Rolling Stone Showcases Top 50 Games List Designed for SEO

We’ve all seen these “top ? games of all time” lists, but they never seem quite right. Rolling Stone is just the latest example.

Over the years, there are plenty of large publications that put out a list of the so-called greatest games of all time. A lot of these lists generally are written by people who either don’t play very many games or simply don’t play games at all. As a result, it is quite clear that these lists are created to appeal to certain fanbases or simply to generate some good old fashion SEO (Search Engine Optimization). So, a lot of the times, I see the same games get attributed to these lists even though some of them may not really be deserving of such a list.

Simply put, it takes a lot (and I do mean a LOT) to be considered one of the greatest games of all time. The game needs to have incredible graphics, fantastic music, amazing gameplay, and a whole lot more. It has to nail down so many aspects of what makes a game great. As my more than 900 video game reviews can attest to, that is not easy by any means.

What’s more, it takes a LOT of work to keep a tally of what is truly an excellent game. You have to spend thousands of hours pouring through each game and meticulously nitpicking even the smallest things sometimes. As a result, I feel that I’m one of the few gamers out there that is actually qualified to make such a list.

For reference, for the time being (it is a dynamic list that updates as I put more games into the reviews system), here’ is my list for the top 50 games of all time (with platform, genre, and score included):

  1. Worms Armageddon (N64) (Strategy) (100%)
  2. Final Fantasy III (SNES) (RPG) (100%)
  3. Earthbound (SNES) (RPG) (98%)
  4. The Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time (N64) (Action/Adventure) (98%)
  5. Destruction Derby 64 (N64) (Vehicle Combat Racing) (98%)
  6. Tetris (Game Boy) (Puzzle) (98%)
  7. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) (Adventure) (98%)
  8. Perfect Dark (N64) (FPS) (96%)
  9. Tetrisphere (N64) (Puzzle) (96%)
  10. Kirby Super Star (SNES) (Adventure) (96%)
  11. Kirby’s Adventure (NES) (Adventure) (96%)
  12. Katamari Damacy (Playstation 2) (Puzzle) (94%)
  13. Uniracers (SNES) (Stunt Racing) (94%)
  14. Super Mario World (SNES) (Adventure) (94%)
  15. Tetris Attack (SNES) (Puzzle) (94%)
  16. Vigilante 8 – 2nd Offense (N64) (Vehicle Combat) (92%)
  17. Snowboard Kids 2 (N64) (Racing/Snowboard Cross) (92%)
  18. Duke Nukem 3D (DOS) (FPS) (92%)
  19. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES) (RPG) (92%)
  20. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (Playstation 3) (Action Adventure) (92%)
  21. San Fransisco Rush 2049 (N64) (Racing) (92%)
  22. Donkey Kong 64 (N64) (Adventure) (92%)
  23. We Love Katamari (Playstation 2) (Puzzle) (92%)
  24. Beetle Adventure Racing (N64) (Racing) (92%)
  25. Pilotwings 64 (N64) (Flight Simulator) (92%)
  26. Super Mario Land 2 – 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy) (Adventure) (92%)
  27. Might and Magic 6 – Mandate of Heaven (PC) (RPG) (90%)
  28. Road Rash 64 (N64) (Combat Racing) (90%)
  29. Mega Man 2 (NES) (Action) (90%)
  30. Battle Cars (SNES) (Racing/Vehicle Combat) (90%)
  31. San Fransisco Rush 2049 (Sega Dreamcast) (Racing) (90%)
  32. Top Gear 3000 (SNES) (Racing) (90%)
  33. Gradius – The Interstellar Assault (Game Boy) (Action) (90%)
  34. Pac Man (Atari 5200) (Survival) (90%)
  35. Duke Nukem 64 (N64) (FPS) (90%)
  36. Battletanx (N64) (Action) (90%)
  37. Pipe Dream (Game Boy) (Puzzle) (90%)
  38. Super Mario 64 (N64) (Adventure) (88%)
  39. Turok 2 – Seeds of Evil (N64) (FPS) (88%)
  40. Doom (DOS) (FPS) (88%)
  41. Banjo Kazooie (N64) (Adventure) (88%)
  42. Forza Horizon 2 (XBox 360) (Racing) (88%)
  43. Mega Man Legends (Playstation) (Action Adventure) (88%)
  44. Forza Horizon 5 (XBox One) (Racing) (88%)
  45. FlatOut 2 (PC/Steam) (Combat Racing) (88%)
  46. F-Zero X (N64) (Racing) (88%)
  47. Mega Man 3 (NES) (Action) (88%)
  48. Mario Golf (Game Boy Color) (Golf) (88%)
  49. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis) (Adventure) (88%)
  50. Vegas Stakes (SNES) (Gambling) (88%)

