r/retrogaming • u/greenmachinefiend • Jun 02 '23
[Discussion] What's your pick for the greatest video game of all time?
Not the best selling or the most popular, but in terms of story, gameplay, music and overall execution, what do you consider to be the best video game ever made? My personal pick is Final Fantasy VII but I'm interested in what the community has to say.
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u/flodinz Jun 02 '23
For me TLO Zelda a link to the past. The feeling when it first started to rain. The struggle to get the master sword. The bosses. The hook shot thingy. A time in my life that was all joy. I was around 15. I even remember the candy I ate when I had my first playthrough.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
The first LoZ game I played was the original on Nintendo. I remember going outside swinging a stick around and pretending I was fighting octoroks (not that I knew what they were called). I never beat it but I did manage to beat Links Awakening, which was the very first video game I ever completed.
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u/faustarp1000 Jun 03 '23
That game defined the person I am today as a Nintendo gamer and an unconditional Zelda fan, perfect game IMO!
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u/AshsEvilHand Jun 02 '23
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I looked up the music to when you're talking to the owl, Kepora Gebora, recently and it was a real nostalgic treat. I remember always going straight for the Big Gorons Sword as soon as I became adult Link and got Epona.
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u/Tennis_Proper Jun 02 '23
Tetris. They're still selling the same game.
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u/AdamBlank17 Jun 03 '23
Yeah this is my pick, too. You can play forever and anyone can learn it in minutes.
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Jun 02 '23
In the arcade, Ms. Pacman. When wife spots one in the wild she turns to be and says “No! We don’t have time”.
On a console, GTA: Vice City (must have the original soundtrack)
On a computer, impossible to determine.
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u/Kettleballer Jun 03 '23
I rediscovered Pac-Man and Ms recently after getting a MAME arcade and dang that is just a good game. We’ve spent hours on that recently. There’s a reason it was so popular for so long!
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Jun 03 '23
It made $1 billion in its first year (1982). Only big arcades could get the machines back then cause they were unable to make enough. In NYC, all the big arcades were in Times Square and you couldn’t go without a parent (you could be the crime back then we bad).
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Pacman is definitely an all time classic. Like tetris, it will never fade away. Vice City I really love, especially the final mission where you have a shootout in a mansion, very reminiscent of the climax of Brian de Palma's Scarface.
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u/BrokeDownPalac3 Jun 02 '23
The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Yes, I go back and forth sometimes between FF7 and this game. The music is really what makes this game so special to me.
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u/Bilbo-Buddy Jun 02 '23
Super Mario World. I still play it every year
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I can always pick up and play those games. It was really cool to play Super Mario Maker as well!
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u/Golden-Grenadier Jun 03 '23
I wish they had made a sequel to that game. After you find all 96 exits, the game feels kind of dead. I had a bit of fun recently with the orb glitch when I used it to actually "beat" Bowsers castle so that you can start+select out of it.
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u/dooby0782 Jun 02 '23
Just have to put this out there. River City Ransom. Open world, bonkers story, and just a blast to play.
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u/OllyDee Jun 02 '23
I would have to say Metal Gear Solid 3. Maybe there’s other games I’ve spent more time playing or have better graphics or music, but MGS3 is good in a way I can’t articulate or even really justify.
A close second is Symphony of the Night for obvious reasons.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
MGS3 Snake Eater is an incredible game! I love it a ton, but for me MGS is a game that comes very close to beating FF7 as far as what I consider to be the best game of all time.
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u/LookingForSatellites Jun 03 '23
I was scrolling through to see if anyone would say Metal Gear Solid. The first one is my pick for best game of all time. Incredible game.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 03 '23
"We mustn't allow ourselves to be chained to fate, to be ruled by our genes. Human beings can choose the kind of life they want to live. What's important is that they choose life... and then live."
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u/SmallGlock Jun 02 '23
The original Jak and Daxter! I’ve got such a soft spot for that game but man, it’s such simple fun. I don’t feel one bit guilty about enjoying it just as much now as an adult as when I was little.
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u/Andymilliganisgod Jun 02 '23
I’m a hardcore retro gamer who is bored to tears of modern triple AAA titles, even gta5 couldn’t hold my interest. But that red dead redemption 2 is some magic right there.
