Your Top 100 Games Challenge

I started scanning the Video Game list on Wikipedia and I recognized 50 games I played by 1990. I think that pace is going to start growing exponentially…

Yea, I think I am out. A brief look at the lists and I am probably only in the 50 range.

I’ve already compiled 50. I can’t restrict it to PC as in ‘windows-based IBM clone’ or whatever, but if I limit it to PC as in ‘Personal Computer,’ I think I can safely still hit 100. Anyway, lots of games I played on the C64 and Amiga also had DOS versions. Except all those weird/cool English ones…

I know there are some DOS games I played that I don’t remember the titles of.

And I have probably played 10-20 games on XBox that have PC versions, but it was the XBox version I played.

I’ll bite. Years ago, I started collecting a list of games I’d played. It’s somewhat arbitrary; I include a game if I feel like I enjoyed it really as a game, and perhaps invested some time and\or effort into it. For instance, Candy Crush doesn’t make the cut for iOS, but Monsters Ate My Condo does. I don’t know why, it’s just how it is. Anyhow, I tried to figure out as many classic games as I could by combing MobyGames and Gamefaqs lists, but I know I’m missing a ton of stuff from my early days, especially my Apple IIc.

Another issue is that I didn’t own a console when I was a kid except for a brief adventure with a Genesis. I didn’t really own any consoles until the Dreamcast, and even that was something I only toyed with while still committed to PC. That changed later. So I’m probably missing a bunch from NES, SNES, etc., where I experienced those games while over at friends places. Also - no arcade games on the list.

So, here’s the list; it’s an Excel sheet with a couple different tabs. I tried to tease 100 titles out of the whole thing (difficult). Trying to stick to a single game in a given franchise was difficult.

One weird thing - a lot of the games on here I didn’t necessarily love, especially in the later years. But they have some kind of place in my heart - typically because of the experience I had playing them. This includes titles that I played co-op with friends, my wife, etc. Or sometimes it includes games a close friend or my wife were also playing - meaning that even if it wasn’t multiplayer, we were still talking about it a lot, which means the game meant something to me, even if I didn’t love it as an individual title. And a few games I worked on are on there, because I love them for other reasons.

Another note - I don’t note the year I played a game, just the year of release. Typically, except for the 80s stuff, I usually play a game within a two year span from its release. That probably started regularly in the early 90s. Anything before that would be impossible to remember, and that list is riddle with gaps anyhow.

It’s also easy to see how I’ve slowed down as I’ve gotten older.

Later, I’ll pen a post about some of my choices. I’ll probably either highlight notable choices, or speak generally about ranges of time (or both).

The other names on your list all rang a bell, but I don’t think I’ve heard of that one before and a quick Google also didn’t seem to turn up anything relevant. Do you have more details?

That’s basically what I’m looking forward to. I don’t much care for people’s personal top 5 or for which 80 games show up on 75% of people’s lists, but I’m interested what titles that I never heard of will show up on.

I think it’s the only not-commercial game of the list, because it’s TC mod for Unreal Tournament (1999). The typical super realistic fps, innovated in a lot of things in his time, like true 3d ironsights lots of years before anyone did it, management of realistic sway and recoil, weight and stamina, grenades using 3d shrapnel with their own trajectories, AI snipers covering the spawn points to avoid spawncamping, and other stuff. The maps were huge, for the engine. The main mode was EAS (Enhanced Assault), attackers had to take a disc and extract with it, and each map had some extra detail or secondary objective. I remember the spawn system working different for defenders and attackers.
It also had a popular 3rd party mode called DTAS, Dynamic Take and secure, without respawn waves, last man standing style. The spawn point of the attackers and defenders were controlled by a procedural system, so the positions were random with some conditions to not make it silly. Defenders would have to defend their spawn area, and attackers had two put two members inside to win. It was possible to win without killing anybody, just using stealth slowly.
I got to play matches of up to 45 minutes with only 1 life.

