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~ S.Peelman's Top 50 Best Video Games of All Times 2023: ~

Another year, another top 50 list. These are S.Peelman's most favourite 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. 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.

# Title Genre Platform Year YoY Guessed by
50 Resident Evil: Revelations Survival horror 3DS 2012 R Mnementh
49 Dynamite Cop Beat 'em up DC 1999 ^2 Pajderman
48 Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box) Puzzle adventure DS 2009 R Veknoid_Outcast
47 Crazy Taxi Arcade racing DC 2000 R Mnementh
46 Soccer Sports NES 1987 = Veknoid_Outcast
45 SimCity 2000 Construction simulation Mac 1993 v4 Darashiva
44 Wolfenstein 3D First person shooter Mac 1994 v9 Machina
43 Star Wars Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire Rail shooter Mac 1995 v3 drbunnig
42 Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness Realtime strategy Mac 1996 v12 TruckOSaurus
41 Mega Man 2 Action platform NES 1990 v12 Veknoid_Outcast
40 Total War: Rome II Turn-based strategy PC 2013 R unguessed
39 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Adventure SNES, GBA 1992 v14 drbunnig
38 Empire: Total War Turn-based strategy PC 2009 R The_Liquid_Laser
37 Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds Realtime strategy PC 2001 ^1 unguessed
36 Metroid Fusion Action platform GBA 2002 ^3 Veknoid_Outcast
35 Pokémon Blue Version Role-playing game GB 1999 ^7 UnderwaterFunktown
34 Age of Mythology Realtime strategy PC 2003 ^2 UnderwaterFunktown
33 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Rhythm PS3 2007  ^4 UnderwaterFunktown
32 SimCity 3000 Construction simulation PC 1999 v17 haxxiy
31 Super Mario Galaxy 3D platform Wii 2007 v8 drbunnig
30 Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force First person shooter PC 2000 R Machina
29 Motocross Madness Arcade racing PC 1998 ^3 unguessed
28 Prince of Persia (1989) Action platform Mac, Mobile 1992 v12 drbunnig
27 SimTower: The Vertical Empire Construction simulation Mac 1994 ^4 Mnementh
26 Medieval II: Total War Turn-based strategy PC 2006 ^8 unguessed
25 SoulCalibur Fighting DC 1999 ^3 Darashiva
24 Rome: Total War Turn-based strategy PC 2004 ^9 Machina
23 Super Mario Bros. 3 2D platform NES, SNES, GBA 1991 v4 drbunnig
22 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Adventure N64, GC, 3DS 2000 = Veknoid_Outcast
21 The Operative: No One Lives Forever First person shooter PC 2000 ^5 drbunnig
20 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Action-adventure PS3 2009 ^4 Pajderman
19 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Adventure GC, Wii, WiiU 2006 v1 UnderwaterFunktown
18 GoldenEye 007 First person shooter N64 1997 ^3 UnderwaterFunktown
17 Call of Duty First person shooter PC 2003 ^10 Mnementh
16 Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast First person shooter PC 2002 ^1 drbunnig
15 Kula World (Rollaway) Puzzle platformer PS1 1998 v2 drbunnig
14 Lylat Wars (Star Fox 64) Rail shooter N64, 3DS 1997 = Jpcc86
13 Astérix (Asterix: The Gallic Wars) Turn-based strategy PS1 1999 ^7 Darashiva
12 MediEvil Adventure PS1, PS4 1998 = Jpcc86
11 Theme Hospital Construction simulation PC 1997 = drbunnig
10 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Adventure WiiU, SW 2017 = drbunnig
09 Mario Kart 64 Arcade racing N64 1997 v1 UnderwaterFunktown
08 SimCity 4 Construction simulation PC 2003 ^1 Jpcc86
07 RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 Construction simulation PC 2002 v1 UnderwaterFunktown
06 Anno 1602 (1602 A.D.) Construction simulation PC 1998 ^1 unguessed
05 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Adventure GB, GBC, SW 1993 = drbunnig
04 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island 2D platform SNES, GBA 1995 = drbunnig
03 Super Mario 64 3D platform N64, DS 1997 drbunnig
02 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Role-playing game PC, Mobile 2003 UnderwaterFunktown
01 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Adventure N64, GC, 3DS 1998 UnderwaterFunktown

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 some are new. These will be added before the reveal of the top 3 of the main list.

  • 51: Anno 1404 (alternate name: Dawn of Discovery)
  • 52: Star Wars: Dark Forces
  • 53: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
  • 54: Virtua Tennis
  • 55: Blast Corps
  • 56: Dungeon Keeper
  • 57: Luigi's Mansion 2 (alternate name: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon)
  • 58: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
  • 59: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
  • 60: Child of Light

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. These will be added as each new entry gets revealed.

Nintendo Sony   Others Decades  
Nintendo 3 Playstation 3 Philips Videopac G7000 0 1970s 0
Super Nintendo 2 Playstation 3 2 Atari 2600 0 1980s 1
Nintendo 64 6 Playstation 4 0 1990s 26
Gamecube 1 Playstation Vita 0 Windows PC 17 2000s 20
Wii 1 macOS 6 2010s 3
WiiU 1   2020s 0
Switch 0 Mobile 0 Franchises (3 games or more)
GameBoy/Color 2 SEGA The Legend of Zelda 6
GameBoy Advance 1 Mega Drive 0   Total War 4
DS 1 Dreamcast 3 Sim 4
3DS 1     Mario (*except Yoshi's Island) 4
Star Wars 4

List statistics:

Here are some statistics from the main list like most featured genre, or highest new game. These will be added after the end of the event, when the #1 game has been posted.

    • Oldest video game: #46: Soccer, NES, 1987
    • Newest video game: #10: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, WiiU, 2017
    • Number of newcomers: 0
    • Highest newcomer: -
    • Number of re-entries: 6
    • Highest re-entry: #30: Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, PC, 2000
    • Biggest climb year-on-year: #17: Call of Duty, PC, 2003 (#27 > #17)
    • Biggest drop year-on-year: #32: SimCity 3000, PC, 1999 (#15 > #32)
    • Most games of year: 1997, 1998, 1999; 5 games
    • Most represented generation: 6th; GameCube, Dreamcast, GameBoy Advance, PC + macOS (releases during 6th console generation); 15 games
    • Number of genres: 19
    • Most represented genre: Construction simulation, Adventure; 7 games
    • Average age of all games: 24 years; 2000.0 (=January 2000)

      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.

      drbunnig 13
      UnderwaterFunktown 9
      Veknoid_Outcast 5
      Mnementh 4
      Machina 3
      Darashiva 3
      Jpcc86 3
      Pajderman 2
      TruckOSaurus 1
      The_Liquid_Laser 1
      haxxiy 1
      Unguessed 5

      Last edited by S.Peelman - on 05 January 2024