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

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
• Dark Souls
• Super Mario Galaxy 2
• Persona 4 Golden

I think it would be up to the professor/grad student to decide which genre they wants to highlight or make a thesis for. Do they wants to stick with all classic games or modern games as well? What aspects of games should be highlighted, cultural significance, Game design, genre, etc.? And then finally the choice becomes which game do you want to use to encompass all the ideas that you want to teach/learn.

For example, I feel the free to play genre would be important in modern games to discuss, but which of @Lulu_Lulu's games do you pick to encompass that area?

I think a classic game would be necessary as well, but again which game would encompass everything you want?

A genre study would be interesting as well, but with some many to choose from which do you pick to place on this narrow selective list?

In no particular order:

XCOM: UFO Defense (PS1)

Conflict: Back to Baghdad (PS2, Xbox)

All the Halos so might as well be Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

I would likely go with:

Doom

Super Mario Bros.

Fallout 1 (Alternative Baldurs Gate 2)

Counter Strike

StarCraft (alternative: Dune 2)

im just going to list the games ive had the most fun with, not in any particular order

unreal tournament 2004

sanfrancisco rush (arcade version)

starcraft:brood war

battlefield 3

mariokart 64

LTTP
Super Metroid
Halo CE
OoT
Skyrim

Bonus: Civ 5

Starcraft BW, Half Life 2, COD MW1(For how it shaped gaming), Civilization V (**** you, it's a masterpiece), GTA 3

I realize that this forum is made up of a ton of kids who are 12-16 years old who have never even seen an SNES in person...

But do yourselves a favor and play Chrono Trigger.

I'm a PC gamer...but...**** your 1080p. **** your 60 fps.

Come witness the definitive masterpiece in all its 16 bit glory.

There will never be a greater game made...ever.............ever.

Well I do't Consider Free to Play to be Genre. infact I don't like any of the games I listed... I just wanted to piss TC off because of the whole "Real Gamer" thing. I find that very offensive, anybody who plays games is a Real Gamer.... My sister is Actually on a The Simpsons F2P Addiction Right now... Its literally the only game she has ever played... I consider her to be a Gamer.

As for what aspects should be highlight, well obviously it should be gameplay, I know many people think games have great narrative potential and consider them art but If Its games like The Last Of Us people consider to be the direction video game narrative should go then yeah, only gameplay matters, Atleast untill a game like Lonliness becomes the narrative standard, its an example of good narrative that just isn't possible on other mediums.

No love for the Saturn? Ok, then here are my five:

1. Dark Savior.
2. Guardian Heroes.
3. Panzer Dragoon.
4. Dragon Force.
5. Shining Force III.

I'd definitely give a shout out to Dragon Force. Amazing game along the lines of Ogre Battle for the SNES.

And Guardian Heroes is probably the best hack n slash/beat 'em up ever made.

It's a shame that the Saturn (and the Dreamcast) were cut down before they could reach their full potential.

Albert Odyssey was also an amazing JRPG for the Saturn.

Why do you not like them? I don't understand the stigma behind some of those games.

I would say you could lump F2P/microtransaction games into a genre together, they tend to share similar design philosophies.

However, you can't just lump games in a course into an all encompassing category like gamepay; you don't sign up for a literature course that's going to highlight books. You sign up for the literature course because it's going to focus on a specific time period, genre, or aspect of literature.

Lonliness is a nice reflective experience, much like The Plan although Both could be done with-in other mediums. Scrolling up and sideways is something a short film could do without your minimal input.

Play as many games as possible on every system (console/pc/handheld)

• Pong
• Pacman
• Space Invaders
• Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt
• Donkey Kong
• Super Mario 3
• Punch Out
• Double Dragon 2
• Ninja Gaiden
• Contra
• Spy Hunter

There's to many to list, just play them all, even the bad ones. People like to only talk about graphics, but you should listen to your games too.

