As Polygon's recent fifth birthday approached, we started thinking about what we could do to celebrate it. And what's more fun than ranking the 100 best games of all time? We started by setting rules upfront. We asked everyone to vote based on innovation, polish and durability, rather than simply personal taste.
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We cut games released in 2017 to eliminate recency bias. And we left out sequels that we deemed too similar to the games that came before them. Then we voted, but we knew we had gaps in our knowledge on staff. So in addition to gathering votes from the Polygon team, we worked with a group of external and freelance writers to pull in their input: Kahlief Adams, Susan Arendt, Katherine Cross, Jon-Paul Dyson, Benj Edwards, Cara Ellison, JC Fletcher, Jenn Frank, Harold Goldberg, Janine Hawkins, Blake Hester, Laura Hudson, Henry Lowood, Jeremy Parish, Carolyn Petit, Andrea Rene, Jaz Rignall and Gary Whitta. Collecting all those votes together, we then combed through the data for anomalies and came up with the final order you see here, with personal choices for each voter’s favorite game sprinkled throughout as sidebars — including, as you’ll see below, a few choices that didn’t even make the overall list.
Over the course of this week, we're posting 100 games each day. Scroll down for the first 100.
500-401. 500. Ballblazer (1984, Atari 8-bit, others) Ballblazer pushed every inch of the Atari 400 and 800 farther than anyone knew they could go. A one-on-one sports game combining elements of basketball and soccer, though it wasn't based on a real sport per se, Ballblazer was a trailblazer in early sports sims with a realistic approach to gameplay and physics. Arkanoid (1986, Arcade, others) Arkanoid is like Breakout, but immensely better.
Taking the blockbuster's gameplay, but adding power-ups and new level layouts, Arkanoid is a true test of skill. Cloned and ported all over the place since, Arkanoid is still one of the best arcade games out there. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (2003, Game Boy Advance, others) Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising pushed the Game Boy Advance to its limits with its strategy-game elements and long-lasting sessions. Relatively identical to the first Advance Wars in terms of gameplay, Black Hole Rising found favor from critics when playing against other players, with some saying it was one of the '.' Voter’s choice: Dragon Age: Inquisition Dragon Age: Inquisition felt like the culmination of something the series had been building to for years.
Through the previous two games, players came to know and understand the world of Thedas; its people, politics, threats and history. But in Inquisition it’s as if a curtain lifted. What once felt like the whole story shifted into the background of a larger tale, making the real stakes that much more meaningful. The early Dragon Age games made me care about their world in a way no other series ever has — and even so, Inquisition showed me just how little of it I’d truly seen. Janine Hawkins 497. Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, others) People still talk about Dragon Age: Inquisition's depth and mature approach to romance options, allowing players to choose their sexual orientation. We gave Inquisition our 2014 game of the year award, with writer Colin Campbell noting the game was 'a sufficiently convincing universe of otherness that consumed my time when I was playing, and my attention when I was not.'
Super Meat Boy (2010, PC, Xbox 360, others) Ultra-hard, ultra-violent and kind of cute, Super Meat Boy helped change the way we think about independently created games and how games should be released. Initially launched digitally on the Xbox 360 in 2010, the game's intense critical praise helped bring a new wave of independent released games to shore. F-Zero (1990, Super Nintendo, others) F-Zero's insistence in pushing technological boundaries to be the fastest game ever seen helped inspire games like Wipeout and Daytona USA. Giving players only moments to react before crashing, F-Zero is still one of the tightest, tensest racing games available.
Wipeout Omega Collection Sony 494. Wipeout (1995, PC, PlayStation, others) Taking influence from F-Zero, Wipeout was a technical tour-de-force when it released on the original PlayStation.
Praised for its awesome techno soundtrack and anti-gravity racing, Wipeout was aimed at a different kind of audience — one on the cutting edge of art, music and fashion. This approach gave the game and its unique — though sometimes controversial — marketing campaign its sleek, modern look. Bully (2006, PlayStation 2, others) Taking place at the New England private school Bullworth Academy, Bully invites players to rise the ranks of high school archetypes, all the while living in the rebellious shoes of protagonist James 'Jimmy' Hopkins. Whether you're kissing suitors or making stink bombs, Bully is a perfect allegory for growing up on the fringes and trying to find your own place in the world. Catherine (2011, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) Relationships are hard.
