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[Lothar]

1. The Legend of Zelda
2. Earthbound
3. Mario Galaxy
4. Super Metroid
5. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
6. Eternal Darkness
7. Metroid Prime
8. Donkey Kong Country 2
9. F-Zero GX
10. Zelda: LTTP

 

[Dmax3901]

Tough list to compile, mainly because it's a toss up between my personal favourites of a particular franchise, and ones I think were the most influential or 'important' to gaming in general.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ; I was 8 years old and this game changed my life. I got it for Christmas '98 and I was staying at my Aunt and Uncle's place. I can still remember playing through Kokiri Forest and the Deku Tree and being absolutely spellbound.

2. Metroid Prime ; My first Metroid game. Introduced me to the classic style gameplay of getting upgrades to progress, the atmosphere of the opening, the boss fights, fantastic game and the start of an amazing trilogy.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker ; Cops a lot of flack, a lot of it justified, but I would've only been 12 or so when this came out, so the flaws I can recognise in it now weren't an issue back then. The sense of exploration as you sail through this beautiful world is still unmatched for me. Windfall is probably one of my favourite towns in all of Zelda/RPGs.

4. Super Mario Galaxy ; One of the harder decisions to make. The original Super Mario Bros (along with Zelda) were the games that got my five-year-old self into gaming. That said, that was a little too young for me to form a proper bond with a game (see entry 1). Super Mario 64 was obviously more of a game-changer, but I never owned it (criminal, I know). It's Mario Galaxy then, that makes my list. Mind-blowing and near-perfection from concept to execution, and an absolute joy to play.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask ; Similar to my reasons for picking Wind Waker, the game is not without flaw, but man is it unique. The masks, Clock Town and its residents and their schedules, the unsettling, pervasive atmosphere, and of course time-travel. A game that has never been replicated.

6. Pokemon Yellow ; My first Pokemon game. To be honest I think I would've forgotten to put this here if it wasn't for the "Brandon Plays Pokemon" series of videos over at Easy Allies. Watching those has reminded me how amazing this game was when it first came out. I was obsessed with Pokemon for a while there. Trading with my gameboy colour at school, collecting the cards, the whole shebang. Perhaps more importantly, I'm pretty sure this was my introduction to JRPGs.

7. Super Smash Bros. ; A celebration of what it means to be a Nintendo fan and, as a kid, multiplayer bliss. I played a lot of Melee and Smash 4, but the original has the magic of having sleepovers with friends and playing late into the night.

8. Goldeneye: 007 ; Another great multiplayer game, but also on this list because it was my first 3D shooter, as I had never owned DOOM, Quake or Half-Life. Controls and graphics are laughable now, but I played this for hours and hours.

9. Banjo-Kazooie ; I can't believe I almost forgot to put this on here. This was another game I spent hours playing, finding every last secret and item. I was utterly enthralled by the glass key easter egg as well. A great adventure game with humour to boot.

10. Mario Kart 8 ; One of the best-looking games I've ever played, with one of the best soundtracks in gaming.

 

[redcrayon]

I guess I'm somewhat alone in that some of my favourites are obscure, and the choices were not forced.

To each their own, there's plenty of obscure games I love too, but by definition the obscure great games are going to appear less often than highly visible, influential and much-loved games (like Super Metroid, LTTP etc) that are widely recognised as being fantastic too.

Megaman X is definitely one that I don't remember being anywhere near as popular 20 or even 10 years ago though. It's one that has shot up the rankings of SNES games (or at least to my memory of such lists) whereas the first-party big hitters have always been there.

 

[thesurfshop19]

This list changes often, but as of this morning, here's how I feel:

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
2. Super Mario Galaxy
3. Earthbound
4. Donkey Kong Country
5. Super Mario World
6. Punch-Out!! (Wii)
7. Elite Beat Agents
8. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
9. Super Mario Maker
10. Star Fox 64

 

[ec0ec0]

Words spent on games that need them

10. Mother (nes) - Mother is a strange game, it's hard to explain why it's so good. The combat is punishing and archaic. The locations are varied and interesting. The music is insanely good, Mt Itoi and Field 2 ~ Bein' Friends will be stuck in me forever. The story is simple and earnest. This game somehow is like distilled nostalgia even though I never played it while young. It feels so memorable in a way that only an obscure nes game from 27 years ago can. It is so uniquely itself that its greatness escapes qualitative measurement, and I love it.
9. Mario Kart Double Dash (gcn)
8. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (gcn)
7. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (gcn) - a title usually overshadowed by its predecessor. Unlike the first prime, it was a more grim journey through miserable and drab alien environments, as well as shadow versions of the world, instead of fire world, ice world, etc. It had a more difficult final boss, much better story than the first prime, and more interesting levels like the sanctuary fortress. Plus it had the coolest suit in any metroid game, the light suit.
6. Super Mario Sunshine (gcn)
5. Super Smash Bros Melee (gcn)
4. Metroid 2: Return of Samus (Game Boy) - The most atmospheric, gripping portable game ever made, and my favorite metroid game. You have to hunt down a lot of metroids, which do not respawn. There is no map. You end up wandering through the labyrinthine corridors of SR388, as the repetitive, chiptune background music drills into your mind, etching away at your sanity. Combat in this world is quick and brutal; Samus has a large hitbox and the metroids flit around like deadly butterflies. You never know when you might chance upon one as you traipse around the mazelike levels. It's such a spartan experience, but one where every element of the game comes together to produce something remarkable.
3. Pokemon Silver (GBC)
2. Super Mario 64 (N64)
1. Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64)

the OP says that you should order games from 1 to 10, your list goes from 10 to 1.

 

[Alcibiades]

1. Super Metroid
2. Legend of Zelda
3. GoldenEye 007
4. Majora's Mask
5. Ocarina of Time
6. Super Mario World
7. Super Smash Bros. Melee
8. Metroid Prime
9. Super Mario 64
10. Fortune Street

Honorable Mention:
Tetris Attack

 

[Bazry]

1. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
3. Super Mario 64
4. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
5. Super Mario Bros. 3
6. Super Mario Galaxy
7. Super Metroid
8. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
9. Elite Beat Agents
10. Mario Kart 8

 

[DarkTom]

