TOP 100 VIDEO GAMES OF ALL TIME
There’s no limit to the amou
RELEASED2016
Pokémon Go is as relevant for what happens outside of the game as what happens in it. A game that can only be played by exploring the world around you, Pokémon Go made its mark by inspiring huge groups to explore together and established a sense of community that made it an absolute cultural phenomenon. The game itself had a bumpy start but has fostered an incredibly strong community and seen sweeping changes like raid battles, a dynamic weather system, and more, all of which make it feel like the Pokémon adventure we all wished we could have as kids. On top of pioneering brilliant augmented reality integration and truly making it feel like Pokémon are all around you, this one is a special example of the power of nostalgia when combined with new technology.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Some Pokémon Go players have sold their high-level accounts for thousands of dollars on eBay.
- To curb trespassing, Texas A&M opened its football stadium to players and ended up attracting 1,600 players in two hours.
- The game has helped several local businesses attract growth just by setting up lures and watching potential customers pour in.
RELEASED1997
There are few games I remember playing for the first time as vividly as Final Fantasy VII. After an opening cinematic that absolutely melted my brain, I watched slack-jawed as a soldier named Cloud and his Avalanche buddies leapt off a train and embarked on their grand adventure through Midgar and beyond. Sure, in retrospect, better RPGs came before it (Chrono Trigger), and better RPGs have come after it (Persona 5), but the depth in which FFVII resonated with me at the time was unparalleled.
Growing up primarily on consoles, Final Fantasy VII showed me just how vast, sprawling, and emotional video game adventures could be. It’s a game filled with so many unforgettable firsts – taking off in the Highwind, encountering a massive and terrifying Weapon, and the heartbreak of losing a key party member permanently. There’s a reason why 20 years later, the announcement of the Final Fantasy VII Remake absolutely dominated that E3 – we’re counting the days until we get to return to Midgar.
Growing up primarily on consoles, Final Fantasy VII showed me just how vast, sprawling, and emotional video game adventures could be. It’s a game filled with so many unforgettable firsts – taking off in the Highwind, encountering a massive and terrifying Weapon, and the heartbreak of losing a key party member permanently. There’s a reason why 20 years later, the announcement of the Final Fantasy VII Remake absolutely dominated that E3 – we’re counting the days until we get to return to Midgar.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Originally intended to launch on the SNES, then the Nintendo 64, before finally landing on the original PlayStation.
- Sold 2 million copies within its first three days in Japan.
- It was the first Final Fantasy game to have 3D graphics, blood, and swearing.
RELEASED1981
Galaga is the closest gaming has ever brought me to zen. I just sort of fall into a semi-conscious groove, and all the sweeping enemy formations, bonus stages, stolen fighters, and near-death experiences blend together into a cacophony of frenetic arcade action and then melt away into nirvanic bliss. I’ve played 40-minute games that felt like they lasted five, and once came very near to missing a redeye flight because I didn’t want to walk away from a hot Galaga streak in an airport arcade.
You really do have to play Galaga on arcade hardware to get the full experience. Something about the two-way joystick and that big red fire button, the unique tinny music and chipsounds bleeping through the old cabinet speakers, the softening effect of the CRT on the colorful, pixelated graphics, and the slightly rough feel of the control panel under your hands... they all come together to define the experience.
I’m not sure vertical shooters ever really got better after Galaga. Early games like Space Invaders and Galaxian were inventive but uniformly clunky. Galaga seemed to be programmed out of pure silk. The fluid, pixel-perfect control precision and exquisite balance it pioneered is ground deep into the DNA of all the other great shmups that arcade and console fans have since been privileged to enjoy.
DID YOU KNOW?
- It was the sequel to Namco's Galaxian from 1979.
- Playable as a side game during the loading stage for Tekken on the original PlayStation.
- It makes an appearance in the 2012 film The Avengers on board S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier.
RELEASED1995
The greatest trick Blizzard ever pulled was convincing me I was good at real-time strategy games. More than just base-building and micromanagement, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness spun a gripping story on the escalating war between human and orcs. Regardless of which side you rooted for, Warcraft II’s campaign fell into a perfect groove of pacing that built you up from a know-nothing strategist, and by the end of the campaign I felt like a supreme commander that was able to match wits with the AI.
Each map was more than just a battlefield – it was a puzzle to be deciphered, and the first to explore the foreboding fog of war and use the environment to their advantage would be victorious. Aerial units and naval combat added new strategies to storming the strongholds of your enemies, which made me stop to consider upcoming battles in three dimensions. Of course, if all that wasn’t enough, I never got tired of clicking on units and critters until they either told me to stop poking them, or exploded in brilliant fashion.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness was developed in just 10 months.
- Parts of its storyline were retconned in later games.
- If you click on any non-playable animal enough times, they'll explode.
RELEASED1994
Building on the memorably excellent space-combat mechanics of Star Wars: X-Wing, Totally Games’ Star Wars: TIE Fighter gave us our first real taste of the dark side – and we liked it. Sitting in the seat of an Imperial starfighter and hearing the signature scream of the twin ion engines and deadly squawking of green blasters makes the story of fighting to keep Emperor Palpatine in power seem like a great idea.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Tunes like the Imperial March were turned into heroic motifs on the soundtrack to match the player's role as an Imperial TIE Fighter.
- It was one of the first Star Wars games framed from the perspective of the Empire, where players must fight against the Rebel Alliance.
- Takes place after the Empire's victory in the Battle of Hoth and leads directly into the events of The Return of the Jedi.
RELEASED1971
For many fledgling gamers, the hardest choice you ever had to make was whether to ford the river or float your wagon across – but either way would inevitably be the wrong one. The Oregon Trail was the first exposure to PC games many people had, played in childhood classrooms for decades and infecting generation after generation with a fascination for video games. It tricked both teachers into letting us play video games in the middle of class, and kids into doing something (vaguely) educational, though I’m not sure learning about dysentery really came in handy at age eight.
But it inspired games as a whole as well, and continues to do so to this day. Games like 80 Days or the cleverly named Organ Trail are clearly riffs on The Oregon Trail’s choose your own adventure, branching paths style, but the idea of making meaningful (and often risky) choices on a one way journey that tells a story you get to shape can be felt in so many different games. The Oregon Trail didn’t invent this structure, but it’s hard not to appreciate the influence it has had on so many games, and gamers, that came after it.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Created as part of an 8th grade classroom lesson in 1971.
- The flagship product of iconic '80s educational developer MECC.
- Appeared for over 40 years across platforms from mainframes to phones, but reached its definitive edition in 1985 on the Apple II.
RELEASED1991
When Monkey Island 2 came out, we knew who Guybrush Threepwood was, so we knew what to expect. Or so we thought. Somehow, creator Ron Gilbert threw everyone for a loop, ending Monkey Island 2 in a carnival, leaving us to wonder if everything we'd played in the first two games took place in a boy's imagination, or if the ending itself was simply another LeChuck voodoo spell. Regardless, the story, jokes, and pacing were all tightened up for the second Monkey Island, making it arguably the best of the incredible run of LucasArts adventure games.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Creator Ron Gilbert has never revealed to anyone what the secret of Monkey Island actually is.
