User talk:SG/Computer and video games that have been considered the greatest ever

While there is no universal standard by which to judge the quality of games, some games regularly feature in &quot;best game ever&quot; lists. Some games achieve this status simply by selling well, others by topping polls of gamers or industry Critics and winning gaming industry awards.

Best selling
For a detailed list, see List of best selling computer and video games


 * Super Mario Bros. (NES) is the official Guinness Book of World Records record holder for best-selling game, at over 40 million units, although it was sold packaged with the NES. The Mario series is also the top-selling series, with over 200 million games sold.


 * Similarly, Tetris for the Game Boy sold 33 million units, having been packaged with the Game Boy.


 * The best selling game not bundled with a console is Super Mario Bros. 3, also for the NES, selling more than 18 million units.
 * The 2nd best selling game not bundled with a system was Super Mario Land, selling 18.14 million units.
 * The best selling computer game is The Sims, having sold over 8 million units alone and 24 million counting Expansion packs.

A bestseller list will necessarily exclude non-commercial games, and games such as Minesweeper and Solitaire which are present on more than 200 million desktop PCs as part of Microsoft Windows.

Expert polls

 * The original Legend of Zelda game was noted as the best by Game Informer magazine.


 * The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time topped Edge staff's top 100, with GoldenEye 007 and Super Mario 64 rounding out the top three.


 * The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was noted as the best game by Entertainment Weekly.


 * Doom was voted the &quot;#1 game of all time&quot; in a poll among over 100 game developers and journalists conducted by GameSpy in July 2001.


 * Elite is noted by Retrogamer magazine as the best in issue 9.


 * Resident Evil 4 as noted by GamePro magazine in 2005.


 * The Sims 2 is mentioned as the best game ever by The Age newspaper in 2005.


 * Super Mario 64 was chosen as the best game ever by a panel of eight industry professionals at the 2002 Game Developers Conference in London.


 * Super Mario Bros. — IGN's Top 100 Games of All Time, compiled by the editors in 2003, and again in 2005


 * Super Metroid — Electronic Gaming Monthly's Top 100 Games of All Time, compiled by the editors in 2001  (a previous poll held in 1997 ranked Tetris at number one); also by Dorkclub.com.


 * Super Mario 64 was ranked number one by Next Generation Magazine's editors in its September 1996 article The Top 100 Videogames of All Time. Tetris was at the number two spot. Three years later in its February 1999 article The Top 50 Games of All Time, The Legend of Zelda series held the number one title. Tetris still remained at number two.


 * Half-Life was voted number one out of &quot;50 Greatest Games&quot; in the U.S. PC Gamer<nowiki|'</nowiki|s April 2005 article. Doom followed at number two, and Half-Life 2 at number three.


 * Electronic Gaming Monthly's &quot;top 200 games of their time&quot; rank Super Mario Bros. as #1. The feature was meant to show how much impact a game had on its time period, and not how it holds up now.

User polls

 * Resident Evil 4 - IGN's top 99 games as voted by users.


 * GoldenEye 007 - Computer And Video Games' 100 Greatest Games feature, voted for by readers of the magazine (January 2000).
 * In 2001, the magazine repeated the poll, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time came first.


 * Final Fantasy VII won the &quot;Best. Game. Ever&quot; series of polls hosted by GameFAQs in 2004 The polls were made like a contest, divided in 4 divisions: 8-bit (won by Super Mario Bros. 3), 16-bit (won by Chrono Trigger), 32\64 (won by FF7) and 128-bit (won by Super Smash Bros. Melee).


 * Half-Life won the &quot;Title Fight&quot; series of polls hosted by GameSpy in 2004.  The contest was first disputed in 8 divisions: Hell (won by Doom), Stadium (Mario Kart 64), Arcade (Super Mario Bros. 3), Liberty City (Civilization III) Hyrule (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time), Black Mesa (Half-Life), Azeroth (Diablo II) and Abandoned Base (Halo).


