IGN's top 100 games of all time (refreshed)!

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-best-100-video-games-of-all-time

Number 1 is Breath of the Wild! As much as I like BoTW and it's one of my favorites, I can't help but think there's a recency bias going on here. There are so many great games, and I still consider Ocarina of Time to be the better Zelda. Thoughts on this list, SW? Also find it interesting that in light of all of the talk about fps, resolution, tera flops, etc, a Switch game tops the list!

They should have a top 100 top 100 list, given the amount they shit these out.

Not too surprising, Breath of the Wild is an absolutely fantastic game. Still probably put Chrono Trigger as my all time favourite game but BotW is very much a worthy competitor.

BotW isn't even the best Zelda game so how the hell could it be picked for best game of all time?

🥱

@Pedro: let me guess, not enough Gamepass games on the list?

Not even going to look and predict Zelda and Mario have the top spot my guess would be Zelda #1 and Mario is #2, people need to move on from crappy games

Breath of the Wild is my favorite of all time, so I agree there. That game impressed me unlike any I had ever played.

Call of Duty is a better series than Zelda. There isn’t even killstreaks.

Everyone agrees, Nintendo makes the best games ever. Switch is best system ever. Haters Rest In Peace.

I wasn't a big fan of BotW but I did think the game was beautiful. Honestly, what I thought the most when playing that game is that it was held back so much by the switch. It could have been and should have been a hell of a lot more.

Overall this is a great list, much better than the Japanese one.

@blaznwiipspman1: The sad thing is even though it’s on Switch, it has so much more detail than other open world games.

Botw is the best Game ive played from switch no doubt. But i can list alot of games on my mind that i enjoyed more. But respect for his opinion.

quickly scrolling saw Dark Souls below Fable 2 and that is enough to immediately disqualify it.

Definitely recency bias at play here. More recent games are still fresh in people's minds and haven't yet been subjected to the test of time. In contrast, Sight & Sound film polls usually list older films rather than more recent films.

Breath of the wild? 🤣. Nostalgia she's the mind. That game is ok, but nowhere even near the greatest.

#1 with a bullet.... Botw. Best open world game ever created.

Also.... Ff14 is igns best ff game of all time... Ff7 barely made the list.

Also, portal 2 in top 3 is totally a legit pick.

@SolidGame_basic definitely recency bias. A lot of that list was. W.e though, it's their list I guess

Isn't it sad that the best game on the Switch is a WiiU port, and the Switch been around for almost 5 years? Kinda tragic tbh.

@TheEroica: FF14 is at this point, 3 excellent and 2 good FF games in one, with Shadowbringers being one of the best FF products on its own. Not surprising.

It also stands out for being a gem surrounded by a lot of mediocre competition (FF15, FF13). And like others have noted recency bias.

Fable 2, Bioshock and /yawn Journey are better than FFVII according to IGN. Its like they stuck a load of common "best games" names in a bag and poured them out into random order.

This isn’t a well thought out post but that’s hardly surprising coming from you. 😅

Let me guess, you're gonna play Portal 2 on your Steam Deck 🙄

Already laughed when i saw FF7 at 97

Imagine thinking FF14 made a bigger impact then wow.

Wow was insanely big in vanilla tbc area, even company's asked blizzard to release the expansions / updates of the game in the weekend because people would just skip life and not come in in huge amounts on there work places. People failed school in droves because of it, even got fired from there jobs because the game was just that big. Company's even recruited guild leaders which became a metric in company's.

How does BOTW even compare towards that?

Absolute sham of a list lamo.

My apprentice is trying so hard. 😂

I immediately stop once I saw Black Flag.

Fable 2 is ahead of Dark Souls ... Fable 2 is on that list ... yep, pretty lame.

Also and i hate to admit it, but is not that bad of a list and i don't know if Portal 2 is truly that good, but again ... it could have been far worst (then again, Black Flag and Fable 2 ... sigh).

IGN changed their criteria:

While past versions of this list have put a big emphasis on a game’s impact and influence, we’ve essentially taken that out of the equation.

In other words, impact doesn't matter anymore to them.

IGN is just an algorithm that creates content based on clickability, right?