This is not a list designed to appease one fanbase or another. It is not a list designed to score points in the SEO game. This is a list created through actually playing the games and concluding which ones simply delivered the best experiences. Further, I have been reviewing games for more than a decade now. Yes, the newest possible games haven’t been reviewed yet, but I’m already closing in on some of these games as I write this article. Either way, this is a list written by someone who actually put in the work to determine what was truly deserving of being considered a greatest game of all time.

Then there’s this Rolling Stone magazine list. Well, there’s some curious decisions made to generate the list. What I found notable is this paragraph describing what went into the decision-making process:

For this list, we looked at both how influential each game was at arrival, as well as whether it still holds up. A good game may have played well, but a great one still does. These are games that made the culture what it is today and will chart where it goes tomorrow.

So, in other words, this was less about what is actually a well put together game and more about what they considered to be “culturally influential”. The problem with that is what is genuinely an amazingly put together game and what is “culturally influential”. There are, after all, culturally significant games out there that are generally hot garbage.

A great example is the Call of Duty franchise. The entries themselves (apart from maybe the first game and the first Modern Warfare 2 game) are generally a dime a dozen. When you play them, you could tell that the game was designed to make a deadline more than deliver an incredible experience. Sure, Zombie Mode might deliver some entertainment afterwards, but it only serves to ensure that the game isn’t a complete waste of time rather than propel it to be a greatest game of all time. I mean, if you want a shooter that is entirely that kind of entertaining, try Timesplitters 2 and/or 3. That alone was just a general overall better gaming experience.

Now, having said that, there’s no denying that Call of Duty is culturally significant game. I mean, who hasn’t heard of Call of Duty? If you’ve heard of gaming, chances are, you’ve heard of that franchise. So, if you are making a list of culturally significant or most well known games and game franchises, I wouldn’t hesitate to put that on such a list. That is generally more attributed to the successful marketing the franchise has had, though.

Now, there are games on the list I haven’t played (no crime in that. There are, after all, hundreds of thousands of games out there from all sorts of time periods), so I’ll just be talking about the games I have played and commenting on the choices made.

47 ‘The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past’ (1992)

When I reviewed that game, I noted how hyped the game was (the Rolling Stone magazine list certainly proved that again all these years later). I remember the storyline was a fair bit on the thin side. There were also some complexity issues involved with this game. Now, don’t get me wrong, it was a great game as there was lots to do and an interesting progression. In fact, the game itself actually just barely missed the greatest games of all time list by a small margin. So, the inclusion is a bit more debatable to me. I think Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Twilight Princess was an overall better experience, though.

40 ‘Chrono Trigger’ (1995)

This is actually a fairly recent review. When I played it, I thought some of the enemies attacks were cheap more than anything else. Sometimes, the game could be annoyingly cryptic. Was it a great game anyway? Sure, I can agree. I wouldn’t call it “greatest of all time” material, though.

37 ‘Pokémon Gold and Silver’

While I haven’t necessarily played either of those specifically, I did play and review Pokemon Red which is a very similar game. The problem with this game is the weird item storage limitations. This over top of the naming convention the game employs with items which makes the game more cryptic than anything else. Was it a positive gaming experience anyway? Sure. Was it a great game? Not exactly. It was just a middle of the road good experience more than anything else. For what it’s worth, though, I did play Pokemon Crystal. That I considered to be a great gaming experience. Again, though, not “greatest of all time” material, but certainly a great game nevertheless.

35 ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’

This is another game that bubbled on the greatest games of all time list for me. It was a great game. What I will say, however, is that I liked the first game more (which did make the list for me).

