True, it reshaped the foundations of how we play games today. But there is not one single game past, present or future that will ever achieve the legendary status of SMB. Not one. EVER.

That was my point. And again, I wish everyone here would not keep saying "this is the best game ever!' because it's their favorite.

that is not what this topic was about. Again, I feel it's "doom", not because I even like doom, which I kind of don't. It's because it was really the large turning point in games. Wolfenstine 3D made the platform, and Doom was the game that used it and made it extremely popular.

Well, this really is a hard topic to discuss, because I don’t know where to start. Back in the day (and this is how old I am) you’d go to the arcade to play video games; no one had computers at home. Games like Asteroids, Tempest, Space Invaders, Pacman, they started the public’s hunger for video games. Heck, how many video games have a song written specifically about them that reached the Top 10? … I believe Space Invaders was the game that introduced color to video games…

If we are talking strictly PC games, I think Doom’s success can be somewhat attributed to Wolfenstein 3D; the original System Shock, my favorite game of all time, did Doom one better by introducing real strategy and RP into the 1st person shooter: you didn’t just go around shooting things and pressing buttons. It also introduced (IIRC) the concept of using different tools to achieve different goals: for example, you just didn’t get the biggest gun, because it didn’t kill everything; only certain guns/swords could be used to combat certain things, and only one type of armor could be used to protect yourself from certain things.

You're still not seeing it - are you THAT utterly brainless? When I say nothing can top the success of SMB, I MEAN IT! You want proof? Here’s your proof!

... kid, you need to comprehend what's being discussed before you make stupid comments like this one.
This is not a discussion about who sold how many, and most definitely it does not mean that Super Mario Brothers is in any way better than any other game just because it has sold so many games. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" has sold more copies than any other album/CD, do you like it the most?

It also had a different market when it first came out: its toughest competition was Tetris. There was really nothing else. There weren't that many computers out there (and the ones out there were really expensive)and less computer games. If someone bought a gameboy, the first thing you reached for was SMB, because it pretty much was the only thing available. And even in the gameboy arena, SMB was trounced by The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening in gaming experience.

"The Best Game Ever" is a very "vague"(idk if that is the right word), question. So ill narrow it down to a few topics and then the NO. 1 game.

FPS-Halo
Really was the game that made the XboX a big hit. Without it, no Halo 2 or 3.

RTS-C&C
I cant pick one of the Comand and Conqs, but they are all great.

TBS-Civilation 4
I always loved civ, but 4 really made me love it.

rpg-TES3 Morrowind
Was really the best game i've ever played in my life. It had a great storyline and would take 1000 hours to do EVERYTHING in the game.

Multiplayer game-Half Life 2
I almost said Halo 2, but i have to say HL2.

MMORPG-World Of Warcraft
Im not a huge MMO fan, but Wow is the only one i actively playe once every 10 days.....

BestGAmeEver.....


TES 3 Morrowind!

Don't insult me, and don't call me "kid" - I'm almost as old as you (I'll turn 23 this August). This thread isn't about music (especially MJ ), and it sure as hell isn't about the technological aspects of a game. And FYI, if SMB isn't so great, then why did it sell as much as it did then, hmm? Look at it this way - each and every game has it's own uniqueness that can make it great, but ultimately it's up the the people to decide which ones actually become great.

BTW, you might want to retract what you said about the Game Boy and SMB, because if memory serves me correctly, the first game released on GB relating to Mario was Super Mario Land, NOT SMB as you said. SMB was released on GBC as Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.

That’s what I’m trying to do, explain to you why SMB sold so many games.
I bring up the Thriller analogy because it is an example of something that sold more copies than anything else, yet it is hardly considered the “best ever”; given the basis of your argument that SMB is the best game ever because it sold more copies than anything else, the analogy is germane.

So let me slow down here and explain you why SMB sold so many copies:

1.- No competition
I did get myself mixed up about something: I wrote GameBoy, but I should’ve written NES console, because that was the platform the original 1985 release of SMB ran on, and SMB came bundled with the system. So, I stand corrected, however, my point is even stronger now, since the numbers on SMB in the Guiness book of records do state “bundled”, i.e., it counts the SMB copies that were sold as part of the bundle in its tally; and its 1985 release puts SMB against even less competition than if it had been released in 1989, when the GameBoy was released.
And there were no PC games that came close to what you got from a console.

2.- No variety
FPS, RPG, RTS, MMORPG, those terms did not exist back then. There were no elaborate story lines behind games. You just had a pixelated character (being a man, animal, car, etc) doing the same things over and over again: jump the barrel, shoot the target, hit the button, dodge the traffic. There weren’t games where you could manipulate your character, or have choices between fighting or stealth, or complicated story lines which may or may not appeal to the masses, etc. so it was easier for one game to appeal to a greater number of people back then than it is now. Today the variety is so great, it is just about impossible for a single game to have that type of mass appeal.


3.- No rating system/adult story lines.
Back then, there were no ratings on games, so games were bought by adults and kids alike for adults and kids alike. Today, games have ratings, and can’t be bought by everybody. When you talk about games like Deus Ex (government conspiracies), or Grand Theft Auto (gang violence, crime), these games have adult story lines/graphics, and parents are not going to plant the kids in front of the wii with them loaded.. So, obviously, that diminishes the demographic and therefore the market potential for certain game genres.