- The ambience was heavily inspired by the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disneyland.
- The Amiga community dubbed it Disk Juggling Simulator thanks to the 11 floppy disks it had to be played across.
RELEASED2004
While it may not be as old as Super Mario Kart or Road Rash, when it comes to arcade racers, Burnout 3: Takedown is an undeniable classic. I must have logged 60 hours in this game, and that was well before the days where I got paid to do that. I defy you to bring up arcade racers and not have someone mention Burnout 3. Its predecessor, Point of Impact, had fine-tuned the balance of high-speed racing and vehicular destruction, but Takedown perfected it.
This was one of those games you could easily lose hours playing, either alone or with friends. Among our nerdy cadre, there was no greater source of joy, sorrow, or white-hot rage than Burnout 3. Few things could ruin a friendship faster than wrecking someone's ride just before the finish line – though thankfully all was (usually) forgotten during the next round of Crash Mode.
This was one of those games you could easily lose hours playing, either alone or with friends. Among our nerdy cadre, there was no greater source of joy, sorrow, or white-hot rage than Burnout 3. Few things could ruin a friendship faster than wrecking someone's ride just before the finish line – though thankfully all was (usually) forgotten during the next round of Crash Mode.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Introduced the "takedown" mechanic, which went on to become a Burnout staple.
- The only Burnout game to receive a "T" ESRB rating, since it was deemed too violent for an "E," and the "E-10+" rating hadn't been created.
- The cars on the cover are the Muscle Type 2, Muscle Type 3, and Super Type 2.
RELEASED1998
Starting the journey of Fallout 2 as a tribesman with nothing more than a loincloth and a spear to my name and gradually fighting my way up to a power-armored, gauss-gunning killing machine is a fantastic and surprisingly natural feeling of progression – one that few games have been able to match. Exploring a vast and open post-apocalyptic world full of deadly raiders, supermutants, and deathclaws is daunting but exciting, and thanks to attention to detail, atmospheric music, powerfully written morally ambiguous quests, and voice-acted interactions with key characters, the world feels personal and vivid even though we view it from a distant third-person camera.
In fact, it’s a game you have to replay just to appreciate how flexible and open it really is. I’ve done it so many times, experimenting with the ways in which different character builds and perks would dramatically affect the way events unfolded, from killing the final “boss” using stealth to playing all the way through with a character so dumb they can only communicate through grunts. Plus, you never knew when you’d stumble upon random events that would sometimes deliver game-changingly powerful items. Fallout 2 will surprise you again and again.
In fact, it’s a game you have to replay just to appreciate how flexible and open it really is. I’ve done it so many times, experimenting with the ways in which different character builds and perks would dramatically affect the way events unfolded, from killing the final “boss” using stealth to playing all the way through with a character so dumb they can only communicate through grunts. Plus, you never knew when you’d stumble upon random events that would sometimes deliver game-changingly powerful items. Fallout 2 will surprise you again and again.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Cassidy, one of Fallout 2's companions, says he was named after his dad's favorite comic character – likely Proinsias Cassidy from Preacher.
- The universally-hated Temple of Trials tutorial dungeon was a last-minute addition publisher Interplay forced the developers to include.
- There's an Easter egg – as in, a literal Easter egg – hidden behind a pile of garbage in the basement of the New Reno gun shop.
RELEASED2015
A small child falls into the world of monsters and suddenly finds themselves the target of an ancient grudge that calls for their death. Undertale puts the player in a unique situation; where you'd usually kill everything in your way, Undertale gives you the option to spare every monster you meet, though it never requires it. Every monster killed or spared alters something in the world, whether it be another monster wondering what happened to their friend, an opportunity for a hilarious date, or a slightly easier time with a specific monster's bullet hell battle. Undertale is jam-packed with emotion, charm, and determination to show that your actions make a difference, no matter how small you think they may be. Pair all that with an incredible soundtrack and challenging bullet hell battles and you've got one incredibly memorable game.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Sans and Papyrus are not only named after the fonts Comic Sans and Papyrus, their dialogue is written in them too.
- While its soundtrack features 100 tracks, only 13 are original. The rest are remixes.
- A handful of characters were designed by Kickstarter backers, including Muffet, Glyde, and So Sorry.
RELEASED2009
League of Legends exists in a magical place that lies somewhere between intense competition and fun and enjoyable strategy. Though there’s a lot to master with a roster of nearly 130 playable Champions, League of Legends is equipped with great modes that make the MOBA easy to learn, yet is still incredibly challenging as players scale the competitive ladder. While the excellent Summoner’s Rift stands as the primary battleground for competitive play, the other modes like ARAM, or All Random All Middle, also provide a great means for a fun chance to practice with Champions for when things get too tense.
Developer Riot’s initiative to reboot League of Legends’ lore has also made it more captivating on the narrative front as well. Each new Champion or Champion makeover is presented with such beautiful pageantry that it’s difficult not to get sucked into catching up on any lore you may have missed. With continuous improvement updates and a constantly changing roster, League of Legends stands as one of the best competitive games in existence.
Developer Riot’s initiative to reboot League of Legends’ lore has also made it more captivating on the narrative front as well. Each new Champion or Champion makeover is presented with such beautiful pageantry that it’s difficult not to get sucked into catching up on any lore you may have missed. With continuous improvement updates and a constantly changing roster, League of Legends stands as one of the best competitive games in existence.
DID YOU KNOW?
- League of Legends currently has 140 champions and counting, as of March 7, 2018.
- It was originally called League of Legends: Clash of Fates.
- The prize pool for the 2017 League of Legends World Championship was $4.59 million.
RELEASED1990
If Mega Man 2 took a hot beat and made it a hot song, then Mega Man 3 took that song and made it the basis for a masterpiece of an album. Capcom’s third adventure on the NES kept the nail-biting difficulty and pitch-perfect platforming of the original games, but introduced a handful of new characters and mechanics that made it the absolute best in the series.
Mega Man 3 introduced a trio of elements that made the game iconic. First off was a compelling foil in Proto Man, an enigmatic anti-hero who shows up occasionally and actually adds a bit of emotion to your adventure. Then there’s Rush, your wonderful canine sidekick who has an array of abilities that help you find various nooks and secrets throughout the levels. Finally, Mega Man 3 introduced the slide ability, which completely changed the way Mega Man himself felt as a character for the decades afterwards.
DID YOU KNOW?
- While many fans consider it the best game in the Mega Man franchise, Mega Man 3 is Keiji Inafune's least favorite from the classic series.
- Mega Man 3 debuted two major characters in the – Rush and Proto Man.
- This was also the first game where Mega Man could slide.
RELEASED1998
Soulcalibur is that rare sequel that supplants the original. The successor to 1995’s Soul Edge, Soulcalibur perfected the formula for 3D weapon-based fighting games. A smash-hit in arcades and the first “must-have” game for the Dreamcast system, Soulcalibur is remembered for its balance, imaginative characters, and smooth combat. In the flood of new fighting game franchises that were introduced in the mid-90s, Soulcalibur separated itself from the pack because the core gameplay mechanics were so strong. Any fighter – whether a ninja, pirate, knight, or warrior monk – could challenge any other and the outcome would depend on the skill of the player. There is a reason why this fantastical tale of swords and souls has spawned so many sequels.