29 ‘Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’

This is a forthcoming review on our end, but while it was a decent game, I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a “great” game, let alone one of the best games ever made. Are you in for a good experience, sure, but I wouldn’t call it a particularly amazing experience. There were certainly a number of games out there at around that time that was better. Forza Motorsport 3, Torchlight, Borderlands, Blur, Just Cause 2, or even Split/Second comes to mind for me. Again, not an absolutely terrible game, but I think there were better games out there at around that time.

22 ‘Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’

Oof. Just, oof. This is another game that is forthcoming on the site, but what I can say is that it was a very mediocre experience. Forget being a great game or even a good game, it was just a “blah” experience. What’s really making my head scratch over this one is that if you had to pick just one Call of Duty game (and this is the only Call of Duty entry on the list), why this one in particular? The first Call of Duty, Modern Warfare II, or maybe even Black Ops III would’ve had a stronger argument on its merits. The listing mentioned that it was based on the single player campaign. I agree it was different for the franchise, but it wasn’t really all that great, truth be told. It’s entries like this that make me ask, “did you even play the games you are listing?”

21 ‘Fallout 3’

I haven’t actually given up on this game yet, but what I will say is that the Steam version didn’t even boot and was basically a broken game for me. I am playing other games in the franchise and I’m having a good experience so far, but, yeah, that was my first foray into the franchise and it was quite the unexpected experience for me.

20 ‘Mario Kart 64’

This is a game I did review a while back. It’s another game that didn’t quite make the list for me, but I will say it is a great game. In terms of kart racing games from around that era, I thought Diddy Kong Racing was better.

17 ‘Diablo II’

Another game I did review a while back. It was a solid RPG game, but not exactly something I put in the realm of being “great”. This game came out at a time when RPG games were really struggling to find their footing. Things were moving along quite smoothly in the 2D space, especially in the SNES era, but once gaming jumped from 2D to 3D, it took a while before RPG games started getting good again. An exception to the rule, and a game that really doesn’t get enough credit, would be Might & Magic 6 – Mandate of Heaven. It managed to take the 3D RPG game genre and run with it. Not only did it run with it, but it did so in a party 1st person perspective which, to this day, is a surprisingly unique style of RPG game. It was mindblowing what those developers pulled off with that game – and kind of surprising how much they struggled to replicate that magic afterwards.

15 ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’

I will give some credit here that of all the Witcher games out there, I think they did pick the best one. This is also a forthcoming review here. I will say it is a great game, but in terms of a game being the greatest of all time, I think this game fell slightly short of that. Again, great game, but not quite worthy of such a list as far as I’m concerned.

13 ‘Doom’

Probably the first game I agree with Rolling Stone on so far. I did review that game a while back and it is definitely worthy of such a list given what was accomplished back in those days. As of right now, the game is ranked 40th of all time here.

11 ‘Halo: Combat Evolved’

This is another game I reviewed a while back and I thought it was a fairly solid game at the time. Was it a great game? Not really. In fact, Halo (along with Call of Duty) are two franchises I blame for making FPS games a mediocre experience. This by popularizing the lazy regenerative health system that drove me nuts. If you’re looking for an FPS game that was better from around that era, I would easily pick Perfect Dark instead. Goldeneye 007 was also a great game as well. Both choices are better in my opinion.

9 ‘The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’

Hey, the second game so far that I can agree with… if we’re doing a top 100 list instead of 50. It’s also a forthcoming review. For me, this had the potential to be a top 10 greatest games of all time, but bugs and crashes held this game back a fair bit. For me, this game ranks number 59.

8 ‘Final Fantasy VII’

If there was ever a textbook definition of the most overrated game of all time, it is easily this game. This is one of the earliest reviews I’ve ever done and the game was garbage. The never ending repetitive long animations to perform a single action, the generally linear feel, the rollback of features, the writing being substantially worse than previous games, the jankiest of mini-games, the generally poor graphics, and so on was really grating to me. I was shocked at what I played – this especially when the previous game was the second best game I ever played. It was the biggest “WTF?” experience I’ve ever had reviewing a game.