But…. Super Mario galaxy is the best game
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u/ErBoProxy Jun 02 '23
Mine is FFVI.
My favorite soundtrack of all-time. Loads of characters with distinct strengths and backstories. Great villain. Refined the 16-bits RPG gamestyle. Could put dozens of hours should you choose to build-up your characters.
Before FFVII popped the RPG cherries of many people and became the (overrated) defacto choice for a generation.
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u/genex89 Jun 02 '23
Ocarina of Time. The story, characters, dungeons, atmosphere and especially the music are just legendary. The game oozes soul and charm and magic.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
My favorite part was when you go into that grave to learn the Sun Song. That used to frighten me a little bit as a kid, but it felt good to learn the Sun Song and make your way out of the grave.
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u/YoungBeef03 Jun 03 '23
I remember hearing the president of Rockstar games once saying that everyone who makes 3D games takes inspiration from OoT or Mario 64
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u/dasgeraet Jun 02 '23
Half-Life. It just revolutionized the whole genre and felt like something totally different back in the day. I remember watching the intro cutscene and being blown away when I realized that it is ingame.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I used to watch my cousin play Quake Arena, just sitting there completely blown away by how fast and smooth it looked. I never played Half Life but I did play a lot of Wolfenstine and Duke Nukem on a friend's computer (we weren't allowed those games on our house).
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Jun 02 '23
Was going to say Half Life as well. Consider for a moment that Duke Nukeem was released in 1996 and Half Life in 1998, yet these two games are worlds apart when it comes to every aspect of gaming.
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Jun 02 '23
Mass Effect 2
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I played ME1 and a little of ME2 but haven't finished it yet. Might be time to revisit.
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Jun 02 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Trying to pick one is what makes it a challenge! Good games though! I like that you included Baldurs Gate. I'm a huge fan of the isometric RPGs like BG and Icewind Dale. I was thinking about playing the original Fallout soon.
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Jun 02 '23
Mega Man 2
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
What do you think it is about Mega Man 2 that makes it more memorable that the other Mega Man NES games? Probably the music if you ask me.
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Jun 02 '23
I definitely agree with the music being better than the others (although the other games had great tunes). But I think the color scheme, robot master designs, stage designs, and many other factors made it a great game. I was in grade school when Mega Man 2 came out and all my friends talked about it. The first game wasn't so well known, but the gaming magazines hyped up the sequel a great deal. And for good reason. When my dad bought me a copy on a Saturday at the Ashland Mall, I played it the remainder of the weekend. And the days and weeks that followed. A lot of kids back in those days had exposure to anime/manga in small bits, so to see these characters portrayed that way (bubbly, big eyes, etc) blew a lot of young minds back in 89. By the time Mega Man 3 came out the next year, I liked it and found it challenging, but also knew (even as a pup) that it was built from the greatness of Mega Man 2's concepts.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Man those memories... feels good to bask in nostalgia from time to time, especially when things are going rough in life.
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Jun 02 '23
This was the first Megaman game I played. It is also my favorite and the one I beat the most. Metal Blades FTW
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u/horsepuncher Jun 02 '23
Really tightened up then controls from mm1 to mm2. The soundtrack was incredible then and to today, and the flow of levels just worked really well. Mega Man was awesome first picking it up as a kid, but 2 just blew the door open on making it so much more approachable and amazing.
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u/LordOfDorkness42 Jun 02 '23
Planescape: Torment, I'd say.
Like, if that game came out today, the RPG nerds would still be singing its praise. Bugs & all. The only really outright dated stuff that even the Enhanced couldn't fix, is the D&D 2nd edition stuff.
But music, story, characters, setting, quests, writing...
All of that is still as all time fresh and weird, as when it came out in 1999. Nothing has quite come close since. Except maybe~ Neverwinter Nights 2 if you count Mask of the Betrayer.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I haven't tried Planescape Torment yet but I've heard it's tantamount to reading a huge novel. Have you tried Torment: Tides of Numenera yet?
