The Greatest Video Game of All Time

[DTro]

Wow, what a tough question. I sure have played alot of them in the past 25 years.

It all started with Pong so that has to be considered.

Can't really think of an Atari game that really stood out for me, other than Space Invaders, or Asteroids.

Nintendo had a ton of contenders, with titles such as Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Mike Tyson's PO, Metroid, Contra.

Sega Genesis with Sonic is a candidate.

007 for Nintendo 64.

How about Mario Kart?

Can't foget the PC with games like Doom, and World of Warcraft.

Halo for the XBox is an obvious choice along with Metal Gear Solid and Tekken for the Playstation 1.

Hard to not forget titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Guitar Hero for the Playstation 2, and of course the recent Military offerings such as Battlefield, Call of Duty and Modern Warfare for the latest consoles.

So what's it going to be?

For me the winner is Halo.

It took all the great elements of a multiplayer FPS like Doom and evolved it into a fantasy Role Playing like game. The story was more like a movie that you starred in. The graphics and sound were amazing, and it sucked you right in. But what really made it shine was the multiplayer aspect. Remember going to all the LAN parties? Everyone bringing their Consoles, Headsets, and Ethernet cords to a basement connecting them all and tearing it up till 3am.

This game had a major impact on gaming as we know today, especially the multiplayer part of it, and it would rank #1 for me.

Now it's your turn.

[Shack]

I would have to say the most recognizable and most popular (pop culture) would be a toss up between Atari's PacMan and the original Nintendo's Mario Brothers. Put simply they have been around longer than anything and spawned a couple of generations culture now. Plus games these two are the reason we have Xbox & PS3 today. Frogger was also up their also, but the original Mario Brothers is still going today thank to huge popularity of that original game on the first Nintendo console. That would get my vote.

[fishuhalik]

Ditto for halo. I like the cod games better, but they wouldn't be what they are without halo laying the groundwork. But then again, I'm a fps kinda guy, so I'm a little partial.

I'd have to say though, I've spent more time playing the nazi zombie level on cod w.a.w. than any other single player/offline game I've ever played.

[deadeye]

That is a tough one.

I am not really into any of the new systems but when I was more into gaming it was a toss up between Mario Kart and 007 on Nintendo 64.

You could have tournaments, battles, and play solo with either one. They also made for great drinking games at college. Even though we had PS2 and newer stuff it seemed like those 2 games were always being played.

[walleyefisher0990]

007 Goldeneye for N64. We used to play this game for hours everyday, it was my parents babysitter.

[fishuhalik]

The only thing I remember from that game was there was a room on some level, i forget which one, that you could sit in one place and just keep shooting guys that came running in all day. Just get a couple, get some more ammo, repeat.

[Shack]

I would say any game going now would be put into a "awesome" or "extremely cool" category. The graphics are just crazy good and the themes of these games are unreal. You almost feel as if you are in the game.

It maybe just me, but IMO nothing that is put out today even ranks close (release day at 1:00am, waiting in line, first time playing even) to the day after (and the months and years to follow) Christmas 1983 and receiving an Atari console from my grandparents . It was my whole life for at least a couple years. We also did not have Facebook, cell phones, on-line muti-player, 3D anything. Prior to the Atari we had nothing Well, my uncles had pong and paid close to $300 for the privilege of owning it. Multi-player back then was a room full of kids fighting for a chance to just play for a couple minutes. I remember when the neighbor down the road got the Original Nintendo. Kids would bike from miles away just to watch people play. Your 1-4 minutes of play time every hour or so and the controller was rotated was all you bragged about the next day at school.

Makes you wonder where gaming will be in another 20-30 years?

[fishuhalik]

I fully expect something along the lines of the old nintendo thing that flopped, you know, the one that you wore on your head, almost like binoculars, but with real-life graphics, not animated at all within the next 7-8 years.

[DTro]

They are working on mind controlled games right now. Throw on a helmet with contact points and you are ready to go.

Controller=Obsolete.

[DTro]

Shack, there are still a lot of games out there that are just not good at all, they are not all awesome

[DeBo101]

To me Mario 64 is the best game. It is just plain fun and challenging.

Honorable mentions

NHL '94 - SNES

Mario Kart - SNES

Metroid - NES

Legend Of Zelda - NES

Grand Theft Auto - PS2

Final Fantasy 7 - PS1

Final Fantasy 2 - SNES

Apparently I was born in the 80's

[deadeye]

Even if games came out with all that crazy stuff I would still rather play them manually. It would be a bit weird doing that all in virtual reality. Thats some star trek kind of stuff. That whole deal reminds me of a few lines from The Big Lebowski that I can not repeat on here.

[DTro]

Is it wrong that I named my dog Halo?

[DARK30]

Not sure about greatest of all time but my favorites would include (all pc)

The Wheel of Time

the Thief series

Command and Conquer series

the Unreal series

These are older games...not playing too much anymore tho.