Guys, if you haven’t played more than 50 games worth listing, then do a top 50 list!

Jesus, if you haven’t played more than 50 games worth listing, you should probably get out there and play some games.

A couple reason why I have maybe played so “few” games.

  1. I have finished every game I have ever started.
  2. I play almost entirely the larger games requiring more time.
  3. Every 6-7 years or so my computer becomes obsolete and my gaming stops until I get a new computer. I think my current computer is maybe 8 years old and that is probably the longest any one computer has remained viable as a gaming computer.
  4. I have a life. :)

Your post count indicates otherwise.

Hey, look! I made a list! The criteria for my list was pretty simple: What PC game would I most want to play right now? After building the list of worthy games, mostly what I did was compare one game to the one below it and asked: Which would I rather fire up right now? In the middle of the list, I think you start getting into the flawed classics, which have one or two elements that make me think, “Man, that game is great, but if I played it I’d have to deal with X”. The last third is less carefully ranked than the rest; I just couldn’t really weigh these essentially good games against each other.

When I started out I knew I wanted to find a way to give indie games their due, and that ended up being easier than I expected. A lot of them really compete well with older or bigger games. It’s hard to underestimate the draw for me of a lightweight, focused game that doesn’t take too long to get into and finish.

If I was overly generous to anything, it might be some of the Infocom games on the list. How easily and readily would I play those today? It might be a struggle. But I really admire several of them for doing things no other game has done.

Making the list was fun! I hope others put together lists of their own, by whatever rules inspire them. Thanks for starting the thread, Greatatlantic!

(My 2022 update is posted below.)

Nightgaunt’s 100 Best PC Games

  1. Star Control II
  2. Zeus
  3. Shadow Watch
  4. Sid Meier’s Pirates!
  5. Plants vs. Zombies
  6. Sid Meier’s SimGolf
  7. Pharaoh
  8. Curse of Monkey Island
  9. Castles
  10. Dawn of Discovery
  11. Minecraft
  12. X-COM: UFO Defense
  13. Oregon Trail
  14. VVVVVV
  15. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
  16. One Finger Death Punch
  17. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
  18. Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams
  19. System Shock 2
  20. The Dig
  21. SimCity 2000
  22. Oasis
  23. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear
  24. Super Amazing Wagon Adventure
  25. Civilization II
  26. Gnomoria
  27. SWAT 3
  28. Knytt Stories
  29. Rollercoaster Tycoon
  30. Links LS
  31. Ultima 5
  32. Trine
  33. Space Chem
  34. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
  35. Last Express
  36. Freedom Force
  37. Renegade Ops
  38. Sid Meier’s Covert Action
  39. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
  40. FTL Faster Than Light
  41. Alien Legacy
  42. Children of the Nile
  43. A Mind Forever Voyaging
  44. The Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions
  45. Alone in the Dark
  46. Starseed Pilgrim
  47. Outcast
  48. Grim Fandango
  49. Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
  50. Thomas Was Alone
  51. Kings Quest 6: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
  52. Warlords II Deluxe
  53. Transport Tycoon Deluxe
  54. Star Wars: TIE Fighter
  55. Wing Commander 2
  56. Project: Space Station
  57. Super Crate Box
  58. Mission Critical
  59. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
  60. Crimson Skies
  61. Lode Runner
  62. Sam & Max: Season 1
  63. Creeper World
  64. Another World
  65. The Sims
  66. Atom Zombie Smasher
  67. Hinterland
  68. Sanitarium
  69. Scorched Earth
  70. World of Goo
  71. Europa 1400: The Guild
  72. Dust: An Elysian Tail
  73. Recettear
  74. Settlers 7
  75. Lemmings
  76. Defender of the Crown
  77. Fez
  78. Portal
  79. Pyro II
  80. Gold of the Americas
  81. Majesty
  82. Dune II
  83. NightSky
  84. Suspended
  85. Candy Box
  86. Sid Meier’s Colonization
  87. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
  88. Cave Story
  89. Frog Fractions
  90. SimCopter
  91. Trinity
  92. Puzzle Quest
  93. Binding of Isaac
  94. The Dark Eye
  95. Half Life
  96. Peggle
  97. The Oil Blue
  98. Vessel
  99. Don’t Starve
  100. Left 4 Dead

