ILX'S 100 GREATEST VIDEO GAMES EVER

These oldie games (i.e. games I actually recognize, because they're from the time I still played them) are doing surprisingly well. I predict a surprise victory for Pong!

#39: The Legend of Zelda (1986)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Legend_of_zelda_cover_%28with_cartridge%29_gold.png
http://www.gamethink.net/IMG/png/NES_Legend_of_Zelda_1.png
Developer:Nintendo R&D4
Publisher:Nintendo
Original format:Famicom Disk System
Highest position:#8, bnw

I was a bit unsure about having it top 10, but it's just ridiculously addictive. Must make bricks disappear! Kill them!

(I had a whole load of the oldie games in my list = repping the non-real gamers front)

xpost

Possibly the last time invaluable appeared on box art.

Wasn't Zelda one of those games where, once you've finished it, you actually have to play the whole damn game again, except that it's harder?

#38: Another World (1991)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/Another_World_Coverart.png
http://img.hexus.net/v2/gaming/aw/aw_large_1.jpg
Developer:Eric Chahi
Publisher:US Gold
Original format:Commodore Amiga
Highest position:#1, abanana

Dammit, I missed the unveiling of Marble Madness. Once again, I will desperately try to get people to watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_25_rzqh-BI

I played another version (I think?) of Another World called Out of this World, for SNES. Really sweet game.

Same game, it was called "Out of this World" in America, for some reason.

#37: Final Fantasy Tactics (1997)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Fftbox.jpg
http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/ga/buzz/feature/vg11/hg07_finalfantasytactics_vs.jpg
Developer:Square
Publisher:Square
Original format:PlayStation
Highest position:#2, lamp

Jeez, the cover of the game up there goes out of its way to mention TWICE that the game took 2 years to make.

I should have made FFT my #2 (it was my #3). Absolutely perfect game, at least until you get Orlandu near the end, and he's so goddamn awesome that the difficulty balance is thrown off. Whatever though, by that point you've had like thirty 40 minute long battles in a row and it's nice to finally kick some ass.

Unfortunately, Square Enix responded to the massive praise for the game's (relatively) serious and mature storyline by making the sequels all about little kids and turning the bloody battles into little wittle judged contests.

#36: Katamari Damacy (2004)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/KatamariDamacybox.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Kata27.jpg
Developer:Namco
Publisher:Namco
Original format:PlayStation 2
Highest position:#1, Ess Kay

Thought that would have more no 1 votes.

That (Katmari) makes elven games I voted for so far. I thought pretty hard about making FFT my #1 vote since, aside from the Civilzation series, it's the game that I've spent the most time playing. It's also the first game that motivated me to contribute to GameFAQs.

Absolutely perfect game, at least until you get Orlandu near the end, and he's so goddamn awesome that the difficulty balance is thrown off

The great thing about Tactics is that you can make it as hard or as difficult as you like. I've finished the game using only Oracles and I've got a save file where I used the Level Up/Down trick to max my party's stats. 999 damage every hit. All the hidden characters kinda suck tho.

Another World was amazing but still, no Flashback

The hidden characters DO kinda suck.

I don't know, though, can't you make pretty much any game as easy or difficult as you want? I remember playing Mario 3 upside-down hanging off the couch (and I've heard of other people who have done that as well).

(xpost)

#35: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (1991)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/Mi2cover.jpg
http://www.worldofmi.com/images/categories/3/screen03.gif
Developer:LucasArts
Publisher:LucasArts
Original format:PC DOS
Highest position:#6, upt0eleven

i can't choose between that and the first one

Arkanoid...it was in the lower tiers of my ballot, and once again it's a game that really stands for a small but delightful genre, Breakout clones. The obscure Blockbuster for C64 was possibly a little more robust and varied, but Arkanoid nails down the formula - you bust bricks, and also you occasionally get some power-ups to make things easier (or harder for that matter). It also may have originated the brutal twist where the ball keeps getting faster and faster, which is hard, but also makes you gradually feel like an IN THE ZONE badass, ONE WITH THE GAME as you intercept the ball at seemingly impossible speeds.

Monkey Island 2, I'll refrain from comment since I assume the first one will show up eventually...

The first Zelda was great...cool sounds, difficult in a way that was never really cheap...you could, slowly, make progress in the thing even if you weren't born to game. It didn't show up in my ballot - I think I figured that Link to the Past was basically the same game but better across the board.

