Top 5 Video Games?

[infectedsloth]

In order.

1. Mario Kart 64/ Mario Kart Wii
2. Super Smash Bros Melee/ Super Smash Bros Brawl
3. Total Annihilation/ Total Mayhem
4. Pokemon Red and Silver/ Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2
5. Lord of the Rings battle for middle earth 1, and Rise of the Witch King

[Uprising]

Mmmm, top 5 is tough.

1. Baldur's Gate series
2. Fallout series
3. Kotor
4. Mass Effect series
5. Dawn of War series

If I was to add a top 10

6. Company of Heroes
7. Diablo series
8. Starcraft I & II
9. Dragon Age I
10. Elder Scrolls series

[Eraguy816]

I'm thinking (Sorry I forgot some games)
1: Robin Hood Legend of Sherwood
2: Rome total war
3: Star wars empire at war
4: Star wars the forced unleashed
5: Super Smash Bros Brawl

[Aldin]

Of all time? I'd have a hard time giving a list of my top five since 2007. All time runs back to the 80s for me. And it really forces some tough nostalgia vs. modern, too. Twilight Princess is a better game than the original Legend of Zelda - but I've put more hours into the original by a HUGE margin. Do I go by time spent with Civ? Do I pick the game that sunk it's tendrils deep into my skull with Bioshock? How do I compare Oblivion to Final Fantasy? Or put value into the hundreds of hours I spent talking on the VNboards about Arcanum before it ever came out (little known fact, my personal favorite piece of fanfic I've written was an Arcanum fanfic)? Five, hunh?

1) Civilization. My first computer game and probably the single game I've spent the most time playing. I have thousands of hours logged and have never been engaged quite so thoroughly by any other game. I'm going to cheat and let this stand as my vote for Microprose games like Master of Orion and X-Com as well. It was a golden age of gaming and modern games have never managed to do addictive turn-based gaming as well since.

2) Legend of Zelda. My first modern-era console game (no, the Atari 5200 doesn't count). I burned every bush, blew up every rock, did speed runs before I'd ever heard of speed runs, and just generally wrung every last ounce out of this game. The balance of this game was absolutely perfect. Again, I shall cheat and toss in several other NES greats like Contra, Super Mario Brothers and Final Fantasy.

3) Oblivion. With IV, Elder Scrolls finally knocked one out of the park. This is the standard for modern first person RPGs. Huge sandbox to play in. Tons of interesting ways to develop a character. Bunches of plotlines to follow. In my continued cheaty-style I add Fallout 3, Skyrim, New Vegas and other great examples of the genre.

4) Fallout. This game had me from the demo. Love the resource management, character development, strong storyline and awesome, amazing setting. The writing for this game was top notch, and I played it again and again to see how different things I did affected the ending of the game where the choices I had made changed the outcomes for various places throughout the wasteland. Fallout 2, Arcanum and Planescape all belong in here somewhere, also, too, as well.

5) Pokemon. No, I'm not going to pick one, but the place on the list is to represent the thousands of mobile gaming hours I've put into catching them all. I've put too many hours into handheld gaming to even give a fair shake to stuff with mentions here so I'm going to leave my cheating to my initial vote without additional specification.

~Aldin, big cheater who still managed to leave out dozens of games he's loved

[Bengi]

I too have been playing games for 30 years which makes it very difficult for me.

1. Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Really, I love the whole Zelda franchise and recently have been getting my kid into them as well.

2. Final Fantasy VII.
I have not played the more recent ones, but I remember spending an entire winter vacation holed up in a gamer's paradise with a buddy of mine as we simultaneously played this on 2 different TV's and watched every World Cup match. (At least I think it was VII)

3. Diablo/Diablo II
Some PC love. I love loot. DIII is still too new to be on this list, though I like it. Probably not as much as the others though.

4. Alex Kidd in Miracle World
As a kid I had a Sega Master System, which I still believe was far better than the NES. This game had it all and is probably best represents the system. I also remember loving Fantasy Zone II and dozens of others.

5a. Blaster Master
I will let this one represent the NES years for me. I just loved the constant upgrades and the exploration of this one. A tough call between this one and Metroid though.

5b. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy
Sorry, gotta throw this one in there as I just thought of it. Love the Co-op. "Blue Jester is now it"

[Darth Vader]

After some consideration, here is my personal top 5:

5: Red Dead Redemption
No game has really made me cry before, and neither has Red Dead Redemption, but it is one of the few games I've played where every second of gameplay is pure fun.

