The Ten Best Video Games of All Time

The ten video games that make my top five

I noticed when I’m talking about video games, I often say, “That’s one of my top five games of all time,” to say that a video game is one of the best video games. I don’t know why “five” — I guess that’s more impressive than ten — but I realized I must have been saying that for more than five games. So I made a list and came up with ten games I’ve claimed in the past to be my top five games. And though I hate it, I decided not to be lame and rank them all even though I keep looking at the bottom of the list and saying, “Those guys don’t deserve to be there.”

Notes to keep in mind: I was born in 1979 and have had a video game system almost as far back as I can remember. I was a Nintendo loyalist during the console wars, and have only ever owned Nintendo systems and PCs (after the Atari era) — so if a game was never available for PC or Nintendo, I haven’t played it (which I know includes a lot of great PlayStation exclusives).

I also noticed the earliest games on my list are from 1990 — nothing NES or earlier made it. Tech makes a difference, I guess.

---

10. The Secret of Monkey Island

I didn’t know a game could be funny. Though this is not a game made for replayability, I played it through multiple times, trying to find every secret — and since you couldn’t die or get stuck (unlike Sierra games), you wanted to try everything. And I think the part where you’re tied to a statue and stuck underwater is the best adventure game puzzle of all time — it played out for me exactly as the designers wanted, which is in fact a joke on the player.

9. Super Metroid

When I heard Metroid Prime was going to be an FPS, I was one of those who thought, “Oh no. Here they go ruining a great franchise.” But boy, I was wrong. They somehow made it even more Metroidy in first-person with a great emphasis on exploration.

But Metroid Prime didn’t make the list. The best Metroid is still Super Metroid. So much to do. So much to discover. So many different areas to explore. So much to remember to come back and check out later when you had the right item. It has never been topped.

8. Riven

I think many gamers look down on Myst, which was this breakout hit when computers first got CD players, but there’s a certain wonder to Myst you rarely saw in other games. Still, that never gripped me like Riven. Spanned over 5 CDs in the version I played, that game fully engrossed me during my first Christmas break from college. There were all these weird things that didn’t seem to make sense, but then by the end, you figured it all out, and it made sense as a whole. I never had another puzzle game experience like it.

7. Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect is one of those series where I’m trying to remember if I really enjoyed the gameplay that much or was it all about the story. But man, that was something to create a character in the first game and then carry him — and all the choices you made — through two other games. The second was the best, though, where they really refined the gameplay and the upgrade system (I remember getting bogged down with too much in the first one), and it really seemed like your choices were impactful — even if the morality system boiled down to “save the galaxy or save the galaxy but be a jerk while doing it.”

6. Super Mario World

Just perfect level design. It was the “free” game that came with the Super Nintendo, and man, did you get a lot out of it. Just so much variation — it was never repetitive, and each level had its own little hook that made it unique. There have been a lot of other great Mario games, but it’s going to be hard ever to top this one.

5. Red Dead Redemption 2

I never played the first Red Dead Redemption as it was never released for PC. I’ve heard many say that one is better, but it’s hard for me to imagine. RDR2 was just such a great game — great acting, a beautiful world, and so much to do. Man, I hated saying goodbye to Arthur for the post-game, but I still almost 100%ed the game just because I never wanted it to end.

4. Final Fantasy II (though actually Final Fantasy IV)

I knew it as Final Fantasy II for the SNES as the second and third Final Fantasies had not been released in the U.S., though it’s only known as Final Fantasy IV today. Many people don’t even consider it the best SNES Final Fantasy (they consider that Final Fantasy III — now known as Final Fantasy VI), but it’s the one Final Fantasy I remember most fondly. It had an epic tale, memorable characters, and not an overly complicated upgrade system (each character had their own powers, and they automatically leveled up, and that was it). I played through it multiple times on multiple platforms, though later remakes tried to make it more complicated, which I don’t care for.

3. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

This is the game I remember most fondly from my sad bachelor years — back before I was married but was gainfully employed and could afford all the games I wanted — just like you’d dream of as a video game-playing child. It’s not all you dream of, though; it just means more time to play mediocre games because the absolutely must play games (the sort that might make this list) come out less than once a year. So I guess I’m saying I’d rather the family and fulfilling life than more time to play video games.

Still, back then, I had a lot of time, and I spent whole weekends doing nothing but play Knights of the Old Republic. I played through it three times — once light side, once dark side, and once trying to go in between (but not very successfully). So much to do in this game and so many styles to play as — it could be very different on each play through. And a great story — it proved you can do a great Star Wars story completely unrelated to the original trilogy (the story takes place thousands of years before the movies when the Sith were numerous), even if Disney has yet to learn that lesson.

2. Resident Evil 4

The game holds the record for most times I’ve purchased the same game. I bought the original on Gamecube, then on Wii with Wii remote aiming, and then on PC when it was released there — and 100%ed it each time — including the Mercenaries mode.

There’s nothing that amazing about this game individually, but it just did everything right. First off, I detest inventory management — just let me carry infinite stuff so I don’t have to worry — but this one was fun (with the tetris-like getting things to fit) and added to the gameplay because you couldn’t carry every weapon-type leading to new things to try on the next play through. And I loved the weapon upgrade system and how any weapon could be a weapon to bring through the entire game — allowing different play styles on each playthrough. And there were just all the neat locales, treasure to find, and varied enemies.

Just everything done right. Capcom was never able to quite recreate the formula again — though they tried very hard with Resident Evil: Village — a great game though still nowhere near as good as RE4.

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I limited myself to one game per franchise, or Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past or Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time could have made this list (and maybe the first Legend of Zelda which was mind-blowing in its day), and this is the Zelda I think I had the greatest gaming experience playing through. This might be partially because it’s the opposite of the sad bachelor years game but instead is the first game I played through with my kids. My oldest two were 6 and 3 at the time and weren’t ready to play it themselves (my 6yo daughter got too scared whenever an enemy would attack), but they would not allow me to play it by myself. So basically we played it every day for two months straight with my kids driving because that game had just so much to explore and do. I think I said before it should have been called “Zelda: Hey, What’s That Over There…” because you were constantly seeing interesting things and always rewarded for checking them out. And then there was the revolutionary structure. After the tutorial portion, the whole map is open to you. You can go anywhere. And the only quest is “defeat Ganon,” and he is marked on your map. The entire game is in fact sidequests.

And what was great about playing with my kids is they came up with ideas I never would have because I was so used to playing Zelda games. For instance, there was one shrine where there was a button that needed weight on it and a barrel you could get by riding across moving platforms. So go get the barrel and put it on the button, right? That’s what the game developer intended. My daughter said why don’t I just take some rocks out of my inventory and put them on the button. I knew that wouldn’t work because it would defeat the purpose of my puzzle, but I tried it just to shut her up. And it worked. Because the game was a physics sandbox where the physics set the rules, not necessarily the developer’s intentions.

Anyway, I could do a long post on just all the things Breath of the Wild did right, but in the end it was a beautiful celebration of exploration and a fun memory with my kids.

---

Honorable Mentions: Ultima VI and Batman: Arkham City

There were two more games I thought worth mentioning even though I don’t think I’ve ever called them a “top five game.” Ultima VI was the first time dealing with an open-world game, and it was quite something — I think too much for me at that age (I was eleven). I still don’t think I found everything in that massive world — or quite figured out what I was supposed to do.

And for a fun fighting system, it’s tough to beat the Arkham Asylum Batman series. There’s just such a joy to it to jump in the midst of two dozen thugs and start punching. Arkham City was the height of the series, though they’re all worth playing.

---

Well, this ended up longer than I expected it, but it’s something I’m passionate about while not something I usually talk at length about it. I’m working with making a game with my kids now, BTW (I have two decades of work experience at programming; I might as well use it). Maybe later I’ll write about that and can share the code on GitHub.

So do you agree with my list? What are your favorite games? Or do you not play video games? If so, what’s wrong with you?