1. Perfect Dark ; My favorite game ever. Gameplay is great, visuals are some of the best of the generation, story and characters are enjoyable and I played hundreds of hours of the enormous multiplayer content with friends.
2. Super Mario Bros. 3 ; This is my first game ever played, what a start in the media ! This platformer is still untouched and I don't think it ever will, problably one of the most "perfect" game I ever played.
3. The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time ; I love the atmosphere of the game and especially the music. This was my first puzzle-oriented adventure game and I had troubles to advance through the game at the time. I rebought a N64 a few years ago and finally beat the game last year ! Incredible game.
4. Goldeneye 007 ; One day a guy brought that game at my place and I was blown away. The first person view was new, you were shooting you're friends with guns, that was so crazy and so fun.
5. Mario Kart 64 ; Replaying it today is a bit boring in race mode, but at the time me and my friends were quite skilled so it was a tough competition. And that battle mode is far ahead of everything else, Block Fort for life !
6. Super Mario 64 ; Probably the most satisfying controls ever. And I love great controls. Just messing around with Mario's move set is fun. Game was mindblowing back in the day and is still fully enjoyable, plus the music tracks are great.
7. Donkey Kong Country Returns ; Tropical Freeze is great too but I played this one when I was getting back into video games especially platformers so it was such a perfect fit I had a better time with it. Controls are once again so satisfying, you "feel" Donkey very well. And the challenge is important but fair.
8. The Wonderful 101 ; That game is completely crazy, I loved the characters, the story and the gameplay. I'm gonna replay it one day for sure (that's final, wow !).
9. Pikmin 3 ; I got it for really cheap due to a price error. I had tried Pikmin 2 on Wii and did not find that very interesting and I don't like RTS games so I was not looking forward this one. Boy I'm glad I bought it, this game is awesome. It's not really a RTS but more of a charming mix between a puzzle and a management game. I love the art style and the characters, I need to revisit the game since they patched in touch controls.
10. The Legend of Zelda : the Wind Waker HD ; One of the most beautiful game I have ever played. Plus the atmosphere is really zen and peaceful, relaxing games like this are too rare.

Honorable mentions :

F Zero X
Super Mario Kart
Super Metroid
Mario Party
Pokemon Red
Diddy Kong Racing
Super Mario 3D World

 

[thelongestj]

I'm going to reply to this thread since I am getting hyped for the NX and hoping the virtual console on it will be available on it from the start and that we won't have to buy our games all over again.

1. Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire: My favorite Pokemon game is always the most recent one since the series gets better with every generation. This is my favorite video game series of all time so it gets the top spot by default.

2. Pokemon Snap: It's a super short game, but I have spent many hours trying to get the best pictures. I bought a Wii U hoping to get some form of a sequel (and so I could finally own a copy of the third game on the list) but it never happened. Such a waste of potential.

3. Earthbound: I can't say much about this that hasn't already been said, but I love this game series.

4. Pokemon Yellow: My first Pokemon game and the Gameboy Color was the first console I bought with my own money. This gets the vote solely from nostalgia though.

5. Goldeneye 007: This is probably the only FPS that I have ever really enjoyed and spent hours trying to master. Years later I finally beat the game on 00 agent. Beating Control on 00 agent after literally hundreds of attempts was one of the best gaming moments I've ever had.

6. Mother 3: The game we all want localized. I thought for sure this year would be the one.

7. Super Mario 64: This is one of my favorite platformers of all time that I still enjoy playing through today. One of my favorite things to do is to drop the baby penguin over the ledge in Cool, Cool Mountain in front of the mother. It never gets old.

8. Pokemon Stadium 2 (NA): I spent hours playing those mini-games when I was younger. I put 2 over the original in North America, because even though I love the Clefairy mini-game in the original, nothing beats the computer trying to count Pokemon in Streaming Stampede on hyper difficulty.

9. Pokemon Black 2: I didn't like hardly any of the Gen V designs so I didn't enjoy the original Pokemon Black so much, but I did learn to RNG manipulate that game so that is something. However, Black 2 had the superior post-game so it gets my pick for best Pokemon game on DS.

10. Super Mario World: Again, a timeless platformer that I still enjoy playing to this day.

I probably could have made a top ten list and only put Pokemon games on it since they have been the primary reason why I have bought Nintendo's consoles over the years, but I thought I should diversify a little bit.

 

[DryvBy]

1. Super Mario World
2. Pokemon Gold/Silver
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
4. Eternal Darkness
5. Super Mario Bros. 3
6. Super Smash Bros. Melee
7. GoldenEye 007
8. Perfect Dark
9. Animal Crossing
10. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

 

[relewis2011]

Really hoping Perfect Dark makes the Top 50. Top 25 would be ideal. Game still holds up SO well, and I still play multiplayer (by myself) with bots and just take people out with the Farsight and Dual Cylcones.

 

[ec0ec0]

Really hoping Perfect Dark makes the Top 50. Top 25 would be ideal.

Perfect Dark was 43 in the previous list:

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=462147

 

[decaf]

1. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
2. Super Mario 64
3. Animal Crossing
4. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
5. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
6. Super Mario World
7. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
8. Pokémon Crystal Version
9. Pilotwings 64
10. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$

 

[ManeKast]

1. Super Mario 64
2. Super Mario World
3. The Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past
4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
5. Super Mario Galaxy
6. The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time
7. Metroid Prime
8. Super Mario Bros 3
9. Splatoon
10. Starfox 64

 

[fargofallout]

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past ; This was the game I wanted a Super Nintendo for. A bunch of my friends had one, but I didn't get one until later. One of my friends, for whatever reason, preferred to watch me play the game instead of playing it himself, so I spent a lot of time at his house that summer. It was just so colorful and the music was so great and the existence of the dark world and the extra dungeons there was such a surprise.
2. Metroid Prime ; This was the first game I can remember playing that really did atmosphere well. It made you feel alone, and I would go room-to-room with sweaty palms, wondering where I would next encounter space pirates.
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ; This game's sense of scale, at the time, seemed insane to me. And like A Link to the Past, the transition that happens partway through was completely unexpected and a wonderful surprise.
4. Super Mario Bros. 2 ; I enjoyed the game at the time because it was a Mario game, but my appreciation of this game has only grown over time because it's so weird. I so badly wanted this game to be a tileset in Super Mario Maker.
5. Super Mario World ; If I was the type of person to replay games, this is a game I'd probably go back to once a year or so. I have a greater appreciation for the games above this one on the list for various reasons, but for the type of platforming this game goes for, it's practically perfect.
6. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker ; The further I get from my childhood, the less I remember specifics of games because I played through many of them just once. This is such a game - I thoroughly enjoyed it at the time, but my memory of it is that the only truly remarkable thing about it was the art style. Which is great, of course.
7. Super Metroid ; I didn't play Symphony of the Night until much, much later in life, so to me, games aren't Metroidvanias. They're Metroid-ish, which, in my head, means Super Metroid-ish. This is another game, like Super Mario World, that is practically perfect execution of what the game is going for. I can't say anything bad about it, except that I used to try and try to get 100%, and I could never quite get it. I would search and search and get absolutely everything in the game except for one thing - probably a missile expansion. I haven't played through it in a very long time.
8. Super Mario Bros. 3 ; I love the secret stuff in this game and the level variety. I love that if you manage to complete an airship with a different suit, you get a different bit of pointless dialogue.
9. Mario Galaxy ; It would probably make more sense to put Mario 64 here because it was more groundbreaking, but I just enjoyed Galaxy so much more. Where 64 is showing you what is possible, the Galaxy games are perfections of the form.
10. Earthbound ; Like Super Mario Bros. 2, this is a game for which my appreciation has grown over time. It's just so quirky that I couldn't help but enjoy it.

