~ S.Peelman's Top 50 Best Video Games of All Times 2020: ~
Another year, another top 50 list. These are S.Peelman's most favorite games of all-time. Games can be on this list simply because they are excellent and made an impression on me due to quality, but they can also be here because they gave me countless hours of fun, or had a deeper impact on myself as a person or as a gamer. The very best games did all of those things, and that is worth a lot.
When a game spans multiple consoles, only those on which I played the game are mentioned, alongside the system a game originally released on if I never played it there. The year of release is based on the PAL releases of the original game, which really only really makes a difference in a handful of older games. This year there are four (4) games that return (R) to the list, and five (5) newcomers (*). This means that nine (9) games are different compared to last year. Most of the rest of the list has been shuffled to suit my updated feelings about all these games.
| # | Title | Genre | Platform | Year | YoY | Guessed by |
| 50 | Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords | Role-playing game | PC | 2005 | R | unguessed |
| 49 | Soccer | Sports | NES | 1987 | = | Darashiva |
| 48 | Duck Hunt | Lightgun shooter | NES | 1987 | v1 | Darashiva |
| 47 | RiMe | Adventure | SW | 2017 | * | unguessed |
| 46 | Child of Light | Role-playing game | WiiU | 2014 | * | Mnementh |
| 45 | Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (Crash Bandicoot: Warped) | 3D platformer | PS1 | 1998 | R | UnderwaterFunktown |
| 44 | Pokémon Blue Version | Role-playing game | GB | 1999 | = | Zippy6 |
| 43 | Virtua Tennis | Sports | DC | 2000 | R | Zippy6 |
| 42 | Star Wars Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire | Rail shooter | Mac, PS1 | 1995 | ^4 | coolbeans |
| 41 | Star Wars: Dark Forces | First-person shooter | Mac | 1995 | * | coolbeans |
| 40 | Resident Evil: Revelations | Survival horror | 3DS | 2012 | R | Mnementh |
| 39 | Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds | Real-time strategy | PC | 2001 | ^3 | unguessed |
| 38 | Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock | Rhythm | PS3 | 2007 | = | TruckOSaurus |
| 37 | Wolfenstein 3D | First-person shooter | Mac | 1994 | ^2 | Mnementh |
| 36 | Super Metroid | Action platformer | SNES, WiiU | 1994 | v1 | GoOnKid |
| 35 | SimTower | Construction & Management Simulation | Mac | 1993 | v5 | kenjab |
| 34 | Medieval II: Total War | Turn-based strategy | PC | 2006 | * | Farsala |
| 33 | Metroid Fusion | Action platformer | GBA, 3DS | 2002 | v2 | Kakadu18 |
| 32 | Rome: Total War | Turn-based strategy | PC | 2004 | ^4 | Farsala |
| 31 | MotoCross Madness | Racing | PC | 1998 | v11 | coolbeans |
| 30 | Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness | Real-time strategy | Mac | 1996 | * | The_Liquid_Laser |
| 29 | SoulCalibur | Fighting | DC | 1999 | v1 | GoOnKid |
| 28 | The Operative: No One Lives Forever | First-person shooter | PC | 2000 | ^4 | Darashiva |
| 27 | The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past | Adventure | SNES, GBA | 1992 | ^2 | The_Liquid_Laser |
| 26 | Super Mario Galaxy | 3D platformer | Wii | 2007 | ^1 | drbunnig |
| 25 | Uncharted 2: Among Thieves | Third-person shooter | PS3 | 2009 | = | Machina |
| 24 | Call of Duty | First-person shooter | PC | 2003 | ^2 | coolbeans |
| 23 | Mega Man 2 | Action platformer | NES | 1990 | ^1 | The_Liquid_Laser |
| 22 | The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask | Adventure | N64, GC, 3DS | 2000 | v1 | The_Liquid_Laser |
| 21 | Astérix (Asterix: The Gallic War) | Turn-based strategy | PS1 | 1999 | v6 | Darashiva |
| 20 | GoldenEye 007 | First-person shooter | N64 | 1997 | v1 | drbunnig |
| 19 | Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast | First-person shooter | PC | 2002 | ^4 | unguessed |
| 18 | SimCity 3000 | Construction & Management Simulation | PC | 1999 | ^4 | unguessed |
| 17 | Prince of Persia | Action platformer | Mac, Mobile | 1989 | ^1 | drbunnig |
| 16 | The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess | Adventure | GC, Wii, WiiU | 2006 | ^1 | Link_Nines.XBC |
| 15 | Lylat Wars (Star Fox 64) | Rail shooter | N64, 3DS | 1997 | v1 | TruckOSaurus |
| 14 | Kula World (Rollaway) | Puzzle platformer | PS1, PS3 | 1998 | v2 | drbunnig |
| 13 | Super Mario Bros. 3 | 2D platformer | NES, SNES, GBA | 1991 | ^3 | TruckOSaurus |
| 12 | MediEvil | Adventure | PS1, PS4 | 1998 | ^1 | Darashiva |
| 11 | Theme Hospital | Construction & Management Simulation | PC | 1997 | = | drbunnig |
| 10 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | Adventure | WiiU, SW | 2017 | = | Platina |
| 09 | SimCity 4 | Construction & Management Simulation | PC | 2003 | = | The_Liquid_Laser |
| 08 | Mario Kart 64 | Racing | N64 | 1997 | = | Darashiva |
| 07 | RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 | Construction & Management Simulation | PC | 2002 | v1 | The_Liquid_Laser |
| 06 | Anno 1602 (1602 A.D.) | Construction & Management Simulation | PC | 1998 | ^1 | The_Liquid_Laser |
| 05 | The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening | Adventure | GB/C, 3DS, SW | 1993 | = | The_Liquid_Laser |
| 04 | Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island | 2D Platformer | SNES, GBA, 3DS | 1995 | = | drbunnig |
| 03 | Super Mario 64 | 3D Platformer | N64, DS | 1997 |  |
Vinther1991 |
| 02 | Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic | Role-playing game | PC, Mobile | 2003 |  |
coolbeans |
| 01 | The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time | Adventure | N64, GC, 3DS | 1998 |  |
Kakadu18 |
Honourable mentions:
Great games, but not enough to make it into the list. Some have in years past, but have since fallen out, some come in and out, and some have never been featured. Some honourable mentions of last year have made it into the main list this year or have disappeared entirely and there's some new ones.
