• Top 10 Video Games of All Time

  

  Written by Zeromage 55 Comments
  Last Updated:: March 1, 2008

  The Old-Wizard staff spends much of their time contemplating what the greatest games of all time are from every system in all ages. Whether it’s a drunken night, a sober night, a math night, or even a romantic night with our girlfriends, we at Old-Wizard can’t keep our minds off what the greatest games of all time are much to the dismay of our significant others. After long hard work narrowing down our top 100 favorite games, we finally became settled with what our top 10 video games of all time were. These were not chosen lightly as there were obvious omissions that made us question even defining what a top ten list of video games would look like. Would half of the list consist of Legend of Zelda games? In order to make sure that didn’t happen, we decided to include only one game from any franchise. We weren’t dismayed by this problem though, and put down what we thought were the ten best games ever. We think our descriptions of our favorite games of all time will speak for themselves in defense against other suitable choices. We know there will be games on this list that readers will agree with. We also know that that there will be games on this list that will make readers want to send viruses over to our server in hopes of never having to read these choices again. Regardless, we feel these next ten games will be remembered for years to come.

  10. Contra (NES)

  Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start. This is the most recognized code in all gaming history. Much of the time people get it wrong when trying to restate it to others, but for the most part they have the pattern down. Without this code, it was basically impossible to get anywhere in Contra. While extremely difficult with only three lives, you give yourself 30 per level with this code and were in for an amazing Rambo style gaming experience. This is one of the games you think of when you think of Nintendo; a consummate side-scroller with enough extra detail to never make it boring. The weapons are awesome, the bosses are menacing, and the two player mode is exactly how a two player mode should be. Having your partner take the lower route while you take the higher one in the first level breeds a kind of comradeship not experienced since Wedge and Skywalker. Fighting the boss in the 3rd stage with his (or her?) 2 massive tentacles proves to be no match for 2 skilled players. The whole game is not just side-scrolling. The 3rd water level is more like mountain/jump climbing. The 2nd level is more 3D with your player moving up the screen rather than left to right. While the ending is generic, it may prove to be rewarding enough for players who like to imagine riding away on helicopters with islands blowing up. Great, timeless game…Case Closed…

  9. Pac-Man (Arcade)

  A simple labyrinth type setup, this game will increase your heart rate faster than finding out the brakes on your car just failed. Found in pizza parlours across the nation, this game has no point, other than getting the highest score possible. Starting off easy, you move your bodiless figure through a maze eating little digital pellets. We don’t know if these pellets are food, or fuel, or if they even taste good, but for some unknown reason, every single one must be devoured. If you get tired of eating pellets, you can always go after the exotic fruits that randomly appear near the center of the maze.

  Once you eat all the pellets in a maze you move onto the next level, and the fast-paced furious munching continues. Despite the pointlessness of the game, it is highly addictive. There is a certain thrill in evading ghosts and a merciless retribution found when it comes to eating them. Hours can be spent challenging yourself to attain high scores and greater level achievements. Can you pass though the ghosts around this corner? Can you evade the Blinky and Pinky trap?

  While there is no background story or disernable plot, woven into the game is a complicated philosophy. The four villanious cast members: Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde share a commonality: They are united kinsmen who have placed a jihad on Pac-man. Aside from the ghost’s differences in naming, they maintain a unified front once they emerge from their crypt to chase Pac-man. Together they stand. Clyde, with his uncharacteristic name is held in the same esteem by the other ghosts. Pinky, questionably a female, is given the same voting rights as the rest. Together they stand, divided they fall. The lesson learned is that you should be accepting of differences when you are united with a common goal, even if you’re named Clyde, who made me wet the bed at night as a child. Pac-man: The most basic arcade game out there, revered by the adults that suckled on its tender joystick in their youth, yet all the while teaching us a lesson that can change the world, if we all just learned to accept Clyde

  8. Mega Man 2 (NES)

  With the conspicuously poor game cover of Mega Man 1, no one expected the blue bomber to last past a single game, until those who were able to get past the cover actually played Mega Man 1 and were surprised at the playability of the game. Even with this in mind, no one could portend what was in store with Mega Man 2; additional bosses, more techniques to master, an always evolving, intricate story line. You were transferred into a different world with Mega Man 2. How surprised everyone was when they came across the dragon boss in the first level of Wiley’s hideout; they asked “Can graphics be this good?”, or when they encountered the monster cat in Woodman stage, they stated “Graphics will never get beyond this”. Of course, all great games have great music. Is it possible that there is any other video game more covered by video game bands than Mega Man 2? The Motown shuffle of Flash man stage, the hook at the last sequence of the Woodman stage loop. This isn’t just good video game music. This is great music for anyone who listens to music in general. One could go on and on about this game, but the fact is, one won’t understand until they experience it for themselves.