 

[Javier]

1. Super Mario Bros. 3
2. The Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past
3. Splatoon
4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
5. Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
6. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
7. Kirby Super Star
8. Super Mario 64
9. Banjo-Kazooie
10. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

 

[Lothar]

yeah the one that stands out for me is mario kart.. i mean i know it's widely played and liked, but top ten all time?

to each their own lol

I didn't put it in my top ten but it shouldn't be surprising at all if you played it when it came out. When it came out, there were no multiplayer games close to that much fun. If you played video games with friends back in 1992, chances are you played that game all the time and it never got old. We must have played it near every day for at least a year.

Same with Mario Kart 64.

I'm disappointed that I couldn't fit them into a list.

 

[spekkeh]

Man this is like choosing between my children. I feel like I'm going to feel bad about this list later on. Well, here goes.

1. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) ; best game bar none, pure unadulterated joy throughout, from game feel to interaction possibilities, to being constantly surprised as it upends and spirals around everything you thought you knew before all in a magical and heartfelt Pixar like aesthetic. Second game was good too, but iterative and didn't nearly leave as much of an impact and therefore didn't make the list.
2. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64) ; the first open world game that captured and excelled on childhood dreams of boyhood adventures.
3. Metroid Prime (GC) ; the best sci-fi exploration game, coalesces isolation, mystery, world building and classical sci-fi in a close to perfect package.
4. Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)
5. The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker (GC)
6. GoldenEye 007 (N64)
7. Super Mario 64 (N64)
8. Bayonetta 2 (GC)
9. Killer Instinct (SNES)
10. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)


No room for but should be on here as well: Super Metroid, Super Mario Kart, Star fox 64, Super Mario World and Bros 3, Wii Sports, Tetris, Zelda Link's Awakening, Nintendo World Cup, Splatoon.

 

[spekkeh]

I didn't put it in my top ten but it shouldn't be surprising at all if you played it when it came out. When it came out, there were no multiplayer games close to that much fun. If you played video games with friends back in 1992, chances are you played that game all the time and it never got old. We must have played it near every day for at least a year.

Same with Mario Kart 64.

I'm disappointed that I couldn't fit them into a list.

This. SMK Also scored like 93-97 in a lot of outlets back then, similar to Mario World, sometimes even higher.

 

[Griss]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yCC_b5WHLX0

Hahaha... well that decides it. I'll pick my favourites. The strong effect of nostalgia means that no 3DS or Wii U games feature, but despite the nostalgia factor I love and play all of these games to this day - they've all aged well.

1. Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) ; Was hard to pick between this or TLoZ (NES), but they'll probably be my two favourites until I die for emotional reasons. With OoT, it was simply everything I dreamed of and more, and the thought of playing it when I returned home got me through months of vicious and violent bullying at boarding school in a foreign country, which was the worst time of my life. I was so immersed in the game that for years I would dream that I was in some location in Hyrule. I felt like I'd been there. I still remember a sense of utter desolation at the final screen. I never wanted it to end.

2. The Legend of Zelda (NES) ; The first video game I ever owned. Everything about it was magical to me. It sparked my lifelong love of games. Even now I think it should be number 1, then I look at OoT and say 'can't do it'. The visuals are iconic, the gameplay solid, the sense of adventure unparalleled, the dungeons challenging. Other than the esoteric nature of some secrets (designed to sell guides / sell phone calls I imagine) it's practically perfect and has aged better than any other NES game imo. I also have to give a shout out to that gold cart, which made it seem tremendously special in my child brain, and I used to sleep with it under my pillow as if it was a golden treasure. Because it was.

3. Metroid Prime (GC) ; This might be the game that has aged worst on this list, because these days the controls really do feel arcahaic (wii version fixed this), the pea shooter weapon and enemy AI make for pretty weak combat, and most bosses are bullet-sponge battles of attrition. But who cares about that, because it was the experience of exploring Tallon IV as a botanist-cum-historian-cum-space-warrior that was so memorable.

4. Yoshi’s Island (SNES) ; I need to go back and play DK: Tropical Freeze and Yoshi's Island again, because I suspect DK has taken this spot. But on sheer memory, Yoshi's Island takes it. It's damn near flawless, from the level designs to the art style to the music. My favourite SNES game.

5. Super Mario 64 (N64) ; The fact that the first truly popular 3D platformer, that had to write the rules as it went along, is still so damn good today is just jawdropping. Which is how it felt at the time just running around in the 3rd dimension, climbing up trees and doing backflips. When that novelty wore off, some of the best platforming levels ever (and a ton of them) awaited. A masterpiece.

6. Super Metroid (SNES) ; Still not a huge fan of Samus' movement in this one, but everything else is flawless. That sense of atmosphere coming from the SNES's weak graphics and soundchips still blows my mind. It's actually Metroid II that made the biggest impression on me as a child, but I can't pretend that game compares to this one.

7. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) ; The pinnacle of the Mario series. There are more unique ideas in this one game than any other I've ever played, I think. Taking the series to space allowed them to bring back the level system where Mario works best, and the gravity mechanic was so much more than a gimmick. More focused and exciting than its successor, with bonus points for an 'overworld' rather than a level select and the actual presence of a touching narrative underpinning everything. One of the greatest soundtracks of all time, too.

8. Zelda: Link’s Awakening (GB) ; It was like TLoZ, but portable, and with an emotional core inserted where TLoZ had had nothing. I knew that a portable Zelda would play amazingly. I could have never anticipated that the story of Koholint Island would engross me so much, and leave me so sad when it ended. That infusion of emotion was what brought the core Zelda design that I already loved to a higher level for me.

9. Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) ; Edges out Pokemon Silver as my all-time favourite Nintendo RPG. I'm a sucker for exploration games, and this one did it as good as any Nintendo have ever done, with an unparalleled sense of scale and really surprisingly endearing characters. The setting was tremendously unique and the battle system functional, if somewhat dull / limited. The only flaw was the typical JRPG ridiculous story in the second half of the game, but even that was less irritating here than it is in most JRPGs. Gaur plains was like the 'Hyrule Field moment' for the second half of my life. Wonderful memories.

10. Smash Bros Melee (GC) ; The ultimate fanservice game. Never played it as anything more than a party game with friends, but its fast pace and solid weight kept it entertaining for 100s of hours. Brawl lost that feeling, as well as bloating a roster that was the perfect size in Melee. Add in the awesome single player modes and I feel like it's yet to be topped.

I expect to see all of those games in the top 20. Don't let me down!

 

[Glirk-Dirka]

1. Pikmin 2
2. Super Mario 64
3. Ocarina of Time
4. A Link Between Worlds
5. Wave Race
6. Pikmin 3
7. Super Mario Brothers
8. The Legend of Zelda
9. Splatoon
10. Pikmin

 

[Neff]

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past ; My favourite Zelda game. My favourite SNES game. My favourite Nintendo game. My favourite videogame, period. The greatest development talent in the world at the time goes the extra mile and builds upon the first games with something so advanced, and so ambitious, and so good, that Nintendo continued to use the game's structure and format for several more titles and still managed to make them feel fresh. There's never been a game with such holistically brilliant design, whether it's the overlapping yet distinctly unique dark/light worlds, the intelligently contructed obstacles, or the multi-purpose items strewn across the world and its dungeons. There's always something to do, no matter where you go, and it's always rewarding and fun. It's not just a lean slice of meat with no bones, it's an all-you-can-eat buffet of gaming genius, and every mouthful is a delicious surprise. It is a game I can play anywhere, anytime, and have a blast, 25 years later. Here's to 25 more.

