What are the top 5 games every real gamer should experience?

Lets say being a gamer required a college degree, and you had to pass 5 courses (games) before obtaining your degree. From throughout gaming history which 5 games are essential for every gamer to experience?

mine would have to be

Super Mario Bros

Metal Gear Solid

Halo CE

Tetris

Starcraft

edit: I don't mean your favorite games, I mean the most important games throughout out gaming history.

1. Assassins Creed 2

2. Assassins Creed Brotherhood

3. Assassins Creed 3

4. Assassins Creed 4

5. The Last of Us

Is this really any different from a top 5 games thread?

No.

Anyway here are some classics...>__>

1. ET (Atari2600)

2. Superman 64 (N64)

3.Link the Faces of Evil/The Wand of Gamelon/Zelda's Adventure (CDi)

4. Bubsy 3D (PS)

5. Kabuki Warriors (Xbox)

You can thank me later....

Sort of. Seems more like a list about the most influential games rather than what one thinks as best/favourite games.

1. Super Mario Bros.
2. Street Fighter II
3. DOOM
4. Wii Sports
5. Grand Theft Auto III

quite a few worthwhile games out there. i know myself there are games I've yet to play like the 'total war' games.

I have no interest in watching the Metal Gear Solid Movies.

yes, i don't mean your favorite games games, because tetris isn't in my top 5 favorite games, but when talking about the most important games i would say tetris is up there. of coarse a 10 year old whose first system was a ps3 would not know anything about this.

Needs moar Big Rigs.

Starcraft

Max Payne

The Witcher

Alan Wake

Half Life

Yes , it is . Mass Effect 2 is in my top 5 favorite games but I replaced that with Half Life in this thread , since the said game had bigger impact on game industry . So , I recommend that to "real gamers".

Almost put that for number 5. :P

The Last of Us

Zedla A Link to the Past

GTA IV

Mario 64

Tribes 2

TLoUR, ZeldaWW, RE4, FFVI and Gears 3

1. Chrono Trigger

2. Morrowind

3. Final Fantasy III (or VI...whatever the **** you want to call it)

4. Metal Gear Solid

5. Zelda: A Link to the Past

damn, its so hard because i left out FF6, GTA3, and zelda

Wow, this is actually a decent thread. Well done

Just do yourself a favor and install Total War : Shogun 2 RIGHT NOW ! . It is the best game for both new comers and core fans of the series (best balance in TW game eva!!!) . Once you've installed it , play tutorial (Don't skip it . You MUST play it to understand the basics and it will take a while to do so , but don't give up) . Once you are done with the tutorial , get ready for one of the most addicting video games ever created .

BE WARNED : Your social life will end . Play at your own risk .

Yay ANOTHER top 5/10 games list... :S

Ok, fine. I'll change a few things since some of my favorite games are not necessarily something everyone should experience, but these are:

1. Journey (For something different, immersive and completely beautiful)

2. Red Dead Redemption (For an intense, consistent mood with top notch character interaction. The game literally takes you to another place and era)

3. Dark Souls (For the unforgiving but rewarding gameplay that ultimately changed the game industry, sparking a retro/difficult trend)

4. Zelda Twilight Princess (Not the best zelda... I put this here because this is a LoZ game that doesn't feel like it's directly for kids, it has an interestingly dark nature)

5. STALKER series (Will make you appreciate the eastern european FPS craze, and you will maybe see a point in some of SNIPER's posts *shudder*)

See the wording bothers me.

If it's about influence it's one thing, if it's about the nuance of gaming, that's another thing entirely in my opinion.

Influence wise
-Pong
-Super Mario Bros.
-Ultima
-Super Mario 64
-Grand Theft Auto 3

So you can sort of get some broad evolution of the medium stuff.

As a test of learning the ins and outs of video games at their finest, that's harder

I think the opening stays with Super Mario Bros: simple, elegant, to the point. But then it's a matter of what type of genre you want to teach the class.

My back 4 for that would be
-Super Metroid: teach fundamental beautiful level design with atmosphere
-Planescape Torment: teach marrying writing with quest design and gameplay context
-Resident Evil 4 as a master class of how to do pacing and encounter design
-Shadow of the Colossus, wanted to go with Metroid Prime, but I think Shadow of the Colossus probably does that interactivity is the plot thing better.

Like what five games that are excellent and that I would suggest for a class that's about critique on design, plot, games in general, etc? I'm not joining the influence bandwagon (entirely, I'll serve the purpose of this thread) because **** that shit, influence has given way too many games that aren't good today (SM64 fight me irl fanboys) a place on lists where they don't deserve to be.

Some of my favorite games ever too:

- Shadow of the Colossus

- Halo Combat Evolved

- Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

- Gears of War

- Super Mario Galaxy 2

if i was a lecturer and was assigning games for analysis (may have lost the point of this thread)
(note my list is unranked in terms of importance).