DID YOU KNOW?
- The Dreamcast version of Soulcalibur was an early example of a home console port's graphics exceeding that of its arcade original.
- It is the second-highest-rated game on Metacritic alongside Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV.
- You can play the Dreamcast version using the console's motion-sensing fishing rod controller.
RELEASED1993
SimCity 2000 may not be the most complex or original of the city-building series, but it’s definitely the most iconic. The sequel to the original SimCity is a beautiful, funny, detailed sandbox that gives players control of a huge, customizable map that they can manage how they see fit. You can build the perfect metropolis – see little sail boats in your marina and cars on your streets, get a statue built in your name, keep your advisors happy by building mass transit and hospitals. Or you can burn it all to the ground with catastrophes like earthquakes and alien attacks.
Compared to the other entries in the series, the game hits that player agency sweet spot so you feel like you’re empowered to save your city without being overwhelmed by choice. You need to make sure your Sims have access to electricity and water, but also that they’re safe, have access to healthcare, and the roads are maintained. As your city grows, you’ll have to keep track of things like mass transit, entertainment, and the economy but the difficulty curve never feels too steep, and success always seems just a stadium away. Plus, there’s never been a more satisfying feeling than zoning a land for residential and first seeing people move in.
Compared to the other entries in the series, the game hits that player agency sweet spot so you feel like you’re empowered to save your city without being overwhelmed by choice. You need to make sure your Sims have access to electricity and water, but also that they’re safe, have access to healthcare, and the roads are maintained. As your city grows, you’ll have to keep track of things like mass transit, entertainment, and the economy but the difficulty curve never feels too steep, and success always seems just a stadium away. Plus, there’s never been a more satisfying feeling than zoning a land for residential and first seeing people move in.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Before "reticulating splines" became an iconic phrase on the load screens in The Sims, it was coined as an inside joke for SimCity 2000.
- One of the disaster scenarios was directly inspired by the Oakland Hills Firestorm of 1991, which destroyed designer Will Wright's home.
- If you build a library, click it, and select "ruminate," you will be treated to an essay from Neil Gaiman on the living nature of cities.
RELEASED1987
Say it with me: “UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, B, A, START.” The most iconic secret in video game history became a litany for the millions of kids who joined Bill and Lance on their quest to destroy Red Falcon. While a truly skilled player can clear Contra on a single credit, the power of the thirty lives code gave all of us a fair chance to power our way through the gauntlet of alien invaders, or more likely die trying.
Contra was one of the few cooperative video games of the 8-bit era where player two didn’t feel like a burden dragging you down with every step. With plenty of weapon drops to go around and hordes of enemies coming from every direction, a partner’s firepower was a welcome addition in most situations. And if a friend couldn’t keep up the pace on the waterfall level, you could easily incentivize them to improve their skills by scrolling the screen upward and killing them, which I did whenever my little brother lagged behind.
DID YOU KNOW?
- The NES version's use of the Konami Code to grant players 30 lives also popularized the iconic cheat among North American audiences.
- Its North American localization changed the setting from the year 2633 to 1987, the year the arcade version debuted.
- The UK version changed the human characters into robots.
RELEASED2016
With the mechanical abandon of a Mario game and the worldview of Werner Herzog, Inside spends its three brilliant hours of life holding the player in a loop of intrigue, delight, and disgust.
Playdead's bleak, gorgeous puzzle-platformer builds on its predecessor Limbo in all the right places – hello, colour palettes; goodbye, boring gravity puzzles. It leaves us with a game that sleekly, wordlessly pivots from brain-teaser to body horror, until hitting an ending that ranks among gaming’s best, a masterpiece of animation, design and outright strangeness.
Inside’s quiet genius lies in how the puzzles creep beyond its ever-changing challenges, and into its story. I’ve spent as much time or more wondering what it all means as I did playing through. If you’ve played, you understand. If you haven’t, you need to.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Music for Inside was created by running synthesized sounds through a human skull. Vibrations caused most of its teeth to fall out.
- The look and movement of... the thing... was inspired by the boar god from Princess Mononoke, the squishy hero from Gish, and crowd surfing.
- Developer Playdead is partnering with sex doll manufacturer RealDoll for a mysterious $375 dollar collector's edition due in early 2019.
RELEASED2017
Super Mario Odyssey takes the best elements from almost every Mario game and still manages to open up to a whole new level with powers and moves like never before. It is both a love letter to what came before it, and a fearless march into bold new territory, filled with treasure around every corner.
Odyssey features some of the best world’s I’ve ever had the pleasure of exploring, and the brilliance of its level design continually opens up more secrets for those willing to prove their mastery of the techniques learned and understanding of how the world works. There’s no other way to put it – Super Mario Odyssey is an absolute joy.
DID YOU KNOW?
- The first Super Mario game with a vocal theme song: "Jump Up, Super Star!"
- Kate Higgins, who provided the vocals for "Jump Up, Super Star!" also voiced Pauline, the damsel in Donkey Kong and mayor of New Donk City.
- The presence of realistic people in New Donk City lead fans to speculate that Mario isn't human, but director Kenta Motokura shot it down.
RELEASED1999
Say the word "SHODAN" to any veteran PC gamer and they're likely to do a full-body shudder followed immediately by cracking a big smile. System Shock 2 paved the way for the genre-blending first-person games that are commonplace today, perfecting the formula years before anyone else would even try.
Its premise was straightforward: you found yourself alone on a space station where you were apparently the only thing left alive. Well, the only organic thing. Rogue AI SHODAN wastes little time in establishing herself as your formidable opponent. Along the way you pick up elements of the backstory through audio logs (another design feature that's standard fare now) and can mold yourself in any way you choose, from a DPS/combat focus to a pure hacker that can infiltrate any system. System Shock 2 was tense, smart, and as great as it was immediately upon its release in 1999, ahead of its time.
DID YOU KNOW?
- System Shock 2 did not initially enter production as a System Shock sequel until Electronic Arts signed on as publisher.
- Audio logs from a character named Norris were voiced by a System Shock fan who won the "Get Killed By SHODAN" contest out of 4,500 entrants.
- One of the keypad codes, 45100, is a reference to Fahrenheit 451.
RELEASED2002
As the second 3D game in the now mega-series Grand Theft Auto, Vice City had enormous shoes to fill coming off the groundbreaking statement that was Grand Theft Auto III. And did it ever deliver. Set during the 1980s in Rockstar’s facsimile of Miami, the violence, sex, and excess of this defining decade was slathered across a fully playable world of wannabe gangsters, sports cars, mountains of drugs, and briefcases full of bills.
