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Retro Gamer magazine reader's top 150 games

Berrigal

Neo Member
Super Metroid not in the top twenty? Resident Evil 2 below GTAV and Fallout 3? I get that lists are always going to be subjective, but I really didn't expect to see some of the games on this list where they are.

Mario Kart 8 at #110 while Super Mario Kart is at #12? Sure, SMK was alright for it's time, but it has absolutely nothing on MK8, from AI or level design to graphics or customisation options/more modes.

Pokemon Gold/Silver way below Pokemon Red/Blue?

I just don't get it. They're all good games, but this ordering seems nonsensical to me. Then again, it is a poll, so nostalgia would be a pretty heavy factor for some of these games being where they are.
 
Super Metroid not in the top twenty? Resident Evil 2 below GTAV and Fallout 3? I get that lists are always going to be subjective, but I really didn't expect to see some of the games on this list where they are.

Mario Kart 8 at #110 while Super Mario Kart is at #12? Sure, SMK was alright for it's time, but it has absolutely nothing on MK8, from AI or level design to graphics or customisation options/more modes.

Pokemon Gold/Silver way below Pokemon Red/Blue?

I just don't get it. They're all good games, but this ordering seems nonsensical to me. Then again, it is a poll, so nostalgia would be a pretty heavy factor for some of these games being where they are.
Having the games simply listed in alphabetical order would save us like half the hubbub these lists generate. But I guess the outlets want those clicks, so that won't happen.
 

hiredhand

Member
Seems really console centric. Civilization at 62, Half-life at 39, no System Shock 2...

Edit: Also no adventure games not made by Lucasarts! Meaning nothing by Infocom or Sierra.
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
The people that read the magazine voted for their favourite games, the magazine then just put them in order based on number of votes.

Ones missing or others people think should be higher up / lower down, blame the people who voted for them!
 

Adahn

Member
I totally preferred the earlier list! It's interesting to see how appreciation of retro games changes over the years (decade!) but it's also sad to see games that I spent so much time with disappear from these lists
 
I love Shenmue, but it's too objectively flawed to be #3 on an all time list. Shenmue II should be placed higher for me. Some of the JRPG inclusions (and the order of the ones that were included) seem odd to me, especially given how many great ones didn't make the cut. In general it's probably slightly too unbalanced in favour of Final Fantasy games, but I suppose that's to be expected when left to popular vote. I don't think VIII, IX AND X all belong on an all time list- I'd probably only have IX on there at a push. Chrono Cross, Earthbound, Panzer Dragoon Saga and Final Fantasy IV are all better games, although I suppose since they've either a) never been released or b) released in ridiculously limited print runs, it's not surprising that they miss out.

Shoot em ups are also criminally underrepresented, but again that's normal, particularly for a voted list.

That said, it's still a very decent list which you can tell has been voted on by people who know their games: certainly much better than that ridiculous Top Ten Years in Gaming list GT gave us.
 
They didn't get Chrono Trigger either right? And that's on there.

What about Xenogears? Europe didn't like Xenogears?

Chrono Trigger also released on the DS, the most popular handheld ever.

We didn't get Xenogears either, but to be honest, I wasn't amazed by Xenogears when I imported it. It was pretty good, but I'm not sure it'd make my top 150 either, and I'm a big JRPG fan.
 
In that case, it's not a bad list I suppose.

Why were so many games not released there?

Due to the number of languages and pobably the differences in format (NTSC vs PAL) means they didn't even bother with UK versions.

The first Final Fantasy we got here was VII, we never got EarthBound, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG.... massive list.

However, at the time, we didn't really know any better. It was only really during the PS1 that this started changing.

It also means I have no great nostalgia for these games and was able to play them without nostalgia and they do hold up.
 
Chrono Trigger also released on the DS, the most popular handheld ever.

We didn't get Xenogears either, but to be honest, I wasn't amazed by Xenogears when I imported it. It was pretty good, but I'm not sure it'd make my top 150 either, and I'm a big JRPG fan.

I agree with your assessment of Xenogears.

I pretty much thought it was everything bad about JRPGs- overly sentimental, silly plot, bloated anime excess, overlong, meandering, excessive and pointless filler- all amped up to the max. It's one of those games that gets overrated because it's by Square, on a popular console and came out during the golden age of RPGs.

The same is true of Secret of Mana and Super Mario RPG.
 

8bit

Knows the Score
Someone seems to have accidentally replaced the word Radio with Willy.

--

Hmm, would quite like to read Braybrook talking about Rainbow Islands, he did some amazing work getting that to run.

Is this just in the shops? Will be back in the UK in three weeks and would like to pick this up.
 

Betty

Banned
I know it's dumb to argue about lists but....

Shenmue II >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Shenmue I

their positions should be swapped on the list.
 

8bit

Knows the Score
Super Metroid didn't crack the top ten?

Anecdotally, I only knew one person with a SNES at that time in the UK. And he worked on the oil rigs. The Genesis was far more prevalent among my friends, but even then it was 4 or 5. Everyone else had C64/Spectrum/Amiga/Atari STs, so that's why there's Turrican and not Metroid for instance.
 