1) Any mario platformer except mario bros 2. (personally i would go with mario galaxy). a lesson in the importance of focusing on the nuts and bolts of game mechanics. the attention to detail (things the player probably wont actually notice), the consistency of the controls, the responsiveness of the player character, the top notch level design and how it all fits together. then a good dollop of "holy crap im flying over a lava/ice planet" on top. this isnt a lesson in just platformers....any type of game can benefit from this line of thought.

2) monster hunter 3: another perspective on the importance of nuts and bolts game mechanics. on the surface it looks strange (why does the player character flex after taking a potion?) but it is a lesson in precise and tightly defined rule sets in game design. it takes X to use 1 potion. the monster can turn at Y angle per move. the player character is invincible for X.XX seconds after performing a dodge. if using a lance you can only move at Z speed while it is unseathed. its these rules that give the overall simple rules to MH: hit it till it dies, dont get hit (which, if you are skillfull enough, is possible. i am not skillful enough :( ).

3) a quantic dream game (i dont care which). its also important to learn how not to make a game. pick any of them...there all crap games.

4) Either WOW or Diablo 2. a lesson in the management of rewarding the player in games (i call it DING science...im sure there is a better term though :p). getting the pace of reward/effort just right. this isnt just about loot and levelling. it could be a cool new cinematic (back in the day seeing a new FMV in FF7 or 8 was a nice treat and a sense of acomplishment), an epic set piece, a new town to explore or whatever. but managing this properly is difficult. Blizzard are the masters of DING science.

5) argh i cant decide between deus ex (since its the best game ever made: how to integrate different types of games successfully into one) HL2 (that, ladies and gents, is how a story is played in games. dont show: Play) and metroid prime (a lesson in how to turn a disadvantage on a paltform into an advantage by moving the focus away from the initial focus of the game type to a strength in the platform...aka making a FPS and changing the focus from targeting to positioning/movement....a strength of the gamepad).

1. Half Life 2

2. Diablo 2

3. Deus Ex (original)

4. Morrowind (PC)

5. Chrono Trigger

Damn just writing that list makes me want to install DX and Morrowind and try any new mods that may have come out. And even some Chrono Trigger.

Pac man

Smb

Zillion

Halo CE

Half life 1/2

The witcher 2

Edit, before all: monopoly, risk.

the problem with that list is, as good as 999 and gears of war is, they aren't really essential in the grand scheme of things. I would replace gears of war with grand theft auto vice city (the best of the series IMO)

Replace The Last of Us with more Assassins Creed, and I'll agree.

@chessmaster1989: Is this really any different from a top 5 games thread?

Is your sig different than any gif of a soccer coach? YES!!! He is exhibiting his awesome, reality breaking POWAH in yours!!!

Gears of War pretty much gave everyone the blue print on how to do a cover shooter. KillSwitch may have had the cover scheme itself, but the actual pace, encounter design, and balance from a control-enemy-weapon standpoint Gears of War was a genuine good game, where as KillSwitch was more like a cool concept.

ok, i guess I can agree with that. it shows what a great cover shooter looks like.

@LJS9502_basic: No.

Anyway here are some classics...>__>

1. ET (Atari2600)

you SOB!! There is no positive without negative. Wish I mentioned that.

Wouldn't GTA 3 be a much more important game than Vice City?

yes but vice city got the atmosphere PERFECT, riding a convertible through the streets of miami at sunset with 80s music on the radio was just beautiful. I still feel vice city was the crowning achievement of all the GTA games.

1) Angry Birds

2) Bejewled

3) Candy Crush

4) Farmville

5) Kinect Adventures

Lair

Haze

Vampire Rain

Too Human

Ryse

@ps4hasnogames said:

@PhazonBlazer said:

1. Assassins Creed 2

2. Assassins Creed Brotherhood

3. Assassins Creed 3

4. Assassins Creed 4

5. The Last of Us

I actually lol'd.

Horrible list. Trolling?

care to answer?

Chrono Trigger is the only game I would force everybody to play. I can't see anybody hating it.

1. Halo
2. Halo 2
3. Halo 3
4. Halo 4
5. Halo Guardians

Ride to Hell Retribution

Lair

Call of Duty Ghosts

Big Rigs

Haze

Such masterpieces.

Super Mario Bros

Half Life 2

Chrono Trigger

Portal 2

Link to The past

This was really tough and I found myself leaning more towards the games I like personally. WoW should probably be on there because of what it achieved along with the others.

Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D

Baldur's Gate

Persona 4 Golden

Super Mario World

Final Fantasy IX

Dark Souls

Fallout 3

Silent Hill 2

The Last of Us

The Witcher 2

Halo 3

Call of Duty 4

Persona 3

Red Dead Redemption

Mirror's Edge

left 4 dead