As promised, my top 100 games: honest and ranked. Some well known games are ‘missing’, no doubt. Assume I just haven’t gotten around to playing them yet, not that I think Diablo is incredibly boring. Well, I do think Diablo is incredibly boring, but that is another topic. On the other hand, I haven’t played either Baldur’s Gate yet. Well, I started on Baldur’s Gate 2, but the fact I didn’t go very far is kind of why it won’t be on this list. Also, I’m scared of what Minecraft would do to my free time.

  1. Civilization IV (Beyond the Sword)
  2. Crusader Kings II
  3. Planescape - Torment
  4. Fallout: New Vegas
  5. Europa Universalis IV
  6. Skyrim (The Elder Scrolls 5)
  7. Team Fortress 2 (Sans updates)
  8. Shogun 2: Total War
  9. Dragon Age: Origins
  10. The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings
  11. King’s Bounty: the Dark Side
  12. Neverwinter Nights 2
  13. Master of Orion II
  14. Riven
  15. Dominions 3
  16. Alpha Protocol
  17. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
  18. Knights of the Old Republic 2 – The Sith Lords
  19. Portal
  20. Spec Ops: The Line
  21. Clive Barker’s Undying
  22. System Shock 2
  23. Metro 2033
  24. Psychonauts
  25. Chessmaster 10th ed.
  26. Deus Ex
  27. Batman: Arkham Asylum
  28. Halflife
  29. Serious Sam: the Second Encounter
  30. Braid
  31. Betrayal at Krondor
  32. Sam and Max Season 1 – Telltale
  33. Bastion
  34. XCom: Enemy Unknown (Remake)
  35. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
  36. Unreal Tournament 2004
  37. Imperialism II
  38. Deus Ex – Human Revelation
  39. Morrowind (The Elder Scrolls 3)
  40. Victoria II
  41. Bioshock
  42. Eador: Masters of the Broken World
  43. Doom
  44. To the Moon
  45. Age of Empires
  46. Ys: Origin
  47. Reus
  48. Final Fantasy VII
  49. Company of Heroes
  50. Long Live the Queen
  51. Journeyman Project 3 – Legacy of Time
  52. Dawn of Discovery (aka Anno 1404)
  53. Voyage: Inspired by Jules Verne (aka Journey to the Moon)
  54. Galactic Civilizations II
  55. Grim Fandango
  56. Bulletstorm
  57. King of Dragon Pass
  58. Thief 3: Deadly Shadows
  59. Sim City 2000
  60. Freedom Force 2
  61. Mass Effect
  62. Expeditions - Conquistador
  63. F.T.L., Faster than Light
  64. Guild Wars
  65. RAGE
  66. F.E.A.R.
  67. Rise of Nations
  68. Day of Defeat
  69. Sins of a Solar Empire (Rebellion)
  70. A Vampyre Story
  71. Number Munchers
  72. Overlord
  73. Syberia
  74. Warlock: Master of the Arcane
  75. Aura: Fate of the Ages
  76. Tropico 4
  77. Oregon Trail
  78. Evil Genius
  79. Capitalism Plus
  80. Dark Fall: Light’s Out
  81. Alpha Centurai
  82. Doom 3
  83. Prey
  84. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
  85. Descent 3
  86. Omikron: the Nomad Soul
  87. Jade Empire
  88. Discover the World
  89. Safecracker – The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure
  90. Beyond Good and Evil
  91. Don’t Starve
  92. Perimeter
  93. Dark Souls
  94. Left for Dead
  95. Grandia II
  96. Seven Kingdoms
  97. Total Overdose: A Gunslinger’s Tale in Mexico
  98. D.A. – Pursuit of Justice
  99. Dead Space
  100. Indigo Prophecy (AKA Fahrenheit)

