The Best Video Games in the History of Humanity

I'm not the only guy who likes making lists. Over the years, many gaming magazines and websites have made lengthy lists of their own in an attempt to compile comprehensive guides chronicling the best video games of all time. It's a phenomenon that only seems to have taken rise since the dawn of the new millennium, however. I suspect before then video games were still too "new" to give an "all time" score to.

Anyway, here is a summary of some of the leading Top 10s, as excerpted from various Top 100 lists.

I have tried to be as diverse and inclusive as possible in my selection of lists. Some will inevitably appear more credible than others, but my intent was quantity more than quality. By assembling a collection of lists that was as vast as possible, I was hoping to see if there appears to be any consensus as to what games truly are history's best. My findings come at the end.

(Grey games appeared on multiple platforms)

Note: As the years progress, games tend to appear on more and more systems. For example, today you can play Super Mario Bros. on Gameboy Advance, and Ocarina of Time on the Wii. In the interest of preserving each game's original "flavor," whenever possible I have identified games on the basis of which platform they were primarily designed for. Games that were actively intended to be on multiple platforms at the time of their original debut are the ones that get the "multiple" status. I use English names for games, but usually Japanese release dates.

38. Empie Magazine [UK] (2009)

37. EDGE (2009)

36. Official Nintendo Magazine [UK] (2009)

35. VGCharts (2009)

34. IGN Readers' Poll (2008)

33. Game.co.uk poll [UK] (2008)

32. Stuff magazine [UK] (2008)
October issue

31. Entertainment Weekly magazine (2008)
Issue 1,000

30. Edge Magazine (2007)
July issue

29. IGN.com (2007)

28. Gametrailers.com (2006)

Note: Gametrailers picked two Mario games tied for fourth place.

27. Yahoo! UK & Ireland Games (2006)

26. Famitsu readers' poll (2006)

Note: Famitsu is a Japanese magazine.

25. IGN Readers' Poll (2006)

Note: This is IGN's third reader's poll. They also did a poll in 2008 (included above) and 2005 (included below), as well as editor's choice lists in 2007, (see above) 2005 and 2003 (also listed below).

24. Nintendo Power (2006)
issue 200

Note: This is Nintendo Power's second list. They also made a list in 1997 (included below).

23. Electronic Gaming Monthly (2005)
issue 200

Note: This is EGM's third list. They also made a list in 2002 and 1997 (included below).

22. GamePro magazine (2005)

21. Thejadedgamer.net (2005)

20. Gamefaqs.com reader's poll (2005)

19. IGN.com (2005)

Note: This is IGN's second list. They also made a list in 2003 (included below).

18. IGN readers' poll (2005)

17. The Age newspaper / LiveWire (2005)

16. Edge magazine (2004)