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 best game ever 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

Super Mario Bros. is the best-selling video game of all time.

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 40 million units, although it was sold packaged along with the NES. The Mario series is also the top-selling series, with over 180 million games sold .[1]
• Similarly, Tetris for the Game Boy sold 33 million units, having been packaged with the Game Boy. [2]
• The best selling game not bundled with a console is Super Mario Bros. 3, also for the NES, selling 18 million units.
• The best selling PC game is The Sims, having sold over 8 million units alone and 24 million counting expansion packs. [3]

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 [4].

Expert polls

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

• Doom was voted the "#1 game of all time" in a poll among over 100 game developers and journalists conducted by GameSpy in July 2001. [5] [6]
• 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. [7]
• Super Mario Bros. - IGN's Top 100 Games of All Time, compiled by the editors in 2003, and again in 2005 [8] [9]
• Super Metroid - Electronic Gaming Monthly's Top 100 Games of All Time, compiled by the editors in 2001 [10] (a previous poll held in 1997 ranked Tetris at number one)
• 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 "50 Greatest Games" in PC Gamer's April 2005 article. Doom followed at number two. It should be noted that this list was compiled by a PC magazine, thus only rating games for PC.

User polls

• 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 "Best. Game. Ever" series of polls hosted by GameFAQs in 2004 [11]
• Half-Life won the "Title Fight" series of polls hosted by GameSpy in 2004 [12]
• In issue 150 of Nintendo Official Magazine a poll of the 150 greatest Nintendo games of all time The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time came 1st followed by Pokemon and Super Mario 64
• 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. [13] The top ten were:

1. Final Fantasy VII
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
3. Chrono Trigger
4. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
5. Super Mario Bros. 3
6. Super Smash Bros. Melee
7. Goldeneye 007
8. Metal Gear Solid
9. Halo: Combat Evolved
10. Final Fantasy III

High scores in multiple reviews

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ranks highest on GameRankings, Gamestats and Metacritic.

As of November 2005, the top 10 games listed on GameRankings, a site which averages scores awarded by numerous websites and magazines, are: [14]

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Nintendo 64 (98.1%)
2. Soul Calibur, Sega Dreamcast (96.7%)
3. Metroid Prime, Nintendo GameCube (96.3%)
4. Super Mario 64, Nintendo 64 (96.3%)
5. Resident Evil 4, Nintendo GameCube (96.1%)
6. Tekken 3, PlayStation (95.8%)
7. Halo: Combat Evolved, Xbox (95.8%)
8. Half-Life 2, Windows PC (95.7%)
9. Resident Evil 4, PlayStation 2 (95.6%)
10. NFL 2K1, Sega Dreamcast (95.4%)

As of October 2005, according to Gamestats [15], the top 10 list of all time is the following:

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 (9.6)
7. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, PlayStation 2 (9.5)
8. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Nintendo GameCube (9.5)
9. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, PlayStation 2 (9.5)
10. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, PlayStation 2 (9.5)

The top 10 games on Metacritic, a similar site, at that time: [16]

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 sites as the best game ever. The only other game appearing on all three lists is Soul Calibur for the Sega Dreamcast.

Notable review scores

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

Notable articles

• NetHack is named the Best Game Ever in an in-depth Salon article. [17]

See also

• Films that have been considered the greatest ever
• Category:Computer and video game awards
• List of best selling video games

External links

• Windows Solitaire is massively popular in the workplace
• gamespot.com's "The Greatest Games of All Time" column
• Collection of various "top 10" lists from different sources