Mining veins of content from Scarface, Miami Vice, and other seminal pop culture pillars of the era, Vice City had it all: a cast of larger-than-life characters and a rags-to-riches protagonist who builds his empire on the blood, sweat, and more blood of the sun-soaked, drug-addled, sex-crazed slice of beach city. And it's that ‘80s personality that propped up Vice City any time its open-world gameplay started to falter – much of that personality coming from the incredible soundtrack that is alone worth the price of admission. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a sexy, sour, excellent sendup of the decade that will never die.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Vice City survived two lawsuits lead by anti-video game activist Jack Thompson, who claimed it was linked to real crimes.
- That famously '80s soundtrack has resulted in a few licensing issues over the years, seeing certain songs cut from different versions.
- Its script was over 1,000 pages long and over 8,000 lines of dialogue were recorded – four times as much dialogue as Grand Theft Auto III.
RELEASED2017
Persona 5 feels like the Persona game the team always wanted to make but didn’t have the technology to achieve. With hand-built palaces instead of procedurally-generated dungeons, a stunning visual style and art direction, and a memorable and moving soundtrack, this easily stands out as the most impressive Persona game yet. Everything from the UI to scene transitions to the animated cutscenes is absolutely dripping with style, and the battle system combines series staples with mechanics that haven’t been in the franchise in over a decade for perfectly balanced fights. All of that on top of a fantastic story and memorable characters make this one of the best JRPGs ever made.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Cafe LeBlanc, where the protagonist lives, is named after Maurice Leblanc, who wrote the Arsène Lupin books his initial persona is based on.
- There are posters in the Shibuya subway station for Rise Kujikawa from Persona 4 and Kanami Mashita from Persona 4: Dancing All Night.
- According to Morgana, "'cats turning into buses' is an extremely widespread cognition" – a reference to The Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro.
RELEASED1998
Few games manage to create a sense of place quite as well as Grim Fandango. Tim Schafer’s final adventure game during his time at LucasArts is also arguably his best, and that’s saying a lot considering his portfolio.
Lead character Manny Calavera’s incredible journey through an afterlife inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead is marked with fantastic characters, impeccable writing, and clever puzzles. Right from the get-go, stepping into the shoes of a travel agent for the Department of Death, it’s an absolutely hilarious adventure brimming with creativity. It’s one of those video games where you want to continually revisit conversation trees and select every single dialogue option just to hear what Manny and the rest of the cast will say.
It’s a testament to the game’s design that over 15 years after its initial 1998 release, the 2015 remaster proved that Grim Fandango’s wonderful puzzles, story, and aesthetics hold up wonderfully. Not many games of the era can say the same.
Lead character Manny Calavera’s incredible journey through an afterlife inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead is marked with fantastic characters, impeccable writing, and clever puzzles. Right from the get-go, stepping into the shoes of a travel agent for the Department of Death, it’s an absolutely hilarious adventure brimming with creativity. It’s one of those video games where you want to continually revisit conversation trees and select every single dialogue option just to hear what Manny and the rest of the cast will say.
It’s a testament to the game’s design that over 15 years after its initial 1998 release, the 2015 remaster proved that Grim Fandango’s wonderful puzzles, story, and aesthetics hold up wonderfully. Not many games of the era can say the same.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Despite its critical acclaim, Grim Fandango wasn't immensely profitable, and is generally considered a commercial flop.
- Most of the musicians who performed on its OST were local performers from San Francisco's Mission District, including a mariachi band.
- Calavera, Manny's last name, means "skull" in Spanish.
RELEASED2003
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a sensory delight; the music is cheery and memorable and the cel-shaded art beautifully depicts a Hyrule centuries after Ocarina of Time. Finding Easter eggs and references back to the Hero of Time’s world feels like a treat, but Wind Waker is never overshadowed by its predecessor. Instead, the seafaring journey is fun to navigate as Link takes to conducting the wind instead of controlling time.
The Wind Waker is also wonderfully imaginative, not only in its story, locations, and characters, but also with its combat. More often than not, enemies, especially bosses, are defeated with Link’s impressive arsenal of items. It was difficult to resist picking off an item from an enemy while sneaking around the Forsaken Fortress. The Wind Waker gives the player a sense of exploration, creativity, and mischief – Link does travel with pirates, after all – that isn’t felt in other similar games of the genre.
DID YOU KNOW?
- In Wind Waker, Link is voiced by Sachi Matsumoto, who also provided the voice of Skull Kid from Majora's Mask.
- You can see real world constellations in the night sky, including the Big Dipper and Orion's Belt.
- The audio used for the ChuChus is actually an argument between two Japanese men, sped up and reversed.
RELEASED1997
When I was younger, few games settled an argument like GoldenEye. Living in a flat with three other people, if we couldn’t decide like rational adults whose turn it was to do the household chores, it was decided over a game of GoldenEye’s multiplayer. The battleground was always the Facility and to truly sort out the men from the Bonds it was Slaps only. Anyone who picked Odd Job was instantly disqualified.
In 1997, GoldenEye was a revelation. Not only was it a more-than-decent movie tie-in – I’m hard pushed to think of one that’s come close, even to this day – but it became the blueprint for console first-person shooters, serving up a wonderfully engaging single-player mode that made you feel like Bond, with split-screen multiplayer that quickly became a staple in dorm rooms across the world.
It was also the first time I realised how satisfying it is to take out a target from afar using a sniper rifle. 18 years later it’s still my go-to weapon in any game.
In 1997, GoldenEye was a revelation. Not only was it a more-than-decent movie tie-in – I’m hard pushed to think of one that’s come close, even to this day – but it became the blueprint for console first-person shooters, serving up a wonderfully engaging single-player mode that made you feel like Bond, with split-screen multiplayer that quickly became a staple in dorm rooms across the world.
It was also the first time I realised how satisfying it is to take out a target from afar using a sniper rifle. 18 years later it’s still my go-to weapon in any game.
DID YOU KNOW?
- GoldenEye 007's beloved multiplayer mode was a last-minute addition snuck in by developers without Rare or Nintendo management's permission.
- Shigeru Miyamoto was so repulsed by the game's violence, he suggested it show the player shaking hands with their hospitalized enemies.
- This was the reason the creators included a curtain call at the end, implying it was all portrayed by actors with no real killing involved.
RELEASED2001
If Super Smash Brothers for the Nintendo 64 was the appetizer, then Super Smash Bros. Melee was most definitely the main course. Huge by comparison, it piled on more and more fantastic additions that Nintendo fans had been clamoring for – more characters, more stages, more modes, collectibles galore, and a soundtrack featuring both new and re-arranged music from all of Nintendo's best franchises. (The live orchestra CD that came with Nintendo Power remains one of my favorite gaming soundtracks to this day!)
In an age before gamers would sit alone in their room playing online, Melee was king of the couch. Entire sleepovers were dedicated to unlocking characters like Mewtwo and Mr. Game & Watch, or taking turns trying to defeat Giga Bowser in Event Match 51. Even long after everything was unlocked, the thrill of a four-player brawl would remain a highlight of having friends over.
In an age before gamers would sit alone in their room playing online, Melee was king of the couch. Entire sleepovers were dedicated to unlocking characters like Mewtwo and Mr. Game & Watch, or taking turns trying to defeat Giga Bowser in Event Match 51. Even long after everything was unlocked, the thrill of a four-player brawl would remain a highlight of having friends over.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Super Smash Bros. Melee was Mario's first appearance in a game with an ESRB rating more mature than E for Everyone.