2. Super Mario 64 ; Nintendo does 3D gaming before anyone else, and better than anyone else, forever. Mario's degree of control and interaction is unparalleled. The course design bursts with creativity, depth and endless traversal possibilities. The game constantly surprises with varied goals, ideas, and secrets. And I say all this in 2016. 20 years ago, it made gaming's collective mind explode, and rightly so. It's Nintendo's greatest work featuring their icon.

3. Super Mario World ; My first proper introduction to Mario games, although I had spent quite a bit of time playing SMB3 on my brother's NES. I knew it was going to be good, but I wasn't prepared for the quality on show. A great showcase for the Super Famicom in itself, but also a stunning chapter in the Mario series, I feel that Mario in 2D got as good as it ever would with SMW. Every level is brilliant, and it was an incredible thrill to hunt for secrets which led to entire actual new levels in an era where you might get a bonus room or two for poking around. There's simply never a dull minute. I can play it today (played it this week on my work break in fact, thanks N3DS SNES VC), and it's fresh as a daisy.

4. Super Metroid ; My first introduction to Metroid, I more or less bought it blind because the reviews at the time fell over themselves to proclaim how good it was. I didn't really know what to expect beyond some sort of space adventure with a lady in a mechanical suit. What I got was... man. The title screen itself is amazingly novel and forboding. The intro on the space station not only perfectly sets the tone, not only instructs me on the basics with perfect 'show don't tell' conditioning (an element of the game which would continue throughout with brilliant subtlety), but also culminates with a thrilling escape from certain death. All before I've even really started the game proper. As soon as I'm on Zebes, I'm instantly rewarded by my contrarian nature urging me left instead of right. That's when I knew. I knew that Super Metroid was gonna be a game for the ages. And I was right.

5. The Wonderful 101 ; I was under the impression that my all-time top ten videogames (not just Nintendo, but all) was set in stone and had been since RE4, quarantined by safety rails, tastefully lit and displayed lovingly in my mental gaming museum for all time until I'm dead. Then this fucking thing comes along and demands that I make room. I really didn't expect what I got, not even close. I kind of expected some sort of isometric strategy thing with a dash of action. What I got was a love letter to a lot of things I also loved- Nintendo, Sega, character action games, a lot of '80s arcade/console games generally, anime, Go Nagai toku, Gerry Anderson, endless pop culture references and an absolute fucking ton of homage to Kamiya's own games themselves, all of it blended with a dyed-in-the-wool actioner of which there's nothing remotely comparable. Even though W101 borrows many of DMC and Bayonetta's ideas, it retains an identity of its own from beginning to end, both in terms of its teamwork mechanic and its larger than life presentation and scale. And that scale! Holy shit. That final chapter should go down in history as one of gaming's watermark epic moments, culminating in perhaps the single greatest moment (You know the one) I've ever experienced in all my 30 years of playing games. I know I'll never get a sequel, and that's fine. I don't want one. This game as it stands -and boy does it stand- is enough for most entire franchises. Bravo, Kamiya and PG.

6. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening ; So at the point this game comes out, A Link to the Past is my favourite game, which means I'm looking forward to Link's handheld debut a lot, although there's a teeny tiny part of me which wonders how they're going to do something like LttP on a Game Boy without compromising the experience. I needn't have worried. Somehow Tezuka and team were able to not only fit a full-on Zelda with towns, NPCs, and eight dungeons into a god damn Game Boy cart, they were also able to make it almost as good as (and in some cases better than) the SNES game. Playing to Game Boy's technical strengths, while skillfully hiding its weaknesses, Nintendo delivered what is arguably and deservedly to this day one of the most revered games in the franchise.

On a Game Boy!

7. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword ; Yeah I said it, this is my favourite 3D Zelda. It's not perfect. Unlike A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening representing 2D, I don't yet believe Nintendo has made the perfect 3D Zelda. But so far, Skyward Sword probably has the best balance for me. What it does well, it does incredibly well. The 1:1 sword action is the obvious draw here, and it's a big one. Pulling the Master Sword out of its pedestal, in real time, and holding it above my head, in my house, is a sobering reminder that few games will ever have moments as thrilling. It's especially strong on character and cinematics, with luscious Disney-esque animation and character design, not to mention unusually good writing for the series. Groose is hands down the greatest character to ever appear in a Zelda game, with a wonderful arc and unfolding relationship to the characters. He almost steals the game. The 'continuous dungeon' feel is something I also like a lot. I think the hardest element of 3D Zeldas for Nintendo to crack has always been its overworld. With Skyward Sword, they take a risk and dispose of it almost entirely, focusing on environment puzzles and traversal. At a cost, it works. It's always fun to figure out how to progress forward, how to unlock those shortcuts, and how to make best use of new tools when returning to old areas. It's still quintessentially Zelda, with a lot of the conventions rethought. The fact that they were able to change as much as they did, while still keeping the feel and making it fun speaks highly of the Zelda team's skill and bodes well for the future.

8. Super Mario Bros ; So yeah, there's this game which changed the world. What's amazing about it is that it's still fucking brilliant. Run, jump, get to the end. Simple, right? Except the range, height, and maneuverability of your jump is dependent on how fast you're going. And how fast you're going depends on how far you've run. And how far you've run depends on the level design and enemy placement. And all of this is calculated and re-calculated into creating levels around the physics, rather than vice versa. A great Mario player can make that plumber sing as they daredevil over one deathly abyss to the next using that lonely, improbable block as a stepping stone. Likewise, a terrible Mario player can stock up on coins to replenish lost lives, hunt for shortcuts, and steel themselves for those tricky jumps one at a time before tasting sweet success. To think that this game is essentially a sequel to Mario Bros, a fine game in itself (but a dinosaur compared to SMB) is shocking. It made the NES, it made Mario, and it made Nintendo. A true paradigm shift in gaming.

9. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess ; I think Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time are probably the closest Nintendo has gotten to the (or my) hypothetical ideal of A Link to the Past in 3D. In fact it's quite hard to pick one last Zelda for this list. Ocarina has that 3D freshness, wonderful '90s aesthetic and immediacy, wheras Twilight Princess the sheer scope and diversity I was hoping for in Ocarina. What swings it ultimately are the dungeons. While OoT is no slouch in that regard, Twilight Princess has some of THE best dungeons in the franchise. Each and every time I look forward to them, and the fact that you have to go through hell and back to reach each one (particularly early on) only makes that moment where you finally step inside all the sweeter. It's the first time I really got into a Zelda story, too. Midna is still Link's best accomplice to date imo. Snarky, mischievous, but retaining a heart of gold, she's never intrusive or annoying as some of Link's partners have been. The dungeon items are a blast, even if they don't see much use outside of them. Like I said, probably the most 'complete' feeling 3D Zelda to date, and an undeniably fine game in its own right.

