System: SNES
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Release date: April 13, 1992
While not necessarily the greatest Zelda game ever developed, A Link to the Past is definitely the quintessential Zelda experience; it established many of the items, enemies, and tropes that appear in almost every Zelda game. Once again players control Link, the once and future hero of Hyrule, in his quest to rid the land of evil. Along the way, he crisscrosses a huge world map filled with oddball characters, ingenious dungeons (A Link to the Past has the most dungeons of any Zelda game), and more secrets than the life of an American teenager. If Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess achieved greatness, it's because they stood on the shoulders of this giant.
System: SNES
Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Release date: April 18, 1994
Set immediately after the events of Metroid II, Super Metroid once again pits intergalactic bounter hunter Samus Aran against the Space Pirates. Whereas previous games in the series had been a little rough around the edges, Super Metroid was about as polished a product as one could find on the SNES. The game features a perfect balance of exploration, action, puzzle-solving, and strategy, all wrapped up in an atmospheric package. Super Metroid has it all: haunting music, a bittersweet story, tight play controls, epic boss fights, perfect pacing, and some of the prettiest 16-bit graphics you will ever see.
System: Sony Playstation
Developer: Core Design
Release date: November 14, 1996
Beginning in 1996, video game enthusiasts for the first time had a choice of consoles that not only represented cosmetic and hardware differences, but which supported software with thematic differences. Those who gravitated toward the N64 had family-friendly games likes Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings; those who were developing a taste for more mature content found on the Playstation Resident Evil and, a few months later, Tomb Raider. With its action-packed globetrotting storyline, its fearsome enemies and its brash, brainy and buxom heroine, Tomb Raider was emblematic of a new generation of software that introduced more bullets, more blood, and more breasts, but which retained all the best elements found in action-adventure games.
System: Nintendo 64
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Release date: September 26, 1996
Among the small number of games that have had the greatest influence on the video game industry, Super Mario 64 stands alone as the most influential. The finest example of the great migration from two-dimensional sprites to three-dimensional polygons, Super Mario 64 gave the platform genre unprecedented freedom of movement. It also introduced a revolutionary camera system that allowed players to manipulate the camera angles in the game. Set once again in the Mushroom Kingdom, Super Mario 64 sets Mario on a path to a final confrontation with his arch-enemy Bowser, who has once more captured Princess Toadstool. Super Mario 64 features fifteen diverse game environments and several hidden areas.
System: PC
Developer: Valve
Release date: November 16, 2004
In Half-Life 2 players resume to role of Gordon Freeman, whose heroics in the original Half-Life appear to have only temporarily forestalled an alien takeover of planet Earth. Once again Freeman must use his weapons and his wits to save mankind, in this instance from alien overlords and their human collaborators. Boasting an incredible physics system, in which objects and people obey the laws of gravity, friction and buoyancy, remarkably sophisticated artificial intelligence, and superior graphics, Half-Life 2 is the very definition of next-generation. Half-Life 2 unfolds across several chapters, some of which involve the use of vehicles, some of which are heavy on problem-solving. Chapter VI, “We Don’t Go to Ravenholm,” is among the scariest episodes to date in any video game.
System: SNES
Developer: Squaresoft
Release date: October 11, 1994
Many point to Final Fantasy VII as the ultimate Final Fantasy experience, but its older brother is a more complete game, and a better one. Epic in size and in scope, Final Fantasy III (Final Fantasy VI in Japan) features over a dozen playable characters, all of whom carry significant emotional baggage and who endure trials that range from rafting across raging rapids to, quite literally, the end of the world. There are several unique events in the game, including an opera, a dinner party, and a number of multi-party battles, which allow the player to divide his or her party into two or more battle groups in order to fight off a multi-party enemy. Final Fantasy III is the finest SNES game ever released, which is lofty praise considering its library of games.
System: Nintendo Gamecube
Developer: Capcom
Release date: January 11, 2005
Before Resident Evil 4, the Resident Evil franchise had been one of the great video game series, and certainly the definitive survival horror series. With Resident Evil 4, it achieved new levels of greatness. Set in a rural village somewhere in Europe, RE4 follows Leon S. Kennedy (one of two heroes from Resident Evil 2) in his search for the missing daughter of the American president. Capcom removed the fixed camera angles that had haunted previous installments, and allowed the camera to follow Leon wherever he went. Thus RE4 became something of a survival-horror and third-person shooter hybrid, with some RPG elements thrown in for good measure. The game is thrilling, terrifying, and addictive, all at once. Action set pieces and cinematic cut-scenes are brilliant.
System: Xbox
Developer: Bungie
Release date: November 15, 2001
There are only so many truly revolutionary titles in the history of video games. The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario 64, and Wii Sports come to mind. Then there's Halo: Combat Evolved. What did it achieve? Well, by providing the nascent Xbox with a "killer app," it secured Microsoft's spot in the gaming world. It also introduced features, control schemes, and themes that have, for better or for worse, infiltrated almost every mainstream first-person shooter since. And, lastly, it shifted first-person shooters away from computers and onto home consoles. So it's a hugely influential title, but it's also an amazingly great game, with superior graphics, a standout soundtrack, a well-written story, outstanding level design, and perfect gameplay. Those who hate it have probably never played it. Those who love it will never forget it.
System: PC
Developer: Ion Storm
Release date: June 26, 2000
Where does Deus Ex belong? Is it an RPG? It has plenty of RPG elements: sidequests, upgradable stats, customizable weapons, non-playable characters, moral choices, a deep and engaging story. It is a first person shooter? It's loaded with plenty of projectile and melee weapons and not afraid to use them. Is it a stealth action game a la Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell? Players are often rewarded for sneaking past enemy patrols and using lock picks to bypass security. The answer is all of the above, and it's one of the main reasons Deus Ex is so good; it synthesizes the best of several different genres. Deux Ex tells the story of a dystopian not-too-distant future where player choices dramatically affect the game world. So where does Deus Ex belong? In this spot, as the best PC game ever made.
System: Nintendo 64
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Release 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 this 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.
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