Honorable Mentions (Games not on my list because they have a better game in series):

• Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings
• Anno 2070.
• Bioshock: Infinite
• Civilization (1 and 3)
• Dawn of War 2
• Dragon Age 2
• Eador: Genesis
• Empires: Total War
• Europa Universalis 2
• Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout 3
• Halflife 2, with episodic content
• King’s Bounty: Barely Armored Princess
• King’s Bounty: the Legend
• Knights of the Old Republic
• Mass Effect 3
• Master of Orion
• Medeival 2: Total War
• Myst
• Myst 4: Revelations
• Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark
• Portal 2
• Rise of Legends
• Rome: Total War
• Sam and Max, Season 2
• Serious Sam: the First Encounter
• Team Fortress Classic
• The Witcher
• Thief 2: The Metal Age

They are some things that I noticed. First off, I really like puzzle games. Number 89 is literally subtitled “the Ultimate Puzzle Adventure.” While I haven’t tallied genres, but there seems to be a balanced mix of strategy, RPG, adventure, and shooter games. I also like my games big. Some might say Portal’s great because it doesn’t outstay its welcome, but apparently a great game is like the fun guy or gal at the party who seems to enjoy your company as well. Meaning it is really hard to spend to much time with them. Still, I had a quite a few games that can be beaten in the sub-5 hour mark.

It shames me, but 13 out of my top 15 games are sequels. As much as I like the idea of new and innovative gameplay, the way to create the absolute best games appears to improve upon a proven formula.
As for the top game Civ 4, I literally told my brother not 6 months ago that the best game of all time was Crusader Kings II. In the interim, I have not played Civ. IV. So how then did they swap places? I suppose part of it was just fatigue setting in, but playing CK2 in Ironman Mode to get achievements turned into a bad experience with constant system pauses. This was apparently enough to sour the game for me giving the top title to the deity of “one more turn.” Regardless, most games are very close to their neighbors in terms of how much I like/enjoyed/respect them. I have hundreds of hours in games in my top 10.

On the flipside, my bottom games show a quite a bit of diversity. I think there are 8 different genres on display, and Seven Kingdoms is a very different RTS than Perimeter. Actually, DA: Pursuit of Justice (probably the most obscure game on my list, except maybe for Discover the World) is also a very different adventure game when compared to Indigo Prophecy.

Now, every single game on my list has a story behind it. To prove it, I pulled out my d100 (OK, 2 d10s) and randomly rolled it 5 times. I will a little bit why these randomly chosen games are on my list.

  1. To the Moon – Phew, a random roll I’m not embarrassed by! To the Moon is a recent independent game that is heavy on the story and very light on the gameplay. Its visuals are very reminiscent of the older Chrono Trigger, but that is where the similarities end. This is not an RPG, it is more a work of interactive fiction. In the near future the technology exists to alter people’s memories and let them remember the life they wish they had before they die. The story focuses on just one individual whose last wish before he dies is to go “to the moon.” You play a pair of technicians trying to remap his past memories so he becomes an astronaut and fulfills this dream. Yet, there are a lot questions. Why is his house filled with origami bunnies? Why does he even want to go to the moon? Is it even ethical to alter someone’s life, deleting entire relationships? The answers are in his past memories, because he is now comatose and unable to communicate with the technicians. This game is poignant, short, and very memorable with a score that stuck with me.

  2. Betrayal at Krondor – Moving on up (my list)! If I got to pick a game for the forum’s classic game club, this would be it. BaK was perhaps the first PC RPG I played. I have nothing but fond memories of this game, albeit memories surrounded by a certain nostalgic haze. This game combined decent combat, with an intriguing story written by real author Raymond Feist and a giant world to explore. Very few modern RPGs provide two out of the three, hence why it sits so high on my list despite its age. I will say the visuals are very dated, but I can still hum the midi theme song which will forever be in my brain. This game also served as an introduction to Feist’s Riftwar novels, which I had not read before this game, but became a minor fan of after having played it. In contrast, not even the high ranked Witcher 2 has gotten me to read Sapkowski’s novels.