#34: Sensible Soccer series (1992-1998)
http://www.atari-shop.nl/jaguarusedgames/sensiblesoccer.jpg
http://amiga.nostalgie.free.fr/disk/simulation/screenshots/sensible.jpg
Developer:Sensible Software
Publisher:Sensible Software
Original format:Commodore Amiga
Highest position:#1, blueski

^had that as my #2 game. Just... amazing, I don't think a game has ever _played_ as well as it.

Damn, I've gotta head up to lol campus and do work for most of the afternoon. I'll be looking forward to seeing the rest of the list when I get back home though.

ha i hate football and even i liked sensible soccer

* Sensible Soccer spawned several clones, amongst them Croteam's Football Glory, for which they were sued by Sensible Software. The game's Croatian programmer claimed to have never seen, let alone played, Sensible Soccer.
* The graphic style of the game was used in other Sensible Software games, such as Mega Lo Mania, Cannon Fodder and Sensible Golf.
* One Christmas, a free Sensible Software minigame was included on an Amiga Format cover disk. Called Cannon Soccer, it was essentially two bonus levels of Cannon Fodder (one of Sensible Software's other titles) in which the soldiers fought hordes of Sensible Soccer players in a snowy landscape.
* On the Amiga Power Coverdisk 21 one of the demos was "Sensible Soccer Meets Bulldog Blighty". This featured a mode of play that involved replacing players with soldiers from Cannon Fodder, and the ball with a hand grenade. The grenade would randomly begin to flash eventually exploding, killing any nearby players.
* Sensible World of Moon Soccer a free covermount disk included with an issue of Amiga Action magazine in the UK,play as Moon united. featured low gravity, a cratered pitch and hordes of alien players to trade.[5]
* The developers released a humorous spin-off called unSensible Soccer which consisted of apples vs oranges instead of men. It was released as a free covermount disk with some magazines at the time.
* SWOS 1996 received a score of 96% from Amiga Power, the highest mark given for any game in their 65-issue run.
* Sensible World of Soccer (1994) received recognition as one of the Ten Most Important Video Games of All Time by the History of Science and Technology Collections at Stanford University.
* The game was almost published by Virgin Games, but they insisted on it being called Virgin Soccer.

SS/SWOS brilliance includes the 'inertia balance' and sense of weight of players, more sluggish than early FIFA (and Kick Off obv) but as with Mario it just felt totally right (actually it was still all too fast for my liking, unless you played a Div 2 game or India vs Malaysia etc.)

In SWOS manager mode i took Wycombe into the top flight and UEFA Cup, won the treble with Real Madrid and then lead England to a World Cup with a Robbie Fowler header against Germany in the final. Greatest game experience ever.

#33: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/ZeldaOoTbox.png
http://www.igniq.com/images/zelda_online_ocarina_of_time_170805.jpg
Developer:Nintendo EAD
Publisher:Nintendo
Original format:Nintendo 64
Highest position:#5, KenC

Still really really want them to release the new version for Vista so I can play people online xp

ocarina of time higher than the original: all credibility lost

So much Zelda. I've never played any, and don't have any particular burning desire to do so. What's so good about these games, guys?

didn't it get 10 out of 10 in EDGE?

I do like ocarinas, mind you.

http://www.concertflute.com/images/OcarinaMakerDiagram001.jpg

The N64 Zeldas are totally cool though! Majora's Mask blows this one away though, with the sheer density of sub-quests and things to do. Ocarina feels quite sparse in comparison.

ding ding ding

only one that has any sort of claim to place higher than the original is the snes one - i feel like theyve really lost the plot w/this series - anyone play the last one omg so baaaad

mario on the other hand just keeps rolling

What's cool about Zelda = consistently one of the best syntheses in gaming between "action" and "puzzle" gaming, with an "adventure" format to help differentiate things, ie you get to do exploration and also you acquire equipment along the way that introduces new kinds of puzzles.

most retarded kotaku post ever: http://kotaku.com/gaming/ocarina/ocarinas-not-just-for-link-any-more-256174.php

#32: Madden NFL series (1988-)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/John_madden_football.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/Madden06Screen.jpg
Developer:Electronic Arts Tiburon
Publisher:EA Sports
Original format:Commodore 64
Highest position:#4, Euler

abanana, it is even more retarded because I'm fairly sure that shape isn't the most common shape of ocarina at all.

The cover of John Madden Football looks like a Rodney Dangerfield movie.

Can anyone tell that I'm procrastinating furiously?

Oh god, kill me now.

american football is the crappest sport ever

even worse than curling

ha u know nothing abt football or curling

emil.y stop procrastinating. 11 days left!

i know less than nothing and am quite content to keep it that way

i know nothing abt this game except that i hate it!