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Guinness lists top 50 games of all time News
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by
Ellie Gibson
Guinness World Records has released a list of the top 50 most important and influential videogames of all time.
The list was decided on by "a crack team of industry experts" and some girl called Ellie. Games were ranked on their initial impact, lasting legacy, how fun they were to play and the colour of the box. Maybe not the last one.
The number one spot goes to Super Mario Kart. It was the best-selling racer on the SNES, fact fans, with 8 million units sold. And the N64 (9 million) and the GameCube (7 million) and the DS (10 million).
Tetris is in second place, followed by Grand Theft Auto and Super Mario World. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was in fifth place, meaning it's officially better than Halo at six.
The list appears in the astonishingly good new book Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2009, which someone at Eurogamer may or may not have a vested interest in because they helped write it. The book has already been met with huge critical acclaim on a scale previously unheard of in human history, with some analysts predicting it will be remembered for all time as the best work of literature ever produced.
The Guinness World Record's Gamer's Edition 2009 carries an RRP of GBP 15, but it's available now on Amazon for just GBP 7.49. Part of the proceeds from sales will go to help women forced to write acerbic reviews of rubbish Wii games all day.
Here's that top 50 list in full. FIGHT!
- Super Mario Kart
- Tetris
- Grand Theft Auto
- Super Mario World
- Zelda Ocarina of Time
- Halo
- Resident Evil IV
- Final Fantasy XII
- Street Fighter II
- GoldenEye
- Super Mario 64
- Tomb Raider
- Metal Gear Solid
- Call of Duty 4
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- GTA San Andreas
- Super Mario Bros
- Zelda: A Link to the Past
- Gran Turismo
- Final Fantasy VII
- Pro Evolution Soccer 4
- The Orange Box
- Lego Star Wars Complete Saga
- Tekken 2
- Wii Sports
- Pokemon Red/Blue
- Guitar Hero
- Project Gotham Racing 4
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Resident Evil
- Ico
- Chrono Trigger
- Gunstar Heroes
- Soul Calibur
- Advance Wars
- Ridge Racer
- Super Metroid
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- GTA Vice City
- BioShock
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
- God of War
- Sega Rally Championship
- Starfox 64
- Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
- WarioWare Inc
- Saturn Bomberman
- Crash Bandicoot
- Outrun 2
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BiscuitBase
27/02/09 @ 09:40
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Pretty good list. I approve.
Please note it's clearly a list of VIDEOGAMES (ie console) and that's why there's no PC stuff.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 27/02/09 @ 10:27
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Britesparc
27/02/09 @ 09:47
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Lego Batman is better than Lego Star Wars.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 27/02/09 @ 09:48
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BiscuitBase
27/02/09 @ 09:51
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I think it's a list of VIDEOgames as opposed to computer games so it doesn't have any pc-exclusive titles (or amiga/c64/spectrum exclusive titles come to that)
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20charactersmax
27/02/09 @ 09:51
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Missing a a lot of PC Games. What about the LucasArts Adventures or many PC RPGs or RTS games? Other than that it's pretty solid, one bonus point for sneaking Outrun 2 in.
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kinky_mong
27/02/09 @ 09:55
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top 50 most important and influential videogames of all time.
Now I have absolutely no interest in World of Warcraft but even I know a game that has millions of subscribed users, episodes of popular cartoons basing whole episodes around it, and daily mentions in the mainstream press should probably be considered in the top 50 important and influential games. |
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BiscuitBase
27/02/09 @ 10:02
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I'll say it again, it's a list of video games, world of warcraft is technically a computer game. If there was a 360 port of WoW then I'm sure it would be up there.
That's why there's no Doom, Quake, Command & Conquer etc...
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 27/02/09 @ 10:03
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Telepathic.Geometry
27/02/09 @ 10:02
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As with all of these kinds of lists, there's an awful lot to disagree with. In my case, putting Halo at number 6 is laughable. I think even Halo-lovers will be able to come up with 10 games head and shoulders above Halo, but kudos for the list including Ico somewhere. :)
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A very good list actually with the exception of Street Fighter II but then I only got the chance to play it for the first time recently and so fail to see what all the fuss was about. Oblivion would be much higher for me though, definitely top five, and Banjo-Kazooie would be in there (one of my all-time favourite games).
Super Mario Kart at number one... hmmm... that would languish somewhere near the bottom of my top games list as it's another game I've only played in the last five years so I can't view it through rose-tinted spectacles any more than I can SF II! ;) Nice to see under-appreciated gems like PGR 4 and OutRun 2 in there too, although I'm surprised to see FFXII above FFVII. |
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- Dune II - the game that launched the RTS genre? The forerunner to Red Alert series/Supreme Commander etc?
- Civilisation - any of them. Please? How the hell can that not be included? - Populous - the original god game? - The Sims - probably the best selling series of all time - not my cup of tea - but surely worth inclusion! - Total War Series - Any of them? Completely redefined/recreated the war game! - World of Warcraft - Surely those 11 million people stumping up a tenner a month aint playing some useless piece of crap. - Championship/Football Manager - FFS this series of games has been cited in divorce cases. Huge and loyal following how can it not be in there? - Secret of Monkey Island (or other LucasArts efforts) - Goddamn I am getting annoyed now. It seems the creators of this list have never played a PC game in their lives and particularly never any game that involved 'strategic' rather than 'twitch' skills! Hang them all now! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :p
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most recently on 27/02/09 @ 10:08
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Since when was The Orange Box a game. I've got that and it has Half Life 2 and Portal and Team Fortress but I can't seem to find a game called Orange Box.