  3. Descent 3 - And we go into the cellar. Essentially, I saw a flight joy stick on clearance for like $5. I bought it. It was really basic. It had left, right, up, and down, plus two buttons. So began my one and only foray into flying games and Descent 3. I can’t remember why I picked Descent 3 out of any other flying game. But I did. I mapped the primary weapon to one button, and missiles to the back button. I remember playing it until I reached a bug where I couldn’t find an enemy I needed to kill to continue the game. At that point, I think the suction cups holding the joystick the desk had given out and continuing to try to play was just not worth it. Still, for a least a little while I was a hot shot pilot figuring out how to kill things in a 3d space.

  4. Voyage: Inspired by Jules Verne (aka Journey to the Moon) – This might be the most confusing title on the list, and it is another game about the moon. I assure you, this is random. I love the setting, a moon inhabited by an advance and ancient civilization where a “can-do” Brit just crashed landed in. The puzzles were at times clever and at times overly hard. However, Voyage had a built in hint system. Essentially, the game will tell you how to solve a particular puzzle, but it would cost you something. I actually started a thread about this game at Quarter to Three, complaining that mainstream critics unnecessarily panned this game. So, I’m going to stand by this choice as a clever, whimsical, player friendly, and memorable adventure game as being as fun as any number of games with a much higher profile and reputation.

  5. Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Well, I was bound to get some AAA, mass market game on my list. Not only that, but a AAA reboot of a beloved franchise. Well, it’s the right kind of reboot… good. For starters, it is as much a stealth game and a game of discovery as it is a shooter. Sure, you can try to shoot your way through certain problems, but the rewards for patience are greater. DE:HR was also well polished with theme consistent throughout story, gameplay, visuals, and music. The light RPGs elements are well thought out and give the player interesting choices beyond “shoot” or “explode.”

GreatA – I want to hear about “Discover the World”! What the heck is that??

Pulling out the 100 from my previously linked list; my comments, however, are compiled largely based on time frame, not on their specific ordering. If you head to the link, you can sort however you like, given that the list is in a spreadsheet.

