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G4′s Top 100 Videogames of All Time – Day 5 (20-1)

Well, here they are. The final 20. First, the list, then I’ll give my thoughts on the whole enchilada.

And the number one game of all time (according to G4) is… (drumroll please)

Yep, the original Super Mario Bros. wins it. For a generation this was the first console game, and probably even the first videogame they ever played. Plus, it did pretty much save the videogame industry.

Ok, now for a few thoughts I have on the list.

  • Where’s Centipede? They had room for fucking Burger Time, but not Centipede?
  • It shouldn’t surprise me too much that there wasn’t a MechWarrior game on the list given how the franchise has kind of dropped off, but I was holding out hope up through the third show.
  • Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando getting a good spot made me happy, but I was kind of bummed out that none of the Sly Cooper games made it. Oh, and screw Jak & Daxter. I’m glad those got left off.
  • They did a good job teasing their viewers, as there were a few teases (those “Coming up…” things before commercials) where they used footage from Half-Life 2 and Metroid Prime to throw people off.
  • I would have ranked it just a little higher, but 13-year-old me was pretty psyched to see Quake III: Arena sitting 22 spots above Unreal Tournament. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the UT games. But Quake III is the only game I’ve ever been playing, had someone come ask if I wanted to go to dinner, and I honestly had to ask what day it was.
  • I was really glad to see some more obscure games (to today’s gamers) make the list, like Star Wars: Tie Fighter, Day of the Tentacle, Panzer Dragoon Saga (and in the top-25 no less!), and Wing Commander 2. 
  • No Medal of Honor: Allied Assault? The game that single-handedly steered the industry into a glut of WW2 shooters with its popularity couldn’t make the list. Hmm… maybe I just explained why it isn’t here.
Ok, now a quick list of games I thought were way too low:
  • Silent Hill 2 – 85? Really? This one should have been top-20.
  • Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - 35 is a lot better than the treatment Silent Hill 2 got, but still should have been higher.
  • Pokemon Red & Blue – I just ran the numbers in my head, and I’ve probably put in more than a thousand hours across the Pokemon series, and I’m not even among its most serious fans. It couldn’t even break the top 50?
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – I know it’s already top-20, but I would have put it top-10. I’m glad none of the other games in the series made the list, but this one almost feels like the embrace by dude-bros has diminished its importance with too many people.
Now for the ones that were too high:
  • World of Warcraft – Because I think it’s the most overrated game of all time. (Oh, and the comments on this one included Felicia Day saying how much she liked it. Really? You like the game that is the only reason you have an acting career? I’m shocked.)
  • Ocarina of Time – I’ve already made my thoughts known on this one.
  • Double Dribble – You already have NBA Jam on the list. This should have been lower. Like, not on the list lower.
  • Halo 3 – Good game, but I would have put it back around 80-something.

Oh, and those jokes people make about G4 just showing X-Play, Attack of the Show, and Cops? They followed this finale with… a rerun of Cops. You have the best lead in your network could ask for to show off something new, or promote a good, but struggling show, and you run another damn Cops rerun. A severely impaired box turtle could do a better job programing a TV network.

So, thoughts on the top-20, the whole list, or anything else?

For convenience, here are the previous day’s lists:

Day 1: 100-81

Day 2: 80-61

Day 3: 60-41

Day 4: 40-21

Comments

Stephen Says:
June 16th, 2012 at 6:35 am   (Reply)

Nice to se A Link To The Past over Ocarina of Time. It’s just a better experience via looking nicer, having tighter controls, and rather than having huge open spaces with very little to do in them, it’s a smaller, compact world with something of interest EVERYWHERE!

Jared Says:
June 16th, 2012 at 4:27 pm   (Reply)

I’m surprised Mortal Kombat II didn’t make the list. That was the game in the mid-90s.

Jonathan Says:
June 19th, 2012 at 11:35 am   (Reply)

I was looking for some opinion chatter about this list. Personally, I was disappointed that there were no games from the computing era of games that was strong and healthy between 1983 and 1985. I’m talking about Apple II or C64 games.

More opinions:
Too many games from the same franchise in the top 10 – just pick one Mario and one Zelda.

Doom was too low

I’d switch Half Life and Bioshock

Rj Says:
June 19th, 2012 at 11:16 pm   (Reply)

Jak and Daxter > Ratchet and Clank
Bitch.


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