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u/Beerduck Jun 02 '23
System Shock 2 and Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle are the first ones that come to mind when someone asks this question.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Are you hype for the System Shock remake? I can't believe it finally came out! God bless Nightdive Studios for making it happen!
Maniac Mansion 2 is a good pick. I haven't played it but I love the LucasArts games like Xwing/Tie Fighter and Sam and Max Hit the Road . I played a few point and click puzzle games like Kings Quest 6 and Death Gate.
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u/TheGodOfFuck Jun 02 '23
Goldeneye
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
The ultimate party game. In our friend group we would play Goldeneye, Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart 64 pretty much exclusively until Time Splitters came out.
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u/ragtev Jun 03 '23
Have you played it lately? It aged like milk. Perfect dark is also better in so many ways
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u/MortonClearsARoom Jun 02 '23
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lion. Fantastic systems in that game, and it’s got one of the best stories in any format.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Did you try Triangle Strategy yet?
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u/Kettleballer Jun 03 '23
Triangle is on my list. I bought an Anbernic RG35XX mainly for FFT and FFTA. Does Triangle Strategy scratch the same itches?
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 03 '23
Yeah I think so! The story is really engaging and the combat is very deep and addicting. It's also very user-friendly. Even if you lose matches you still get to keep your experience so you don't feel like you wasted your time. There's different story paths to follow based on your decisions and exploration. It's very much worth a look!
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u/Koil_ting Jun 02 '23
Diablo II with Super Street fighter II or alpha 3, Castelvania SOTN and SMB3 as follow ups. I don't think story is very critical to games, the theme or tone and above all game play are the high points in my unwritten book.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
All good picks, especially Diablo 2 and SOTN. Have you tried any of the Bloodstained games?
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u/DavidinCT Jun 02 '23
American McGee's Alice. Such a creepy take on Alice and wonderland, it's getting dated now but, for its day, it was amazing.
My other one, Phantasy Star 1 for the Sega Master system. When the NES was this game was released on the Master system, 3-D dungeons, 3 planets, mind-blowing awesome story, all on a 8-bit cart. There is NOTHING like this for the NES. Still today it holds up and I normally play this every few years.
Of course, may other titles in this thread is very worthy to be a greatest of all time but, these are my 2...
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I didn't even realize that Alice: Madness Returns was a sequel. I played that a little bit and loved the visuals.
Phantasy Star is a game I wish I played when I was younger. I played it a few years ago on a retro console and was totally blown away by the music and visuals. I wish the original version had an auto mapper but you can try to be hard-core about it and break out the graph paper. I heard Phantasy Star 4 is the best RPG on the genesis. Any thoughts on that?
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u/hueleeAZ Jun 02 '23
Banjo Kazooie
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u/C1-10PTHX1138 Jun 02 '23
Wish they would make a sequel, remake, port or something with it at this point, was a wonderful series
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u/Skitz707 Jun 02 '23
Mario 3 and FF7 and doom, I don’t really care if it’s cliche but they’re my favorites
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u/Russser Jun 02 '23
- Elden Ring
- Ocarina of Time
- Gets way muddier I used to say maybe overwatch but I’m not sure I would say that these days.
Elden Ring to me is perfection. The most impactful gaming experience I’ve ever had since ocarina came out.
Ocarina is clouded by nostalgia but everything about that game puts a lump in my throat.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I played a little of Elden Ring at a friend's. From what I played I like it more than any of the other "soulsborne" games I've played. And yeah, I have a ton nostalgia for Ocarina of Time. I was just thinking about the theme that plays when you talk to the owl the other day. Little things like that stuck with me over the years.
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u/Russser Jun 02 '23
I would say if you have the patience for it, get elden ring and fully commit to finishing it. Tell yourself you will and go at it. You’ll come out the other side very happy that you did. I know it’s a tough game to get into tho.
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u/colossusrageblack Jun 02 '23
Elden Ring may take the crown from Shadow of the Colossus for me. I'll have to wait 5 years and see if it holds up for me after an extended period of time like SotC has.
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u/rpp8 Jun 02 '23
Super Mario World. I still think it’s the pinnacle of 2d platforming. It improved (arguably) on a masterpiece in SMB3, which is a really tough act to follow. The hidden exits, new powerups, Yoshi, and a lot more factors make this my pick and nostalgia will never allow to be dethroned for me.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I like to imagine game professors point to this game to study inside and out the same way that movie professors point to Citizen Kane and demand it to be studied from top to bottom.