Rank Title Year Plat
1 Deus Ex 2000 PC
2 Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The 2002 PC
3 Dragon Age: Origins 2009 PC
4 System Shock 1994 PC
5 Star Wars X-Wing 1993 PC
6 Curse of Monkey Island, The 1997 PC
7 Sam & Max Hit the Road 1993 PC
8 Day of the Tentacle 1993 PC
9 Batman Arkham City 2011 Xbox 360
10 Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi 1991 PC
11 Worms Armageddon 1999 PC
12 Diablo II 2000 PC
13 Halo 2 2004 XBOX
14 Rock Band 2 2008 Xbox 360
15 Mass Effect 2 2010 Xbox 360
16 Red Dead Redemption 2010 Xbox 360
17 Dishonored 2012 PC
18 Walking Dead, The: Season One 2012 PC
19 Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, The 2004 XBOX
20 Professor Layton and the Curious Village 2008 DS
21 Full Throttle 1995 PC
22 Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery, The 1995 PC
23 MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat 1995 PC
24 Interstate '76 1997 PC
25 Half Life 1998 PC
26 Thief: The Dark Project 1998 PC
27 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2004 PC
28 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2007 PC
29 Borderlands 2009 Xbox 360
30 Gears of War 2006 Xbox 360
31 Jagged Alliance 1994 PC
32 Betrayal at Krondor 1993 PC
33 Syndicate 1993 PC
34 Terra Nova 1996 PC
35 Toy Commander 1999 DC
36 Jet Set Radio Future 2002 XBOX
37 Shenmue II 2002 XBOX
38 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 2002 XBOX
39 Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon 1989 PC
40 Return to Zork 1993 PC
41 Under a Killing Moon 1994 PC
42 Quake 1996 PC
43 Eternal Darkness 2002 GC
44 Tomb Raider 2013 Xbox 360
45 Red Faction: Guerrilla 2009 Xbox 360
46 Saints Row: The Third 2011 Xbox 360
47 Diablo III 2013 Xbox 360
48 Dead Rising 2 2010 Xbox 360
49 Resident Evil 5 2009 Xbox 360
50 Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge 2003 XBOX
51 Burnout 2: Point of Impact 2003 XBOX
52 Deathrow 2002 XBOX
53 Loom 1990 PC
54 Quest For Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero 1989 PC
55 Out of This World 1991 PC
56 Lemmings 1991 PC
57 Descent 1994 PC
58 Doom II 1994 PC
59 Dreamweb 1994 PC
60 Quarantine 1994 PC
61 You Don’t Know Jack 1995 PC
62 Longest Journey, The 1999 PC
63 No One Lives Forever 2000 PC
64 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 2003 XBOX
65 Punisher, The 2005 XBOX
66 Prince of Persia 1990 PC
67 Dig, The 1995 PC
68 Commander Keen Episode IV: Secret of the Oracle 1991 PC
69 Fallout 1997 PC
70 Rebuild 2011 iOS
71 The Room 2012 iOS
72 Bastion 2011 PC
73 King’s Quest III: To Heir Is Human 1986 PC
74 Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel 1987 PC
75 Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams 2001 XBOX
76 Hunter: The Reckoning 2002 XBOX
77 Brute Force 2003 XBOX
78 Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb 2003 XBOX
79 BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk’s Inception 1988 PC
80 Resident Evil Code: Veronica 2000 DC
81 Airfix Dogfighter 2000 PC
82 Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi 1990 Gen
83 Strider 1990 Gen
84 Adventures of Willy Beamish, The 1991 PC
85 Plants vs. Zombies 2010 iOS
86 Colonel’s Bequest, The 1989 PC
87 Incredible Machine, The 1993 PC
88 Super Monkey Ball 2001 GC
89 Beneath a Steel Sky 1994 PC
90 Crusader: No Remorse 1995 PC
91 Call of Duty 2003 PC
92 Infinity Blade 2010 iOS
93 Conflict: Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad 2003 XBOX
94 A-10 Tank Killer 1989 PC
95 Dark Castle 1989 Apple IIc
96 Toe Jam & Earl 1991 Gen
97 Dragonworld 1984 Apple IIc
98 Captain Goodnight and the Islands of Fear 1985 Apple IIc
99 Ultima I 1981 Apple IIc
100 Mystery House 1980 Apple IIc

The 80s see few titles. The simplest reason for this is that I was a child in the 80s, and I haven’t revisited many of these games (nor do I really have a complete list of what I played in that time frame). The deeper reason is that I’m not sure how much gaming had developed as a medium, nor my tastes as a gamer.

Some notables there include several Sierra titles. These really had an impact on me when I was young. It was tough to limit the field. KQIII was really the first one I played. My sister and I sat at our PC and worked our way through it, slowly. It was fun when we had to reference the manual for the spellcasting. And SQIII was a revelation to me; they had just moved to the SCI engine, and the graphics and gameplay were fantastic.

The 90s were the gamesplosion. I was playing anything and everything on PC, and this time period really solidified a lot of my taste in gaming (or at least the earlier versions of it).

You continue to see a bunch of adventure games, but some action and strategy make their way in there. One thing I notice while looking at it is that I tend to be drawn more to narratively strong titles, as well as to titles with strong world building.

Some of my fondest from there (despite their overall ranking) include Loom, Betrayal at Krondor (played the game before reading the books; the former lead me to the latter), Full Throttle, Terra Nova, and Worms Armageddon.

Once we hit the 2000s, you can see the console generations take over my lists. A big part of this is because of the shared gaming exprience consoles provide. My roommates, and later wife and family members are gamers, and playing together on console brings such automatic additional enjoyment and joy to the act of gaming.

