Top 100 Video Games

Top 100 Video Games

Written by Zeromage 251 Comments
Last Updated:: February 1, 2009

80. Burger Time (Arcade)

Are you kidding? What the F is this? At first (and second, and third, and…) glance this looks like a recycled Donkey Kong background. Why is Mario white? Is he a chef? What the hell? Am I being chased by a fried egg and some pickles? What kind of power up is this? It looks like a giant Pepper Shaker! It seems I’ve stumbled upon the dumbest game ever. Then it hits you, you run over the top of a sesame seed bun and it falls onto a tomato, which falls onto some lettuce, which falls onto the bottom of the bun, which then falls onto the bottom of the screen. The pickle twins charge straight towards you and the egg is behind you…you hit all of the buttons in desperation and a spray of pepper freezes the pickles in their place. You run right through them and continue your sandwich construction. By level 4 you realize you have a limited amount of pepper and should conserve it wisely. You spend the next 6 hours in front of the TV playing an interactive fast food commercial, and the surgeon general wonders why the kids are morbidly obese. Man we love this game, and that’s coming from a vegetarian.

79. Mortal Kombat 2

Mortal Kombat 2 was a massive event for the arcade game world. Lines of people would be waiting to play this game. Loads of people would be crowded around two players playing this game. When you went into an Arcade in the mid 90’s, the commotion was coming from the Mortal Kombat 2 game machine. What made Mortal Kombat 2 so addicting and entertaining? How about all the characters who embodied strengths reserved only to themselves. How about all the finishing moves that started a population in “toasty” mantras. This game embodied the best qualities of deadly fighting games. It was with Mortal Kombat 2 that Street Fighter saw its popularity diminish slightly. Street Fighter couldn’t compare with the sheer amount of personalized moves for each character, nor with the bloodlust enveloped throughout Mortal Kombat 2. Being uppercut onto spikes way below the fighting platform gave the game player a tingle of X rated fun not felt before Mortal Kombat 2. The fight between what the best arcade fighter game is will continually go on. Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat were the premiere fighting games for the coin-op industry. For a time though, the Mortal Kombat series would clearly be ahead of the Street Fighter series. This was most conspicuous with the arcade release of Mortal Kombat 2.

78. F-Zero

F-Zero was a sophisticated racing game for its day. The controlling was perfect. The “cars” that you could choose from were slick. The graphics were superlative. The backgrounds you could watch by themselves without even racing. You felt the speed of the game at your hands while playing this game. The tracks themselves looked similar to Mario Kart (which came out two years later) which was of course a good thing. Knocking other racers out of the way was more fun than a date with a girl that you knew you could get in bed with easily afterwards. All in all, it was another strong showing from the Nintendo establishment and one of the better racing games of all time.

77. Doom

All the great 1st person shooters may have been better than Doom, but it was Doom which first brought the style to the video game market. Playing this game co-op was even more fun. Knocking down cacodemons with one person shooting a rocket launcher and the other shooting a shotgun was enormously entertainment. Meeting up with each other in the middle of a level knowing you’ve both cleared out the entire level of monsters was supremely satisfying. Just try not to hit each other while hitting all the enemies or you would be sucked into another Battletoads melee. Duke Nukem, Rise of the Triads, and Halo would all follow suit in Doom’s successful style. Halo especially was a fine example of a 1st person coop shooter. Doom though was the first to make this experience recognized.

76. Toe Jam and Earl

Wow was this game fun. Two players would walk across the most funakadelic of universes trying to uncover pieces of a broken ship. The amount of side adventures in this game proved to be one of Sega’s most unique moments. From the first screen of the game, you could travel way off the ocean into a distant Xanadu if you had the right equipment. The enemies were fun little creatures that would irritate the player as much as they would come across as harmless. The music to the game was as funky as a Parliament record; entire stages hip hoped with some of the best beats of the day. The sheer amount of items you could possess in this game was staggering; you could use tomatoes, slingshots, vehicles, and even floating rafts. One wonders why Sega didn’t want this creativity out of all of its games. Anyone who’s played Toe Jam and Earl knows they’re playing a game from a distant planet.

75. Rescue Rangers

Chip n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers was one of the best titles ever to be released for the NES. It was also one of the last titles to ever be released for it as well. Sadly Rescue Rangers is often ignored when one talks about the best games for the NES. This doesn’t make sense to us here at Old-Wizard. This game was almost as good as Duck Tales, and featured one of the best soundtracks ever for the NES. Rescue Rangers featured great game play and an excellent co-op mode which was a rarity for the time of its release. It’s really unfortunate that this game isn’t more well known – try to do a quick google search, and you’ll find virtually nothing about this game on the web, but don’t let that fool you. This game is a lost classic, and its well worth picking up for the $5 that you’ll spend on it at a used video game store…If you can find it.