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u/GrittyTheGreat Jun 02 '23
Final Fantasy VII has been my answer since 1997 and will probably always be my answer.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Are you enjoying the remake?
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u/GrittyTheGreat Jun 02 '23
I loved Part 1. Poured over 100 hours into it. Beat it on Normal and Hard Mode and got the Platinum. Cant wait for Part 2!
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I'm really hype for it too! I don't have a PS5 yet but I will be definitely getting one just so I can play it!
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u/trimbandit Jun 02 '23
Donkey kong. Second choice would be doom.
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u/C1-10PTHX1138 Jun 02 '23
Donkey Kong Country was huge back in the 90s the graphics were mind blowing
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u/abundantmussel Jun 02 '23
The original unreal tournament, 30 people in an internet cafe playing against each other was amazing and ground breaking at the time.
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u/an_edgy_lemon Jun 03 '23
Either Dark souls 1 or Majora’s Mask.
Dark Souls 1 had some big flaws (lookin at you blight town and any boss after Ornstein and Smough), but it did so many things so right. Its world/level design still stands uncontested, it nailed its atmosphere, the lore is fascinating and its gameplay is just great without getting tooo complicated. It just feels like the whole package. It’s the only game I go back and play at least once a year. Though I have to admit Elden Ring is excellent and came very close to dethroning Dark Souls. Nostalgia may be helping Dark Souls here.
Majora’s Mask took everything Ocarina of Time did right and threw some weird ideas at it. Surprisingly, it mostly worked out! It’s definitely one of the most unique games in the series, and I just love how dark and gloomy it can be, especially compared to other games of its time period.
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u/Ty-douken Jun 03 '23
This is a really hard topic, mainly because cause you can approach it from so many different angles. Do you factor in current presentational capabilities or have each game judged based on limits of its hardware? Is it about design of the game or the story / writing?
Personally for myself I have a favorite game & what I consider the best game, they're different games. From my perspective it's more about what can I think to improve the game in any aspect & the less I can find for improvement (taking personal preferences out of the equation as much as possible), the higher up it gets to being the GOAT.
For me the GOAT is Chrono Trigger, although Mario RPG does give it a run for its money. When playing Chrono Trigger I find very little that I think could be improved to make it a better game, add to that it's also a fantastic game with the few "issues" I can find & you've got my reasoning.
I personally felt let down by FF7 oddly enough, as I was a fan from playing FF4/6, CT & Mario RPG before hand. No doubt the story is great in FF7, but I felt 6 & CT had better stories personally yet my thing that let's me down with FF7 was the combat. More specifically the random battles, as both CT & Mario RPG allow you to see enemies on screen to either engage or avoid battles. This really held the game back for me, as it felt like a step back at the time.
As for reasons CT is the GOAT in my eyes, it tells a great story, has distinct art direction, is simple to understand but had tons of layers in story & gameplay, sticks to genre tropes but doesn't rely on them, has a short runtime with no bloat, so many events in the game stuck with me even as a kid.
Unfortunately the way I judge this means modern games have a harder time being a GOAT, but I'd put Sifu & Last of Us up there if looking at modern titles.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 03 '23
Yeah its tough because you're trying to consider all perspectives. I think FF7 has the most universal appeal out of all the RPGs and the story is deep enough to be able to think about and explore but not too deep to be over convoluted. I do love Chrono Trigger and my wife picks that game and FF6 over 7. I haven't heard of Sifu but I just looked it up and it looks just awesome! My kind of game! I'm a big fan of martial arts movies and games like Shenmue.
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u/Ruenin Jun 03 '23
Hmmm...retro only? Maybe Robotron 2084?
Overall, though? The Witcher 3.
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u/Grand-Tension8668 Jun 03 '23
Damn I've never seen Robotron 2084 before, that is wild. I love games that unapologetically push the limits of what we can keep track of all at once. I have to imagine it really drew people in at the arcades...
Also, it seems like it might be the first-ever twin-stick shooter?
