Your top 5 games of all time?

[Rangers]

I saw this on twitter and was able to come up with a nice concise list that I was happy with. In no particular order

Halo CE
Gears of War
Streetfighter 2
Final Fantasy 1 (NES)
Destiny

Honorable mentions: Unreal Tournament (PC), Link to the Past (SNES), Ocarina of Time (N64), Half Life (PC), Metal Gear (NES), Super Mario Bros (NES), Gauntlet (NES/Arcade), Avengers (old Capcom arcade game) Kings Bounty (Genesis) Contra 3 (SNES) Revenge of Shinobi (Genesis), Pac Man (Arcade/etc), Tetris (Gameboy/etc), I may edit more in as I remember them!

Thinking of what made the top 5 so great, Halo and Gears both fall into graphics pushed into never before seen (by me) territory that made the games as much of an sensory overload experience and atmosphere as a game. First time I landed on that planet in Halo, stepped out into a real world...tremendous stuff. But they were both great games too. I am pretty positive at this point we will never see such large graphics step advances again, it's all mildly incremental now, and well into diminishing returns.

Streetfighter 2 in it's many incarnations, well it's Streetfghter 2. It plays fantastic. Likely the game I've played the second most ever to Destiny.

Final Fantasy...an epic ten days of near nonstop playing over Christmas to beat this. The first real RPG I ever saw on the NES. Great. Todays Final Fantasy are not so much games as glorified movies, and they've gotten so far removed they're not remotely similar, but this one was great.

Destiny well, for me was completely new in so many ways. And I ended up putting 2500+ hours in. Surely by far the game I've played the most ever. My first Vault of Glass carried clear, easily one of my best video game experiences.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

In no particular order:

Donkey Kong country
The first game and first console I got. Loved that game and thought it looked so beautiful. Played the game for such a long time that the timer was maxed out and managed 98% completion rate until my friend's dumbass brother saved over my save file.

Half-Life 1
Just a great game. Only realized how good it was until after like the 3rd time I started playing. Before that I didn't "get" the game. The (lack of) speed of my ati 3d rage pro 8mb didn't help hehe.

Fallout 3
This game really made me feel there was an apocalypse and that you were one of the few survivors. Las Vegas wasn't nearly as good as the game felt much too alive. Haven't even bothered with fallout 4.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Awesome game that unfortunately I never finished. The glymph system to travel was a pain in the ass as I never really knew where I was going but I thought the atmosphere, world and story were amazing.

I hope there will be a remake/sequel one day.

Witcher 3
Haven't finished the game yet and have not played it in over a year but I love it's sense of scale. The world feels very large and very alive but at the same time you can just walk around and feel like you are exploring and that the world isn't over crowded.

Other games I really like:
Mario kart snes and DS
Max Payne 1 & 2
The Batman games from the past couple of years.
Beyond good and evil
Dungeon keeper 1 (played that for a million hours with a friend)
The Darksiders games I enjoyed playing as well
Driver 1

 

[bunge]

I can't come up with the fifth right now but I'm happy with:

Ultima IV: Apple ][
Doom
Resident Evil
Shadow of the Colossus

I'm considering AutoDuel for the Apple ][ for that fifth spot.

I lump the Atari 2600, ColecoVision, NES and Genesis into one group. The vast amounts of important games in that group makes it tough. I prefer to divvy up the history into two groups:

Pre Doom/PlayStation.
Post Doom/PlayStation.
Somewhere around 1993/1994.

I could maybe come up with a list that's 5 pre and 5 post. Combined is really tough for me.

 

[djskribbles]

Destiny
Most hours spent on a game. Some of the most unique coop and multiplayer experiences I've ever had.

Devil May Cry 3 SE
The best action game I've ever played. Combat system is unreal, and I loved the story.

Gran Turismo 3
Played all GTs except 6, and 3 is probably the one I played the most. GT5 is also close to my heart because despite its flaws (especially at launch) it's the first racing sim I've experienced with a decent force feedback wheel. I can't go back to playing with a controller now.

Megaman X
I remember wanting this game for my SNES as a child and was incredibly happy to get it for Christmas. Probably my favorite MM game.

Horizon Zero Dawn
Not a fan of open world games in general, but this kept me entertained throughout with its beautiful visuals, story and combat.

Honorable mentions:

NHL 94
Played the s*** out of this game for SNES with my buddies and brother.

Goldeneye N64
Played a ton of this as well with my buddies. My first FPS.

Uncharted 2
Still haven't played Uncharted 4 yet (still sealed on my shelf), but this is my favorite Uncharted game so far.

The Last of Us
To be honest, I didn't actually play it (watched my buddy play through it). But it has the best story I've seen in a game.

edit: Gotta add Rainbow Six and Counter-Strike. Two of my very first online PC shooters that I played. A lot of good times playing those games with my buddies.