From a solo perspective, Deus Ex, Morrowind, NOLF, JSRF, Riddick, V:tM-B, and Dragon Age all stand out to me. I had such a great time with all of those. It was also surprising to me to find a few mobile and handheld titles making appearances; I own a DS, but never got too into it (light use for traveling or bedtime). I find mobile games fun and distracting during the workday, but the few examples are games that I actually set aside time at home to play. If those could drag me away from my typically preferred larger player experience, they had to be something special to me. In a few years, those may gain a few places on the list.

  1. Super Smash Bros
  2. World of Warcraft
  3. Rock Band 2
  4. Goldeneye
  5. Doom 2
  6. Super Street Fighter 4
  7. Counter Strike
  8. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  9. Guitar Hero 2
  10. Final Fantasy 3
  11. Diablo
  12. Half Life
  13. The Legend of Zelda
  14. Chrono Trigger
  15. Diablo 2
  16. Mario Kart 64
  17. King’s Quest 6
  18. Super Metroid
  19. Dark Souls
  20. Mario Party
  21. Portal
  22. Super Mario World
  23. Contra
  24. Super Mario 64
  25. Gears of War
  26. Deus Ex
  27. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  28. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  29. Toe Jam and Earl
  30. Day of the Tentacle
  31. Super Meat Boy
  32. Halo: Reach
  33. Tele-Arena
  34. Star Tropics
  35. Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
  36. Resident Evil 4
  37. Trade Wars 2002
  38. Worms 2
  39. The Lost Vikings
  40. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
  41. Braid
  42. Warcraft 2
  43. Landstalker
  44. Eternal Darkness
  45. Thief 2
  46. Starcraft
  47. Quake 3 Arena
  48. Miner Warfare
  49. Injustice: Gods Among Us
  50. The Binding of Isaac
  51. NHL 2012
  52. Soul Calibur 2
  53. Civilization 4
  54. Fallout 2
  55. Spelunky
  56. System Shock 2
  57. Castle Crashers
  58. Super Street Fighter 2
  59. NBA Jam
  60. Shining Force 2
  61. Swords of Chaos
  62. Metal Gear Solid 2
  63. Dead Rising
  64. Ogre Battle
  65. Fallout 3
  66. Earthbound
  67. Marvel vs Capcom 3
  68. Command and Conquer: Red Alert
  69. Gunstar Heroes
  70. Final Fantasy 7
  71. Lumines Live
  72. Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrels
  73. The Curse of Monkey Island
  74. Super Mario Bros 2
  75. Star Fox 64
  76. Theme Park
  77. Power Stone
  78. FTL
  79. League of Legends
  80. Zombies Ate My Neighbors
  81. Alien vs Predator (Jaguar)
  82. Final Fantasy Tactics
  83. Elite Beat Agents
  84. Serious Sam
  85. Space Quest (series)
  86. Donkey Kong Country
  87. Sid Meier’s Pirates!
  88. Bust a Move
  89. Ninja Gaiden (NES)
  90. Borderlands 2
  91. Point Blank
  92. Mega Man 3
  93. Pinball FX 2
  94. RC Pro Am
  95. The Incredible Machine
  96. No One Lives Forever 2
  97. Pokemon Red/Blue
  98. Prince of Persia (the original)
  99. Blast Corps
  100. Gran Turismo 2

1-10: For my VERY favorite games of all time, there’s a definite emphasis on great times shared with friends. Only three games (Zelda, FF3, GH2) were primarily solo experiences, but even with those I have fond memories of passing controllers around. Coming into this exercise, I didn’t even realize that Smash Bros would end up as my all-time favorite game. This was THE game of my freshman year in college and my friends and I would get into intense battles almost every night after dinner. Harsh words, hurt feelings… good times. I’m also a kind of surprised that World of Warcraft ended up at #2. I “only” played for less than a year, but I’m not sure I will ever again experience the sense of wonder I got from exploring that world.