 * In issue 150 of Nintendo Official Magazine a poll of the 150 greatest games ever to appear on a Nintendo console:
 * 1) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
 * 2) Pokémon
 * 3) Super Mario 64
 * 4) Super Smash Bros. Melee
 * 5) Metroid Prime
 * 6) Goldeneye 007
 * 7) Super Mario World
 * 8) The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
 * 9) Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
 * 10) Animal Crossing


 * In issue 200 of Nintendo Power Magazine a poll of the 200 greatest games ever to appear on a Nintendo console The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time came 1st followed by Resident Evil 4 in 2nd and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in 3rd


 * GameFAQs held a contest for its 10th Anniversary ending on November 5, 2005 in which users chose their 10 favorite games and guessed what the overall top 10 games would be. The overall top 100 list, as chosen by the overall userbase of GameFAQs, was revealed at the conclusion of the contest. 100.html The top ten were:
 * 1) ''Final Fantasy VII


 * 1) ''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
 * 2) ''Chrono Trigger
 * 3) ''The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
 * 4) ''Super Mario Bros. 3
 * 5) ''Super Smash Bros. Melee
 * 6) ''Goldeneye 007


 * 1) ''Metal Gear Solid
 * 2) ''Halo: Combat Evolved
 * 3) ''Final Fantasy VI (Final Fantasy III in North America)


 * As of July 3, 2006, the top 10 games listed on NintendoHeadquarters, an unofficial poll attaining votes since 1997 on Nintendo-only titles suggests the top 10 are as follows:


 * 1) Super Mario Bros. 3, NES (41,506 votes)
 * 2) Zelda: A Link to the Past, SNES (39,492 votes)
 * 3) Super Mario 64, N64 (38,955 votes)
 * 4) Dragon Quest IV, NES (37,212 votes)
 * 5) Legend of Zelda, NES (33,406 votes)
 * 6) Dragon Quest, NES (33,334 votes)
 * 7) Super Mario Bros, NES (33,158 votes)
 * 8) Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, NES (33,060 votes)
 * 9) Super Mario Bros. 2, NES (32,822 votes)
 * 10) Street Fighter II, SNES (32,510 votes)

The 11th place game is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time with 32,309 votes. Also note a chronological advantage for older games during the long history of voting.

High scores in multiple reviews
thumb|Zelda: Ocarina of Time ranks highest on GameRankings, Gamestats and Metacritic. Note: These rankings, compiled from online sources, do not take into account games that were published before Internet reviewing became a standard in the game industry. This means older games like Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda are not on these lists.

As of August 2006, the top 10 games listed on GameRankings, a site which averages scores awarded by numerous websites and magazines, are:


 * 1) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Nintendo 64 (97.8%)
 * 2) Soul Calibur, Sega Dreamcast (96.4%)
 * 3) Metroid Prime, Nintendo GameCube (96.3%)
 * 4) Tekken 3, PlayStation (96.3%)
 * 5) Resident Evil 4, Nintendo GameCube (95.9%)
 * 6) Super Mario 64, Nintendo 64 (95.8%)
 * 7) Halo: Combat Evolved, Xbox (95.8%)
 * 8) GoldenEye 007, Nintendo 64 (95.8%)
 * 9) Resident Evil 4, PlayStation 2 (95.7%)
 * 10) Half Life 2, PC (95.6%)

As of August 2006, according to Gamestats, the top 10 video games of all time are:


 * 1) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time,	Nintendo 64 (9.8)
 * 2) Soul Calibur,	Sega Dreamcast	(9.7)
 * 3) Resident Evil 4,	Nintendo GameCube	(9.7)
 * 4) GoldenEye 007,	Nintendo 64	(9.6)
 * 5) Metal Gear Solid,	PlayStation (9.6)
 * 6) Half-Life 2,	PC	(9.5)
 * 7) Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence,      Playstation 2 (9.5)
 * 8) The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker,	Nintendo GameCube (9.5)
 * 9) Resident Evil 4, Playstation 2 (9.5)
 * 10) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,	PlayStation 2	(9.5)