- Marth and Roy made their Smash debut in Melee, which confused some – no Fire Emblem games were officially out in North America at the time.
- There's a configuration glitch that will let you play as Master Hand, though it only responds to inputs from the third controller port.
RELEASED2011
Skyrim was a pivotal turning point for me and my over twenty-year love affair with role-playing games. It was the moment that worlds became so big, so immersive, and so detailed that I resolved I would have to abandon my burning desire to overturn every rock, chase every quest, and collect every thingy.
To me, everything about Skyrim was a vast improvement over its predecessor, Oblivion. The craggy, intimidating peaks of the Nord homeland and the saga of the Dovahkiin were much more interesting than the relatively sedate happenings of their neighbors in Cyrodiil. But what’s more, there’s so much lying just around the corner, off the beaten path, that you could never even stumble upon it in a hundred hours as the Dragonborn. But the fact that such care for detail, for world-building, for exploration and for immersion was paid to every tome, tomb, and quest, is enough to cement Skyrim as one of the absolute best role-playing games we’ve ever seen, and one of the best games of all time.
To me, everything about Skyrim was a vast improvement over its predecessor, Oblivion. The craggy, intimidating peaks of the Nord homeland and the saga of the Dovahkiin were much more interesting than the relatively sedate happenings of their neighbors in Cyrodiil. But what’s more, there’s so much lying just around the corner, off the beaten path, that you could never even stumble upon it in a hundred hours as the Dragonborn. But the fact that such care for detail, for world-building, for exploration and for immersion was paid to every tome, tomb, and quest, is enough to cement Skyrim as one of the absolute best role-playing games we’ve ever seen, and one of the best games of all time.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Skyrim was the first Western-developed game to get a perfect score from Japanese game magazine Famitsu. The second was Grand Theft Auto V.
- Charles Martinet, famously the voice actor of Mario, provided the voice of the dragon Paarthurnax.
- Burning dragon corpses are visible from the world map.
RELEASED1994
X-COM’s magic is how it makes the war to defend Earth from a vastly superior alien invasion force feel so intensely personal, even with its extremely dated (but expressive) graphics and spreadsheet-like interface. Part of this comes from the way that every decision you make, from where on the globe you place your bases, to which alien technology to research, to whether to spend your soldier’s last few time units to reload his weapon, crouch, or take a Hail Mary shot at a distant alien, has enormously high stakes. Choose right, and your team of alien hunters will gain a leg up on the battlefield from advanced weapons (like the guided Blaster Launcher missiles), armor, or tactical positioning; choose poorly and literally everyone could be slaughtered – or worse, transformed into drooling zombies to serve as incubators for horrific Chryssalids.
If you’re doing it right, you’ve named each of your very mortal soldiers after your friends and family, making the inevitable casualties you’ll take in combat sting far more than losing nameless fodder. Randomly generated maps ensure you never quite know what might be lurking around the next corner, and destructible terrain means that knocking down a building is always an option. The unpredictability makes the feeling of going from scrappy underdog to elite alien-butt-kicking futuristic super soldier squad incredibly rewarding, every single time. Except when you lose horribly.
If you’re doing it right, you’ve named each of your very mortal soldiers after your friends and family, making the inevitable casualties you’ll take in combat sting far more than losing nameless fodder. Randomly generated maps ensure you never quite know what might be lurking around the next corner, and destructible terrain means that knocking down a building is always an option. The unpredictability makes the feeling of going from scrappy underdog to elite alien-butt-kicking futuristic super soldier squad incredibly rewarding, every single time. Except when you lose horribly.
DID YOU KNOW?
- X-COM: UFO Defense was almost canceled twice, first due to money troubles and again when its publisher was acquired by Spectrum Holobyte.
- The second time it was officially canceled, but its publisher decided to ignore their parent company's order so development could continue.
- At the time, its developers had no idea it was canceled – co-creator Julian Gollop didn't learn about it until two decades later.
RELEASED1999
Akin to Chrono Trigger in stunning art direction, mechanical simplicity, and musical significance, Suikoden II diverges from Square’s masterpiece in its sense of moral ambiguity and dark storytelling. For the longest time, Suikoden II was locked behind a near-impenetrable wall of scarcity that kept it out of the hands of most American gamers. Now that it’s finally available to a wide audience, it’s a must-play for any RPG fan.
Suikoden II isn’t about saving the world. The scenario instead favors an extremely local perspective, gradually expanding outward from your personal circle of acquaintances to encompass your place in a war of feuding nations populated by characters with complex, realistic motivations. There are very few real villains (with one extreme and terrifying exception), a web of constantly conflicting loyalties and alliances, and a Machiavellian pragmatism that will ethically strain you as you try to balance your obligations to family, friends, mentors, and your own conscience.
Suikoden II manages to support an enormous cast of interesting characters by tasking the player with building a stronghold of their own in the world, a frontier nation of sorts populated by men and women from all walks of life eager to contribute their skills to building something better for everyone. It’s a remarkably optimistic and surprisingly fun diversion from the typically-reactive storytelling stance of most RPGs.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Suikoden II's story was written before the first game.
- The kanji on Tuta's robe says "medicine."
- There's a sprite for a Magic the Gathering card inside the game data, but it never appears in the actual game.
RELEASED2002
As the very first game in what would become a landmark shooter series, Battlefield 1942 laid the groundwork for how I would be spending hundreds and hundreds of hours of my life. Though not the only cooperative, team-work oriented shooter of its time, Battlefield 1942 was in a class by itself.
As full battles ripped across huge, open landscapes, waged from land, air, and sea, the realization of being able to command a capital ship, lob tank shells from one point to the next, or changed the tide of the war with one well-placed bomber payload was intoxicating. There was simply nothing like the size and scale of Battlefield 1942, and its legacy has only gotten bigger over the last 15 years since.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Battlefield 1942 was developed by a team of just 14 people.
- An Xbox version was planned, but EA canceled it in 2003.
- It was the first game in the Battlefield series.
RELEASED2013
Dota 2 doesn't end when the final unit on the map goes down, or even when you close your client. Dota isn't a game; it's a lifestyle.
Valve's MOBA is one of deepest, most mechanically complex games ever made, and though its base stays the same, mechanics are always being changed and added. The high barrier to entry will drive away new players, but those who crack the shell and get hooked have a very strong chance of rarely playing anything else again. Its 100+ heroes all play differently, and coming close to truly understanding one could take hundreds of hours. Even then, there's always something new to learn. Every failed strategy, every death, every comeback is a chance to discover something new. Getting better isn't just about making numbers go up – you feel the improvement, and every time you outplay an enemy feels as satisfying as the first.
Dota 2 is at its best when you're playing with a team of five friends. Gathering gold, killing enemies, taking objectives as a coordinated team, then making a final push to victory is an incredible high that you'll want to experience again and again.