74. Sonic 2

While its true that the staff here at Old-Wizard doesn’t really like Sonic as a character there is no denying he had a couple of good games (hey even Gordon Lightfoot had a couple of good songs). While Sonic 1 first delivered Sega’s superhero in full stride, it was Sonic 2 where we were given an adventure to be remembered. There were more stages and the music was killer throughout. The Aztec level music was as catchy as a mid 70’s Abba single. The Casino level was as fun as winning a $1,000 in one night in Las Vegas. Sonic was also given Tails as a partner throughout the whole game adding a new theme to the Sonic series. A second player could also control tails. While he often seemed futile throughout the stages of the game, he could become a devastating partner in boss battles. Since you never had to worry about him dying, he could just hammer away at Robotnic forever. The final form of Dr. Robotnic was a sight to be seen taking up the whole screen and towering over the smaller heroes. Sonic was the flagship of the Sega Genesis and Sonic 2 might have been the system’s best moment.

73. Actraiser

The front cover of the SNES forgotten classic states “Create order from Chaos”! Who couldn’t be interested in this plain imperative? The game didn’t sell well worldwide, it was barely featured on end-of-the-year best of lists and is never talked about on video game forums. This game was just to good to be forgotten though. This game combines superb side-scrolling action with a Civilization-esque overhead view that puts you in the God seat rebuilding the world from chaos and restoring your followers. This combines Mario Brothers with Sim City! Half the time you’re battling nefarious monsters in your mythical and statuesque body suit, and the other half your reshaping civilization by controlling infrastructure being built in the formerly destroyed world. Roads, buildings, farms, population, you name it, you are recreating civilization from the bottom up. This unique gameplay worked perfectly and it’s always been strange to us why Actraiser is never included in best of lists.

72. Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii)

Leave it to Nintendo to come up with a fighting game with no blood, no visible injuries and still make it fun and highly addictive. There is an endless amount of fun to be had with Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Hours upon hours of multiplayer action in games like SSBB makes Wii one of the best multiplayer systems of all time. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced gamer, you’ll be able to enjoy the massive amount of games to played in Super Smash Brother Brawl. The graphics might not be too much of an improvement on its predecessor, but the mini-games certainly have and the controlling especially has become smoothed out with the hugely innovative Wii controller. When it comes to replayability, its hard to think of game that is better in this category than Super Smash Brothers Brawl. With lots of interesting “level-ups” and plot twists, plus all the great Nintendo characters we’ve all come to know and love, this game is a must have for anyone who has a Wii.

71. NBA Jam

NBA Jam was not only one of the best arcade games of all time, but also one of the best basketball games of all time. The sounds were massive, the players were massive, and the jams were even more massive. This was no bastketball game where you had to skillfully wait out a 2-3 defense in hopes of finding an open 3 point shot. This was a game where you took it to the hoop each time, dominating the other player with a massive dunk over him. Playing with Shaq was every child’s dream. There was no player who could dominate inside the paint more than Shaq. Its unfortunate that his legacy would forever be diminished in the video game world due to the abominable Shaq Fu (an entry in our top 20 worst video games of all time). Besides the aggrandized form of Shaq, there was a host of great players that the gamer could choose from. The true NBA Jam fanatic would only pick the players who had the most powerful dunks though, i.e. centers. When NBA Jam came to the home console, it retained its qualities in large smashfest fun, but it could never compare to the arcade version which had larger sounds and more pristine graphics, not to mention the 4-player availability in the coin-op edition. When thinking of sports games that were made for the arcade, NBA Jam is the clear winner. It’s loud, in your face and fun for 10 dollars worth of quarters.

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251 Comments

#1 Bladerunner says:
March 19th, 2010 at 4:09 pm

Terrible list imo.I realise this list is your opinion, and i respect that. Im just pointing out that my opinion differs from yours vastly

1) Its a whore-fest of old games, lots of true modern classics were ignored. No half life 1,2, gta, resident evil, call of duty, fallout, civilization? Seriously???!!

2) Toe jam and earl? give me a break….