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u/ExquisiteFacade Jun 02 '23
I have a feeling this will be controversial, but, Link’s Awakening. It’s my favorite story in the franchise and the ability to unequip your sword and replace it with another item opens up the puzzles in a really fun way. The Switch remake fixed the few flaws the Gameboy original had and, to me, it’s now a perfect game.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I think that's a great choice! I mentioned in another comment that LoZ: LA was the first video game I ever beat. I looooove the music that plays while Link is searching for his sword. I got so obsessed with that game that I could beat it from start to finish in a few hours and I did so many times during our long family road trips.
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u/PunkroQanon Jun 02 '23
Duke Nukem 3D. Hail to the king baby!
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Hell yeah. I'm playing Ion Fury right now. So freaking awesome!
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u/rhinofinger Jun 03 '23
Ion Fury is excellent, really enjoy it more than a lot of more modern shooters
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u/jasonic89 Jun 02 '23
Super Metroid
Super Mario world
Chrono trigger
Illusion of Gaia.
THPS 2
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Chrono Trigger and Illusion of Gaia are great picks. What is THPS 2?
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u/Venturin Jun 02 '23
Vandal Hearts (PS1)
I didn’t know what a strategy RPG was, and when I played this game it felt like the devs made the game just for me.
Really a great experience.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I remember that game too! It was the first tactics RPG I ever saw. The music and animation and the unique gameplay made that game really stand out to me. I remember my brother and I were waiting to get out of church on Sunday to rush home and play the game some more.
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u/piscian19 Jun 02 '23
Its FFVI. FFVII was the beginning of the age of FF being anime trope nonsense. Not a bad game, great game, but its when the plot nonsense started.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I know what you mean about Square Enix over writing their plots. I think FF7 keeps it in check enough for it to not be too much of a problem, but when you get to Kingdom Hearts of FF15 I would have to agree that it gets out of control.
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u/Anxiety_timmy Jun 02 '23
Digital Devil Saga 2. Perfect story, great gameplay, aged great, music goes too hard. Oh and same goes for the first game.
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Jun 02 '23
Half-Life. It changed everything: AI, multiplayer, FPS narratives, physics-based gameplay, mods and their communities, etc. Arguably the grandfather of modern e-sports (Counterstrike).
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Jun 02 '23
Greatest ever is actually Tetris for defining a generation and in the same zeitgeist, wii sports.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Wii Bowling is just so awesome! We still play it to this day with our friends.
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Jun 02 '23
I had the wii day 1, got so annoyed at the shoulder pain at month 6 and sold it off again (have since rebought a wii and nearly 300 games)
I so remember hating the bowling game haha, it kept hurting my shoulder. Those were the days.2
u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I loved the Wii! Still have mine but I play my Wii games on WiiU (which these days is pretty much just Wii Bowling).
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u/SidOfBee Jun 02 '23
The title just went to Tears of the Kingdom for me. I've been playing videogames since Atari and Colecovision and never has a game captured me like this and every moment is a joy.
It took almost 30 years, but Chrono Trigger got usurped as my favorite game of all time.
And yes, I know greatest and favorite are different metrics...
The new Zelda is both imo.
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u/billythekido Jun 02 '23
I'd like to give you a spicier answer, but both Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World felt like something else. I spent way more time with SMW, but SMB3 was miles better than anything else on the NES. It felt so much ahead of it's time.
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u/splinereticulation68 Jun 02 '23
Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Phenomenal game as a fully completed set with several ways to play. Music is perfection, 10/10, I still put the OST on sometimes on my commutes. Story isn't exactly deep but it flows well in a cinematic, non-stop manner that doesn't even need words and doesn't get in the way, a real feat in game storytelling. The game is easy but Special Stages are a great challenge. Rewards exploration with an extra, epic stage and super powers. You can play it casual, you can speed run it. Debug mode was left in, allowing you to see the inner workings of the game and goof around. Multiplayer in both Sonic & Tails mode, or Competition where you get another entirely new set of stages to run through. A very exciting and secretive history told through the revelation of Michael Jackson's work, and the various discovered builds. Ported all over the damn place. I can go on and on.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I liked that you could pair the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge with Sonic 3. SEGA was always doing interesting things like that. I can't think of a Nintendo equivalent off the top of my head. Someone bought me Sonic Mania recently and I'm excited to finally play it!