 

[eloic]

It's so difficult to pick up only 5 games, but here it goes:

Tomb Raider II - My first Tomb Raider, so it has a special place in my heart, even though I enjoy the whole original PS series.

Street Fighter II - My first fighting game, a true classic.

Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha - As a huge SF fan, I loved this first 3d SF game. Very addictive!

Abe's Odyssey - Beautiful game with a unique atmosphere and story, and challenging puzzles.

Pirates! - I played this on my uncles' old Amiga 500. I got so addicted to sailing the Caribbean sea, earning new ships, improving my status, etc.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Star Control (Amiga) - Top down arcade space shooter with diverse ships. Played loads solo and against friends. Sunk many, many hours into this. Also had the joy of hacking the game to change the ship values and create different play experiences.

Master of Orion (PC) - 4X space game. Hideously addictive, I replayed it over and over. Happy to replay it now in DOS Box.

Champions of Norrath (PS2) - I'd add Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance as its prequel and CoN2 as all part of the same thing; cooperative action dungeon crawling with loot and levelling and so much polish, the quality blew me away. Also had the right balance between complex and playable. Diablo 3 is just overkill, whittling the game down to numbers. Not massively different to a crappy mobile Clicker game. CON had real gameplay, especially with a low tier character at high levels, where you had to work the AI to not get overwhelmed.

Driver (PS1) - Only played this with a group of friends where we'd hot-seat who was playing. Amazing social experience giving advice, criticisms, thinking we could do better and then being unable to. Loads of options for jokes and sillyness. The difficulty was sky-high, giving lots of chance to experiment. I remember on stop-the-ambulance mission where I came up with the plan to get in front, and just got ploughed up into the stratosphere by the shonky physics to watch the city splurge out into a sea of repeated polygons. The crappy graphics also meant the grit of the game was lost on us and it was just a joyful, silly romp around the city. Modern Drivers, like so much entertainment these days, is all serious and realistic, and we're no longer whizzing around getting shopping but instead murdering and maiming.

Hired Guns (Amiga) - This one was short lived, but what a game! 4 player split-screen coop huddled around a tiny screen, but with friendly fire. Every time one player died, the rest would dual it to the last man before reloading. And then we'd have revenge kills and dual again. We never progressed very far. Plus we hacked the graphics and drew our own sprites for characters.

_

Four of those titles are games I played with other people, in the room, eating junk food and having genuine fun. We keep looking for similar games these days and can't come up with anything. Perhaps the limitations of the tech made the experience more enjoyable because we had to supply so much ourselves to the experience?

 

[Rodéric]

Chrono Trigger
The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time
Outcast
Half Life
Guild Wars

 

[RobertR1]

Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition - Sore thumbs but fought through the pain.
Fable 2 - the most charming game I've ever played.
Braid - only game I'd consider to be art.
CoD4 - the best FPS on a console. Miles ahead of anything 2nd place.
Dota - From WC3 custom game until now, easily my most played game ever.

 

[Globalisateur]

- Super Mario bros 3 (NES) - Best game of the NES, incredible childhood moments
- Super Mario World (SNES) - Still the best 2D Mario with some kind of exploration that doesn't feel formulaic like the current Marios.
- Zelda Link's awakening (Game Boy) - Probably the best Zelda and one they didn't make a HD remake (probably reason why: there is an actual original story in it)
- The Last of Us (PS3) - An incredibly compelling / engrossing experience. Probably the best PS3 game.
- Bloodborne (PS4) - A phenomenal game. Game of the generation. Playing it reminded me when I was 10-ish playing my first videogames (Batman, Mario 3)...

This is my current top 5 based on my current preferences. But I really would have preferred a top 10 to include : Zelda Link to the past, Another world (SNES), Batman (NES), Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64), Demon's souls (PS3).

 

[Goodtwin]

Zelda OoT: Probably the reason why I am so passionate about games. Zelda OoT was mind blowing back when I was 14 years old, and I still replay it often to this day.

Zelda BoTW: It cant overcome the nastagia of OoT, but it is certainly a phenomenal game.

Bayonetta 1&2: I lumped them together but to be fair they came together as a package deal on Wii U. Best action games I have ever played.

Metroid Prime Trilogy: I know I am cheating a bit here but they did come packed together on Wii, and the IR controls were phenomenal. Unlike some people, I loved every single game and not just the original.

Eternal Darkness: Under appreciated gem on the Gamecube. I have played through ED at least 20 times, and it still hold up well to this day. I would love to see it remastered for Switch.