11-30: In this section we have a handful of Mario games, two Diablos, and my most favorite adventure games from that genre’s glory days. I think it’s somewhat notable that Gears of War placed so highly. I’ve never considered it to be an all-time GREAT game, but it was one of the first games in which I could turn on a console and easily connect to my friends and play co-op. It was just a lot of fun and hit all the right notes at exactly the right time, and thus, it really stands out for me. Apologies for doubling up on Diablo…I’m certainly pushing the limits of the rules here, but I felt the experiences between them were different enough. I prefer the darker/lonelier atmosphere and less treadmillyness of Diablo 1, but I would agree with most people that Diablo 2 is an objectively better game.

31-50: My list is finally starting to getting interesting! Indie games! (two by Edmund McMillen!) TWO BBS door games! Star Tropics is an underrated Zelda-like gem from the NES era that never seemed to get the attention it deserved. Shiren the Wanderer is an awesome SNES/DS roguelike that I would never have played without hearing about it on Qt3. Speaking of Qt3 connections…Braid! It’s easily one of the most magical games I’ve played in the last decade. It kicked off and inspired a generation of great indie games, but Braid is still the King in my book. And speaking of great games you can get on XBLA, if you have a few friends at your house and a dollar to spare, Miner Warfare is something like Dig Dug crossed with Bomberman mixed with Contra. It’s been a staple at my house for a few years now and I don’t know anyone who didn’t love it.

51-75: There aren’t too many noteworthy selections in this section of the list. Just a solid mix of great games that many people have played and loved. Super Mario 2 made my list but not Super Mario 3 which is normally regarded as the better game, but I think it’s too similar to Super Mario World (#22) to warrant its own spot on the list and I always loved how strange Mario 2 was compared to the rest of the series. Lumines Live is the first Tetris-like puzzle game to make an appearance. I am still in love with the music and the rhythm of it all.

76-100: Some quirky choices to tie off the back end of my list. Alien vs Predator is the only game that ever made me think buying an Atari Jaguar was a good decision. I may have cheated by selecting Space Quest as a series. I played all of those games at the same time (one of those anthology packages) and I have no way to pull apart the memories of which game was which, just that I loved them as a whole. Then we have a trio of classic NES games (Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man 3, RC Pro Am) which I think all really hold up today. Lots of lists will surely put Pirates! much higher than #87, but I just didn’t play as much of that game as I know I should have. The Incredible Machine is one of the most unique games on the list with all its crazy Rube Goldberg contraptions. I wish they kept making those games. Blast Corps is another one that should have gotten more attention and spinoffs from that concept. I only rented it for one magical weekend, but the memory of steamrolling through cities with various trucks remains in my mind as one of my greatest gaming experiences.

I’d be really lazy and say that the Amiga Power All-Time Top 100 List (1996) probably accurately lists with an 80-90% accuracy them.

Insert Placeholder for future PC Only list?

:) 345

Love seeing The Incredible Machine on all these lists and also seeing someone else with The Dig!

I was also surprised at how much of an impact the experience surrounding a game made on my list. I thought I could be objective, critical - but then I realized that for early games, there’s no way I could approach those with a critical eye. I had to evaluate the impact they had on me at the time I played them. And for those shared experiences, there’s so much more to the game than the mechanics itself. It makes me realize how important it is to isolate the purely objective bits of a game (which for the most part, fall to primarily stability and performance), and to allow the subjective elements to come to the forefront. Because those are the areas where a game can get you. A bunch of the games I chose have elements that should subjectively make them stumble to the bottom or right off of the list, but they had just enough there to make them fun in a group setting. Take Brute Force or the random Conflict game on my list; thoroughly mediocre in most ways. But four player, split screen co-op turned those into fun-filled nights with cursing, laughing, and that sense of achievement when you all work together to overcome some crazy boss battle. Were I playing the games solo, neither would have touched my Top 100. But those are games I still talk about precisely because I shared that experience with others.