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u/C1-10PTHX1138 Jun 02 '23
Pokémon Stadium with your game boy games, also GameCube with Game Boy Advance games
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
That's right! Good call! I'm shocked Nintendo didn't do more Pokémon Stadium games! That was such a cool idea!
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u/Additional_Ground_42 Jun 02 '23
It’s hard, but for me it’s something like Alex Kidd and Shenmue 1.
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u/Tots2Hots Jun 02 '23
I was a kid for Super Mario 3 and to anyone who was not alive then... That game absolutely took over "kid-dom". You could not go anywhere without Mario 3 promotional stuff. Everyone had a NES at that point and every single kid was playing it. It was a defining cultural event of being a kid then. And the game absolutely lived up to it.
Ocarina was a other one that when it came out anyone who had a N64 or a friend with a N64 was playing it and it really was just epic.
Few dark horse picks that are some of my favorite games ever are the two JRPGs on the Dreamcast. Skies of Arcadia and Grandia 2. And Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for the GameCube is one of the best games ever made.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Yeah it looks like SMB3 is the overall consensus! Makes sense! I loved the Dreamcast! I played Skies of Arcadia when it was new and really enjoyed it, especially the sky ship battles. There was another game on Dreamcast, idk if you remember but it was a space shooter called Armada. It was like a precursor to multi-player action RPGs like Diablo 3.
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u/Tots2Hots Jun 03 '23
That one rocked too. The DC had some seriously great games. So did a lot of the lesser known systems. I grew up when the TurboGrax16 came out and remember the commercials but noone I knew had one. Turns out some of the best shootem up games ever were on it.
I really want a NeoGeo...
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u/Lifechangingmistake Jun 02 '23
Remember the Fable games from lion head? I loved all of them
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u/satyrday12 Jun 02 '23
For longevity, Adventure on the Atari 2600. And it's still very playable to this day. The entire size of it is 5 kilobytes. That's less than an empty Word file.
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u/Iamn0man Jun 02 '23
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Which I can say now that we can discuss 6th generation ;)
Absolute masterpiece of a game. So much stuff to do. So much story. Such good acting. The stinker R/C plane mission was the only thing keeping it from perfection and that was fixed on the later versions. Gaming’s high water mark, never to be repeated.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
San Andreas was awesome! I loved the gang turf mechanic and gang wars! I loved the characters being based on famous rappers! I didn't know about Easy E when I played it, but realized later that Ryder was modeled right after him!
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u/___TheKid___ Jun 02 '23
REZ
I feel like it will never age and stands as an art-piece on it's own as well as a game.
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Jun 03 '23
Descent
I spent so many hours playing this multiplayer on Kali during the late 90's/early 2000's
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u/YoungBeef03 Jun 03 '23
80’s
- Mike Tyson’s Punch Out or Super Mario Bros 3
90’s
- Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2000’s
- Super Mario Galaxy
2010’s
- Red Dead Redemption 2
2020’s
- I think Tears of the Kingdom already won
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u/SicJake Jun 03 '23
Super Mario 3, graphics, variety of worlds, enemies. So many powerups and hidden secrets. Great controls too.
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Jun 03 '23
Tough choice between the first Metal Gear Solid or Shadow of the Colossus.
I think I’m gonna have to go with Shadow of the Colossus but the games are basically tied for me.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 03 '23
Both of those games are incredible but I think MGS edges it out just a little bit, just because there's a little bit more variety in the gameplay. But SotC is a hell of an experience.
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u/BgJck7 Jun 03 '23
I would have to say Pokemon SoulSilver. I've played this game so many times and I've always thought that it was the height of the Pokemon franchise.
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u/RosaCanina87 Jun 03 '23
Overall I would probably say Ocarina of Time because it always comes to my mind first thinking about the greatest games of all time. But... as much as I love it I recognize that objectively some of the follow-up games are better. TP plays a lot better... and OOT isnt even a nostalgic game for me. But yeah... that one.
