Top 100 games of all time (Rllmuk 2015 edition) - Results now showing: No. 1

[Nick R]

I'm still astonished at the absence of Half-Life 1.

I realise it's missing for explicable reasons: Deus Ex and GoldenEye retained their votes because they represent approaches to the FPS that aren't really attempted now, whereas almost every modern FPS displays some of HL's influence (cinematic events happening seamlessly in-engine within gameplay, etc), so HL single-player fans are probably more likely to pass their votes onto HL2 or Portal. Also, unlike GoldenEye, HL probably wouldn't get voted for because of multiplayer nostalgia: I had fun with it, but HL's built-in mod-less multiplayer mode doesn't seem fondly-remembered compared to Quake, TF and CS.

But even so, it's been a fixture of Greatest Game lists for more than 15 years, so it's surprising not to see it!

[Jolly]

With this and Edge's 100 'greatest' games, it's pretty fucking clear that the world needs a better quality of top 100. A top 100 put together by a true bastion of good taste, an arbiter with the finest credentials.

Well, I've already got 74 potentials lined up from whittling down my top 20 for this list's votes, I guess I'd just better use that as a basis for putting together a list of all potential candidates for the top 100, narrowing them down accordingly and publishing an authoritative* and objective** list of the 100 greatest games, with appropriate commentary.

Might as well make a thread where we post up our top 100's if people feel that way about the final list.

I tend to do this every year or so anyway. Because I like writing lists.

I've never actually attempted to write commentary on each one though, despite my best intentions. Maybe I should give it a bash.

[Loik V credern]

Resident Evil 4 is the only game I regret not playing all the way through at least another 4 times. It's the last game that engrossed me through its visuals and art direction alone, it evokes horror b movies in a way so many visually impressive games fail to capture a vibe and tone, which sets it apart for me. (the spanish village is so well captured). And nothing since has matched its creativity in set pieces and moments.

[Jolly]

I said as much when I voted for it, but Resident Evil 4 is near unique in the fact that it doesn't have any 'oh, not this bit' bits.

Having a little think now and I can't come up with a single other traditionally structured game where that's the case.

EDIT: Super Mario World, actually.

[Dig Dug]

I find resident evil 4 to be a fascinating game because of how it was developed. They didn't just make resident evil 4, they took the unused ideas or stuff they needed to test and made multiple other games with it such as Devil May Cry, P.N.03 and Clock Tower 3 (I believe it was clock tower 3, might have been haunting ground). In other words a game that was so rigorously tested that they used other games to see what would work.

[SeanR]

d'oh!

Edited September 28, 2015 by SeanR

[Mentazm]

I said as much when I voted for it, but Resident Evil 4 is near unique in the fact that it doesn't have any 'oh, not this bit' bits.

I disagree...

[Mr Cochese]

You know you don't have to shoot the lake, right?

[Timmo]

I said as much when I voted for it, but Resident Evil 4 is near unique in the fact that it doesn't have any 'oh, not this bit' bits.

It also contains that bit which everyone forgets every time, the fight with U-3. Even though I'm reminding you of it now you'll still be surprised by it.

[SeanR]

there's a theme in the list of games-on-the-list-I-have-not-played, but I can't quite put my finger on it...

10 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

11 Metroid Prime

14 Shadow of the Colossus

33 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

36 Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

39 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

40 Persona 4 Golden

45 World of Warcraft

47 UFO: Enemy Unknown

48 Mario Kart 8

49 Spelunky HD

52 Skyrim

56 Day of the Tentacle

58 Super Mario 3D World

59 Civilization 4

60 Pokemon Red/Blue

64 Chrono Trigger

71 Animal Crossing New Leaf

74 Xenoblade Chronicles

78 REmake

79 Final Fantasy IX

81 Journey

83 Portal 2

84 WWF No Mercy

85 Final Fantasy 6

87 Final Fantasy XII

90 Valkryia Chronicles

93 Yoshi's Island

95 Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward

96 Vagrant Story

[chris on the moon]

the theme is that you haven't played them.

[Mr Cochese]

I thought at first it was that they're Japanese, but there are a few western titles in there. And it can't be Nintendo consoles either, for a similar reason. Is the theme that you haven't played any of them?

[Boozy The Clown]

They've never appeared in the bargain bucket, cock wiped on, pre owned section of your local high street games vendor ?

[SeanR]

our list shares 31 titles with the edge magazine on the same subject

Advance Wars

Dark Souls

Final Fantasy XII

GTA V

Halo 3

Ico

Journey

Mario Kart 8

Mass Effect 2

Metroid Prime

Minecraft

Okami

Persona 4 Golden

Portal

Red Dead Redemption

Resident Evil 4

Rez

Rock Band 3

Shadow of the Colossus

Skyrim

Spelunky HD

Super Mario 3D World

Super Mario 64

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Super Mario World

Super Metroid

Super Monkey Ball

Tetris

The Last of Us

Uncharted 2

Xenoblade Chronicles

we had outrun 2, they have outrun2 C2C...

[Stig]

Not played any of the top three :/ but was never a huge Zelda fan and didn't have a Nintendo between the SNES ans Wii.

I do have the Wii version of RE4 though, got it from my brother in law. I intend to give it a go at some point.

[Benny]

You need to drop everything you are doing right now and play it. I've not actually played the Wii version oddly enough, even though I do own it. As well as the PC HD version, the PS2 version, and of course the Gamecube version...

Incidentally first post has now been edited with links to each set of entries.

[Mr Cochese]

Take a week off work to play on normal and then professional and then five star all Mercenaries levels with each character.

[Benny]

Then do it all over again on a different format. One of us, one of us...

[Mr Cochese]

Not until he's gone into work dressed as Leon S Kennedy.