6 ‘Half-Life 2’

This was one of my more recent reviews. It was a great experience, I’m not going to lie, but would I call it one of the greatest games ever made? Not really. There really is better out there.

5 ‘The Last of Us’

This is a forthcoming review for us, but what I will say is that this ended up being a fairly mediocre experience. I think if you’re looking for shooter games from around that time that were better, I’d pick games like Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4 or maybe Just Cause 2. Either way, though, this game doesn’t actually live up to the hype as far as I’m concerned.

4 ‘Super Mario World’

The second game I formally agree with on this whole list. This is a game I reviewed a while back. For me, this game ranked 14. What does surprise me is that this is the only Mario adventure game on the list. Super Mario Bros 3, for me, ranked higher at number 7. Other suggestions I would throw in would be Super Mario Land 2 – 6 Golden Coins (ranked 26), and Super Mario 64 (ranked 38). I’m sure there are fans of Super Mario Odyssey as well.

2 ‘Tetris’

This is the third game I agree with. This is another game I reviewed a while ago. For me, this game actually ranked 6. While I haven’t played all the Tetris games out there (obviously), out of all of the Tetris games, this is probably the best one, so I agree with the choice. The reason this game ranked lower for me was because the pieces start becoming hard to see at higher speeds.

Missing Games

While there are games that are forthcoming on my “to-play” list that appear on this list, there are a number of other games that didn’t make the list that makes no sense to me. I mean, where’s Earthbound? Was there something wrong with including any Kirby games? The lack of Duke Nukem 3D was definitely a notable absence.

Had it not been for Mario Kart 64, I’d say this list completely snubbed the racing genre altogether. I mean, no Forza games at all? What about the Rush franchise? Beetle Adventure Racing is also a great candidate. Even Flatout 2 is an excellent candidate as far as I’m concerned. What about any game from the F-Zero franchise? Where’s any game from the Burnout franchise? I’m also sure there are going to be fans who are upset at the lack of Gran Turismo even though I wasn’t as big of a fan.

I think another noticeable absence is the lack of Mega Man 2. I mean, Mega Man for a long time was a huge franchise until Capcom decided it doesn’t want to produce popular old titles any more. If you want to pick something slightly newer, then I would pick Mega Man Legends because that’s also an excellent pick.

Another very noticeable absence is the lack of any Ratchet & Clank or Sly Cooper games. I mean, if you’re already bent on favouring action games, why let Ratchet & Clank slip through the cracks? It really doesn’t make any sense to me. I mean, for crying out loud, if you’re going to play the “cultural significance” card, then explain why it’s not culturally significant when it continues to this day and the fact that there was a freaking movie based off the game.

Why I Put in the Work

When I see lists like this (and Rolling Stone is far from the only one doing things like this), it reminds me why I’m actually putting in the work to individually do full reviews of games. It is also a reminder why I keep maintaining a dynamic list of games I think are the best. Top video games lists are cheap and, very often, they are based off of random Google searches and Wikipedia entries rather than sitting down and actually playing through these games to determine what is an enjoyable experience and what isn’t. It’s excruciatingly time consuming and you are putting in a LOT of hours to do it, but at the end of the day, you have a quality list that you can defend afterwards.

So, when random publications put out “best games of all times” lists, it’s very obvious that the people putting it together either didn’t put in the effort to be able to put together such a list, or they personally favoured one genre over the other. Trust me, it’s very obvious for a lot of lists I’ve seen out there.

So, why put these lists out there in the first place? It’s a cheap trick to get search results. There are plenty of people out there that will Google search “best games” and they are hoping that they get the clicks for it. What’s more, it’s easy to simply Google search the results and skip all that work in the first place. I mean, here’s what crops up for me when I Google the best games ever made. A lot of the results seem rather… uh… familiar:

It’s entirely possible to simply take those results, tweak a few things, do a small writeup for each, then dust your hands of it. No need to bother, you know, actually playing any of these games. Who has time for that anyway?

Anyway, that’s my take on that list at least. While no one would ever agree on a greatest games of all time list (because we all have different preferences), this list can easily be explained by SEO more than anything else. At least I have the reviews to back my list anyway.

Drew Wilson on Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook.

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