Is this just in the shops? Will be back in the UK in three weeks and would like to pick this up.

No, I've just been tardy in buying it because of the crimbo break. Next issue is on the 28th.

it's on their back issues site already though

https://www.imagineshop.co.uk/magazines/retrogamer.html

Anecdotally, I only knew one person with a SNES at that time in the UK. And he worked on the oil rigs. The Genesis was far more prevalent among my friends, but even then it was 4 or 5. Everyone else had C64/Spectrum/Amiga/Atari STs, so that's why there's Turrican and not Metroid for instance.

Yup. I was the only person I knew with a snes except my cousin. Everyone else had a mega drive or amiga.
 

gelf

Member
That's one of the best lists I've seen in terms of covering most bases of my taste over the years. There isn't much missing there.
 
Anecdotally, I only knew one person with a SNES at that time in the UK. And he worked on the oil rigs. The Genesis was far more prevalent among my friends, but even then it was 4 or 5. Everyone else had C64/Spectrum/Amiga/Atari STs, so that's why there's Turrican and not Metroid for instance.

that's interesting. didn't know UK had more genesis.

oh C64 and those load times....
 

8bit

Knows the Score
No, I've just been tardy in buying it because of the crimbo break. Next issue is on the 28th.

it's on their back issues site already though

https://www.imagineshop.co.uk/magazines/retrogamer.html



Yup. I was the only person I knew with a snes except my cousin. Everyone else had a mega drive or amiga.

Thanks, will get it sent to parent's place and pick it up. Must have walked past it in Smiths last week while looking for something to read among the Golf Wank & Car Prick colouring bookazines.

that's interesting. didn't know UK had more genesis.

oh C64 and those load times....

Well, strictly speaking we had more Mega Drives, but you know what I mean. I think Sega had better advertising and already a reasonable lead with the Master System.
 

lt519

Member
Every other aspect of the game is amazing though. Battle mode, split screen racing, time trials... Does any other Mario Kart have time trials/ghosts? By far my favourite Mario Kart.

Mario Kart DS has all of that plus challenge modes. If it had easily accessible local multiplayer it'd be the best Mario Kart of all time. And Snaking haters can come at me!

Every Mario Kart has arguably gotten better but that's expected as games get better in general. At time of release Mario Kart DS was absolutely amazing.

Same with the DS version of Tetris, GOAT.
 
Due to the number of languages and pobably the differences in format (NTSC vs PAL) means they didn't even bother with UK versions.

The first Final Fantasy we got here was VII, we never got EarthBound, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG.... massive list.

However, at the time, we didn't really know any better. It was only really during the PS1 that this started changing.

It also means I have no great nostalgia for these games and was able to play them without nostalgia and they do hold up.
Did Square even have a EU branch?

Good list although there are many cases where obviously superior sequels are ranked lower for seemingly no reason other than nostalgia bias. Looking at you Pokemon Red/Blue topping Gold/Silver (mapping items to Select and being able to prompt HM moves without going to the menu are such obvious improvements).
 

galvatron

Member
Top and bottom just invalidate the list for me. Super Mario World was spectacular in its time, but as stated elsewhere, NSMBU is the 2D GOAT. Double Dragon doesn't belong anywhere near 150 when merely having a boulder and 3 guys on screen results in crippling slowdown and that happens frequently on my board (could it be defective?)

Bomb Jack? Over everything omitted?

Super Castlevania 4 in 2016...voting rather than curation at its finest.

Also, Wind Waker was the worst Zelda game that I've finished...I'd have put the 3ds Link between worlds way ahead of that one.

Typical list complaints, I'm sure...
 
I think people arguing about Super Mario Kart don't really understand the impact to the industry that game had. Similar to GoldenEye with the N64, Super Mario Kart justified the two controller ports on the system. The actual idea of a mascot driving game was unheard of too, and yet spawned hundreds of clones since. The original game was incredibly well made. Is it outclassed by its successors? Probably. But often times best games have to be weighted on impact to the industry along with gameplay.
 

mnz

Unconfirmed Member
Why do these lists always leave out multiplayer games? I guess it's because of the userbase of the magazine this time.

- no Starcraft
- no Counter Strike
- no Unreal Tournament
- no Quake III Arena
- no Dota
- no Warcraft 3
- no Age of Empires 2

edit:
- no Diablo!

Get out of here.
 

8bit

Knows the Score
Top and bottom just invalidate the list for me. Super Mario World was spectacular in its time, but as stated elsewhere, NSMBU is the 2D GOAT. Double Dragon doesn't belong anywhere near 150 when merely having a boulder and 3 guys on screen results in crippling slowdown and that happens frequently on my board (could it be defective?)

Bomb Jack? Over everything omitted?

Super Castlevania 4 in 2016...voting rather than curation at its finest.

Typical list complaints, I'm sure...

Everyone that had a Spectrum had a C90 of random pirated games from a family friend with Bomb Jack on it.

3044752.jpg


No Football Manager, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Mercenary or The Sentinel though.
 
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