[Timmo]

I do have the Wii version of RE4 though, got it from my brother in law. I intend to give it a go at some point.

It's quite good apparently

[SeanR]

It's quite good apparently

the controls take some getting used to...

[Benny]

STATS TIME!

So, all links to each game write up can now be found in the OP, but here are some more facts from the spreadsheet:

Number of different games voted for: 556

Total votes for all games: 1588

Game the most people voted as their number 1 game: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Game with the most total votes: Resident Evil 4

Games sneaking into the top 20 despite not being anyone's number 1: Metroid Prime, Portal, and Metal Gear Solid

Surprise absence from list (but still getting 3 votes): Half Life

Shocking and wrong absence from list: Tie Fighter. Oh wait I mean Planescape: Torment

Position Shenmue would have been on the list if Shenmue 1 & 2 were considered as one game: 5

Number of Mario games in the top 100 (including Mario Kart): 8

Number of Zelda games: 5

Number of Final Fantasy games: 4

Coming up, a list of all the runners up!

[Danster]

Well done benny, a lot of work and well presented.

Shall we do this every five years from now?

[Stolly]

Well I definitely prefer this list to the Edge top 100 list. Showing off my lightweightedness for all to see, I reckon I've played about 50 of these games too (whereas with the Edge list it's probably nearer 40).

Shame there was no mention though of Final Fantasy XI (a game that I put a frightening amount of time in over a period of about 4 years) or System Shock 2 and what about Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis ffs

[Benny]

And now the runners up!

The criteria for these is a bit different: these are all games picked that received at least 2 votes each so it's less about how people ranked them, as this suits a runners up list better I think, so in order of number of votes (and score for ordering where appropriate), the top 140 runners up:

1. Killer7
2. Bioshock
3. Hotline Miami
4. Championship Manager 97/98
5. Metroid Fusion
6. Sega Rally Championship
7. Vanquish
8. Disgaea
9. Ikaruga
10. Pikmin 3
11. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
12. Super Mario Bros 3
13. Dead Space
14. Secret Of Monkey Island
15. Counterstrike
16. Outrun 2006
17. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
18. Gradius V
19. Halo 2
20. Paradroid
21. Roller coaster tycoon
22. Starfox 64
23. Super Meat Boy
24. Trials Evolution
25. Warioware Inc
26. Half-Life
27. Pokémon Gold/Silver
28. Ninja Gaiden Black
29. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
30. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
31. Halo: ODST
32. Resident Evil
33. Secret of Mana
34. Skies of Arcadia
35. Mass Effect
36. Panzer Dragoon Saga
37. Wii Sports
38. Bayonetta
39. Defender
40. Suikoden
41. Pikmin
42. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
43. Flashback
44. Chaos
45. Deus Ex Human Revolution
46. Guardian Heroes
47. Super Tennis
48. Jet Set Radio Future
49. Fez
50. Mario Kart Wii
51. Civilization II
52. Final Fantasy Tactics
53. Dwarf Fortress
54. Little Big Adventure 2
55. Tekken 3
56. Fallout New Vegas
57. Tomb Raider
58. Super Mario 3D Land
59. Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3
60. Vib Ribbon
61. Bubble Bobble
62. Gravity Rush
63. Planescape: Torment
64. Suikoden 2
65. Elite
66. Football Manager 2012
67. Shinobi
68. SSX
69. Bioshock Infinite
70. Final Fantasy VIII
71. Gunstar Heroes
72. NHLPA '93
73. Braid
74. Fallout 2
75. Quake 3 Arena
76. Ridge Racers
77. Fire Emblem
78. Civilization Revolution
79. Diablo 2
80. Out Run
81. Solomon's Key
82. The Sims
83. Zombies Ate My Neighbours
84. Rhythm Tengoku
85. Sonic The Hedgehog 3&Knuckles
86. Jet Set Radio
87. Lumines
88. Manhunt
89. Oddworld Abe's Odyssey
90. Theme Hospital
91. Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
92. Blast Corps
93. Condemned
94. Dragon Quest VIII
95. Gran Turismo 2
96. Hitman: Blood Money
97. Left 4 Dead
98. Age of Empires 2
99. Bloodborne
100. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
101. Space Giraffe
102. Xenogears
103. Animal Crossing
104. Crazy Taxi
105. Policenaughts
106. Banjo Kazooie
107. Fable II
108. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
109. Grim Fandango
110. Left 4 Dead 2
111. R-Type
112. Revenge of Shinobi
113. Super Mario Sunshine
114. The Walking Dead 1
115. Gran Turismo 6
116. Beyond Good & Evil
117. Destiny
118. Dishonored
119. Lemmings
120. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
121. Virtua Fighter 2
122. Wipeout
123. Colin McRae Rally
124. Halo Reach
125. System Shock 2
126. Tearaway
127. ISS Pro Evolution 2
128. Metal Slug X
129. Metropolis Street Racer
130. Mirror's Edge
131. SSX Tricky
132. WarioWare: Twisted
133. Worms
134. Blur
135. F-Zero
136. Conkers Bad Fur Day
137. Deadly Premonition
138. Gravity Power
139. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
140. SimCity 2000

[nakamura]

Amazing work compiling these lists. They make for great reading too, much better than the recent Edge list.

[Mr Cochese]

Gravity Power was fucking awesome.

[Super Craig]

the controls take some getting used to...

It supports the Classic and GameCube controllers as well, if that's any use.

[SeanR]

It supports the Classic and GameCube controllers as well, if that's any use.

is it not better with the chainsaw controller?

[Super Craig]

is it not better with the chainsaw controller?

Never got to try that one.

I think it plays better with the Wiimote, but some posters (I remember Smitty being one?) were quite vocal about it reducing the challenge in the game. It's still an amazing game either way.