Lost Planet 2

Resident Evil Code: Veronica X HD

Lost Planet Colonies

Perfect Dark Zero

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

I'd have to say

1. TLOU
2. RDR
3. FF6
4. LoZ MM
5. MGS3

Some other games gamers should play (I guess honorable mentions or w/e)

• Silent Hill
• Silent Hill 2
• RE2
• FF9
• FF7
• Kotor
• Kotor 2
• WoW
• Hotline Miami
• The Wolf Among us
• TWD season 1
• Jade Empire
• ME2
• Planescape Torment
• System Shock 2
• Half Life 2 + episodes
• Dark Souls
• Dark Souls 2
• ES Skyrim
• ES Morrowind
• Batman Arkham City
• Batman Arkham Asylum
• STALKER CoP
• Fire Emblem Awakening
• Persona 4 Golden
• Persona 3 FES
• The Warriors
• DQ8
• Chrono Cross
• Chrono Trigger
• LoZ twlp
• LoZ WW

I could name more but I'm tired lol :P

I think if it was school you would have to play all milestones in all genres and even those games are bad you would need to play the ones that was 'first' of something. Like GoW is the inventor of quicktime events.

I dont think i am capable of doing a list since i didnt play every classic of every genre ever. But since everybody writing their top 5 it's not important i guess.

I dont feel like making a list right now but i want to point out that why nobody is writing classic rpg games [baldur's gate, planescape etc.]

Do you want people to kill themselves out of boredom or something.

1.Half-Life

2.Thief

3.No One Lives Forever

4.Portal

5. Guacamelee !

The mobile port was really well done. I played it recently and it became one of my favorite games ever.

Souls series

All games made by valve

1. Sonic 06
2. Sonic Next Gen
3. Sonic the Hedgehog
4. Sonic 2006
5. Sonic: 15th Anniversary

1. Super Mario Galaxy 2

2. Half-Life 2

3. GTA: San Andreas

4. FF IV: DS (also available on iOS)

5. Diablo II and Lord of Destruction

Ride to Hell
Big rigs
Air control
CoD games
X-blades
Masterpieces ;)

@Minishdriveby

Well I'm just indifferent to them, I don't Like or Hate them.

Well Its difficult to to choose a genre since I disagree with many people on what a video game genre actually is. I think you may have heard me say once that Role Playing is not a genre.

As for Lonliness, without the imput and autonomy then it doesn't really make much sense, its a game that reflects the nature of the one playing it, so if you you don't play, if you don't have any input in the game then its meaning becomes lost. Lonliness can only exist on an Interactive Medium.

Another example of proper video game narrative would be Miisile Command, however I've never actually played this game myself, Extra Credits were the ones who reccomended it.

But so far in between the 2 games mentioned, it seems like the common factor is choice. Both games narrative prowess lie within the choices they allow yoou to make.

Perfect list ...just Perfect

Dude I totaly forgot about that game, great co op.

• Half-Life 2 (inc. Episodes)
• Bioshock
• Halo series
• Mass Effect series
• Portal 2

It's a very standard choice that is presented in Lonliness, quite a few video games offer the choice of directional movement, and while I agree the freedom of choice differentiates video games from other mediums, the ability to move in different directions doesn't make it some magnum opus in video games although it was a nice reflective experience which again I could understand the message conveyed within the first 5 seconds of pressing a button down and watching, analogous to pressing a play button and watching a video.

@Minishdriveby

Lucky you ! I played the whole thing with no freaking clue what the hell was going on until Daniel (Extra Credits) explained it to me...

Anyway, most other games don't offer you meaningfull choices through core game mechanics, they suspend all gameplay and change into a "Choose this or Choose That type of format" Like Bioshock and Mass Effect, and even PlaneScape Torment.

Can a game let you make meaningfull choices without breaking its core design, can you make meaningfull choices through Shooting Mechanics or Platforming ?

1. Super Mario World
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
3. Halo: Combat Evolved
4. Any Final Fantasy from I to IX
5. Age of Empires II: Age of Kings

@ps4hasnogames: There's more then 5 games, so I won't even bother. There's at least 100 must play games. If you were just talking about the 8th generation, that would be easier.

Good choices OP, id replace Halo with Doom or Quake though.

Baulders Gate 1 & 2

World of Warcraft "pre-easymode"

Tomb Raider PS1.. It may look like meh now. When it released.. It was "the game".

Mario 64 a true break through in 3-D plat-forming gaming. A game I would truly give a 10.

Resident Evil 1-4

Zelda OT

Doom / Quake

Half-life / counter strike series + L4D + portal

Fallout any game

Morrowwind series "note I said series"

Halo Series

Demon / Dark Souls series

Is that 5....?

There are several more that one MUST play.