2 - Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition 2012. This game... I want to stop playing it, want to get bored of going online and eating peoples faces off, I want to not enjoy just pressing Taunt as chunlis or Dhalsims shit slow fireballs travel the screen to chip the last bit of health from someone, forcing them to endure a slow motion.... "cultivate a pure heart" from him or a "sorry" from Chunli but nope as much as I have around 200 other 360 games that I promise myself I will finish because they've been sitting there watching me play this for so long I feel bad... but nope almost anytime I go near the 360 this finds its way into it, also helps having about 6 mates all within walking distance who play it far too much as well but this has to be just the definitive fighting game I've ever came across, 39 characters all well balanced, all with their own unique play to them just amazing, also good enough netcode to play people from almost anywhere in the world without game ending lag, as much as I generally am not a fan of Capcom, this baby is perfection. (if any VGchartzer wants to go a round and has Xboxlive gimme a pm :D )

3 - Secret of Mana. This was actually I think one of the first RPGs I played, this or ALTTP but Squaresofts finest hour IMO it didn't even come out here in EU for a year or 2 after it's NA release meaning my copy of it has to be sat in a massive convertor which requires having a PAL game sitting in with it and can need anywhere upto 10 mins of swearing and blowing dust from its 3 cartridge ports to get the game to boot... but when it does, my lord everything from the Roar on the Squaresoft logo til the snow falls (sniff) at the end is just magic, from the Music, story and beautiful looking sprites this game still holds up absolutely perfectly today if anyone hasn't taken the time outta their lives to finish it I can't recommend it enough, you will enjoy this if you have a soul :D

4 - Super Smash Brothers Melee, The reason to own a gamecube, this game + 3 or more friends around a lovely little cube eat up so many hundreds of hours of time for me, given my love of a lot of the Nintendo franchises this game allowing you to pick up Mario by the throat as Ganondorf and slap his shit around the place was just it for me was worth the investment in the GC, Ganons taunt in this game and how he Thrusts himself forward even granted me a forum name all over the Internet heh..... it's rather a sight to see O.o but yeah I think at just under 800 hours of playtime on my own Save of this ontop of lord knows how much more on all my friends systems this defo has to sit in my top 5

Ocarina of Time?!

As guessed by Player2, my #1 game is:

#1. StarCraft (Brood War) (PC)

"This is not WarCraft in space!"

Warcraft II was my first Blizzard game, it was very very good but there were some issues with it, the main one being that both races felt pretty much the same. That issue was addressed brillantly in StarCraft, the game's three races were completely different from each other and not just in the spell department. Units, health, buildings, construction methods all differed from race to race.

In the campaign mode, you were treated to a exciting story viewed from the point of view of the Terrans, the Zerg and the Protoss. The most interesting part being Kerrigan's story from being betrayed by Mengsk to being reborn as a Zerg to double crossing everyone to become the "Queen Bitch of the Universe".

On the multiplayer front, through multiple patches Blizzard achieved what I believe to be the perfect balance between the three forces thus making all match ups a joy to play. I played countless games online against random opponents and even more games in local multiplayer against my brother in deadly Terran Vs Protoss battles. Where I drove him crazy with my Spider Mines and where I surprised me with Reaver drops in my main.

#1

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
System: Nintendo 64
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Date: November 21, 1998

My list of the top ten video games of all-time has seen a good amount of change since I finished the first draft back in 2005 -- several games that made the top ten then don't break the top 20 now. But the number one spot has remained remarkably constant. Except for a single week during which Halo: Combat Evolved earned the top spot, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has been number one. And for good reason. Ocarina of Time is a masterpiece, the pinnacle of Nintendo creativity and ingenuity, and the benchmark against which all games, past, present, and future, must be judged. It takes no amount of bravery on my part to choose Ocarina as number one; it is generally considered the very best console game of all time. In many ways it is the video game equivalent of Citizen Kane: critically acclaimed, hugely influential, and, until recently, the consensus pick for greatest of all time. Ocarina accomplished a great deal upon its release. It pioneered innovations like z-targeting, auto-jump, and context sensitive buttons. It took existing game mechanics like horseback riding, fishing, and the realistic passage of time and wove them into the game narrative like never before. All these things are now commonplace in video games. Ocarina also accomplished great things for the franchise: it pushed The Legend of Zelda into three dimensions using a modified version of the Super Mario 64 engine; it gave players never-before-seen glimpses into the origin of the Triforce and the genesis of Ganondorf; and it established a foundation for future titles Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker, and Skyward Sword, all of which are among the greatest games of the past 15 years. Truly, Ocarina has everything: a sweeping musical score for the ages; vast, fully-realized three-dimensional worlds; innovative and easy-to-use controls; an epic and emotionally engaging storyline; and gameplay so rich, varied, and engaging that it has no equal. It is the only game on my list without a single perceptible flaw. It is a shining example of everything that is right about gaming. It is the greatest video game of all time.