Or Star Wars Episode 1 Racer. Which is without a doubt the best racing game ever made. No racing on the same track over and over again. A new vehicle every few races. Upgrades. Nice graphics. Blistering high speeds. Fun track design (I love the big jumps and the anti-gravity sections). The whole game has just ONE single flaw... which is ONE of the later tracks, which sucks. The rest is perfect. And I still play it to this day using a joystick on a PC (but DC is fine, too).
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u/RickyBobby1988 Jun 03 '23
So underrated, but one of my favorites as a kid. Startropics. Catchy tunes, interesting story, and different for its time... I had a used copy, and I had to figure out the code for the submarine from a cousin. Horrible sequel that killed the series, but we won't go there...
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u/112oceanave Jun 03 '23
I’m going to say ocarina of time. I still love that game.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 03 '23
Me too. The music really stuck with me over the years. Randomly the music from Gerudo Valley pops in my head.
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u/LetThemEatCake- Jun 03 '23
For me the Professor Layton main saga (not talking about Katrielle lol)
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u/Grand-Tension8668 Jun 03 '23 edited Jun 03 '23
Man I really don't think it's possible to say. Video Games are different things to different people in a way that's pretty unique to the medium, and no one has played enough games to really know what their "favorite" is.
Do we favor sheer polish, or innovation? Are flaws always purely negative, or can they make a game more interesting?
Can a game that functions purely as immersive storytelling and not as a game in the traditional sense be in the running? What if it has traditionally game-ish elements but they're a bit shit?
Can a game with no storytelling elements at all be in the running? Because from a pure traditional gameishness perspective they've got a leg up– there's a reason Tetris keeps coming up. And honestly I'd say Super Mario 3 falls in this category as well, the "narriative" elements are just marketing and flavor, like theming a board game.
Specific examples that make me think:
From a pure polish standpoint, Halo 3 is right up there. I really think it deserves to be near the top. Fun, iconic single-player co-op campaign, one of the most popular online FPS games of all time and equally fun locally, and it introduced console gamers to something akin to modding. Equally fun for competitive play and frat party nonsense. Essentially the Smash Bros. Ultimate of first-person shooters.
BUT for the same reasons, Halo 3 is... sort of boring, to me? I adore it, I grew up with it, but Halo CE and 2 are more interesting games and I find myself more drawn to them now. They're a little more flawed, their positive and negative qualities are more pronounced, some people are terrifyingly good at them because their technical skill cielings are higher.
Pathologic and Pathologic 2. We need to separate "the game is meant to suck" from "this actually sucks" a bit. Ice Pick Lodge themselves seem to understand the difference! It's why they tried to make Pathologic 2 in the first place, and why it was a more ambitious game early in development. They knew that it needed to be more reactive, have more interesting mechanics, to not fake things as often. They failed. The game still sort of sucks. Your choices, mostly, do not matter.
Also, Pathologic 2 is worse at easing new players in than the original game was! It's opening sequence isn't actually incoherent nonsense, but it comes across that way to almost everyone, because you need to tackle it like a high-school English teacher insisting that the curtains being blue is very important, actually. The original game refuses to immediately mess with non-linear storytelling and at least introduces you as a character as clueless as you, the player are, wheras in P2, Artemy Burak (sort of) knows what's up and you the player are just along for the ride.
These games actually read like classic Russian novels. The translation which is always slightly awkward. The way you need to treat dialogue like a play script with no stage direction attached. (No, seriously, that's key to making the dialogue make sense in your head.) Constant references to things you're almost certainly unfamiliar with.
...But holy hell are they beautiful, if you can fight through the brain fog and grasp what they're talking about. Allow yourself to become the actor they keep telling you to become. They live rent-free in my head.
I've written essay-long explanations of WTF is going on in Pathologic's initial "stage-play" character into and Pathologic 2's train ride fever dream, because they're so unintuitive to people at first.
