Everyone's Top 10 Video game list!

[foucault87]

Pendragon can go shove it but I think both dota and lol are important for pushing esports more mainstream.

Obviously SC, SC2, FGC, and the old shooters (unreal, cs) are where esports started, especially SC

League was important for the advertising side of things. They ran a huge marketing campaign and got people who previously would not have followed esports interested.

On the other hand, Dota was important for creating large prize pools that made it financially feasible to be a competitive gamer. And the production and presentation of Dota has always been top notch. And Dota was the first game to sell out places like MLG to watch a bunch of scrawny nerds sit in front of a computer for a few hours only to get smacked by Dondo.

Competitive gaming has always been a hobby. Believe me, I've been playing several games for a decade and a half. But Dota and Lol both made it a viable career path

 

[Chris]

Someone else mentioned Red Alert. Damn. What a great game back in the day. What the he happened to C&C? Probably same thing that happened to the entire RTS genre, I suppose. Shame.

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Someone else mentioned Red Alert. Damn. What a great game back in the day. What the he happened to C&C? Probably same thing that happened to the entire RTS genre, I suppose. Shame.

Westwood got EA'd.

I miss Maxis. The entire Sim series was such an important part of my childhood. SimCity, SimAnt, SimTower, SimIsle, Streets of SimCity...

 

[Chris]

Westwood got EA'd.

I miss Maxis. The entire Sim series was such an important part of my childhood. SimCity, SimAnt, SimTower, SimIsle, Streets of SimCity...

Goddam...SimAnt ... that was the shit. I recall Tower and obviously SimCity. 2000 was probably the peak of that. SimCopter baby!!

 

[Stark]

No particular order:

1. Pokemon Crystal
2. Call of Duty series - just listing the series in general because I think MW2, CoD4, and BO2 would all make this list
3. Elden Ring
4. Skyrim
5. Fallout: New Vegas
6. Project Zomboid
7. Overwatch
8. Runescape
9. Red Dead Redemption II
10. Halo 3

Honorable mentions: Fallout 4, Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, Planet Coaster, GTA V, The Last of Us

Figured I'd delve into each of my picks a bit - again, I love all ten of these games way too much to try to put them in any specific order.

1. Pokemon Crystal - you probably could throw Yellow in here too. The first real video games I remember ever playing. I'll still go back and play Crystal on an emulator once a year or so. The music in that game is beyond nostalgic.
2. Call of Duty - games have soured massively over the years, last one I can say I enjoyed was Modern Warfare 2019, and that was only because I played with friends a ton. Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops 2, and then to a lesser extent, Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 3 were all phenomenal games. Black Ops 2 was probably my favorite if I had to pick one.
3. Elden Ring - such a beautifully crafted mind-crushing controller-fracturing game. No joke, the first time Agheel swooped me and I had an epic battle against him on my horse, this game jumped into my top-10. Felt like if they made Game of Thrones into an open world video game. I'm also not too proud to say that I haven't beaten it yet either.
4. Skyrim - I don't even know what to say about Skyrim man. It's been in my repertoire of games for over a decade and I would gladly boot it up again tomorrow and start another 100 hour playthrough.
5. Fallout: New Vegas - The best overall RPG I've ever played. Skyrim is prettier and more epic, but you can do so much shit in New Vegas. Every playthrough I see something that I hadn't seen before. The modding on this game is great as well.
6. Project Zomboid - The newest entry on my list. I started playing a few months ago and am (still) absolutely hooked. An absolutely punishing experience and far and away the best survival game I've ever played.
7. Overwatch - This one jumps up here for all of the hours I burned in college trying to make it up into Diamond and Masters. I don't play as much as I used to and now hover around Gold and Platinum, but I think I'll pick it back up a good amount when Overwatch II drops next month.
8. Runescape - I still come back a few times a year and blow eight bucks on a membership for a month just to try to revisit the good old days. The one thing that sucks about Runescape compared to the rest of this list is that you can't go back and play the prime of this game. It's just not possible. Even a good lobby of MW2 or Halo 3 can make you feel like you are in the good old days for fifteen minutes. The playerbase and PvP scene has just dried up a bit too much at this point.
9. Red Dead Redemption II - Arthur Morgan is probably the greatest video game protagonist that I have ever gotten the privilege to play as. That whole world and single player campaign is just jaw dropping.
10. Halo 3 - One of the best FPS games of all time. I was just a little young, but I've got a ton of memories crashing the Banshee on Valhalla.

 

[Cassity14]

I mean, that's just not true. There are four majors every year outside of TI. And yeah, after launching the game with a previously-unheard-of million dollar prize pool, I love keeping that tradition. There's nothing else in ESports like The International.