As of August 2006, the top 10 games on Metacritic, are:


 * 1) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Nintendo 64 (99)
 * 2) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, PlayStation (98)
 * 3) Soul Calibur, Sega Dreamcast (98)
 * 4) Perfect Dark, Nintendo 64 (97)
 * 5) NFL 2K1, Sega Dreamcast (97)
 * 6) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, PlayStation 2 (97)
 * 7) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Sega Dreamcast (97)
 * 8) Halo: Combat Evolved, Xbox (97)
 * 9) Metroid Prime, Nintendo GameCube (97)
 * 10) Grand Theft Auto III, Playstation 2 (97)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 ranks on all three of the sites as the best reviewed game. Soul Calibur for the Sega Dreamcast is the only other game appearing on all sites that encompass all systems.

User polls
In March of 2006 Japanese Famitsu magazine readers voted on their 100 all-time favorite games. (Full list)

The top ten games picked by fans were:


 * 1) Final Fantasy X (2001)
 * 2) Final Fantasy VII (1997)
 * 3) Dragon Quest III (1988)
 * 4) Dragon Quest VIII (2004)
 * 5) Machi (1998)
 * 6) Final Fantasy IV (1991)
 * 7) Tactics Ogre (1995)
 * 8) Final Fantasy III (1990)
 * 9) Dragon Quest VII (2000)
 * 10) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)

Notable review scores

 * The notoriously tough reviewers from Famitsu magazine have given a perfect score of 40/40 to only six games: Soul Calibur, Vagrant Story, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Nintendogs, and Final Fantasy XII.


 * The reviewers at Official Xbox Magazine have only given a 10 out of 10 to only one game ever (Fight Night Round 3 for the Xbox 360). It should be noted however that OXM had recently changed their review scoring system changing it so that games could only score with a .0 or .5 decimal ending eliminating all decimal scores of .1-.4 and .6-.9. Thus if Halo 2 were to come out they would no longer be able to give it it's original review score of 9.7 having to choose from a .0 decimal ending or a .5 decimal ending.


 * Similarly, only five titles have been given 10/10 by UK games magazine Edge : Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Gran Turismo, Halo: Combat Evolved and Half-Life 2. In a short-run piece reviewing retro games, others to receive 10/10 were Elite and Super Mario Bros.. The magazine has also stated that the score was considered, but eventually rejected, for GoldenEye 007.


 * In addition, Gamespot.com has awarded a perfect score of 10/10 to only four games: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Chrono Cross, Soul Calibur, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.


 * IGN has awarded a 10/10 to only Soul Calibur and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (not counting multiple Game Boy games which used a different rating scale). Thus, Soul Calibur and Ocarina of Time are the only games to get perfect scores from IGN and GameSpot, as well as garnering perfect scores from Famitsu.


 * The U.S. PC Gamer has never awarded a perfect score of 100%, or even 99%. Only two games ever attained 98%: Half-Life 2 and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.  The latter was dropped from the magazine's April 2005 list of the 50 best games of all time, despite being tied for the highest score ever awarded. These ratings include PC games only.


 * The U.K. PC Gamer has awarded 4 games their highest ever score of 96%: Civilization II, Half-Life, Half-Life 2 and Quake II. In this year's PC Gamer Top 100 feature, the #1 game is Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.


 * The now-defunct PC Accelerator had a scale of 0-10. Half-Life was the only game that ever received an 11.


 * The U.S. Maximum PC which uses a scale of 0-10 awarded Half-Life 2 an 11 in its January 2005 issue.


 * The UK version of Official UK PlayStation Magazine(2) awarded 10/10 to Timesplitters 2, Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Resident Evil 4, Black, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Soul Calibur II and Burnout Revenge

Notable articles

 * NetHack is named the Best Game Ever in an in-depth Salon article.
 * Civilization in 1996 topped Computer Gaming World's list of the 150 best games to be released for either the PC or Macintosh. In 1997, when the poll was repeated, the Collector's CD-ROM of Star Wars: TIE Fighter placed first.