[Chnginthhofl]

Killer Instinct

" ULTRA COMBO "

[bgreen82]

Mario 64 for me as well, the first to go extreme 3d and the gameplay was awesome. Replay value was as high as any other non multiplayer game ever. Just straight fun.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Probably depends on the era you got into gaming...

For me, I was in the N64 and Goldeneye era. That game single handedly got me into videogames. I played other games/systems with friends but after playing Goldeneye just once with a friend I was hooked. I still mainly play FPS games 80% of the time...

[Dark Cloud]

I never had a "game system" growing up. Games for me was mowing grass, picking rocks out of the garden, fishing, and sports, lol... Though after chores and such I could always go to friends who had games.

Ivan Stewarts Off-road raceing was the first game I remeber playing 4-player. That was a ton of fun.

007 was big for a while among my friends and was awesome..

Techmo Bowl and the early Madden games were great.

My vote goes to NHL 93/94 for sega. We used to have big tournaments at my one buddies houses with 4 systems and tv's going. That was my senior year of HS, oh to turn back the clock

Any of the new games and systems from about 2000 to present, you might as well be speaking a foriegn language to me...

[Shack]

Probably depends on the era you got into gaming...

For me, I was in the N64 and Goldeneye era. That game single handedly got me into videogames. I played other games/systems with friends but after playing Goldeneye just once with a friend I was hooked. I still mainly play FPS games 80% of the time...

N64 was a great gaming system. I (unfortunately) bought it the first or second week it hit the shelves back in 96' I think. What I paid back then for the system, the extra controller, the memory cartridges, the chip upgrade, Mario 64 (was not included at first), rivals the purchase price of an Xbox Elite, extra controller, one new "hot" game, other extras and a 12 month live card. All that and no new games being offered less than 2 years later. Great gaming system, graphics & sound, but not having a compact disk let PS2 gain ground and a consequential loss for awhile in the Nintendo world. The PS2 just ran it into the ground and also the customers who had bought into Nintendo's system because of dedication from their original experiences with NES. I got burned and I quit gaming because of it for almost 10+ year (also life got in the way ). N64 did (and even helps today with the my Xbox games) get me into the Turok games like a madman. I beet both 1 and 2.

[Craigums]

To me Mario 64 is the best game. It is just plain fun and challenging.

Honorable mentions

NHL '94 - SNES

Mario Kart - SNES

Metroid - NES

Legend Of Zelda - NES

Grand Theft Auto - PS2

Final Fantasy 7 - PS1

Final Fantasy 2 - SNES

Apparently I was born in the 80's

I don't think I could agree with this list more....

Id also like to add Punch-Out and I always liked the SNES Super Mario World. Change FF2 to FF3 also

[Nick Kuhn]

My list, in no particular order:

Space Invaders (Atari 2600)

Megaman II and III (NES)

Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

Mario Kart (SNES)

Super Adventure Island (SNES)

Gradius III (SNES)

Kirby Super Star (SNES)

Killer Instinct (SNES)

Star Fox (SNES)

Mega Man X (SNES)

GoldenEye (N64)

Mario Party 1 (N64)

Legend of Legaia (PS1) Possibly my favorite, a better RPG than most FF games.

Final Fantasy 9 (PS1) IMO much better than FF7

Red Faction (PS2)

Grand Theft Auto 3 (PS2) This game raised the bar for sandbox games

Unreal Tournament (XBox) Set the standard for fast paced FPS games

Halo: CE (XBox) Still the best console FPS to date

[New2TheFly]

No mention of the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time? I'm mostly a FPS guy myself but Zelda is a game that ANYONE can play and enjoy. I don't get into RPGs much these days, but think I spent the entire 14th year of my life playing Final Fantasy 7. I remember clocking in over 100 hours to reach level 99. Then again I probably spent 55-60 hours to reach prestige for Modern Warfare.

Sounds like an addiction. Oh well, admittance is the first step...

[PGE-Hound]

Tecmo Super Bowl... Bo knows video games...ha

I remember my mother playing Zelda for hours... she would hear my father pull into the drive way coming home from work. She would quick save the game then run into the kitchen and start cooking dinner.. good times!! She passed the entire game plus found all the hiden treasures.. thats something I never acomplished.

[Jim Uran]

Mario 64 is at the top, along with 007 for N64.

I didn't play when the Halo series came out so I can't rate them.

I think COD MW2 ranks up there with the best for me. Those are my top 3.

[CJH]

Tecmo Super Bowl... Bo knows video games...ha

Played alot of Tecmo (we did a ton of seasons each semester between guys in the dorm) and Mariokart in college, along with NHL hockey on Sega. Ahhhh the memories.......

I read a rumor that they are doing remake of Tecmo for the Playstation Network. Not sure when its supposed to come out.