Bought BotW this christmas. I havent started it yet but if its as "amazing" of a game as Super Mario Odyssey then I'm probably gonna end up disapointed yet again and thus confirming 100% to me that Nintendo games are severely overrated and overhyped by the media. Just look at Spider-man: No Way Home. Nostalgia definitely sells and inflates scores

Nah, its a terrible one. 5 Nintendo games in the top 10. Not bias at all. Not even one hack'n'slash in there. No DMC, no Ninja Gaiden, no Bayonetta. Its a pretty terrible list

Meh, this lists are what they are ... nothing to take that serious, i think the top 10 is solid even if i'm not agree with all the choices like Red Dead 2, personally i would trade it with The Last of Us and as much as i liked BotW, i wouldn't put it on number 1, also yes, Bayonetta 2 should be there since i think is the best hack'n Slash game, but again, no single list will ever be universally accepted.

hahahahahaha.

Guys, pacman is the best.

"we have taken out anything that released after pacman"

@Gatygun: ?

These lists are always just a means to generate clicks. It's like movie lists. It all comes down to subjectivity. I mean, really, BOTW? It a game that is mechanically two decades behind other open world games.

Yeah, this list looks like just a list of IGN staff's favorite games.

I looked at the Sight & Sound film polls you mentioned and found it is pretty good. They appreciate the classics so much that they still think it is a big deal that Citizen Kane (1941) was robbed of the top spot by Vertigo (1958) for the first time in 50 years in 2021 2012!

Edit: I noticed that the Sight & Sound's "The 100 Greatest Films of All Time" poll was conducted in 2012, not 2021.

@st_monica: Yeah, we call them old timers. They havnt played the new stuff and still claim the old stuff is better.

I can't be too bothered by these top 100 lists. They will always be biased. I didn't bother to read the updated list this time.

.... Sleeping well at night .... Suddenly wakes up... Hey, Street Fighter 2 is still in the top 10 right???

@Gatygun: Pacman will likely be be remembered in history for a longer time than BOW.

@Naylord: Dark Souls below Fable 2 jesus christ.

Let me be clear, respecting the history of video games does not mean ignoring new games. As Jag85 says, I also believe that some games released in the past few years may have to stand the test of time before being in the top 100.

Btw, I mentioned the Sight & Sound polls a bit sarcastically, but I do have a deep respect for the history of the film. The list does great work of highlighting classics from different cultures and periods, unlike some Hollywood top 100 film lists. I'm also aware that Citizen Kane has been hailed by the film authorities such as AFI for a long time, and it's kinda big deal that Hitchcock dethroned it (for some people).

FF7 in 98th place and Assassin's Creed in 97th place. Holy shit I don't know if I can continue reading. Solid spoiled the first place spot, I guess Zelda: BOTW isn't a bad choice but should The Last of Us (Part I of course) or Metal Gear Solid 4.

BotW is indeed the best open world game made. But best game? Naaaaaah. And Portal 2 on #3? Lol, wtf.

Hard to take a list without Baldurs gate on it seriously….

@st_monica: I'm glad Citizen Kane was finally dethroned by Vertigo (critics) and Tokyo Story (directors). It was about time, after Citizen Kane had dominated the Sight & Sound polls for the previous 50 years. I guess it's a bit like how Ocarina of Time has finally been dethroned by BOTW, after OOT had been dominating GOAT lists for 20 years. Except BOTW is still fairly recent, whereas Vertigo and Tokyo Story are over 50 years old.

Burnout 3 and Mortal Kombat 11, in the Top 100 games of all time? WTF?

There's a lot of games in both genres that could knock those games out I think.

Yikes!!

lol :P

Yeah, I think it makes sense that the modern critics value Vertigo (successfully innovated the methods of visualizing human psychology in cinema) more than Citizen Kane (a good old studio style film with high production value. )

Tokyo Story is one of my favorite family-themed films as well. I'm glad that it was selected as one of the best. Personally, I felt a little disappointed that "Ikiru" by Kurosawa, my favorite Japanese film of all time, is not on the list (though "Seven Samurai" and "Rashomon" are in it). But overall, I think it's a great list.

It's interesting how you compare Citizen Kane and OOT. Citizen Kane is the story of the rise and fall of the media tycoon that symbolizes the golden age of Hollywood in some ways. It indeed overlaps with Nintendo's golden age in the 80's and 90's, its pinnacle achievement OOT, and the subsequent downfall to some extent. The obvious difference, however, is that OOT was dethroned by the same franchise made by the same company, ironically.