5. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - N64

One of Nintendo's darkest and most conceptually ambitious offerings to date, Majora's Mask didn't quite "wow" me as much as a certain other Zelda game, that may or may not be on this list later on, but damn, is it still fantastic.

While Termina wasn't as expansive as Hyrule, it certainly was more detailed. NPCs weren't glued to the ground, or aimlessly wandering around. They had a schedule, a purpose, and a story to tell, if you dug deep enough. Side-quests were more numerous than ever, with some of them being amongst the lengthiest and most in-depth in the Zelda series. The tone was refreshingly darker, the masks were just plain awesome to use, and the music, while mostly recycled from Ocarina, was nevertheless top-notch.

If Majora's Mask had a better saving system, I would proclaim it as the best Zelda without hesitation. But since it doesn't... Sorry, Majora. You'll have to be satisfied with being just one of the best games ever created.

Oh this thread is a genius idea. I've never read it before because I assumed it had a completely different concept. Making a top 50 list should be fun, I guess I'll give it a shot later. Brilliant idea, Smeags!

Edit: Wow. This was a lot harder than I expected it to be. A quick brainstorm put around 40 titles into "definitely in my top 20", so that alone caused quite a confusion. I have no idea how you lot manage to do this properly.

Edit 2: Well, this turned out to be a lot easier than I expected it to be. I've sorted out which games I think are my top 50 now. They'll just need some rearranging, and that's it. I'm quite surprised by the list myself. It has surprisingly few Ps2 and SNES games, and quite a lot of recent games. In fact, I think half of the games are from 2007 to now, which is quite surprising.

6. Super Mario Bros 3 (NES)

We go from the finest 3D platformer ever created up to that point to the best and my favourite 2D platformer of all time (who knew they'd both be Mario games). It's been a long time since I last played the original, but I did re-buy it on the GBA, and that slightly more recent play through probably helped it climb a few places in this list.

Being a European, SMB2 came in the form of the re-skinned Doki Doki Panic, as it did in America, so SMB3 was the 'real' sequel to the original SMB, but it was well worth that extra waiting time.

Everyone knows what the 2D Mario games are about, but that doesn't stop this from being a true masterpiece.

No. 8 Uncharted 2 (PS3)

The original was good, but didn't even make it onto my list. The sequel on the other hand took everything that made the original good, subtracted the crap and added an extra layer of awesome! Everything in this game just clicked and it acheived everything I want from a story-driven third-person action adventure game. It combined the platforming and puzzles elements of Tomb Raider with the shooting and cover system of Gears but also added a more strategic stealth element to the game rather than relying on the constant spawning of enemies in the original. Not particularly original you might say, but extremely ambitious and very difficult to pull off with the amount of polish they acheived.

I haven't even mentioned the amazing set-pieces that are quite simply mind-blowing. Gun-fights in a collapsing building, platforming on bombarded debris and an amazing combination of platforming and shooting for the train section. These were all aided with some clever physics, amazing visuals and some of the most beautiful vistas I've ever seen in video games. The views on the mountains and at the top of the hotel are truly amazing.

The co-op and multiplayer are also very good fun and works very well, although the single-player is really what makes it for me. Lastly, it's set in Nepal for a large portion of the game, and as I'm Nepali by descent, it holds a special place in my heart :P

Hey. I'm gonna let you guys finish, but I'll get on updating my list real quick.

Since pretty much everyone's favorite world was the Giant World, I'll instead ask: what was your favorite power-up? Mine was the Hammer Bro Suit. Finally allowed me to kill those God-damn Thwomps. >:D

I always loved the Frog Suit and the Tanooki Suit, and yeah.... Giant World FTW.

5. Metroid Prime

I don't have a lot of love for the Gamecube, but what little there is is mostly reserved for this game. I was relatively new to the franchise when this game was released, having only briefly played Super Metroid before it, so Prime was responsible for getting me into the franchise properly.

The game was ever so slightly cruel, in the respect that you started the game on the Space Pirates ship with a fully powered suit, only to lose all of those powers during your escape. You then of course, head to Tallon IV in pursuit of Meta Ridley, and you set about exploring the overworld, gradually regaining powers along the way, opening up new areas in the process thanks to each regained power.

What this game did brilliantly was making you feel like you were in the game, giving you a sense of isolation as you explored the different areas of the planet, which is something that many other games try to do but fail miserably, and that's the difference between a good game, and a great one.

4. God of War II (PS2)

Can you make an improvement over an already epic game? The answer is yes and God of War II has shown how you can do it. They didn't change concept or the core gameplay of God of War, but everything was just bigger and better. The battle against the Coloss of Rhodes right at the beginning was one of the biggest openings I've seen and also one of my favourite boss battles of all time. The whole presentation in every boss battle was simply amazing, also one of my favourites: the battle against the Sisters of Fate. And the end made me want to play God of War III immediately, but sadly, that wasn't possible...

No. 7 Super Mario World (SNES, VC)

Simply put: 2D platforming perfection! This is one of the few times I'll say "if you disagree, you're wrong!". Nintendo took the gameplay elements that made the NES games great and perfected them. Then they gave you a dinosaur to ride that could eat up your enemies! (Yoshi FTW btw). This is quite simply the pinnacle of 2D platformers. Nothing even comes close in terms of quality.

Other than the gameplay being perfect, it also had hundreds of diverse levels, some beautiful worlds to explore, brilliant level design and countless extras and hidden worlds with ridiculously hard challenges. I found the artwork especially enchanting as it really worked my imagination; I genuinely felt like I was in this amazing world where dinosaurs and plumbers could co-exist :P

I'm sure nostalgia plays a big part of my love for this game, but it's one of the few games I keep going back to just for the sake of playing. Give me a SNES and Super Mario World and I'll be satisfied for many years.