 

[Lefungus]

• Descent Freespace 2 Best space flight simulator ever. I will always remember the first jump into a nebula
• Diablo 2 I am loot addicted, and this game push all the right buttons
• Planescape: Torment Best dialogs & story in a video game. Choices have consequences
• Chrono Trigger Time travel, multiple endings, secrets in an anime world
• Half-life Great main campaign, and it brought Counter Strike

Honorable mentions
Ultima 7, Civilization, Duke Nukem 3D, Outcast, Fallout 2, Heroes of Might & Magic 3, Final Fantasy 6, Bioshock, GTA 3...

 

[Nesh]

It is difficult to choose just 5 games

 

[milk]

I din't feel like playing a critic here, so these are five that I always keep comig back to to replay every-now and then:

Super Metroid
Mario 64
Half Life 1
Spyro series psone
DKC series snes

I wanted to fit some classic Lucas Arts SCUMM adventure game there, but there is no single title I replay as much as the other games listed, as they don't have so much replay value. But I do replay Monkey Island 1, 2, 3, day of the tentacle and Full Throttle and Sam and Max more often than there'd really be much reason to hahah.
Ahhh, sim city 3000 too, if only for the great soundtrack.

 

[mpg1]

Goldeneye 007
Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Age of Empires
Halo 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

 

[Rangers]

Four of those titles are games I played with other people, in the room, eating junk food and having genuine fun. We keep looking for similar games these days and can't come up with anything. Perhaps the limitations of the tech made the experience more enjoyable because we had to supply so much ourselves to the experience?

I think a lot of game nostalgia is yearning for a certain time, not the game. But the kicker is you cant ever go back to that time. I guess maybe a bit depressing but yeah. That's why in my mind a lot of NES titles were the most gaming fun I've ever had, yet today they aren't very enjoyable.

When I look at all the games on my list it's a combination of factors, but they all were firsts (to me) in some respect or another. It's also interesting to me how much state of the art graphics and atmosphere for the time really played in to a lot of the memories. So yeah, never underestimate graphics.

Even Destiny, my first MMO, the first days were so fun! Glittering engrams containing loot falling out of defeated enemies was the coolest! A purple engram was like a diamond in rarity. The game is still fun, but I cant go back to then, first experiencing it.

 

[dobwal]

Metroid
Metal Gear
GTA3
Star Wars Galaxies pre CU
RDR

 

[manux]

My list is pushing definition of console a bit but here we go

monkey island 1
final fantasy 7
gran turismo 3 (this one was the game that defined gran turismo series to me, obviously later iterations are better)
metal gear solid 2
grand theft auto 3 (Obviously the later ones are objectively better games but this was the original that blew my mind at the time)

 

[goonergaz]

5 is just too hard, especially for old folk. I'm going to go with the top 5 that have left the biggest impression on me;

Elite - The original version, just the sheer size and scope of the game - all in under 64k...the first time you meet the Thargoids will stay with you forever!
Red Dead Redemption - I wasn't a GTA fan, nor a fan of the wild west (or even open world games!) - but man that game.
The Last of Us - Don't think I need to say much, so emotional and a great ride...nothing sucked me into a world better emotionally.
Shadow of The Colossus - What can you say, played so many times but I can never get enough...really looking forward to playing it yet again next year!
LittleBigPlanet - A game that let me make my own levels/mini games - awesome

Honorable mentions;
Mario 64 - I hated the game initially, but when I went back a couple years later I really appreciated what a great game it was - I think my mind wasn't ready as the time!
Metal Gear Solid 3 (Subsistence version) - It was just perfection after MGS2, I loved the camouflage system as well as 'Rambo' style 'survival'
Uncharted 2 - The love the Uncharted games - they are just so 'easy/casual' and I love playing as Drake

I could go on but will leave it there

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Wow hard to say 5...

In no particular order.

Star Control 2
The story mode was just so interesting back in the day with all the alien races and sub tasks etc. Loved this game!

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1
the plot twist totally got me back then and it just felt like a magical game

Last of Us
A true masterpiece imo, from start to the finish. I was blown away by this game, cannot wait for the sequel

Witcher 3
I already greatly enjoyed the first and second game and this just takes so many things to another level. The size, the quality of side quests. The epic DLC's... Can't say enough good things about this game.

Bioshock Infinite
requires the completion of 1 and 2 + main DLC's to fully understand the situation . Each installments of this series is great imo. The overarching story with alternate dimensions/timelines totally grapped my attention. One of those games, where after the completion you just had to watch every possible youtube video about it...

Honorable mentions:

Phantasy Star
Tekken 3
Final Fantasy 7,8
Mass Effect series
Metal Gear Solid 4
Halo 1
Gran Turismo 3
Legacy of Kain Series
Crysis 1
Ninja Gaiden 1
Red Dead Redemption

I am sure I forget many

 

[Nisaaru]

I'm not naming 5 games but I'm actually surprised nobody here mentioned Deus Ex 1 which probably says all about a thread like this