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Mar 23, 2018
2,654
List of video games considered the best


So I was taking a look last night at some game, I believe it was Silent Hill2, wikipedia article and I found out about this list. Wikipedia being the general place where most of people look for information on the internet, this actually seems like a pretty solid list, in my view. I mean, one would say "X game in this list is my favorite" and I wouldn't ask the reason why; I would totally get it.

There are some notable absences(based on scores), like Metal Gear Solid V(Yes) or Super Mario Odyssey. Some other recent games like Persona 5, RDR2 or God of War perhaps even Smash Ultimate are not there; I guess at least one of these will show up here in a couple of years.

This is a list of video games that have consistently been ranked among the best of all time by video game journalists and critics. The games listed here are included on at least five separate "best/greatest of all time" lists from different reliable publications. While any single publication's list reflects its own taste, when the lists are taken in aggregate, a handful of notable games have achieved something approaching critical consensus by multiple appearances in such lists.

I don't really know how to embed the list so here's the link to the article and check back when you have your opiniong on it. Do you find this as a valid list for "The games considered the best of all time"? "No because there's no Ace Attorney in there" well that's a good point right there, but I'm gonna have to ask you to chill and think about it again.

Handhelds are also a biiiiiiiiiiiiiit absent: Only one 3DS game, Fire Emblem Awakening; two Game Boy games, TLOZ: Link's Awakening and Pokémon Red/Blue; two GBA titles which are pretty interesting, these being Advance Wars and WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!; no DS games in sight if we don't count Rock Band 3(I didn't even know there was a DS version). If we count Switch as a handheld, TLOZ: Breath of the Wild is there.

Fun fact! According to this, 2001 is the greatest year in gaming: Advance Wars, Animal Crossing, FFX, GT3, GTA3, Halo, Ico, Max Payne, MGS2, Rez, Silent Hill 2, Smash Melee. I mean, it sounds kinda right when you put it that way... a pace of one legendary game per month.
 

vestan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Dec 28, 2017
24,605
It's honestly a solid list all things considered, I can't say I have any major faults with it at all, especially 2000-2010, entirely representative of that era IMO.
 
Oct 25, 2017
9,006
Canada
I like the list for what it is, there's actually some niche stuff on there too.

I wonder what the most controversial pick on that list is? I see Shenmue.
 

Bard

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
12,408
This list misses out on F-Zero GX, which is the best racing game ever made.

It mostly seems to be a collection of a lot of GOTY or some popular games at time of release like Mass Effect 3, which has no business being on here.

Also, I'm laughing at Earthbound being present somehow.
 

vestan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Dec 28, 2017
24,605
So many great games on that list, glad to see Chaos Theory and TF2 up there too.
 

Son Goku

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
4,332
No Ratchet and Clank?

Also some definitely should have made it like GoW (2018) and Uncharted 3 or 4 and Jak and Daxter and Crash 3 but overall I'd say they hit most of the big ones

EDIT: AND NO SPYRO!?
 

Deleted member 17210

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,569
I wouldn't take the list as a serious full representation of the best games by year. It just reads like a list of super mainstream games. Sure, many of them are high quality but there are countless equally deserving games that aren't on there. There isn't even a single Sega game older than Sonic on there aside from Frogger which was developed by Konami. If a former gaming superpower can't be represented properly, there's no hope for more obscure stuff.
 
OP
OP
Phoenix Splash
Mar 23, 2018
2,654
Damn, 2007 was wild, huh?

It really was. 5 out of the 7 2007 games are first person perspective games, too.

lol 2014 got skipped.
2014 truly was terrible.
Lol at nothing from 2014. Wii U forever ignored


LMAO I didn't even notice there are no 2014 games listed

I wouldn't take the list as a serious full representation of the best games by year. It just reads like a list of super mainstream games. Sure, many of them are high quality but there are countless equally deserving games that aren't on there. There isn't even a single Sega game older than Sonic on there aside from Frogger which was developed by Konami. If a former gaming superpower can't be represented properly, there's no hope for more obscure stuff.

I agree with the "super mainstream games" bias although it makes sense from a list aggregate perspective, IMO

"The games listed here are included on at least five separate "best/greatest of all time" lists from different reliable publications. While any single publication's list reflects its own taste, when the lists are taken in aggregate, a handful of notable games have achieved something approaching critical consensus by multiple appearances in such lists."
 

neon_dream

Member
Dec 18, 2017
3,644
Everquest doesn't belong on a list of best anything, TBQH.

Except maybe a list of the best worst games ever.
 

Kcannon

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,660
From what I'm seeing, this is essentially an aggregate of those "Top X Games of All Time" lists.

I suppose if a game consistently lands Top 5-10 on several lists, they get placed there.
 

Pyro

God help us the mods are making weekend threads
Member
Jul 30, 2018
14,505
United States
Surprisingly good list imo. As for the lack of recent games, it's probably because they're still considered new making it too early to be having that kind of conversation around the game.
 

sredgrin

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,276
Feels like a weird bit of sourcing is a bit off. Some of these games earn their fifth spot on the list by placing in the 200s (or 401 in the case of LBP) or so in the Polygon or Game Informer lists, and I feel like using something like For Him Magazine is just goofy in general.

Top 500 or 300 lists shouldn't really be used, I would argue, at the very least, and if they are, the top 100 should be the cutoff.

It's a solid list of games overall though.