Yeah, I have quite a few older games that I want to play.  KOTOR is on my shortlist.

By next year I will have played a ton! I failed to submit a list in time this year, but I have completed DQ 11 and 1 so far and rated them both very highly. Playing 2 right now with the intention of 3 bring next. I have 7 on 3ds but never beat it. Any ideas where I can play 4-6 and 8-10?

It’s quite brilliant, it won’t disappoint.

Kotor and Kotor 2 are both amazing turn based RPG's. Some of the best games ever made. Kotor had such a shocking twist in it that still to this day is viewed as the best story in star wars by quite a few people. I rank it as my second favorite story after the Darth Bane trilogy of books, personally (for now). Kotor 2 just had so many improved/expanded upon game mechanics that is was also epic. And the ending of that game was a lot of amazing questions and really opened the can of worms. It's just sad that can of worms got restricted to an MMO.

Thanks for the great work.

Random Observations

• Though I played none of 2020's entries in the Top 100, I was glad to see that there was a healthy supply of new great games this last year. I am, however, surprised that Animal Crossing: New Horizons wasn't one of them, seeing how ludicrously well that game sold in 2020.
• In the Top 100, that's 9 Final Fantasy games, 12 Mario games, and 10 Legend of Zelda games. Impressive.
• It's always surprising to see how so many PC games get so many votes, yet so few PC exclusives end up placing highly. I'm pleased as punch to see Age of Empires II in the Top 100 this time. That game really grew back on me upon revisiting it these past two years.
• At a glance, the NES has 11 third party games in its Top 20, the SNES has 9, the N64 has 3, the GameCube has 5, the Wii has 3, the Wii U has 2, and the Switch has 6. This confirms the generally held idea that Nintendo had better 3rd party support in its early days, but it's recovered somewhat with the Switch.
  • Conversely, only 2 of the 14 GB/GBC titles were third party, whereas 6 of the Top 20 GBA titles were, along with 7/8 of the DS Top 20 and 7 of the 3DS's Top 20. In general, third party handheld support seems consistent. Furthermore, if the Switch is treated as a handheld, it fits roughly into the same pattern that's existed since the GBA.
• Looking at the various iterations of PlayStation, you get the feeling that peoples' tastes steadily change every few years. The PS1 is dominated by epic JRPG's flanked by Action and Platform games, the PS2 slightly deemphasizes the JRPG's and platformers in favor of more action and action-adventure games, the PS3 further deemphasizes platformers and JRPG's and brings in more shooters and open world games, and the PS4 continues the trends of the PS3 while this time focusing a bit more on the linear storytelling of games like The Last of Us.
  • In contrast, the Xbox platform feels a bit more stable. The Xbox started as a place where you could play shooters and typically PC games, including WRPG's. This also holds true looking at the Top 360 games. Even on the X1, when the platform is starting to diversify, you have shooters like Halo and Overwatch alongside PC-oriented games like Witcher 3.
• Every year, I go through the effort of making sure I included 80's era games on my Top 50, only to later kick the games down to the 50's and 60's when I remember other games I've played. I suspect the same applies to other people, because the 80's need more love.
• At some point, I'd like to see at least a partial Publisher and/or Developer breakdown. In particular, I'd like to see how much of the Square Enix empire is just the Final Fantasy series (you still have big point earners like Nier, Chrono, Kingdom Hearts, and Dragon Quest), how Capcom's diverse library of games is represented (the Top 100 alone has Mega Man, Okami, and Resident Evil, but not Street Fighter or Monster Hunter), how Microsoft and Sony do compared to Nintendo (both overall and by era), etc.

I see three factors here at work. For once, most users on VGC are younger. Even for me as one of the older users, I really started gaming in the 90s, so I played 80s games years after their release. The second point is, that gaming developed since the 80s. That is not only on a technological level, but developers also learned a lot about structure, motivation and other stuff over the years. So older games can seem dated. And the third thing: the industry wasn't as big back then. Which resulted in way less games released than today.

For me personally, I consider some 80s games, namely Indiana Jones (which made my list 2017), NetHack (which also made my list 2017), Arkanoid, Blockout, Battle Chess and Populous. But that is a much smaller list than the games from later decades to begin with and they just don't make it in the end.

I just want to add that, IMO, the two dominant platforms in the 80s were the arcade and the NES.  Computer games existed, but they really didn't come into their own until the mouse was common and that was in the 90s.  (I hesitate to even call these PC games, because most computer games were not played on a Microsoft OS.)  

I don't think most forum members here have ever been in a real arcade.  (I.e. Dave and Busters is nothing like the ones from the 80s.)  So, I don't think most people have had a chance to play arcade games on their original hardware which is how they are meant to be played.  NES is more accessible, but it is also a similar story.  There is a noticeable difference when you play NES action games on original hardware (including a CRT TV set).  I have a NES classic and I cannot beat Mr Dream (i.e. Mike Tyson) at the end of Punch Out no matter how many times I try.  There is too much lag in the system.  There is lag in the NES classic and most HD TVs also have lag.  I recently got an AVS system (which is lag free) and now I can beat Mike Tyson at the end of the game.

Some NES games are extremely intense and require precise timing and fast reflexes.  Early arcade games are the same way.  After the 8-Bit generation games gradually slowed down, became easier, and have more room for error in the coding.  People can play modern action games which are full of lag and to most people they feel fine, because of how they are designed.  But NES games and arcade games are extremely quick and intense and will not feel right unless they are played on lag free hardware which simulates the original experience.

Great list, and great work mZuzek!

thank you SO much @mZuzek for compiling this list yet again. its such a fun occasion and i really appreciate it! some thoughts as i read through the list..

OMGGG celeste made the top 100 (just)!!! my #2!! I'm so happy. Wish it was higher but just happy it made it :,)

Im shocked that fire emblem awakening is one spot above three houses, hopefully that gets… fixed… next year.

Nier automata and xenoblade 2 - some of my all time fav my fav rpgs - right next to each other is cute (^_^)

Hollow knight is waaaay too high. Will never get the praise it receives relative to arguably much better indie greats like celeste and ori.

Even though its lower than the others, Super Mario 3D world being in the top 30 is fantastic! Such an underrated mario game!

The xenoblade entries are all a bit lower than id like, with x missing out on the top 100, but I find it interesting that the distinct order they appear here is the exact opposite of my list lol.

Metroid prime at 17!! Glad to see it still getting love. (cant believe its not the highest GC game though)

Omg, heart gold/soul silver easily the highest pokemon game, all is right in the world

Aaaand botw in its rightful place at the top, again! You love to see it.

Also, bayonetta 1 and 2 and Astral Chain were robbed. So was 13 sentinels: aegies rim!!!

I like the goty table, its interesting how some years were so strong and then some like 2019 have only one entry in the top 100.

I'm one of those people who have blind forest but not will of the wisps in their list, i only just played the former this November. i bought will of the wisps for Christmas but haven't had time to finish it yet, so it'll most likely make my list next year!!

as someone born in the third millennium, i have to say a lot of 80's games are just super difficult to get into when you've been raised on more modern software... only a couple of the GOATs really stand the test of time imo, like SM64 and Super Metroid. i only really got into gaming in like around the wii u era, so the vast majority of my list is between 2015 and 2020 - it's likely similar for other young members.