10. GoldenEye 007 ; Well shit. Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to make a first person shooter out of a 2 year-old Bond movie (hardly a hip gaming IP at the time) on Nintendo's new console? I remember footage looking rather underwhelming on TV, and I remained indifferent to the idea until my friend got the game, sat me down, and put the controller in my hands, with the Rumble Pak inserted. I squeezed the trigger and bullets came out of my gun, with a shockingly effective thump shooting up my arm with each shot, and the bullets went inside some Russian shithead as he crumpled with eerily realistic animation. There were even little blood splats on the area I shot him. This was my morbid childhood imagination playing war with my buddies, made literal, in a game. And I was James motherfucking Bond! With the music and everything! And this was my first ten minutes with GoldenEye 007. That ten minutes would become a week, and a month, and then years. I still think the game is extremely well designed and wonderfully playable, in fact I lament the fact that even modern games continue to ignore some of its better ideas. If I'm being honest, Perfect Dark is probably the better game overall, but I have to place GoldenEye based purely on the fact that Rare pulled it out of thin air against all odds and expectation. And the fact that it's James fucking Bond.

Close, but not quite at the top

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metroid Other M, Kid Icarus Uprising, Super Mario Galaxy, Star Fox, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World, Splatoon, Super Mario Bros 3, Metroid Prime, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Stunt Race FX, Yoshi's Island, Perfect Dark

 

[Eolz]

1. Super Metroid ; Basically defined a sub-genre, but unlike others, nothing as perfect has been made since. Numerous gameplay elements influenced other genres, everyone needs to play this at least once.

2. Super Mario Bros. ; A pure lesson of game design, and there again, defined a genre for the years to come. Not only that, but also helped popularizing arguably the biggest video game icon of all time.

3. Metroid Prime ; I still think nothing like it has been made since. One of the other perfect transitions from 2D to 3D, it is a fantastic experience on several levels.

4. The Legend of Zelda ; Created a fantastic series that managed to always evolve, always feel new while staying true to itself for thirty years. The original game is pure game design and still really interesting to come to. The fact that the next Zelda is taking so much inspiration from the original just makes it even more important for the future of this franchise, and even more.

5. Super Mario 64 ; Widely influential and another game design lesson. Really not much to say on it, this is something truly special.

6. F-Zero GX ; The best arcade racing game ever, and one of the most shocking collaborations ever. Fantastic on every point (even the incredibly kitsch cutscenes), led to the misinterpreted argument that Miyamoto couldn't see how to make another F-Zero after that.

7. Super Mario RPG ; Who would have thought that Mario RPGs could work and that such talented developers would work on it. Its setting is really different from the Mario RPGs we know nowadays, and not in a good or bad way. This is something that would be near impossible to make a sequel to, but that everybody wants anyway. Established the main elements of Mario RPGs to come (humor, combat system, create its own lore while adding its own twist to the existing ones, different artstyle, etc).

8. Panel de Pon / Tetris Attack ; Essentially the same game, but I'm counting Panel de Pon before Tetris Attack for being more interesting in terms of assets/IP. Fantastic gameplay that established the Puzzle League series, and actually a special Match-3 variation that hasn't been followed outside of Nintendo. Lip deserves to come back!

9. The Wonderful 101 ; In my opinion, this is Kamiya and Platinum's greatest and deepest game yet. It is not as polished as Bayonetta 2, or as interesting as Vanquish, but it is long, fun, rewarding, surprising, etc. The original concept would have been really interesting, but the constraints Nintendo put on this project (to not rely on his IPs) helped to make it better.

10. Wii Sports ; Marked a new, successful era for Nintendo, it redefined simple, accessible gameplay for all. A true phenomenon that might have been handled better afterwards, it is unforgettable, by hardcore and casual gamers alike.

Adding some quick descriptions in a bit, and hopefully more later, but wanted to be sure the vote was counted (since I missed the 4th gen one)...
Way too many honourable mentions to put there, extremely difficult vote!

 

[Griss]

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past ; My favourite Zelda game. My favourite SNES game. My favourite Nintendo game. My favourite videogame, period. The greatest development talent in the world at the time goes the extra mile and builds upon the first games with something so advanced, and so ambitious, and so good, that Nintendo continued to use the game's structure and format for several more titles and still managed to make them feel fresh. There's never been a game with such holistically brilliant design, whether it's the overlapping yet distinctly unique dark/light worlds, the intelligently contructed obstacles, or the multi-purpose items strewn across the world and its dungeons. There's always something to do, no matter where you go, and it's always rewarding and fun. It's not just a lean slice of meat with no bones, it's an all-you-can-eat buffet of gaming genius, and every mouthful is a delicious surprise. It is a game I can play anywhere, anytime, and have a blast, 25 years later. Here's to 25 more.

I have Zeldas as my top 2, and 3 in my top 10, and I played LttP back when it was new and TLoZ (NES) was already my favourite ever game... and I hated it. Hated it as a kid, as a teenager, as a college student, and belatedly got some enjoyment out of it as an adult. I was glad when Kyle Bosman talked about it, because he feels the exact same way about it that I had for two decades.

I only bring this up this to show that pleasing all the different kinds of Zelda fans must be an absolute nightmare for Nintendo. Such an incredible range of opinions on each game in that series.

Props to you for including Skyward Sword, though. That was a great game.

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

High level it looks like the regular 5 will be top spots:

- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Super Metroid
- Super Mario 64
- Super Mario Galaxy (maybe Super Mario World)
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

 

[Neff]

I have Zeldas as my top 2, and 3 in my top 10, and I played LttP back when it was new and TLoZ (NES) was already my favourite ever game... and I hated it. Hated it as a kid, as a teenager, as a college student, and belatedly got some enjoyment out of it as an adult. I was glad when Kyle Bosman talked about it, because he feels the exact same way about it that I had for two decades.

I know what you mean. While I don't think anyone is in a rush to defend the CDi Zeldas, I'm still surprised by how highly some are rated. Wind Waker leaves me lukewarm. Every time I hear praise for Majora's Mask, I find it bewildering that people would enjoy time spent in a Zelda game talking to characters at specific times of day.

I still wouldn't say there's an outright bad Zelda game, at least not made by Nintendo. Like I said, They always manage to stay on top of what makes the series enjoyable one way or another, and they all have their fans.