Valve's MOBA is one of deepest, most mechanically complex games ever made, and though its base stays the same, mechanics are always being changed and added. The high barrier to entry will drive away new players, but those who crack the shell and get hooked have a very strong chance of rarely playing anything else again. Its 100+ heroes all play differently, and coming close to truly understanding one could take hundreds of hours. Even then, there's always something new to learn. Every failed strategy, every death, every comeback is a chance to discover something new. Getting better isn't just about making numbers go up – you feel the improvement, and every time you outplay an enemy feels as satisfying as the first.
Dota 2 is at its best when you're playing with a team of five friends. Gathering gold, killing enemies, taking objectives as a coordinated team, then making a final push to victory is an incredible high that you'll want to experience again and again.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Dota 2 is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients, a fan-made mod for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos co-developed by a designer known as IceFrog.
- In 2009, Valve hired IceFrog to develop Dota 2 as a standalone sequel built in the Source engine.
- Blizzard – who owns the Warcraft brand – filed an opposition against Valve in 2011 to retain ownership of the Dota IP and lost.
RELEASED1998
I've lost more of my life than I'd care to admit watching the hypnotic wheel of sprites rotate as I gamed the Final Fantasy Tactics job system with exploits worthy of a mad genius, experimenting with strange and extraordinarily potent skill sets to create the ultimate party. Tactics enticed me with intricate mechanics that constantly rewarded my tinkering and micromanagement. Every battle was a new invitation to innovate, a battle of wits with the scenario developers, a test of inventiveness that repaid both foresighted strategic preparation and quick tactical thinking. The delightful systems were backed up an exquisite story of betrayal laced with delightfully insidious melodramatic tragedy. Not even the baroque translation could significantly mar the excellence of this PlayStation classic.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Final Fantasy Tactics is set in Ivalice, which is also the setting of Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII.
- Tactics was designed to appeal to more casual gamers who were intimidated by the branching storylines of games like Tactics Ogre.
- It sold 1.24 million copies its first year in Japan.
RELEASED2002
He may not be officially recognized by the new Star Wars canon, but there’s no Jedi I’d rather have in my corner than Kyle Katarn. Dark Forces 1 and 2 may have built up his character, but it wasn’t until Jedi Outcast that we really saw Kyle at his best (or worse, if you went down that path). More than just making choices about good and evil, Jedi Outcast allowed us to live out our force-using fantasies in a time where lightsaber battles were mostly relegated to the movies.
Jedi Outcast managed to make every enemy encounter a thrill – whether they be hapless stormtroopers you could fling around like ragdolls, or new Sith apprentices that gave you the chance to feel like a master as you expertly chained lightsaber strikes in different styles. Coupled with the roguish wit and charm of Kyle Katarn and his quest for revenge made Jedi Outcast one of the best stories in the Star Wars universe.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Contains at least two references to THX 1138, George Lucas' directorial debut.
- The code "g_realisticsabercombat 9" lets you realistically dismember enemies with your lightsaber.
- Luke Skywalker was going to be the protagonist, but to avoid story constraints, the developers changed it to an original character.
RELEASED2000
Thief II took everything right about stealth games, and then added a dash of steampunk-infused magic. Developer Looking Glass Studio crafted a believable world where technology was on the rise and the magic of the old world was on the run. Adding to the mix was the perfect anti-hero who wouldn't even consider the possibility of saving the world unless the end of the world meant no more houses to steal from.
Thief II gave the player all the right tools for the perfect heist, along with interactive maps for writing notes. It rewarded taking your time, and of course, listening to some of the best guard banter in any game to date. Silently sprinting along rooftops, ducking through secret mansion passages – the game didn't just make you feel like a thief, it made you feel like a master of the craft.
Thief II gave the player all the right tools for the perfect heist, along with interactive maps for writing notes. It rewarded taking your time, and of course, listening to some of the best guard banter in any game to date. Silently sprinting along rooftops, ducking through secret mansion passages – the game didn't just make you feel like a thief, it made you feel like a master of the craft.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Thief fans are known as Taffers, based on a fictional swear word used to refer to thieves in the game universe.
- Its studio Looking Glass Studios almost bankrupted mid-development and slow royalties post-launch forced it to close just two months later.
- Fanmade mods, patches, and fixes have helped keep the game alive.
RELEASED2012
Spelunky is a game about patience. It’s punishing, and no matter how far along you are, death means starting from the beginning. But each time, you’ll die in a different way – an educational way. You’ll learn how to avoid it next time. You’ll grow.
Spelunky is a game about pattern recognition. Each level is randomly generated, but you’ll recognize familiar elements. You’ll know what separates the Mines from the Ice Caves from Temple. You’ll be more prepared. You’ll get just slightly further than last time, and further still the time after that. The game has taught you how to be better.
Spelunky is a game about triumph. When you finally make it to a new area for the first time, when you finally beat Olmec, when you finally beat your best time, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment. You earned this. You did it. But maybe you should go back and try to beat it. You can shave a few seconds off, right? Spelunky is a game about always being able to improve.
Spelunky is a game about pattern recognition. Each level is randomly generated, but you’ll recognize familiar elements. You’ll know what separates the Mines from the Ice Caves from Temple. You’ll be more prepared. You’ll get just slightly further than last time, and further still the time after that. The game has taught you how to be better.
Spelunky is a game about triumph. When you finally make it to a new area for the first time, when you finally beat Olmec, when you finally beat your best time, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment. You earned this. You did it. But maybe you should go back and try to beat it. You can shave a few seconds off, right? Spelunky is a game about always being able to improve.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Spelunky speedrunners have completed the game in less than 2 minutes and the harder Hell routes in less than 4 minutes.
- You can find the shotgun under a grave marked "Ash" – a reference to Ashley "Ash" Williams from the Evil Dead series.
- If you click the pug damsel in the options menu enough times, it will turn into a sloth damsel.
RELEASED1981
When you walk into a room full of arcade games, something looks different about Donkey Kong. Its pastel blue cabinet is a bit shorter than the others; a bit rounder, more welcoming. The glowing marquee and art on the game depicts characters that belong on a 1960s pizza delivery box. This machine clearly doesn’t hold a Star Wars-inspired space battle – but what’s in it? When you put a quarter in, the machine shows you a little cartoon of an ape clambering up a ladder, mocking you. It asks “How High Can You Get?” and the instructions end there. Barrels and fire fill the screen while the characters’ intricate animations for every movement continue the illusion that you are playing this cartoon. You probably don’t get very high. Hopefully you have more quarters.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Donkey Kong didn't have a jump mechanic at first, until the creators thought, "If you had a barrel rolling towards you, what would you do?"
- Shigeru Miyamoto originally wanted to do a Popeye game, but he couldn't license the characters.
- Universal sued Nintendo for what it claimed was a rip-off of the name King Kong, but lost because it didn't even have King Kong trademarked.
RELEASED2007
As someone who has never been a huge fan of shooters, Valve's Team Fortress 2 tickled an itch I didn't know I even had. Perhaps it was the simplistic yet vibrant design, or the goofy yet sadistic humor. I do know that the diverse cast of characters certainly helped, as I wasn't just limited to firing a gun. Whether you were more of an "in your face with a flamethrower" guy, or a "hide behind enemy lines with nothing but a knife and a disguise" lady, Team Fortress 2 had a role that everyone could get behind.