Lusting after another is simple. Catherine knows this and leaves the decision to engage in protagonist Vincent's affair with Catherine up to the player. Even with its weird, dream-like puzzle sections full of sheep and monstrous babies, Catherine is a surprisingly nuanced take on sex and adult dating, exploring the causes of lust, love and guilt.
Metroid 2: Return of Samus (1991, Game Boy) A series known for its emphasis on meticulous exploration, Metroid's jump to handheld with Metroid 2: Return of Samus feels like a perfect fit. Despite its small physical size, Metroid 2's continuous large world makes for a cohesive experience, and the option to take it anywhere allow the game to be explored wherever the player goes. Alone in the Dark Atari 490. Alone in the Dark (1992, PC, others) Shocking and Lovecraftian, Alone in the Dark's unique approach to horror and exploration spawned a genre now a staple of the game industry and birthed some of the greatest games of all time. While it may not join the higher ranks of horror games further down the list, Alone in the Dark was the first of its kind. Spider-Man 2 (2004, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox) One of the best superhero games of all time, Spider-Man 2 came remarkably close to giving players the experience they were watching on screens and seeing in comics.
Climbing to the top of a building, diving off, only to shoot a web and swing to safety at the last moment was exhilarating and anxiety inducing. Space Channel 5 (2000, Dreamcast, others) Before there was Just Dance, there was Space Channel 5. Colorful and weird as hell, players assumed the role of TV reporter Ulala while she danced and shot to save hostages, all the while fighting for TV ratings.
Space Channel 5 was a standout of weird Dreamcast titles Sega released in the late '90s and early 2000s, emphasizing creativity and quirkiness. Cave Story (2004, PC, others) A rare example of a Japanese indie game receiving critical acclaim in the west, Cave Story and its exploration-heavy gameplay helped pave the way for other indies to experiment with the older genre, leading to a renaissance of independent Metroidvania games. Ori and the Blind Forest Moon Studios 486. Ori and the Blind Forest (2015, PC, Xbox One) Moon Studios' debut game, Ori and the Blind Forest had players crying within the first five minutes, and then gnashing their teeth in concentration within the next five.
Emotional, colorful and extremely difficult, Ori masterfully balanced the open, puzzle-like levels of other Metroidvania games with the raw, real stories often seen in smaller-scale indie games. Fable 2 (2008, Xbox 360) Fable 2 let players choose how they wanted to live their virtual lives. Be that how they interacted with the word, what sex they wanted to be, who they wanted to marry or what breed of dog they wanted, Fable 2 attempted to not limit the choices of how its players wanted to interact with its world. Star Fox 64 (1997, Nintendo 64, others) Star Fox 64 was one of the landmark titles Nintendo released as it made its way to the 3D world. Sticking closely to the scrolling flight combat gameplay introduced in Star Fox on the Super Nintendo, Star Fox 64 was quickly praised for its approach to the series, even becoming one of Guinness World Records' best games of all time.
Company of Heroes (2006, Mac, PC) Company of Heroes is a far more grounded real-time strategy game than its peers. Set during World War 2, the game puts players in charge of strategic decisions that can turn the events of somewhat real events — adding a level of weight to games. It doesn't hurt that, upon release, players considered it one of the finest real-time strategy games ever made. Batman: Arkham City Warner Bros. Batman: Arkham City (2011, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, others) Batman: Arkham City took the critically-praised open level structure of Batman: Arkham Asylum and expanded it to an entire city. While not as revolutionary as its predecessor, Arkham City refined the traversal and combat of Asylum, changing the way series like Shadow of Mordor and Assassin's Creed approached third-person combat going forward. Garry's Mod (2004, PC, others) Garry's Mod takes the best part of Half-Life 2's gameplay, the gravity gun, and throws away everything else.