 

[shira]

1. Super Mario RPG
2. Super Mario World
3. Paper Mario
4. Super Mario 3
5. Mario Kart
6. The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past
7. Advance Wars
8. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
9. Advance Wars Dual Strike
10. Kung Fu

 

[Macka]

1. Metroid Prime
2. Super Metroid
3. Super Mario 64
4. Super Mario Galaxy
5. The Wind Waker
6. Fire Emblem 7
7. Super Smash Bros. Melee
8. GoldenEye 007
9. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
10. Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver

 

[Skikkiks]

1. Pokemon Crystal ; the game that solidified my love for pokemon, taking the base of the first game and refining it substantially, will never tire of replaying it
2. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze ; fantastic 2d platformer in practically every aspect, the only wii u game I truly love
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2 ; super good 3d platformer that really built upon the first galaxy's foundation and made something better
4. Fire Emblem ; my gateway game to one of my favourite series, I always enjoy replaying this gem of an srpg
5. Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story ; Mario and Luigi are fun RPG's, I especially like this one due to Bowser having a major role and being a playable character
6. Wario Land 4 ; fun take on a platformer, with having to zoom back to the entrance for every level, combine that with Wario's moveset and some quirky locales and you got yourself a good game
7. Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland ; my first foray into Kirby games, Kirby stands as one of my favourite series and its due to this game that I owe that too
8. Mario Tennis ; my favourite mario spin off, played it all the time with my friends way back when, the gamecube game improves but the n64 game still holds a place in my heart
9. Punch-Out!! ; every fight is a puzzle, and with its variety in its cast of characters they're fights you're going to want to figure out
10. Mario Kart DS ; the mario kart game I personally had the most fun with, single races and mission mode really went a long ways into my enjoyment of it

x. Children of Mana ; cute little action rpg, looks nice and is fun to play
x. Tetris ; it's fucking tetris

 

[woopWOOP]

Quickly gonna get my vote in now before it's too late. Making a list like this sure is hard! I try to go with the best of different series, instead of just placing 7 different Mario games on there or something.

1. Super Smash Bros. for WiiU ; For a game like this I'm just gonna have to go with the latest and greatest. Crazy amount of characters and modes. The customization of characters and crazy custom stage potential drives it further before the previous entries for me.
2. Perfect Dark ; Since this one is eligible it needs to be voted on. The amount of modes and options is insane, even by today's standards. The ability to give commands to AI players on your team also leads to some fun results. Pretty much the only N64 multiplayer game we hooked up and played again a few times many years later.
3. Super Mario Bros. 3 ; The different thematic worlds, crazy suits and difficulty makes this the best 2D Mario still today. Well, for me anyway.
4. Fire Emblem Fates ; The stories are all garbage and the waifu pandering is lame, but the tag-team battle system and Conquest's map design makes it one of the best FE games I played yet.
5. Paper Mario ; I love the tone of this game, it really fits the pop-up book presentation. Lots of goofy and memorable characters.
6. Earthbound ; The battle system's a bit dated, but game's goofy tone and areas more than make up for it.
7. Pokemon White ; It was a close one between G/S and B/W, but in the end I went with B/W.... or just White, I guess. Having completely new species everywhere aside from just route 1 mammals and birds is something I was wanting for a very long time before B/W. Infinite TMs are great and the added overworld season effects is a really nice touch too.
8. Kirby Super Star ; I like that the different scenarios have a few different rule changes for each of them. Great Cave Offensive and Milky Way Wishes are two of my favorites with the freedom to explore and discover hidden treasure/powerups. Great co-op game.
9. Splatoon ; One of the reasons I still turn on my WiiU today. Scratches that shooter multiplayer itch nicely.
10. Pilotwings 64 ; Really fun game to replay and slowly get better with. I also loved flying around the 3D space and making photos of the towns from different angles.

Special mentions to Sim City, Star Fox 64, Rhythm Heaven Fever, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Animal Crossing: New Leaf and any Mario Kart for almost making it on this list. Competition is high!

I'm also playing through Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War right now. The story is miles, MILES better than Fates, but since I haven't finished it yet I can't really vote for it in good conscience.

 

[Sadist]

Thanks for voting guys! I'll work out the ranking and will post the thread next week.

 

[spekkeh]

I have Zeldas as my top 2, and 3 in my top 10, and I played LttP back when it was new and TLoZ (NES) was already my favourite ever game... and I hated it. Hated it as a kid, as a teenager, as a college student, and belatedly got some enjoyment out of it as an adult. I was glad when Kyle Bosman talked about it, because he feels the exact same way about it that I had for two decades.

I only bring this up this to show that pleasing all the different kinds of Zelda fans must be an absolute nightmare for Nintendo. Such an incredible range of opinions on each game in that series.

Props to you for including Skyward Sword, though. That was a great game.

Wouldn't say I hated it, but I was pretty underwhelmed by LttP. Great graphical style, great beginning, then a slightly boring game. I know they're not completely the same genre, but at that time I was much more impressed by Square RPGs.
Now in terms of hate, Skyward Sword....

 

[Jon Carter]

1. Splatoon
2. Super Mario 64
3. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
4. Mario Kart 8
5. Donkey Kong Country
6. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
7. F-Zero X
8. Mario Golf: World Tour
9. Super Mario 3D Land
10. Super Smash Bros. For Wii U/3DS

Is #10 okay or do I need to pick one of the two?

 

[Dremorak]

1. Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time
- Theres a reason why this will show up on every persons list and will likely be #1 when all is said and done. The first to do so many things, and do them so well. Blew my mind when I first played it, and still holds up (mostly) to this day.

2. Super mario bros

3. Super Mario 64
- Perfect controls, level design, pacing, and the best 3d camera at the time. Set the bar so high, inspired a generation of copycats.

4. The Legend of Zelda

5. Xenoblade Chronicles
- Story, Music, Characters, combat, all top tier. Love this game.

6. Super Smash bros WiiU
- The best iteration of my favourite fighting game series, as serious as you want it to be, love it.

7. Splatoon

8. Super Mario Maker

(I really hope breath of the wild ends up on this list next time, SO PUMPED)

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Not a huge Nintendo fan so this is relatively easy for me.

1. Super Metroid ; One of the best games of all-time, timeless classic with almost no flaws. Obvious choice for me.
2. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem ; Lovecraftian horror as its finest (until Bloodborne that is), an innovative game way ahead of its time.
3. Golden Sun ; One of the most fun classic JRPGs, they don't make them like that anymore.
4. Golden Sun: The Lost Age ; Obligatory sequel. I liked the save-transfer thing Camelot introduced in Shining Force III, it's a cool feature.
5. Metroid: Zero Mission ; I hated the stealth sections but otherwise, a fine Metroid game.
6. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest ; Very ambitious platformer for its time, DKC pushed the SNES to the limit.
7. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past ; The only Zelda I really enjoyed, still the best as far as I'm concerned.
8. Super Mario World ; Possibly the best launch title of all generations? Still the best Mario 25 years later.
9. F-Zero ; one of the rare racing games that I actually enjoyed. Mostly for the music, if I'm honest.
10. Metroid Fusion ; Even a weaker 2D Metroid is still better than most games out there, I guess.

 

[ec0ec0]

remainder, less that a day left

 

[aechris]

1. Earthbound
2. Super Metroid
3. Super Mario 64
4. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
5. Pokémon Red
6. Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
7. Super Smash Bros Melee
8. Panel de Pon/Tetris Attack
9. The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
10. Super Mario World

So difficult. Barely got cut: Mother 3, every damn Picross game, Picross 3D, Mario Galaxy 2, Ocarina, Kururin, man so many good games.