The other half of what made Team Fortress 2 a favorite of mine was its longevity. Long after any FPS game had a right to be relevant, Team Fortress 2 found new ways to live – both with community mods that shaped the course of the game's future, and the decision to go free-to-play. Add that to the inclusion of hats, along with new gear and modes, and you have a self-sustaining team-based shooter that can be played by all types, whether you're into crafting weapons, trading hats, fighting robots, or just having a quick match against friends.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Team Fortress 2 debuted at E3 1999 and went radio silent for six years before reintroducing itself in 2006 with an all new art style.
- After releasing the Meet the Spy video, Valve updated the Spy's character model to add the facial scar.
- Valve originally planned to use a modern military style, but it clashed too much with the silly, unrealistic gameplay.
RELEASED2000
When I think back on the countless hours I spent with the original Sims, my memories are sorted into two very distinct buckets.
First are the tranquil, almost zen-like hours where I meticulously lived my dream of being a home-owner (I know, an odd dream for a 13-year-old). Tweaking floor-plans and rearranging furniture weren’t things I particularly cared about beforehand, but holy moly did I have a blast doing them in The Sims. And unlike my other favorite games at the time, where I had a clear goal of making it to a finish line or beating a final boss, I spent my time meandering through the game without a care in the world, just happy to be immersed in the incredible score and soothing sounds of Simlish.
And then there’s the other bucket. If the aforementioned one seems dreamlike, these memories were most certainly nightmarish. The fact that starvation, drowning, electrocution, and madness were all gameplay elements right at my finger tips led to a few dark nights that played out like a prototype Black Mirror episode. Thankfully, I’m happy to report that almost all of my favorite memories reside in the peaceful feng shui of the former bucket…almost.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Will Wright was inspired to make The Sims after his house burned down in a fire and he was forced to rebuild his life from the ground up.
- Wright also meant The Sims to satirize American consumerism.
- Simlish, the language spoken in the series, was invented to avoid repetitive dialogue and avoid the cost of translation.
RELEASED2007
I'd heard about Guitar Hero, but I only had an Xbox and Xbox 360. So when Guitar Hero II hit, I fell for the plastic-guitar genre hard. And in 2007, when Rock Band – from Harmonix, the very same creators of Guitar Hero – released, my co-workers and I swooned for the full-band game.
We were justified in doing so. Rock Band literally invented a new form of multiplayer – one that was not only cooperative, but also one where four of you could share a physical energy in the room. It remains a feeling that no game has replicated, and the very act of learning the "language" of the game – teaching your hands to work the guitar neck, or your hands and feet to work in concert to "play" the drums – was a game in and of itself. Even once you learned that language, moving up the ranks, from Easy to Expert, was an adventure with a tangible payoff: you could see and feel the results. And dominating a classic song you and your friends all know and love as a four-player "band" playing on the highest difficulty made memories that last long after the console turned off.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Rock Band featured an achievement for playing through every song in the game in a row without stopping.
- The original plastic instruments were wired. Rock Band 2 introduced wireless guitars and drums.
- Harmonix also shipped another game in 2007: the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II.
RELEASED2008
Fallout 3 was the first video game to make me sick. Not because it’s a bad game – on the contrary, it’s a phenomenal one, which rightfully deserves a place on any top 100 of all time list. I got sick because I couldn’t stop playing it; because I stayed in my crummy student bedroom staring at the screen for so long that I got all unhealthy and socially withdrawn and spindly.
It was the world that kept me hooked. The Capital Wasteland may be as brown and dusty as any other post-apocalyptic effort created circa 2008, but scratch at its griminess and a multitude of fascinating characters, sub-plots, and bizarre environmental touches spring to the surface; a smorgasbord of invitations to never stop playing. Somehow held together by a focused story, Fallout 3 remains a complex, remarkable achievement for Bethesda, and definitely worth getting sick for.
It was the world that kept me hooked. The Capital Wasteland may be as brown and dusty as any other post-apocalyptic effort created circa 2008, but scratch at its griminess and a multitude of fascinating characters, sub-plots, and bizarre environmental touches spring to the surface; a smorgasbord of invitations to never stop playing. Somehow held together by a focused story, Fallout 3 remains a complex, remarkable achievement for Bethesda, and definitely worth getting sick for.
DID YOU KNOW?
- That "ding" sound that plays when you reload a Fat Man is apparently the bell from the Bethesda lunch room.
- The voice of the player character as a baby is director Todd Howard's son, Jake.
- Dogmeat is modeled after the dog in Mad Max 2 and named after the dog from A Boy and His Dog.
RELEASED1998
I’m probably going to lose some friends by saying this, but here it goes: Banjo-Kazooie is the best Mario game ever made. Before you pull out your pitchforks, let me explain.
Rare’s Nintendo 64 masterpiece took the formula that Nintendo created with Super Mario 64, and injected it with an incredible sense of charm, character, and depth. Right off the bat, the banter between the titular duo and the rest of the curious critters that populate the world is genuinely funny. From there, Rare keeps on pushing forward, delivering some of the most interesting and varied worlds ever seen in a platformer. From the way Mumbo’s Mountain introduces you to the game’s varied mechanics, to the ingenious puzzles of Click Clock Wood, each world is absolutely brimming with creativity.
I could go on and on about the perfect balance of collectibles, or the vast secrets like Stop ‘n’ Swop. But it’s the little things that make Banjo my favorite platformer of all-time. For instance, the way Gruntilda’s theme adapts to the stage you’re nearing, becoming spookier as you near Mad Monster Mansion, or developing a pirate-theme the closer you get to Treasure Trove Cove.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Banjo appeared in 1997's Diddy Kong Racing one year before Banjo-Kazooie hit store shelves.
- Development began on the SNES under the codename Dream.
- It was re-released in 2008 on Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade.
RELEASED1995
In this era of Trophies and Achievements, completing 100% of everything in a game is a common thing. But when Yoshi’s Island came out, the reward for exploration was greater than a Gamerscore: for collecting all of the extremely well-hidden red coins and flowers and then finishing a level with 30 stars (which basically means you can’t get hit), you received a 100% rating. If you did this on every level in a world, you unlocked two more levels in each of the six worlds. And these levels were even harder than the others!
I spent many hours one-hundred-percenting my Yoshi’s Island cartridge and the save stuck with me all the way until an unfortunate incident while reviewing a contemporary knockoff Super Nintendo. I’ve never been so excited to start over from scratch.
I spent many hours one-hundred-percenting my Yoshi’s Island cartridge and the save stuck with me all the way until an unfortunate incident while reviewing a contemporary knockoff Super Nintendo. I’ve never been so excited to start over from scratch.
DID YOU KNOW?
- There were only 48 levels in Yoshi's Island, half that of Super Mario World.
- In the level Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy, the dizzying, psychedelic effects were created by the Super FX2 chip.
- The characters and art style in Yoshi's Island were repurposed in Tetris Attack.
