Age: Origins

19. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

20. Mass Effect

21. Sid Meier's Colonization

22. Deus Ex: Invisible War

23. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness

24. The Legend of Zelda

25. Ms. Pac-Man

26. Betrayal at Krondor

27. Dead Space

28. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

29. WWF WrestleMania 2000

30. Final Fantasy Legend II

31. Final Fantasy Adventure

32. Braid

33. Karateka

34. Alien Legacy

35. Sam & Max Hit the Road

36. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

37. Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares

38. Final Fantasy VI

39. Super Mario 64

40. Super Mario Bros. 3

41. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

42. Deus Ex

43. Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle

44. Super Mario World

45. Smash TV

46. NBA Jam

47. Star Control 3

48. Mega Man 2

49. The Oregon Trail

50. Portal

51. Might and Magic: Book I

52. Minesweeper

53. Bard's Tale

54. Super Mario Kart

55. Professor Layton and the Curious Village

56. Quake

57. Sid Meier's Civilization

58. The Witcher

59. Baseball Stars

60. NHLPA Hockey '93

61. Golden Axe

62. Earl Weaver Baseball

63. Dynasty Warriors 6

64. God of War

65. MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat

66. Max Payne

67. Quake III Arena

68. Montezuma's Revenge

69. Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers

70. Contra

71. Super Mario Bros. 2

72. Assassin's Creed II

73. Super Mario Bros.

74. Star Fox 64

75. Doom

76. Double Dragon