 

[Peléo]

1. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
2. Super Smash Bros Melee
3. Super Mario Galaxy
4. Super Mario World
5. Pokemon Gold and Silver
6. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
7. Earthbound
8. Splatoon
9. Animal Crossing: Wild World
10. Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door

 

[iconoclast]

1. Bayonetta 2 - One of the top five action games. Platinum improved everything that was great about original while fixing most of the stuff that sucked.
2. Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan - Ouendan 1, 2, and EBA could be #2, 3, and 4 on this list, but I'll just pick the first one. 2 plays better, but I think I like the original's soundtrack a little more.
3. Super Mario 64 - Still the best 3D platform game.
4. Pokemon FireRed - The newer games are better, but Pokemon Blue is the most meaningful game in the series to me. Might as well choose the remake instead since it's a big improvement. (Does this make me a genwunner?)
5. The Wonderful 101
6. Super Mario Bros. 3
7. Banjo-Kazooie
8. Super Mario 3D World
9. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
10. F-Zero GX

Honorable mentions: Sin & Punishment 1 & 2, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, Rhythm Tengoku Gold, WarioWare: Mega Microgame$, NSMB Wii U, Pikmin 3, Mario Kart DS, Earthbound

 

[Zevenberge]

1. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
2. Wonderful 101
3. Super Mario Bros. 3
4. Super Smash Bros. Wii U
5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
6. Splatoon
7. Kid Icarus: Uprising
8. Xenoblade Chronicles
9. Nintendo World Cup (NES)
10. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

 

[WiiRevolution1]

I have been a Nintendo fan since NES, but feel like the latest gen has been the best, so my favorite games are all recent games lol. Enjoy the list!

1. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS ; (3DS) The ultimate game. All of my favorite characters in a game that has the best gameplay. With over 600 hours of play time making it my most played game of all time.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess ; (Wii) I remember the hype, and midnight launch of Wii and Twilight Princess. I recently went back and the game is really easy and simple, but such a magical journey that will never be forgotten. I have had six amazing playthroughs and plan to do more every few years until I die.

3. Splatoon ; (WiiU) My second most played game at over 250 hours, Splatoon's gameplay is simply perfect and the year of new maps, weapons and splatfests were awesome while it lasted. #TeamMarie

4. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword ; (Wii) Marking the longest time I played a game straight at 8 hours, Skyward Sword was worth the wait. The gameplay is perfected, even if its hard to go back to due small room, I remember the amazing journey, and actually have plans to return to this world very soon!

5. Super Mario 3D Land ; (3DS) My favorite Mario game. Such a fun game thats awesome to play. Love going back and replaying it.

6. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds ; (3DS) ALTTP was way to hard for me to ever play, so I was weary of buying this but am I glad I did. Another fun game thats fun to play and just explore.

7. New Super Mario Bros. 2  ; (3DS) My favorite 2D Mario game. Like the retro ones but not all that much. Like al, the NSMB games alot more but they kinda blend in so I just went with the one I'll go back to the most since its on my main system.

8. Super Mario Galaxy ; (Wii) It was hard to choose this or 3D Land as my favorite 3D Mario, maybe if I had played this recently that it may have won, but I still remember the awesome memories of this game and it deserves the slot. Welcome New Galaxy!

9. Fire Emblem: Awakening  ; (3DS) First time I seriously got into a SRPG. Loved the story, characters, and gameplay. I challenge my fate!

10. Pokemon Pearl ; (DS) Pokemon has always been a constant in my life as something that I play alot of (Over 1,000 hours for the whole series) but something that I'm not quite into that much. (Tho I am finally trying competitive.) Just something to play whenever, which is nice. I have to give the slot to Pearl tho. Mainly because at a time where I realized what Transgender meant, it was the first time I played as a girl in a game and knew I could never go back. So thanks Pokemon Pearl and Hikari.

 

[GoutPatrol]

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ; Nothing will ever take its place.
2. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ ; an absolutely brilliant idea. I remember hearing about the game at my local EBGames when a clerk just kept raving about it. Buying it entirely on his description, I spent months playing it over and over.
3. Super Mario World ; platforming perfection.
4. Super Punch Out!!! ; Somehow the SNES edition of this series is the least beloved. Maybe because it was the first one I played, but I never could enjoy the heart-based system of the other games.
5. Super Metroid ; The best version of the game. Even though I didn't beat it until I was an adult.
6. Advance Wars: Dual Strike ; Although the first North American game really blew me away, I played the DS version the most over time.
7. Super Mario Galaxy ; I think history will sour on the Wii as time goes by due to the gimmicky nature of many of its games. Very few really took advantage of what it was able to do. This game did.
8. Tetris DX ; Still my favorite version of the game.
9. Super Smash Bros. Brawl ; I consider this the best version of the fighter. I know many competitive people complain about it but I feel the extras and the expansive modes offered in it are the best.
10. Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins ; holds a special place in my heart.

It is pretty hard to cut this down to 10. Not including a Pokemon, DKC, Kirby, Mario Tennis or Soccer, and Mario and Luigi game was hard.

 

[Hobbestetrician]

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2. Super Mario Galaxy 2
3. Super Mario Galaxy
4. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
5. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
6. Banjo-Kazooie
7. Super Mario Bros. 3
8. Mario Kart 8
9. Splatoon
10. Wii Sports Resort

Could have had 3 other Zelda games in the list but decided to give some slots to some other truly terrific games. Will forever be rearranging this list and wishing I could put another 15 games into my Top 10 but I had to just go with this.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

1. Paper Mario ; While it isn't the Super Mario RPG 2 I wanted, Paper Mario is still a great game that keeps the timed hits and anti-grinding feature of the last game while still setting you on on an epic adventure.
2. Super Mario RPG
3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
4. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
5. Super Mario Galaxy
6. Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
7. Metroid Prime
8. EarthBound
9. F-Zero GX
10. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

 

[ec0ec0]

the thread tittle could be updated with 'last day" or something.

 

[d_escudero]

1) Earthbound (SNES)
2) Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
3) Mother 3 (GBA)
4) Rhythm Heaven Megamix (3DS)
5) Pikmin 2 (GC)
6) Kirby's Adventure (NES)
7) Pokemon Yellow (GB)
8) Splatoon (WiiU)
9) Super Mario 64 (N64)
10) TLOZ: Majora Mask 3D (3DS)

 

[ignata]