Originally a mod, now a full-blown game, Garry's Mod allows players to do whatever they want within the physics of the Source Engine. An ingenious game of creativity, Garry's Mod helped pioneer the idea that games can be weird, with no direction, and players can be the creative force behind a game's success. QWOP (2008, PC, others) For every game sparking conversations about games as high art, another's there to remind us they can be weird. Played with only the Q, W, O and P keys of a keyboard, each moving a different part of a runner's body, QWOP usually results in horribly distorted animations. But who's to say games can't be both, as QWOP was displayed in New York's Museum of Modern Art? Splatoon Nintendo 479.
Splatoon (2015, Wii U) Splatoon has all the conventions of a third-person shooter, but strips away the violence and replaces it with cuteness, creating an accessible game for children unfamiliar with an often-gory genre. It's a shooter only Nintendo would make, one mixing the mechanics of one of the most popular game genres around with the familiar stylings that keep Nintendo a family-friendly company.
Marble Madness (1984, Arcade, others) The first major success by master programmer Mark Cerny, Marble Madness helped popularize difficulty as a selling point. Beyond that, the game's use of of true-stereo sound gave it a sense of identity. Its innovations in these camps helped catapult Cerny's career; he went on to work on Crash Bandicoot and lead the design of the PlayStation 4 477. Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (999) (2010, Nintendo DS, others) Kind of like Saw, but if it were enjoyable, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, tasks players with solving puzzles in an effort to escape a murderous game called the 'Nonary Game.'
Terrifying in its execution, 999 helped popularize the visual novel genre in America, which now has a strong cult following. Gravity Rush (2012, Vita, others) Constantly changing, constantly rotating, Gravity Rush was a mind-bending exploration of a bizarre city and what many critics felt was a nonsensical story. The game maintains a cult following and spawned a 2017 sequel iterating on the bizarre approach to level design and traditional gravity that made Gravity Rush a memorable journey. Voter’s choice: Blood Having been released in the Quake era of 3D games, Blood stands as an almost criminally overlooked title in the MS-DOS gaming pantheon.
Many gamers easily missed this campy horror classic, which uses the same Build game engine as Duke Nukem 3D. Despite its old-school technological base, Blood eclipsed Quake in character, design and gameplay. Blood derives its strength from its high core production values. The game feels flawless in control and design: Its detailed graphics form a cohesive, horrifying whole, and its vocal and sound effects stand alone in the DOS era. Better yet, Blood sports the most creative and varied level design of any DOS first-person shooter, bar none (don't forget to try the level where you fight your way through a moving train). The variety of Blood's monsters, items and weapons (each with an alternate fire mode) provide the player with a million ways to attack the same problem, giving the game a depth and replayability that many modern shooters sorely lack. Those qualities, in combination with stellar co-op and deathmatch options, keep Blood fans playing to this day.
Benj Edwards 475. Borderlands (2009, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) Borderlands' mixture of first-person shooting, role-playing mechanics and loot-based upgrades, in a lot of ways, helped pave the way for games like Destiny. Featuring a then-novel concept, Borderlands let players choose the character they wanted to be and how they wanted to play, all the while maintaining the sensibilities of the modern first-person shooter. Monument Valley (2014, iOS, Android, others) Monument Valley is a puzzle game that doesn't fixate itself on stumping the player. Not that the puzzles are bad — they're great.
But the game succeeds in its natural ability to put the player in a '.' Nearly hypnotic, the game's gorgeous art-style and clever puzzles make for a game as much a joy to look at as it is to play. Firewatch (2016, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, others) Firewatch mixes the mundanity of boring jobs with the exhilaration of meeting a new romantic interest, even if that romance is wrong. Combined with a conspiracy plot revolving around the Shoshone National Forest, Firewatch lets players choose how important fidelity is to them, all the while giving them complete freedom to let their relationships go up in flames. Aladdin (1993, Genesis) Aladdin was, in some ways, the last hurrah on the Genesis.
Though movie tie-in games have long had a bad reputation, Aladdin's tight gameplay, excellent platforming and film-authentic graphics made it a standout of the then-aging Genesis, as well as one of the best movie tie-in games ever released. Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable D3 Publisher 471.