I wonder if the 'astonishingly good' Guinness list of greatest pop music contains any compilations. Best album of all time, 'Now That's What I Call the 80's!' |
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its a pretty crappy idea to make a distinction between home computers (computer games) and consoles (videogames) it just makes no sense because they ane one and the same...this list should include games released on computer, hell its got arcade machines in it, of which a few are PC based....
also all new consoles are just a PC in a nice box anyway. stupid.list. |
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metalangel
27/02/09 @ 10:09
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The list is rubbish - not least of all because Mario fucking Kart is no. 1.
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MrChuckles
27/02/09 @ 10:18
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Top 50 'Console' Games of All Time i guess?
No RTS's, 2 Western RPG (Found on consoles), no God Games.... Bah, apart from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger and Advance Wars (All Japanese strategy games) and KOTOR & Oblivion everything is arcadey. Where are Populous, Dune, Starcraft, Baldur's Gate, The Sims, World Of Warcraft, Total War Series, Civilisation? And where are ANY games from the 8 bit era which all laid the foundations for this list which seems to start in the late 90's. What about Elite, Grand Prix or Manic Miner? What about Pong or Gravity Wars, they had a bigger lasting legacy than any of these. Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Galaxy & Super Mario 64, ffs, how on earth can they ALL be in the list, they are the same game updated using refinements of the current generation. Stupid list..... Must....Care....Less..... |
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alimokrane
27/02/09 @ 10:23
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Seriously ?? Where is Beyond Good & Evil ? Prince of Persia SOT in all of this ....... and Come on FF12 ranked higher than FF7 ???
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 27/02/09 @ 10:24
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thesombrerokid
27/02/09 @ 10:24
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the list is a fucking joke, nothing from origin->looking glass->ion storm->irrational school of games, the definitive most influential set of games the industry has ever seen most notably deus ex.
how the fuck can you get away with a list like this without half life in it? what were you's smoking? no doom? worst of all not a single RTS! |
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This list is all wrong
and if one you idiots at Eurogamer contributed to it god help us. How can you write a publication such as this website and tell me Resident Evil IV is more influential than Resident Evil? WTF has it influnenced since it's release? Bioshock should be System Shock 2 Super Mario 64 is not even in the top ten even though it influenced many designers to imitate it in their own 3D iterations Where are the RTS games? Lego Fucking Star Wars why is that so high? Why is Final Fantasy XII above Final Fantasy VII? The problem here is there is gamers who born before the advent of gaming and gamers who were born when games were freely available on multiple formats. I like to call them "the Playstation generation" Clarity is needed on what this list is about If your talking about the top 50 most influential games. This list is all wrong But if you talking about the the most fun games to play based on lasting appeal. Then most entries are correct, bar some odd entries such as bioshock. You tell me who is still playing that game |
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Having 2 criteria, one of which is highly subjective, certainly gave the crack team of exerts a lot of maneuvering room. If they would have wanted some responsibility, they would have made 2 separate lists instead and would have a had a comprehensive list of importance criteria. But that would have been hard.
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Britesparc
27/02/09 @ 10:47
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I think if you filter it through a "console games" lens, then it's not a bad list. Certainly in terms of influence and all that it's seriously lacking early computer games (or indeed things like, y'know, Pong, or Asteroids, or friggin' Space War...). But on the whole I reckon it's an alright list.
Lack of Guybrush and Gordon is still shitty, though. |
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GamesConnoisseur
27/02/09 @ 10:52
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Yes console games rather than wider Computing games inc all the classical games. People do love to hate Halo like its cool to do, its did have a big impact at the time and introduced quite a few neat features.
Also its introduced the franchise and was singlularly important to MS and Xbox console, Killzone tried to emulate it but fallen on it face at the time and now i m glad to be able to get my hands today on the sequel! |
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Tonasaurus
27/02/09 @ 10:58
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What! No Fatal Inertia! This book is clearly a joke. Norris McWhirter will be spinning in his grave.
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superted1974
27/02/09 @ 11:02
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Ok - it only creeps in at 50 but.... OUTRUN 2
Am I missing something? |
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what can i say that hasn't already been said? maybe then to reiterate: the omission of FFVII from the "most important and influential videogames of all time" is poor. And excluding WoW on the grounds of the appalling perception that PC games aren't videogames is BS. with the numerous MMOs heading to the more commercially viable consoles, it's clear WoW is the most influential videogame of recent times.
edit. lol. need to check my eye sight! completely missed FFVII!
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 27/02/09 @ 11:36
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homerramone
27/02/09 @ 11:08
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What everyone said !
Few things in there that clearly should be - and a lot more that shouldnt And lots that should that isnt. Shouldnd SPACE INVADERS or GALAXIAN (or whatever) be there ? Pretty influential I suspect. And with the current trend of dual stick shooters I rather suspect ROBOTRON should be there too - at the very least Smash TV... And wheres PACMAN for that matter!!! Looks to me a lot more like a list of someones favorite games |
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The_Inquisitor
27/02/09 @ 11:12
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Shouldn't Grand Theft Auto have III at the end, as I can't understand the original being on the list, despite it being a fantastic game.
My only complaint is Shenmue isn't on the list... fools! |
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They also eliminated arcade games, I think.
I don't know exactly how their thinking went... Eliminating PC and arcade games from an all-time list seems arbitrary. Why just "videogames"? Also, the list is wrong straight off the bat. There is no videogame more important and influential than Tetris. There are several games that could go above it in a list that includes all games, but as videogames go, it's number 1, no two ways about it. Final Fantasy XII, lol! At least with Call of Duty 4 I can agree that it will prove influential and important in due time, but Final Fantasy XII? And Oblivion? Why not Morrowind, at least? |
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