4: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
This was the first real RPG I ever played, and it will remain a classic forever. Everything about that game is cool.

3: TESIV: Oblivion
While I love Morrowind and Skyrim, I've sunk more time into Oblivion than both of them put together. Whenever I need a break from the real world, nothing beats wreaking havoc in Cyrodiil.

2: Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi
This game simply does not get old. I have just as much fun playing this game with my buddies as I do with my young cousins, and I can play it for hours on end without getting bored.

1. Star Wars: Battlefront
Battlefront, to me, is the ultimate Star Wars game. While most games put you in the role of a Jedi or hero, Battlefront let you play as who you really wanted to be, an Engineer Droid fighting on the front lines, (well, maybe not, but I sure wanted to be an Engineer). To me, nothing beats fighting in the epic battles you see in the movies, and no video game beats Battlefront.

There you have it. I'd like to honorably mention Halo, Star Wars: Republic Commando and Triple Play 2001, all of which were close to my top five, but not quite there.

[Bothi]

5. Little Big Planet 2 for PS3

-For those of you that don't know, LBP is a series of Playstation exclusive platformers in which up to 4 players play through a wide variety of levels either cooperatively or competitively. The amazing selection of level creation tools has resulted in player-made levels far exceeding what the developers expected. First Person Shooter levels, "Jewls" matching games, Fighting games, and even a playable Tic Tac Toe against a computer, just to name a few.

4. Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen for GBA

Or the older Red and Green. I do think the remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen, are better though. With enhanced graphics, the addition of the event islands, cross-game compatibility really sealed these games as the better buy. Pokemon was the perfect jRPG, targeted at children young enough to generally not have pets (their own, at least) and taking all that desire for a pet, and what they thought it would be like when they get it, and amplifying it. What child wouldn't want there beloved Fido to understand English and help them battle the forces of evil? Easy game-play and simple strategy (if you make it) make it easy for anyone to pick up and learn. Just about everyone with a childhood has sunk tens, if not hundreds O.o, of hours into Pokemon. After Generation 3, however, I believe the series took a turn for the worse, and has been on a downhill slide ever since.

3. Starcraft 2 for PC

[NOT FOR THE WEAK OF HEART] Starcraft 2 was released with a flurry of criticism from the players; Not out of game chat, Only one account per purchase, No cross-country compatibility...
The first of those was very quickly fixed, and as for the other two.... well, there is a reason it isn't #1. Starcraft 2 is THE competitive game. Two or more players (sometimes on teams) battle it out in a RTS adrenaline filled awesome. Yes, it is not even a game, it is an awesome. It is by far the best strategy game I've played, and a few other games to. With an official map editor, players have (much like LBP) made an amazing variety of different levels. The most amazing of which has got to be Starcraft Universe, an MMO run entirely inside the SC2, simply by clicking the map selection of what you want to do (there is a pvp arena, along with a open-world pve area, and finally a raid area, with more to come. Not only all this, but Starcraft Universe saves your characters to class, colors, weapons, armor, stats, skills, and everything else in a data file, so you never have to start over. Starcraft 2 is not only the most competitive game, it is also (in my opinion) the most competitive sport, since SC2 is the national sport of Korea. And now for the frosting on the cake; it is free. Ok, that was a lie (kind of). There is a free "demo" version you can download in which you can play a tiny amount of the story (I will not even start...) and play the official Blizzard maps in online multiplayer, but only as one team (Terran). It is a great way to see if you want to buy it, or get friends together to play it. For the price of free, you need to try this.

2. TES- Daggerfall for PC

Some of you young-ins may be thinking "Wait, tes daggerfall? What the hell is that?" For those of you not familiar with the game, Daggerfall is the second game in your beloved Elder Scrolls series. This game is huge. It is literally the largest game in existence. The game world is 487,000 square kilometers, while Oblivion is a measly 41.4 square kilometers, and Skyrim is even smaller. The amount of available spells is unbelievable, not to mention custom spells. There was just so much... much! The game was not afraid of adult content. There was adult content and violence that newer games could not hope to match. I mean... wow. It isn't just nostalgia when thinking about this game makes me want to go play it right now. The game is now free, so if you have an older computer, get it. If you don't, get it anyway. It comes with DOSBox, an emulator for old games. I know that this may not be this high on other peoples list, but I just had too much fun for this not to be up at number two. Oh, and for those of you that are disgusted by the graphics, there is a mod now called DaggerXL that gives the game ps2-quality graphics. Get some.

1. Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance for PS2

This game is amazing. It is the only Baldurs Gate I've played, so there may be better (like the sequel) but I loved this game to no end. I almost always played with at least one, and none of us EVER got bored of it, even to this day we occasionally sit down and play. The game doesn't have the greatest replayability out there, but at the same time, it does. Just being able to play an old school rpg with limited customization, no internet, multiplayer, a straight, solid story. Call it nostalgia, but they just don't make games like this anymore. NEVER use the cheats available for this game. I made this mistake once and it completely ruined the gaming experience, it was at least a month recovery for me to be able to play and not get that "this-is-stupid-and-could-be-invincible-right-now" feeling. I love that you have to play one of four pre-made characters. I love that there is a limited amount of armor. I love that enemies don't "respawn". I love that the areas are so varied. I love that you can drop in and out. I love this game.

[DrummerScaper97]

Tough... I'm going to kinda cheat by including series...

1. Pokemon - I've loved these games since I was little kid (granted, that wasn't too long ago, but still.), and liked all of the entries of the game. I've probably spent more time playing and re-playing these games than any other.

2. Elder Scrolls - Leveling up, killing your enemies, and most importantly, role-playing, these games are awesome. Regardless of bugs, these games are amazing to me.

3. MarioKart - Again, all of these games were awesome. Most notably MarioKart Wii. Having control by actually turning the wheel (and having it do something rather than just turning my controller) for the first time was amazing.

4. Legend of Zelda - Adventuring, finding hidden items, killing awesome baddies, just amazing. The series has been good, and being the quiet Link is always nostalgia-inducing, regardless of game.

5. Spyro - This was my first videogame, and this may be on the list purely because of nostalgia. But to tell the truth, Spyro was a little pack of awesome. I bought Skylanders as soon as I saw it, and playing as Spyro again was so cool.

[Kaiser Cat]

In no particular order, mainly because they're all different genres.

Ghost Trick
The concept is outstanding. The actual gameplay is enjoyable, even if the puzzles are easy. The music is great and the animation is fluid, but what really sets this game apart is the story. I don't want to spoil anything, but the story is amazing.

Okami
Ah, Okami. The LoZ ripoff that ended up much more enjoyable than most actual LoZ games. It's a fun adventure, it's long, the story and world are vivid and feel alive, the artstlye is cool, the music is very well done. My only real complaint with this game is that you-aren't-going-to-die-unless-your-controller-runs-out-of-battery difficulty.

Sin and Punishment: Star Successor
An extremely challenging rail shooter. The music and graphics are great, but what really stands out in this game is the difficulty, which manages to be very high without ever feeling like BS. Beating a boss or a stage in this game is a truly satisfying experience.

Cave Story
People have different opinions on all games, and this game in particular generates opinions all across the spectrum. A big problem I've had with OOT and MMX is the fact that people praise these games to the point that, if you take the praise at face value, it is impossible not to be disappointed no matter how good the game actually is. I played Cave Story without really expecting anything and this may have influenced my opinion on it. I'd advise everyone to form their own opinions on games rather than just listen to others.

Now that I have got that out of the way, Cave Story is the best freakin' indie game ever made and if you disagree you are wrong.

But seriously, don't take my word for it, mainly because you may very well not agree with it. Play it yourself to find out how it is.

Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
You make the theme park of your dreams. What more does one really need?

[nate the dawg]

Man, there's a lot to choose from! I'd have to say...

#5) Super Mario 64
#4) Final Fantasy Tactics
#3) Goldeneye 007
#2) Resident Evil 2
#1) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Though, if asked at another time, my answers would likely vary.

EDIT: There should probably be a Megaman in there...

[happyjosiah]

1. X-Com
2. Fallout
3. Fallout 2
4. Might and Magic VII
5. Descent

[Scapemage]

This is very tough, but I believe I have it down:

5) Batman: Arkham City
4) Super Smash Bros. Brawl
3) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
2) Pokemon Pearl
1) Sly 2: Band of Thieves

I chose not to include multiple games from the same series, but I think the list would still be the same.