  7. Secret of Mana (SNES)

  Secret of Mana is without a doubt one of the top 5 RPG’s ever created and easily in the top 10 games ever created. It was a Squaresoft RPG for SNES, meaning it was going to be one of the greatest games ever created with the kind of thought put into it that a great philosopher would put into his magnum opus. Great RPG’s have the character of reading fiction, but having absolute real-time interaction with the book your reading. Playing this game is on par with reading “the lion the witch and the wardrobe” for the first time. Right away, from the cover of the game, you could tell that this game was going to be incandescent and massive in breadth. Three heroes overlooking a massive tree in the middle of a massive forest served as the game cover. The largeness of the theme would be equaled by the actual game itself that was huge, but never ever boring. The big advantage that Secret of Mana has over other RPG’s is the multi-player action that was never found in RPG’s afterwards. You could play this game with two other people and take it on habitually with them, after school, and even on Friday nights when everyone else was gearing up for banal pseudo social hour time. It’s unbelievable to think that no other RPG afterwards utilized this power, and understood that there are groups of people who want to go on massive RPG adventures together. For some reason, the RPG theme is understood as primarily single-player. This is a mistake by the creators of these games that “Mana” cashed in on. Every single tune in this game is memorable, which makes you wonder why every single tune in new games are never memorable. Every single land in this game is filled with beautiful, distinctive themes, which makes you wonder why RPG’s on new systems, with all the new technology involved, pale in comparison to the impact of this 16 bit installment. There’s a little saying that goes “It’s not the Arrow, it’s the Indian”. This may be the best example of that maxim in gaming history. One could write about this game forever, but it’s not to be understood by what others write about it…

  6. Final Fantasy 3 (USA) (SNES)

  What else can really be said about this game, other than it’s possibly one of the best games ever made? FF3 was the flagship of the Squaresoft RPG games. Squaresoft could make games that were so good that it was painful to judge one over another. The pain that is conspicuous on a gamers face when asked the question, “What’s better, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, or Final Fantasy 3?” happens without any reservation. Final Fantasy 3 is best recognized as the primere classic RPG with a turn-based fighting system and a length that almost seemed never ending. Just when you thought you were 90% done with the game, the whole world basically gets blown up to pieces, where you travel with your friends to the surviving colonies looking for answers on your quest to restore the balance of the world…quite a task for 4 kids, much more interesting than a day job though. There is not enough space in this review to be able to go into the sheer massiveness of the story line. There is a lot to follow. Along the way, you meet many more characters; up to 14 playable characters you would use and gain experience on. All the characters were loaded with attitude and identity that would continually develop throughout the game, giving this game a replay value beyond belief. All the lands and towns were striking making you want to go back to them just to hang around them, especially if you liked the music in those areas. The soundtrack to FF3 is one of the most popular soundtracks in gaming history. It’s difficult to review this game because it’s so big and detailed. All that needs to be known though was that it was made in the 90’s by Squaresoft, which means it needs to be played in its entire length to be understood. For those wanting to dive into a virtual fantasy world away from the real world, there is no more perfect game to take up your time.

  5. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

  Who stops playing this game once they have started? Maybe when one is deleteriously affected by looking at a screen too long? Maybe when one wants to go out into the actual wilderness and pretend to be a bounty hunter? For those who are fans of Super Metroid, this is its brother. Similar in layout and theme, this game stands out as one of the best games ever made for Playstation. The map is large, the story is large, the game is a monster. Just when you think you have obviated Dracula’s castle, the whole thing turns upside down, and you realize that your just 50% of the way through. The bosses are some of the most innovative bosses to come out of the Castlevania series, and of course, there’s the Soundtrack by the renowned Michiru Yamane which is often played live at concerts in Europe by the demand of those who realize the power in the techno/symphonic pieces. The Castlevania series is never wrong. It’s always just a question of which one is the best.

  4. Super Metroid (SNES)

  The only bad thing about Super Metroid for the SNES are the hand cramps you will get from playing it so much. In Super Metroid, the successor to Metroid for Nintendo and Gameboy, we see Samus back on Zebes fighting old enemies from her prior outing; Craid and Ridely are back, not to mention the plethora of new space pirates trying to get a lock of Samus’s flowing hair. The suspense of this game has been unmatched by any other. As you are about to fight Craid, the music in the room before changes to the somberness of a Beethoven Sonata, and you come across a previous journeyman being eaten up by space insects. This type of engagement with the player is often lost in the “high-tech” musings of current video game makers. Between the valence of the soundtrack and the emotional ending where “you-know-who” comes to save you, you are in for a one of the most amazing video game experiences of your life. When playing this game for the first time, know that you will never be able to play it for the first time again…