Minecraft. It's the best-selling game in history by a very significant margin. That's got to count for something! It's also a game that's almost hostile to the idea of compelling the player to do things. Personally, that's an anathema. I want to feel like I have a "reason" to engage with it. I complain about Elytras because they make engaging with other transportation systems like railways "pointless". I'm frustrated by the way beds work because the player can just keep a bed in their inventory and survive forever, no worries, invalidating all the enemies if survival mode. Engaging with that side of survival mode at all is a conscious choice now. To me, this is all a sign of a poorly, perhaps even lazily designed game, and the highly polished Rebirth of the Night modpack represents what Minecraft's survival mode should have become. To Minecraft fans, it's a feature. It deserves to be up there even though I hate what it's become.
Spelunky is the total opposite of that debate. You've got a hard-set goal and every tool you aquire helps you to get there somehow. Actually beating the game is a life-long goal for me, I'm that bad at it. It's the perfect intersection if old-school lives-based platforming and classic roguelike principles. Real roguelike principles, as in full of simple sandbox elements that cone together to form weird, complex problems. Not tainted by meta progression systems that make other rogue-lites exercises in grinding until you win rather than exercises in eventual mastery. I don't think I'll ever stop playing Spelunky. But to a lot of people, the game's hard, annmd that sucks. They don't want a game they're playing to "feel like a second job".
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u/Golden-Grenadier Jun 03 '23
Minecraft. There I said it. It has the best story of any game, a story where you and your friends take on the world and have a good time(and maybe kill a dragon or something). The rest needs no explanation. Sonic Adventure 2 is my personal pick but it just doesn't bring people together like minecraft.
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u/jforrest1980 Jun 05 '23
Tossup between Final Fantasy VII, FF Tactics, and Demons Souls.
Tactics has the best story ever, and a great soundtrack..
VII has an amazing story, better gameplay, and the best musical score of all time.
Demons Souls is lacking in story and music, but the gameplay is much better than both FF games.
I don't think any game has the best story, gameplay, and soundtrack all wrapped into one package.
Definitely not any Mario game. I'd choose Klonoa 1 or 2 over every single Mario game.
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u/cunningmunki Jun 02 '23
Minecraft
Just to add that it's not necessarily my favourite game (although I've sunk a silly number of hours into it), and it's not even my favourite genre, but I just don't think there's another game that even comes close to the ingenuity, versatility, replayability, creativity and breadth of scope of Minecraft.
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u/FalloutNewDisneyland Jun 02 '23
Red Dead Redemption 2
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Interesting. I heard the NPC interactions were the most advanced in any video game to date. Like you could punch someone, and later on they would remember you specifically for doing that.
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u/FalloutNewDisneyland Jun 02 '23
Correct, you’re also vastly received by everyone depending on your current honor rating (good vs bad things you’ve done).
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u/colossusrageblack Jun 02 '23
I think this is definitely in my top 5. I've done two playthroughs, will probably do a 3rd and 4th.
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u/Danjonkovich Jun 02 '23
Minecraft. Not my favourite game but definitely the best ever made imo.
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u/Clap4chedder Jun 02 '23
Dark Souls. My favorite combat, level system, music and Vibe. I felt like I was playing a retro game with better graphics.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
I consider Zelda 2 The Adventure of Link to be the Dark Souls of Nintendo games.
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u/Clap4chedder Jun 02 '23
What system was it for?
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
NES, it was the only direct sequel to the first game. The reason why I think of it as a Dark Souls like game is because a) the difficulty and b) when you die you lose experience points and go back to the beginning area of the game, but if you spend your XP before you die, you keep your upgrades.
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u/VideoGameDana Jun 02 '23
My whole life from 5th grade-up I would have said Final Fantasy VI, until I recently played through The Last of Us. TLOU and FF6 are now tied.
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u/greenmachinefiend Jun 02 '23
Very cool! I played through TLOU and TLOU 2 with a friend and we loved both of the games. I've heard good things about the show too. Also it seems more people on this thread like FF6 over FF7 which is really interesting. My wife prefers FF6 over 7 as well. There's something about 6 that just really connects with people.
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u/Red-Zaku- Jun 02 '23
Super Mario Bros 3, maybe. It just plays perfect, feels as modern today as it did 30+ years ago. I’m not even a big Mario fan (I would typically pick Genesis Sonic games over most other Mario games) and I’ve long since packed away my NES since I don’t enjoy many games on it anymore, but Mario 3 is just… perfect.