3) Not a single fricking N64 game? Majoras mask?! Mario 64?! Goldeneye?! Perfect dark?! OCARINA OF TIME?!!!!!! sheesh

3) Just ONE ps2 game in the entire list? no shadow of the colossus? no okami? no gran turismo? no god of war? OMG

4) Correct me if im wrong, but i dont think i saw a single racing game in there… wtf?

I do agree with most of the top 20 though. Chrono trigger, Castlevania:SOTN, Zelda LTTP…. epic games

#2 Dopeycunt says:
March 19th, 2010 at 9:36 pm

Seems like the author does not have a whole lot of experience playing catalogs of games on different systems, and probably stuck to Nintendo systems when he was a kid. Only the big-name (obvious) Sega titles are here, and a distinct lack of PSX, XBox, and PC games.

#3 Wolf says:
March 19th, 2010 at 10:12 am

…dodgeball beat DigDug?
already bad things happening and im only on page 1

#4 Wolf says:
March 19th, 2010 at 10:20 am

Ducktales made the top 20?…

#5 dude says:
March 19th, 2010 at 12:19 am

while this list may not be well rounded (at all), it makes for a pretty good reference on which old roms I should be investing my time in.

#6 pd says:
March 19th, 2010 at 9:45 pm

so your saying nhl 94 and a dodgeball game are better then say castlevania iv and contra 3 bullshit and there two games off the top of my head.

#7 Justin says:
March 19th, 2010 at 3:45 am

I didn’t know N64 was such a crappy system.LOL.What an ass list and an ass website. Terrible what you are putting into these viewer’s heads.

#8 Justin says:
March 19th, 2010 at 3:50 am

Oh and I also forgot to LOL @ having Madden 2004 on there without NFL 2k5.Props for putting Star Craft on there though,best game ever made.

#9 Azelfknight says:
March 19th, 2010 at 8:44 pm

Zelda 2 is the worst Zelda ever…just saying.

This list is okay, but with way to many old ripoffs of each other in the platforming department. A link to the past is one of my favorite games and glad others recognize it too, but so many good game aren’t on this list that it makes me shake my head. Here are games that deserve more credit, in no order, Halo, Ocarina of Time, Fallout 3, WOW, Mario Kart 64, and more…

#10 pelham123 says:
March 19th, 2010 at 11:05 pm

It’s nice to see a more personal top 100 list for a change, an enjoyable read. Cheers!

#11 Fedricco Rabaya says:
March 19th, 2010 at 2:31 pm

Hey people can someone tell me the Mario game when the story is about a dream of Mario? There are 4 characters to choose from: MArio, Luigi, Princess and the Mushroom kid.

#12 Salo says:
March 19th, 2010 at 2:48 pm

Super Mario 2.

#13 nick says:
March 19th, 2010 at 6:56 pm

good list, but you guys really need to play golden sun.

#14 georgie says:
March 19th, 2010 at 3:56 am

hey i dident look at all the list but the ps2 had the most great titles and here are a few he might of not said priece of persia the sands of time is one of the best games ever made the 2nd and 3rd ones were not that good shadow of calouses is another amazing game god of war ang metal gear solid 3 ff 12 ff10 and way isint ff7 on the top ten bullshit

#15 georgie says:
March 19th, 2010 at 4:03 am

the ps2 is the best system ever the ps1 and nes are closs but not as good and and not a single ps2 game stupid here is a list of great ps2 games

1.prince of persia the sands of time not the other two

2.shadow of calouses

3.GOW 1and2

4.FF 10, 12

5.METAL GEAR SOLID 3

6.KINGDOM HEARTS 1AND2

7.THE DEVIL MAY CRY SERIES

8.GRAND TOURISMO

and trust me i could go on and on way isint ff7 on the top 10 i wish this guy would really think about hes list a little harder

#16 Emerald Magus says:
March 19th, 2010 at 2:03 pm

Awesome list! So glad to see LTTP at #1. That game was great.

#17 retrickster says:
March 19th, 2010 at 12:06 pm

You did not mention Super Mario RPG Legend Of The Seven Stars for the super Nintendo in the top 10.. That makes your list fail.

#18 raziel owns u says:
March 19th, 2010 at 4:53 am

…ok where is resident evil 3, gta, god of war, gran turismo, i agree with csont and starcraft they are epic, but zelda games are averrated not the ocarina of time but d others are just the same.