  3. Chrono Trigger (SNES)

  The theme music for 600.AD is perhaps the most recognized theme in RPG history. Hit up Youtube now and you will find variegated renditions, from the simple piano mimicry, to obscure oboe afflatuses. This is just the music though…There’s also the game…made by “Sqauresoft”, which means it’s impossible that it wasn’t a great game. The theme of Chrono Trigger was arguably the best, most thought out idea for any RPG ever made. Taking advantage of the idea of the chronology of actual world history, you were to adventure across every span of the world’s totality, even to the “end of time” which gave you goose bumps knowing you were on the brink of timelessness. The creators of this game must have been reading Hegel before and during the development in this game, as creating a game with the theme of personally following out the logic of history, was surely an ode to Hegel’s essential philosophical insights. Philosophy aside, this game was effulgent and munificent in its delivery. The entire game, you think that the last boss is Magus, until you beat him and realize that he becomes one of the members of your party. Its here you realize how much time you spent playing this game, and how much more time you will have to spend to get at the real ending. Like all great RPG’s, this game had a series of fake endings, where you could play the game 15 hours and get a bad ending with the world being destroyed, to be completely unsatisfied in your “accomplishment” up to that point. The realization that you have more times to explore with their own massive story lines in these lands led to a feeling of grandiosity, the hallmark of all square soft games. Chrono Trigger is up there with Final Fantasy 3 and Secret of Mana as some of the best accomplishments in gaming history. It’s with this knowledge that one then wants to understand what was going on in the minds of the creators of these games. To make games like this required inspiration and muse not needed in modern game making that merely requires “sex appeal”. Video games did have a golden age. Chrono Trigger represents that golden age…

  2. Super Mario Brothers (NES)

  What more is there to say about Super Mario Brothers that hasn’t been said before? This game is the Casablanca of all video games and will go down in history as a true classic. This was the game that put video games on the map. Granted other video games existed before Super Mario brothers, but none stirred the hearts and control pads of the masses quite like this one. After all, who could resist Mario and Luigi? They were more than just a couple of brothers in the plumbing business, they were pretty bad ass renegades who didn’t think twice about stomping mushroom traitors or kicking turtle soldier shell butt clear across mushroom kingdom if it meant saving Princess Toadstool. Speaking of the princess, she was smokin’ even though they hadn’t pixelated cleavage yet. This is a game that had it all, bizarre villains, midgets, hot princesses, and wanton fireball destruction. All in all, the original Super Mario Brothers was a fun game, but it also taught us some important life lessons: much like you can’t go back on a screen, you can’t go back in life. Once you make a choice you are stuck with it. Eat your vegetables and you’ll grow big and strong, always chase stars, no matter where they lead you, if you eat a flower you just end up spitting fire, and with a little manual labour you’ll find gold coins in the most unlikely places. Yes, this game was a true classic that created a whole generation of super gamers and maybe some renegade plumbers too.

  1. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

  It’s difficult to rate a game over its predecessors…the predecessors that established the series as popular in the first place. Zelda 1 and Zelda 2 were both amazing games and were the first in the series that brought adventure gaming to the forefront of the gaming industry. Nonetheless, there are times when a game is so good, it takes precedence over its own founding. Super Metroid is one of those games, Zelda: Link to the Past is the other. Link to the Past walked the thin line between maturity and puerility better than any game in adventure and RPG game history. The story line develops with a slightly tragic sense that never overbears the actual gameplay. The map is big, but not so big that one is overwhelmed with the sheer time it’s going to take to run through the game. The game is perfectly thought out. The transition from the light world to the dark world with the “mirror” gives a perfect level of puzzle solving in changing worlds to affect the other world when need be. The graphics are sometimes stunning, like the forest area with the gentle mist passing over the area until Link recovers the Master Sword inside. The top of the mountains radiate with powerful backgrounds of lighting and vistas, and the towns are detailed with a type of quaintness that other games simply skimp on. Most of the musical score for “Link to the past” have been used by every Zelda game afterwards, even more so than the original, ubiquitous motif of Zelda 1. This game delivers on all levels of what makes great games. Those not into adventure games find themselves enjoying this game regardless, because of its simplicity and not having to wait through hours of dialogue to know what they need to do next. Those into adventure games love this game because of all the palpable fantasy themes reoccurring throughout. “Link to the Past” is the best example of a game that transcends all tastes in video gaming.

55 Comments

1. #1 shane says:
   March 16th, 2010 at 1:13 am

   pro evoluyion 4 is, for me, the greatest game i have played, followed by sims ( on pc ) and half life also on pc.
2. #2 lars says:
   March 16th, 2010 at 8:57 am

   if you think gears of war should even be on the top 1000 list you are a burden society… as for the list good job well done. honestly though top 10,100.. is just opinion of the gamer and for everyone *itching i don’t understand why you take it so *ucking personal when your favorite game is not on there get over it move on. lapiz you’re a ***t hair for saying anyting bad about nintendo learn some respect for one of if not the greatest gaming companies of all time oh and i would love to hear your top 10
3. #3 johnny says:
   March 16th, 2010 at 3:44 pm

   I am not going to be original this time, so all I am going to say that your blog rocks, sad that I don’t have suck a writing skills