1. Super Metroid ; My top favorite game ever...until Symphony of the Night was released. The additions of the map and, while not robust, the item select really helped bring together the important elements of the Metroidvania, making it my favorite genre.
2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past ; My top favorite game ever...until Super Metroid was released. I spent hours walking around, trying to get to all the places I wasn't supposed to get to until later in the game. Some of the best exploration in a game.
3. Super Mario Bros. 3 ; My favorite platformer of all time, and was my top favorite game ever...until ALttP came out. My personal history with this game also has a lot to do with the high ranking. My parents were kind enough to drive my 7-year-old self about an hour away to pick this up. Much better than a decade later when I drove myself an hour away to get Ocarina of Time and came back disappointed.
4. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link ; I still feel that finishing this game at an elementary school age is my greatest gaming accomplishment. Didn't have any other game playing friends, nor was there a GameFAQs to help me when this was released. I've finished three Dark Souls games and it's nothing compared to seeing credits roll on this game.
5. EarthBound ; Despite being the second game in the series, this is the template for which all quirky RPGs look to. While other games in the genre were either fantasy or sci-fi, this made a sterotypical (albiet weird) American small town the playing field.
6. Star Tropics ; A solid Zelda-like with a silly story any child of the 80s and 90s can appreciate, and a pretty awesome trick with a yellow letter. It's a bummer the sequel didn't live up to this, nor did any additional games in the series come out.
7. Super Punch-Out!! ; While it doesn't have the nostalgia for most that the NES title has, it is easily the best of all the Punch-Out!! titles, arcade included. Still plenty of memorable characters and a decent challenge.
8. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ ; This game is the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure of games. It was a parody of its time, but also ahead of its time. WarioWare knew where games were headed, and made the blow a little less painful by being extremely fun. I've poured hours into this game, trying to unlock everything, and just because it was tremendously enjoyable.
9. Rhythm Tengoku ; I love rhythm games, and this is probably the best there is. Great music, art, and challenge makes this one of the best GBA games.
10. Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan ; One of the craziest games period, with fun game play, a great challenge, good replay value, and a wonderful introduction to some modern Japanese music I had never heard before.

 

[rex]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time; It’s one thing for a game to be great for a brief moment, or even for the majority of its playtime. But this is something else. The level of excellence maintained in OoT from beginning to end, in both its overworld and dungeons, is simply unprecedented for a game of this size and scope. Amazing achievement.

Super Mario Bros. 3; The controls are flawless and the powerups are the best in the series, but the real separator between this game and the other Marios is an ultra meticulous and thoughtful stage design which facilitates the best platforming in Nintendo history. Even more than that, SMB3 is a game that’s true to itself. There’s no star coins or red rings. No checkpoints or yoshis. Just Mario, obstacles, and enemies, with the simple goal of getting to the end of each stage. It doesn’t get any purer than this.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; Proving that bigger and better is by no means a bad thing, Twilight Princess shows what happens when Nintendo unburdens themselves of the need to constantly innovate: you wind up with a game that perfects the Zelda format in the essential aspects of dungeon design and item mechanics, while offering vast improvements to ideas (like Epona) introduced in its predecessors. A few minor missteps help to nudge the first 3D Zelda slightly ahead.

Goldeneye 007; GE007 nails its basic gameplay so well that it’s fun to simply play the game without accomplishing anything in particular. The sound design of the weapons coupled with the hit detection and audio/visual feedback of the enemies makes shooting endlessly fun and engaging. The level design, especially in the first half of the game, features very smart guard placement and behavior, and constantly shifts the advantage to and away from the player based on whether you get the drop on the guards, or they get the drop on you. And the simple cover and duck mechanics showcase Rare’s clever use of the n64 controller, as they take a pad with one analog stick and C buttons and smartly build gameplay systems around it. Brilliant on every level.

Super Mario 64; Best 3D game mechanics and control ever. Best hub ever. Best open style course design ever. It might just be Nintendo’s best game ever from a structure standpoint, as the amazing castle setting plays host to 15 stages of increasing complexity, and houses countless secrets and memorable moments of its own. The courses themselves become more impressive throughout the game, and the by the second half, levels like Wet Dry World and Tick Tock Clock set a standard for ambition and execution that no other game even thinks of approaching. Like Goldeneye, the basic gameplay is so good that it made a simple courtyard with no enemies, obstacles or objectives into something completely enthralling. Probably Nintendo’s greatest accomplishment.

Wave Race 64; EAD certainly made quite an impact in ‘96. Like Mario, this game combines technical brilliance with excellent game design. The feeling of being on the waves is truly remarkable, but another thing that sets the game apart is how constantly engaging it is. The waves, obstacles, and buoys occupy the player at all times, even if they’ve left the other races way behind. Course design is excellent thanks to Nintendo’s typical precision. Combine all that with great graphics, music, a stunt mode and courses that change with the difficulty level, and you wind up with a racer that is practically flawless.

Star Fox 64; A fantastic arcade shooter with great level design and enemy sequencing. Like GE007, the shooting action itself is extremely satisfying, as the Arwing’s laser cannons cause enemies to wobble and pulsate, and the sound effects and rumble pak drive home every direct hit and impact. New additions like All range mode and the tank stages are real standouts, and the procession of massive and imposing bosses is particularly impressive. Hidden paths and a point system add a ton of replay value, while the game’s beautiful cinematics and delightfully earnest voice acting lends the game an unforgettable charm.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island; Blew the doors off of what was possible in a platformer. The precise running and jumping of the past Mario games is still here, but excellent new mechanics like egg throwing and ground pounding have been deftly built around them, abilities that are integral to the enormous advancements in level design and boss fights that SMW2 made. The game’s gorgeous visuals and sound design evince a wonderfully tactile feel, as Yoshi slides down muddy slopes and eggs ricochet off corners and tear through playdough barriers. A tremendous combination of adventure, exploration, puzzle solving, and good old fashioned platforming.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds; Made great use of the 3D effect and featured brilliant dungeons, overworld segments, and the best 2D Zelda gameplay yet. The wall merge is a totally outside the box idea that gels perfectly with traditional Zelda puzzle design, which has never been better. Like TP, it’s an example of what Nintendo can achieve when they resist reinvention and instead improve existing formulas.

Metroid: Zero Mission; This is about as slick of a game as you’ll ever find, with lightning fast gameplay and a breakneck pace that never lets up. The level design is also the best it’s ever been, with jaw dropping shinesparking segements that span multiple screens and test your imagination as much as you reflexes. The epilogue ‘stealth’ section skillfully layered some extra complexity on top of Metroid’s core gameplay, and the payoff for it features some of the most cathartic running and gunning in videogame history. Shows just how good Metroid can be.


Honorable Mentions: The Legend of Zelda (NES), Metroid (NES), F-Zero (SNES), Star Fox (SNES), Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

 

[matm666]

To be hones the order doesn't matter but i'm putting higher those games that I think have not be mentioned too often.


1. Punch-Out!! ; I love all PO games but this one feels like I can replay it anytime, for a NES game it has some really good sprite work and to this day people is still discovering new stuff.

2. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze ; It was a hard choice between this and DKC 2 but, I think TF has some amazing level design and I like more the partner as power up than tag team system of old DKC games.

3. Pikmin 3 ; I haven't played the first Pikmin yet, but between 2 and 3, I think 3 it's more enjoyable and I loved the wiimote controls, the charm and style of this games are incredible.

4. Super Metroid
5. Xenoblade Chronicles
6. Super Mario Maker
7. The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past
8. Fire Emblem: Awakening
9. Metroid Prime
10. Super Mario Galaxy 2

 

[alvis.exe]

1. Xenoblade Chronicles
2. Pokemon Red/Blue
3. Fire Emblem (GBA)
4. Xenoblade Chronicles X
5. Golden Sun: The Lost Age
6. Endless Ocean: Blue World
7. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
8. Super Smash Bros Melee
9. Pokemon Snap
10. Hotel Dusk: Room 215

In all honesty though, everything after #4 is kind of in random order haha.