"But the prize pool" isn't even the argument. Dota is the original. It's the more complex and demanding. It's the more polished game.

I'd say that Dota to LoL is like MtG is to Hearthstone, but I saw Hearthstone's place on your list


I don't think there's any way to defend that position. HoN, LoL, Heroes of the Storm, and all the other Dota clones don't even exist if it weren't for Eul, Guinsoo and IceFrog creating and maintaining/developing dota.

The fact that Riot had to hire two old dota devs to make a simpler, more approachable clone of the game speaks volumes, as does Riot trying to trademark the name "Dota" when Valve announced Dota 2.

Oh MtG is one of the best games ever made, but I don’t have enough play with it in an online medium to include it here.

I don’t disagree that Dota started it all within that gaming genre, but there’s really no comparison between the two in their impact on the esports industry.

 

[FiveThous]

In no particular order:

Pokémon Red/Blue
Goldeneye 64
Mass Effect 1/2
Mortal Kombat
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Mario Kart 64
Donkey Kong Country
Sim City
TMNT Turtles in Time
Halo 2/3

 

[Cratylus]

Pong
Zork
Hunt the Wumpus
Sea Wolf
Tank
Breakout
Gun Fight
Asteroids
River Raid
Red Dead Redemption 2

 

[KevinLoveFan]

Super Mario Bros. 3. The GOAT.

Tecmo Super Bowl. The game that got me into sports as a kid.

Final Fantasy VI. Best RPG ever.

Chrono Trigger. A close 2nd.

Animal Crossing New Horizons. Made the lockdown so much easier. Still fun with lots of new stuff when I played it this summer.

Super Mario Maker. What a fun idea -- make your own Mario levels. Single handedly saved the Wii U for me.

Sim City 2000. The height of the brilliant Sim games.

Ultima IV Quest of the Avatar. The game that got me into RPGs as a kid.

Street Fighter II Turbo. Fighting GOAT.

Warcraft II Tides of Darkness. Jaw dropping game for its time. Really got the Warcraft series going.

 

[prf100]

Warcraft II Tides of Darkness. Jaw dropping game for its time. Really got the Warcraft series going.

Great game - but the one thing I remember from it most is how you could click the sheep until they exploded.

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Great game - but the one thing I remember from it most is how you could click the sheep until they exploded.

Glittering Prizes.

I remember sc cheats more though.

 

[J_J]

Top 10 in no particular order:

1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: really good and the dungeons are one of the best ever. Will never forget the long Water Temple.

2. Chrono Trigger: story, time traveling, soundtrack, characters, choosing to kill the “person” or have him join your party, etc

3. Command and Conquer: Red Alert

4. Goldeneye 64: not just single player but was always fun playing multiplayer at peoples houses together and where online multiplayer consoles didn’t exist then. Interesting that next year they will release with online multiplayer.

5. Metal Gear Solid: just a smart game

6. Uncharted 2: loved the train scene where though fight and scenery changes.

7. Persona 5: characters, story, soundtrack, etc. Expect Persona 6 to show trailer this month.

8. Yakuza 0: not just the main game but side story is amazing. Franchise is underrated.

9. Roller Coaster Tycoon: just fun making your own roller coasters and park

10. Sims

Honorable Mentions:
- Xenoblade Series
- Final Fantasy 6, 7, 9
- Grand Theft Auto 3
- Super Mario Bros 3
- Powerful Pro Baseball 2000 - where rest of the world never thought about career mode or mylife mode until it got released to the US
- Goemon’s Great Adventure
- Witcher 3
- Last of Us
- Donkey Kong Country 1, 2
- Super Metroid
- Octopath Traveler
- Super Mario Kart: Double Dash
- Shadow of the Collosus
- Actraiser: being God and working your civilization

 

[prf100]

4. Goldeneye 64: not just single player but was always fun playing multiplayer at peoples houses together and where online multiplayer consoles didn’t exist then. Interesting that next year they will release with online multiplayer.

Loved playing multi-player proximity mine-only battles. Just hilarious stuff

 

[J_J]

Loved playing multi-player proximity mine-only battles. Just hilarious stuff

Same here! Loved mines! I was always one of those people who put a mine in open space to use reverse psychology thinking you at one spot but you’re on the other side.

Now that I remember I forgot about Socom
2. I loved Socom 1 but then there were code breakers who used enemy tags. Socom 2 was a fun 3rd person game online.

 

[prf100]

Same here! Loved mines! I was always one of those people who put a mine in open space to use reverse psychology thinking you at one spot but you’re on the other side.

A lot of strategy involved in prox-battles. Example: you get surrounded by mines and there is no escape. So you have no choice but to sadly drop one at your own feet and wait your imminent demise because it’s better to take the -1 score rather than +1 your opponent. Deeply strategic.