#19 Jamie says:
March 19th, 2010 at 8:42 am

lol final fantasy 7 no one

#20 HookEm says:
March 19th, 2010 at 3:34 am

Freakin no way zelda is 1st. I personally thought donkey kong isn’t 100 it should be 2nd. Why else is it so popular instead of freakin zelda??? It made arcade games globally and zelda only sold a few thousand. This list sucks. But I’m glad mario 3 got in the top 5. =)

#21 Tanner says:
March 19th, 2010 at 12:16 pm

This top 100 riddles me with questions. Why on Earth is FInal Fantasy VII so low on the list? Why on Earth is Half Life and Fallout not on there. Why are there so many classics on there? If you had to choose these 100, why didn’t you change the order?

#22 CUSTOMCARVIN says:
March 19th, 2010 at 8:27 pm

Dude.. you suck! I didn’t even finish your bassackwards list… once I saw that rescue rangers for the NES was higher than DOOM, I nearly shit… how the fuck do you gauge your rankings? I thought these lists usually reflect popular opinion, sales, reviews (ie something credible) your list reflects shit. You suck, find a new hobby!

#23 Kdeizy says:
March 19th, 2010 at 7:44 pm

Definitely some great games from the nes/snes era but you missed out on some key games in modern history. No goldeneye, ocarina of time or wind waker, call of duty, halo (2 or 3), god of war, resident evil (2 or 4), halflife, mario 64?? And madden 04 as the best madden? True that this list is your opinion but it seems to differ from the rest of the gaming world’s opinion. gotta love starcraft, good top 5 tho..

#24 Jack Simpson says:
March 19th, 2010 at 7:12 am

Don’t listen to all these losers, author. It’s a good list. I don’t agree with it completely either but you’ll never find two people who can agree on a top 100 list besides their own.

#25 darin says:
March 19th, 2010 at 6:08 pm

well when you look at this list it is all retro games mostly… but looking at the sites name i’m not surprised. where is mario 64, ocarina of time, resident evil 4

btw ff7 is overrated so it gets a lower rating, go play chrono trigger or ff6

#26 Blaine says:
March 19th, 2010 at 8:09 pm

You ever play videogames? I mean besides the OBVIOUSE neglection of Ocarina of Time, this list is trash. Metal Gear for the NES was one of the worst games ever made. Super Mario 3 timeless. I’m thinking these are the only 100 games you’ve ever played based on this list, PLEASE broaden your videogame horizon here. Somebody never owned an N64..invest immediately!!!!!

#27 Walrus says:
March 19th, 2010 at 4:35 pm

Forgive me for hyping, but for anyone interested I’ve got my own top 100 videogame list going as well… up to 61 so far.. updated daily..
http://www.zeitgeistyreport.com/the-lists/2010/01/20/z-list-the-top-100-videogames-of-all-time/2/

Its not spam.. just sharing the list love with everyone…

#28 Allday says:
March 19th, 2010 at 11:58 pm

Dude prince of persia sands of time, any kingdom hearts (as gay as that sounds), and zelda ocarina by far the best zelda game all time. What that game donkey kong 64 and banjoe kazooey did for gaming mid to late 90’s was unreal. I personally like counterstrike and what it did for non pc (and pc) online game play, over the usually posted half life.

#29 Armenelos says:
March 19th, 2010 at 1:16 am

FINAL FANTASY VII DESERVES NUMBER 1.

#30 Andy says:
March 19th, 2010 at 3:50 pm

I cant say i agree with all of them but wow, amazing top ten especially. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3(or 6), Donkey Kong Country,SNES Zelda, SUPER Metroid…Spot on guys. FF1 was one of my fave for retro, but thats what got me going on rpg. nice to see Chrono made your highest RPG, best plotline ever. Best Music in a game too in my opinion. the is alot of more current games that are awesome too, but for retro this list rocks!!

#31 The Magnificent says:
March 19th, 2010 at 7:55 pm

Thank you very much. The order of the games seemed perfect to me. And also special thanks to put the Starcraft in the 3rd Place.

You ase awesome

#32 The Magnificent says:
March 19th, 2010 at 7:57 pm

This list is OK

Thank you very much one more time.

#33 The Mountain says:
March 19th, 2010 at 2:33 pm

Kid Icarus is shit. It shouldn’t be on this list.

#34 Kattula x says:
March 19th, 2010 at 5:22 pm

*Ahem*…………………
WHERE IS KINGDOM HEARTS?!!!!!!!
YOU EVIL EVIL PERSON! Why aren’t any of Kingdom Hearts games in this list? Have you just not played them or are you just daft?
*Pfft*….this list is like,,,C-R-A-P, crap!

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