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by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/16/2026, 11:27pm PDT |
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Welcome to the thread about the greatest video games of all-time.
All I can promise you is that there is no clickbait. I am not getting paid for this. Caltrops does not run ads.
Who am I? What gives me the right to even try this? I am a Gen Xer who started playing games first with the arcade version of Space Invaders. I grew up around consoles like the Atari 2600 and Intellivision, had friends with Commodore 64s and Atari 800s. My family purchased an IBM PCjr, I later took the money from my first job in high school to purchase an 8088. I have owned over 40 arcade games and pinball machines at various points in my life. There are 1800+ Steam games in my account. I have owned many, many consoles and still own many today. I have a MiSTer. I have created many games of my own, some of which are on Steam or itch.io. I am the admin of this site, a website about video games. I have spoken at conferences, I have written for game design compilations and I have been on podcasts and in documentaries about games.
Games have electrocuted me, gotten me stabbed, gotten my foot crushed to where a nail fell off. They have fallen on me, paralyzing my nerves for a decade. Games have gotten hot solder to burn through my clothes and skin, they have been the tipping point to me getting dumped, they have gotten me screamed at on UseNet. They have gotten me insulted, they have caused strangers to be extremely rude to me. They have gotten me visited and denigrated by "Mystery Shoppers," they have garnered me negative reviews for not completely translating them into Mandarin. They have gotten me phone calls from people who were in The Office, they have enabled me to tell the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy author that I loved his stuff before he croaked.
They have also allowed me to make jokes. So many jokes. They have brought me closer together to people I care about, they have created treasured memories with my family. Most of my best friends have some common relationship with games - either I met them through text games, or I ran warezed disks around with them in high school or made games with them or adjacent to them. I have been given honors and respect beyond my imagination. I have enjoyed watching small children playing the arcade games in my garage, I have had fun in ways too numerous to list here. I think about games constantly. I enjoy video games. I do not enjoy clickbait.
In some cases where it is difficult to separate specific games from a larger franchise, I will identify one particular game but note what other sequels or prequels go toward a particular game's entry. I do not particularly care for the two extremes of extremely over-polished "AAA" games nor overhyped indie game wankery. I have spent over a year consulting dozens of other game enthusiasts on this list. It is ultimately one person's opinions, but I have spent a lot of time thinking things like, "is #34 really better than #35? Is it better than #66?" and "how many basketball games are really in the top 100" and "should there be a real-time strategy game? How many?". My own preferences weigh heavily, sure. If your favorite game doesn't get mentioned - and I say this without sarcasm - I probably DID like it, but there are just 100 spots. Lastly, I have tried to play most of these at least one time before adding them to the list on some system starting in 2024 till now, to eliminate pure nostalgia from the ranking.
I hope you will join me. |
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The 100 Greatest Video Games of All-Time NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/16/2026, 10:56pm PDT 
Re: The 100 Greatest Video Games of All-Time by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/16/2026, 11:27pm PDT
Finally the definitive, objectively true, list NT by E. L. Koba 06/18/2026, 2:56pm PDT
My middle name was going to be "Objective" before by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/18/2026, 5:30pm PDT
In an alternate universe with a different phonetic alphabet... by Entropy Stew 06/23/2026, 12:29am PDT
100. Scorched Earth (1991, DOS) by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/16/2026, 11:28pm PDT
I loved this one as a kid. There was a Mac version which was pretty good. by blackwater 06/20/2026, 3:11pm PDT
Re: I loved this one as a kid. There was a Mac version which was pretty good. by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/22/2026, 10:06am PDT
I was playing this shit on a Commodore in like second or third grade before that by Entropy Stew 06/23/2026, 12:35am PDT
99. Mine Storm (1982, Vectrex) by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/17/2026, 10:26am PDT
Yeah, no emulator gets that iconic vector look right. by Mischief Maker 06/17/2026, 1:04pm PDT
It will appear later in the list! by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/17/2026, 1:30pm PDT
98. NASCAR Racing 4 (2001, Windows 98) by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/17/2026, 11:20pm PDT