Earth Defense Force 2017 (2007, Xbox 360, others) Earth Defense Force 2017 is absolute chaos. Pitting players against a race of enormous aliens and offering them over 100 guns to take the beasts down, the world is a playground. Buildings crumble, increasingly large enemies come at you and you blow them all up.
It's great dumb fun. Peggle (2007, PC, others) Peggle's mastery is in its near-instantaneous reward loop.
A game easy to pick up and instantly find satisfaction with, Peggle constantly tempts you into playing it just a little longer with dangerously addictive gameplay. Ninja Gaiden (1989, Nintendo Entertainment System) Ninja Gaiden may very well be the magnum opus of ultra-difficult action-platformers. Requiring skill, fast responses and zen-like patience, Ninja Gaiden's fun-but-precise gameplay makes it easy to pick up and play, but a task to master. Luckily, that task is rooted in one of the finest NES platformers of all time. TimeSplitters 2 (2002, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox) TimeSplitters 2 carried on the legacy of GoldenEye 007. One of the all time best split-screen co-op games, TimeSplitters is simple dumb fun.
Between four and 16 players could assume the roles of various absurd characters — like a dinosaur or a duck — engaging in an all-out assault against other players. Railroad Tycoon (1990, PC, others) Though not the designer's first game or his first sim-game, Railroad Tycoon helped turn Sid Meier from successful video game maker to one of the all-time great game auteurs. Unparalleled in its depth and complexity, Railroad Tycoon established early on what a Sid Meier game would be, all the while raising the mark for all other simulation games.
Depression Quest (2013, PC, others) Games often lack nuance, understanding of human emotions and mental illnesses. Depression Quest however, does not. Based on real accounts of depression and mental illness, the text-based Depression Quest is a very real look at just how hard it can be to live every day with the boulder on your back called depression. Medal of Honor (1999, PlayStation) Designed and produced in part by film auteur Steven Spielberg, Medal of Honor was bombastic, scary and stunning in its 1999 representation of World War 2, paving the way for later series like Call of Duty to try and present war accurately in gaming, all the while maintaining some kind of spectacle.
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The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay Vivendi 464. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (2004, PC, Xbox, others) Better than its film counterpart, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is a notable exception to the consensus that film-based games are needless cash tie-ins. Assuming the role of Richard Riddick, the game featured no heads-up display as players were tasked with breaking out of the maximum security prison Butcher Bay by seemingly any means necessary. Donkey Kong Jr. (1982, Arcade, others) A follow up to one of the most important arcade games of all time, Donkey Kong Jr.
Expanded the gameplay with new challenges and collectibles, as well as new traversal options, such as the ability to swing from vines while fighting multiple enemy types. Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link (1988, Nintendo Entertainment System) After the success of The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo decided to try something different with its sequel: an action-role playing game. While its predecessor is often noted for its sense of adventure influencing the series going forward, Adventure of Link introduced a lot of mechanics that became staples, such as combining platforming and RPG mechanics and the iconic Triforce of Courage. River City Ransom (1990, Nintendo Entertainment System, others) The objective of River City Ransom is pretty simple: fight the bad guys.
As protagonists Alex and Ryan traverse the titular city to save their girlfriends, players continuously fight waves of 'The Generic Dudes,' 'The Frat Guys' and 'The Squids.' Picross 3D (2010, Nintendo DS) One, perhaps obvious change made Picross 3D vastly better than the original: the addition of a third dimension. Building on an addicting premise — building images based on moving blocks — Picross 3D shined, adding depth to puzzles and new ways to solve them.
Paper Mario (2001, Nintendo 64) It's rare for a 17-year-old game to still look great, and yet Paper Mario looks half its age. The second Mario RPG, Paper Mario is widely regarded as one of the best games of the era and is noted for the surprising amount of depth and strategy required when playing through its 2D, paper worlds.
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Electroplankton (2006, Nintendo DS, others) Electroplankton is a hard game to describe. An interactive music experience controlled by playing with different types of plankton, the game allows for the creation of some beautiful melodies — even if there's no native way to save them. This unique approach to music-creation makes Electroplankton a standout in a genre typically focused on gimmicks.