RELEASED2001
The first four Silent Hill games will always be dear to me, but Silent Hill 2 holds a special place in my heart. It was the first Silent Hill game to establish the town itself as a character – in a genre oversaturated with run-of-the-mill killers, zombies, aliens, and other more conventional adversaries, Silent Hill 2’s focus on horror in architecture, in the layout and personality of a space, of the human psyche turned tangible, was vastly more interesting to me.
Most of all, it was scary – like, actually scary: an exploration of the depths of human depravity and the effects it has on the people and places around us that few video games have handled with such a disturbing grace and maturity. As a hardened horror fan who’s tough to frighten, I appreciate Silent Hill 2’s ability to stick with me even a decade later.
I may be immune to Silent Hill 2’s scares now, having spent countless hours wandering its foggy streets and haunted otherworlds, but I still remember its power that first time I walked into town.
DID YOU KNOW?
- The Blue Creek apartment building is a reference to the Deep River apartments in the David Lynch film Blue Velvet.
- Examining the knife in your inventory and staying at low health throughout the game increase your chance of getting the "In Water" ending.
- Events and characters referenced in Silent Hill 2 became key elements in Silent Hill 4: The Room, notably the serial killer Walter Sullivan.
RELEASED2004
2001’s Grand Theft Auto III was a real watershed in the history of open world gaming. However, perhaps the most remarkable thing about Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released just three years later, is just how much it dwarfs Grand Theft Auto III in every way.
Forget one city. Have three, with vast swathes of forests, countryside, and desert in between. Want more vehicles? Have over 250 of them, including jump jets, combine harvesters, lawn mowers, bicycles, semi-trailers, forklifts, and so, so many more. Music? No problem. How does 11 radio stations and over 150 tracks sound?
Not enough? How about parachutes? How about a functioning casino? How about a jetpack? How about same-screen free-roaming co-op? How about fast food that actually makes you fat? How about arguably the greatest line-up of cheats ever assembled?
And how about we put Samuel L. Jackson in it?
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the all-time best-selling game on PlayStation 2 – itself the best-selling console of all-time – and it’s just not at all hard to see why.
Forget one city. Have three, with vast swathes of forests, countryside, and desert in between. Want more vehicles? Have over 250 of them, including jump jets, combine harvesters, lawn mowers, bicycles, semi-trailers, forklifts, and so, so many more. Music? No problem. How does 11 radio stations and over 150 tracks sound?
Not enough? How about parachutes? How about a functioning casino? How about a jetpack? How about same-screen free-roaming co-op? How about fast food that actually makes you fat? How about arguably the greatest line-up of cheats ever assembled?
And how about we put Samuel L. Jackson in it?
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the all-time best-selling game on PlayStation 2 – itself the best-selling console of all-time – and it’s just not at all hard to see why.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas came under fire when players discovered a cut sex minigame called Hot Coffee hidden in the game files.
- After the Hot Coffee ordeal, Rockstar offered to swap San Andreas copies for an updated version and $30 dollars. Only 2,676 people did it.
- Several NPC pedestrians resemble movie characters from iconic films of the era, like Tre from Boyz N the Hood and Bishop from Juice.
RELEASED2007
There are few moments in science fiction as powerful as when Commander Shepard first steps aboard The Citadel in the original Mass Effect. The sense of scope, history, and potential aboard the massive space station was unparalleled in games at the time. Learning about the various races and how they’ve co-existed for centuries is the stuff that world-building dreams are made of. In short, it felt like a living, breathing space that existed long before you got there, and would continue to exist long after you left.
The Citadel also made for a perfect hub for BioWare to show just how incredibly well-written and fleshed out their cast of characters were. Interacting with the world and its inhabitants as your version of Shepard allowed you to create sci-fi story that felt wholly owned and authored, and paved the way for one of gaming’s most epic and revered trilogies.
The Citadel also made for a perfect hub for BioWare to show just how incredibly well-written and fleshed out their cast of characters were. Interacting with the world and its inhabitants as your version of Shepard allowed you to create sci-fi story that felt wholly owned and authored, and paved the way for one of gaming’s most epic and revered trilogies.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Mass Effect's original codename was SFX, or Science Fiction X, which the team grew so attached to they wanted to keep it.
- Actor Seth Green, who provided the voice of Joker, improvised a lot of his dialogue.
- Fox News ran a hilariously misinformed segment on Mass Effect's "full digital nudity and sex," accompanied by the tagline "Sexbox?"
RELEASED2007
E3 2007 was memorable for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it marked a shift away from the glitz and glamour of the Los Angeles Convention Center, moving to the more low-key setting in nearby Santa Monica. Secondly, it was the first time Call of Duty 4 was shown off, its modern-day setting a dramatic departure from the World War II backdrop of previous games.
All Ghillied Up was my first glimpse of it in action, as two camouflaged snipers worked their way through an irradiated Pripyat in Ukraine. The highlight – not just of the demo but arguably of the entire game – was watching, breath held, as an entire armoured patrol trundled past, inches from our hiding spot, and it’s a moment of tension that’s never been matched in a shooter since.
Electric set-pieces and superb pacing make Modern Warfare’s single-player campaign one of the most memorable first-person shooters ever, but it’s the perfectly balanced multiplayer that made it the de rigueur online game for years to follow. Multiplayer shooters were never the same again.
All Ghillied Up was my first glimpse of it in action, as two camouflaged snipers worked their way through an irradiated Pripyat in Ukraine. The highlight – not just of the demo but arguably of the entire game – was watching, breath held, as an entire armoured patrol trundled past, inches from our hiding spot, and it’s a moment of tension that’s never been matched in a shooter since.
Electric set-pieces and superb pacing make Modern Warfare’s single-player campaign one of the most memorable first-person shooters ever, but it’s the perfectly balanced multiplayer that made it the de rigueur online game for years to follow. Multiplayer shooters were never the same again.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Modern Warfare was the first M-rated Call of Duty game.
- The rap song that plays over the credits was performed by Mark Grigsby, the game's lead animator.
- Its main theme was written by film composer Harry Gregson-Williams, who has also written music for the Metal Gear Solid series.
RELEASED2011
After Arkham Asylum laid the groundwork for a superhero game that hit all the right beats, Batman: Arkham City took everything to the next level by letting Batman loose in the streets of Gotham (sort of). Not only did it nail the feeling of stalking and beating down thugs with an impressive array of gadgets, it raised the stakes of what a caped crusader could deal with in a single night.
Arkham City’s heaping helping of infamous rogues let you experience them in their element, and found perfect ways for Batman to foil them via both brain and brawn – leading to some of the best boss fights ever conceived. Each supervillain added to the oppressive weight of trying to save the day with the odds stacked against you, and the story’s climax remains one of the most striking moments in video games.
DID YOU KNOW?
- It's possible to glitch over the walls of Arkham City to reveal a fully modeled Gotham and Arkham Asylum.
- Several references to the TV show Lost can be overheard in NPC dialogue, including, "So, did they ever explain what the island was?"
- The developers considered adding a multiplayer mode, but ultimately decided to focus on making the single-player great
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