- Age of Empires
- Age of Mythology
- Anno 1404
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Crazy Taxi
- Dynamite Cop
- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
- Game #14: Gunfighter
- The Legend of Zelda
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon
- Missile Command
- Professor Layton & Pandora's Box
- SimCity 2000
- Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force
- Star Wars Shadows of the Empire
- Step-On-It
- Super Mario 3D Land
- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
- Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Platform statistics:
Under here are some statistics like the amount of games from the main list by platform (counted by a game's original platform only) for each platform I own. The number of games in a "franchise" includes all games regardless of genre or sub-series.
| Nintendo | Sony | Others | Decades | ||||
| Nintendo | 4 | Playstation | 4 | Philips Videopac G7000 | 0 | 1970s | 0 |
| Super Nintendo | 3 | Playstation 3 | 2 | Atari 2600 | 0 | 1980s | 2 |
| Nintendo 64 | 6 | Playstation 4 | 0 | 1990s | 27 | ||
| Gamecube | 1 | Playstation Vita | 0 | Windows PC | 14 | 2000s | 17 |
| Wii | 1 | Mac OS | 6 | 2010s | 4 | ||
| WiiU | 1 | SEGA | Franchises (3 games or more) |
||||
| Switch | 1 | Mega Drive | 0 | Mobile | 0 | The Legend of Zelda | 6 |
| GameBoy/Color | 2 | Dreamcast | 2 | Star Wars | 6 | ||
| GameBoy Advance | 1 | Mario | 5 | ||||
| DS | 0 | Sim | 3 | ||||
| 3DS | 1 |
List statistics:
Here are some statistics from the main list like most featured genre, or highest new game. "Median game" means this is the 'middle game' by age in the list; there's as much games newer as there are games older in the list.
- Best Year: 1998; 6 titles.
- Best Decade: '90s; 27 titles.
- Median Game by Release Date: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Nintendo 64/GameCube/Nintendo 3DS, 11 December 1998, #1
- Most Featured Genre: Adventure; 8 titles.
- Most Represented Platform: Windows PC; 14 titles (inc. Mac 20 titles). Nintendo 64; 6 titles.
- Most Represented Generation: 5th; Nintendo 64+PlayStation+GameBoy/Color and Windows PC+Mac (of equivalent era); 17 titles.
- Number of Genres in List: 18 genres.
- Number of Franchises in List: 32 franchises.
- Most Featured Publisher: Nintendo (including subsidiaries); 18 titles.
- Most Featured Franchise: The Legend of Zelda; 6 titles, Star Wars; 6 titles.
- Most Featured Game-(sub-)series: The Legend of Zelda; 6 titles.
- Oldest Game: Soccer, Nintendo NES, 1987, #49
- Newest Game: RiMe, Nintendo Switch, 2017, #47
- Number of new or returning games: 9 titles.
- Highest Newcomer: Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Macintosh, 1996, #30
- Highest Re-Entry: Resident Evil: Revelations, Nintendo 3DS, 2012, #40
- Unchanged compared to last year: 13 titles
- Largest climb compared to last year: +4 places; Multiple (4) titles.
- Largest drop compared to last year: -11 places; MotoCross Madness, Windows PC, 1998, #31
- Highest placed dropped game from last year: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Nintendo 64, 1997, #33 (2020)
Correct guesses:
Here will be a ranking of people's correct guesses in the Discussion Thread, and number of games that went unguessed. These will be added up each time someone correctly guesses a next entry in the list.
| The_Liquid_Laser | 8 |
| Darashiva | 6 |
| drbunnig | 6 |
| coolbeans | 5 |
| Mnementh | 3 |
| TruckOSaurus | 3 |
| Zippy6 | 2 |
| Farsala | 2 |
| GoOnKid | 2 |
| Kakadu18 | 2 |
| UnderwaterFunktown | 1 |
| kenjab | 1 |
| Machina | 1 |
| Link_Nines.XBC | 1 |
| Platina | 1 |
| Vinther1991 | 1 |
| Unguessed | 5 |