A phenomenal choice. by pinback 06/18/2026, 5:46am PDT
Puppygames made a version of that: by Mischief Maker 06/18/2026, 5:59pm PDT
Dammit! That was supposed to be a reply to the paradroid post. NT by Mischief Maker 06/18/2026, 6:00pm PDT
Oi! by Jerry Whorebach 06/30/2026, 1:13pm PDT
A dream! What a week for dreamers ;) by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/02/2026, 10:26am PDT
Best played via wide screen NT by Lonnie 07/02/2026, 10:54am PDT
Driving shitboxes is my favorite part of racing games! by E. L. Koba 07/02/2026, 2:33pm PDT
This week's free Epic Games Store game is I Have No Mouth and I Can't Scream by Jerry Whorebach 07/02/2026, 6:32pm PDT
Re: This week's free Epic Games Store game is I Have No Mouth and I Can't Scream by Mysterio 07/02/2026, 9:01pm PDT
Gah! That was me again. NT by Mischief Mysterio 07/02/2026, 9:02pm PDT
I knew it was you. by Jerry Whorebach 07/03/2026, 2:45pm PDT
Jerry is an expert on compliant asian women NT by Houseboat moored in Angeles City 07/03/2026, 7:08am PDT
I saw the box before I knew what Ellison looked like in real life NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/06/2026, 11:53am PDT
97. Paradroid (1985, Commodore 64) by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/18/2026, 5:29pm PDT
96. The Legend of Zelda (1986, NES) by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/19/2026, 9:07pm PDT
Did any other games get the gold cartridge treatment? NT by Mischief Maker 06/20/2026, 1:06pm PDT
Z2 NT by judgement day 06/20/2026, 1:35pm PDT
Action 52? NT by hehehe 06/20/2026, 9:29pm PDT
95. Fatal Frame (2001, Playstation 2) by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/22/2026, 10:08pm PDT
94. Metal Slug (1996, Neo-Geo) by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/26/2026, 8:09am PDT
93. Rocket Jockey (1996, Windows 95) by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/26/2026, 9:09pm PDT
92. Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi (2003, Arcade) by Ice Cream Jonsey 06/30/2026, 9:34am PDT
You should probably mention Ketsui's gimmick: by Mischief Maker 06/30/2026, 11:41am PDT
A cruel gimmick. Toying with them first! NT by Dan Flashes Boss 06/30/2026, 3:24pm PDT
91. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995, Arcade) by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/02/2026, 12:03pm PDT
Enter the Ultimate Kombat Kode by Noob Saibot 07/04/2026, 2:39am PDT
canned combos + run button NT by suked 07/04/2026, 2:59pm PDT
Where can I listen to music that sounds like the MK3 soundtrack? Is it a genre? by Lobo 07/10/2026, 1:46am PDT
Good question by Noob Saibot 07/11/2026, 2:38pm PDT
Thank you. by Lobo 07/29/2026, 10:20am PDT
Re: Good question by Gary 07/29/2026, 11:36am PDT
Re: The 100 Greatest Video Games of All-Time by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/06/2026, 10:13am PDT
Re: The 100 Greatest Video Games of All-Time by pinback 07/06/2026, 3:48pm PDT
90. Paperboy (1985, Arcade) by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/06/2026, 9:12pm PDT
Do you just find these on Craigslist? NT by Yaris 07/07/2026, 12:27pm PDT
Re: Do you just find these on Craigslist? by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/07/2026, 9:15pm PDT
This was one of the greats, I agree. by blackwater 07/07/2026, 4:16pm PDT
89. Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars (1996, DOS/Windows 95/Mac) by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/09/2026, 8:52am PDT
How many spots above this is HoMM3 then? NT by the obvious question 07/09/2026, 8:19pm PDT
Well. Shit. NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/09/2026, 8:57pm PDT
Five second rule! He can still change it if it happens before NT by the next entry! 07/11/2026, 5:39am PDT
There are people who stick by HOMM2 over 3. Especially the music. NT by MM 07/11/2026, 5:55am PDT
HoMM2 is the one I played when it came out, but, regarding franchises by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/11/2026, 9:11am PDT
88. Links LS (1996, DOS) by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/13/2026, 8:51pm PDT
87. Devil Daggers (2016, Windows 10) by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/13/2026, 9:12pm PDT
86. Counterfeit Monkey (2012, Inform 7) by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/21/2026, 9:13pm PDT
I know Jonsey mentioned the numerous interpreters available by But I play on Chromebook or phon 07/22/2026, 10:06pm PDT
This is great, thank you NT by Mysterio 07/23/2026, 9:27am PDT
You too?? NT by Lonnie 07/25/2026, 8:21pm PDT
Ha, no this is ongoing by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/26/2026, 11:26am PDT
85. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Windows 10 / Playstation 4 / Xbox One) by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/28/2026, 11:16am PDT
Re:What is your historical "importance" score weight for this list? NT by PC Gamer 07/29/2026, 2:30pm PDT
84. Rollercoaster Tycoon (1999, Windows 98) by Ice Cream Jonsey 08/05/2026, 6:28am PDT
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