#01 - Spyro: Year of the Dragon (PS1)

As guessed by Green_Sky

When I was coming up for my list of top 50 games, there were quite a few contenders for who was going to be on the top spot (basically any of the top 5 really).  But when it came down to it, only one series of games shaped my gaming tastes, remains fully playable to this day (and still gets regularly played by me), evokes fantastic feelings of nostalgia whenever I think about it and basically are my favourite games ever.  And of that series, one game stands out head and shoulders above the rest.

Yep, those genuises at Insomniac Games outdid themselves with Spyro: Year of the Dragon to create - in my mind - what is the closest we've ever seen to gaming perfection.  Not only did it take the fantastic foundation of the previous 2 Spyro games - collecting, gliding, swimming, toasting bad guys and all the other stuff that I've come to love from Spyro, but they added so many new features to make the experience one of the best you can have on the PS1.  We now had icy levels with mini-games like cat-hockey and protecting figure skaters; skateboarding levels chasing down rhynocs and pulling tricks; much improved swimming levels; anything I could think of as a child was a level in Spyro:

But there's so much more to this game, I'm having trouble putting it all into words haha.  There is an absolutely masterful soundtrack by a god among video-game soundtrack makers, Stewart Copeland.  Featuring literally perfect themes for every level, fitting with tone and feel of the level, you could not ask for a better soundtrack.  Then there's the colour pallette which - as I hope you've seen from all the screenshots - is vibrant and beautiful.  While the 3D models may not have held up too well to this day, I would have to say that the game still looks stunning by any standards - again, because of the vibrant use of colour and just generally beautiful environments that littered the game.  Then there's the humour - if there's one thing Insomniac knows, it's how to make me laugh.  Whether it's being insulted by Moneybags or running into 'Tara Croft', the game never takes itself too seriously:

And I've been saving this one for last because I have a lovely picture to go with it but: the new cast of characters.  Instead of controlling Spyro the whole game, there's actually 4 new characters + Sparx that are controllable throughout Spyro's adventure, which literally add a whole new dynamic to the game.  You can run around assault courses gunning down Rhynocs as the excitable Agent 9, or batter them over the head in boxing arenas using the gentlemanly Bentley's club.  These new characters just made the game feel complete, and they were an absolutely great addition.  Basically, I could talk to anyone about Spyro: Year of the Dragon for weeks, but who has the time?  Definitely the most perfect, nostalgic and brilliant game I've ever played.  Thank you, Insomniac Games.

#1. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (GCN)

My number one game makes me soooo sad when I remember it. I loved this game SOOO much, it's one of the only games I've ever played more than once (it's probably the most times I've ever beaten a game). It's my number one favorite game ever, but it's probably the last of its kind. The series just wasn't the same after this entry, and nothing will ever take its place. Sad sad sad :(

And I'd just like to say thanks to Smeags for making an awesome thread that it's been a joy to post in... and all you other guys who have been contributing here too, it's been really fun to read all your games and guess all your clues. Thanks guys :)

Hear, hear!

Thanks for making this awesome thread, Smeags :D

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

If you've been paying attention, then this should have been easy to guess. I mentioned having four Zelda games in my top 50, and I'd only placed three of them with just the #1 spot to go, and what better game to place there than one widely regarded as the best game ever made.

One of the things that makes gaming so popular is that the player is given the opportunity to be the hero, and Ocarina of Time is the absolute best at delivering that experience. It is an adventure game on an epic scale, with you tasked to defeat the bad guy and save the world (which is something that isn't exactly unique, but that basic idea is done best here). You progress through the various dungeons, acquiring more weapons as you go, all for the purpose of preparing yourself for that epic final battle.

It's not just the main quest which makes Ocarina so great though, as all of the little things add up to improve the experience drastically. The exploration of the land, the mini games, the side quests... In fact the most memorable moment in the game for me is when you're about to enter Hyrule Field for the first time after leaving Kokiri Forest, and you see the field open up in front of you. That moment makes you realise just how big this game is, and just how much of an adventure there is to come.

This year, my games have an average metascore of 88.52, and an average release year of 2005.36.