I would like to retract what I posted earlier - I was feeling rather awful (damn stupid flu), so yes, I see your reasoning now. I just wasn't thinking (as always ), so forgive my insolence. SMB still stands as my favourite game, but I won't try to stuff it down anybody's throat (which I now realize I was blatantly doing). Rest assured, it won't happen again - Scout's Honour

My favorites are all of the true Nintendo games. Every single one of the Zelda games (particularly Twilight Princess and Wind Waker) are spectacular, except those on the CD-i . After that, the recent Mario games are pretty spectacular, especially Galaxy and Sunshine. Although, for me, nothing can beat that cut scene in SSMB with both Ganondorf and Bowser on top of the Subspace Gun. ! Yep, that pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject.

Either the original Super Mario Bros. on the NES, or LoZ: Twilight Princess or LoZ: The Ocarina of Time.


いれ ぇ

At this point, there are so many games that are so good based on their own merits that I would feel as though I was betraying one game by calling another "better."

For example, I think the first KOTOR is as good as any SMB or Zelda I've played based on what makes a game "great," and I might dare say it has the best storyline of any game ever made. Then again, Zelda has certain charms about it that other games don't have, etc. I'll list 5 or 6 (in no particular order) based upon how different their genres are but still believing them to be equal for what they do:

1. Gran Turismo (A game so good/influential that it made certain real cars available in parts of the world where their respective manufacturers hadn't offered them before)

2. Oblivion w/mods. The game's graphics, size, freedom and modability are capable of satisfying so many different types of people in so many different ways it's ridiculous.

3. Super Mario Bros. 3

4. Resident Evil 4

5. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

6. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

I think a case could be made that any of these is as good as the others within their respective genres. I will also say that Oblivion makes this list only with mods. It is simply not the same game without them.

i think that the greatest game of all time would have to be..... DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS. ahh, the classic dice rolling games. they make life oh so much fun when you have no electricity

The best game ever is always the next game. The one that will be out next year with better graphics, better gameplay and a great story and it will play on my existing system. And I will be able to mod it beyond what the maker dreamed. I don't know what it is yet, But I know there will be one. Unfortunately I will probably have to upgrade my computer to play it. I have great hopes for TesV. but I'm not holding my breath.

id have to say the best ones of all time would have to be the ones that started it all.

FPS: Wolfenstein 3D
RPG: Dungeons & Dragons(We miss you Gary)
Strategy: Stratego anyone?
Platformer: Many hour spent playing River City Ransom =P
Fighting: street fighter

i know a lot of good games have been put out over the years.
but i still find myself going back and playing some of the old school games and still enjoying them.

rendalli

"The best game ever is always the next game."

Isn't that the truth lol. Just when you think you've seen it all, you haven't.

Yeah, TESV better be the best game ever once it comes out.

Best of:

All of the Hitman games (except Hitman 1 i didn't try it out)
Freelancer
Evil Genius
Imperium Galactica 2
MOH:AA
Morrowind
Black & White
Max Payne
Mario Forever:P

There are so many. HL2, Morrowind, Rock 'N Roll Racing, FF VII, FFXII, Fable TLC, Super Metroid, Star Fox 64, DOA 3, DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball, SSX Tricky. The list goes on and on.

Golden Axe 1 for the Sega Genesis 16-bit. Good times, good times...

My favorite games include:
PS2: God of War 1&2, Primal, Demonstone, Guitar Hero series
PC: TES III (plus Tribunal and Bloodmood), Oblivion (plus Shivering Isles and official DLCs), The Longest Journey, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, Portal, Warcraft III (plus Frozen Throne) (before I got sick of playing it), Pharoah, Quake III Arena, Marble Drop. Oh, and I liked Zoombinies (spelling? It was by Broderbund software - sorry, my keyboard doesn't do umlauts).
Board Games: Checkers, Balderdash (also known as "The Dictionary Game")

I forgot Kid Icarus, Excite Bike and Track and Field (with the power pad, that game was so much fun).

-T-

I reckon the best is Skies of Arcadia for the Dreamcast. Epic gameplay, with good graphics for the time it was released. And superweapons. Lots of superweapons.
(By all the gods in Valhalla. This thread's been going for FOUR YEARS)

best game ever ?
thats entirly subjective
for starters i dislike doom half life 1 and 2 and deus ex greatly they are frist person view shooters and inever liked those
in my opinion half life 2 doesnt reallyd eserve all the accolade it gets because its just a damn fps like so many other only this one looks a bit prettier then others and has a better story
all valve games are variations of the same genre and i wonder just how long they can sell variations of the same thing
the same goes for all rts games played one seen them all
i wont even bother to soil any words on postal 1 and 2 they are not even worth the effort

anyway this is about the games you like most not the ones you hate ost ( and believe me that list is long long long )
i started playing games when i was 7 in 1989
i have been playing video games for 19 years and i feel very very old now

but here is my list in no real order

secret of mana the first rpg i ever played and i am keeping an snes around just for that

the legend of zelda majora's mask one of the few zelda games that dare to be differnt and it pulls it off amazingly

the sims 2 ..well what ? its one of two games i am stil playing from 2004 and i always come back to it not because its expansive and as deep as you can get for a life sim but also because its justa damn fun game and its justa amusing to load the game up with mods and watch your sims go

vampire the masqurade bloodlines buggy and choppy troika folded before they could fix the game and the dedicated fanbase did it themselfs then even if the game runs choppy frequently crashes has sound issues its still a great rpg that i can play time and time again and it uses the scource engine for those of you who appreciate irony

front mission 3
usually i give strat rpgs a wide berth because they are even slower then molaases trickling through a funnel in the winter
and they tend to be unfair and rock in hardness ( shining force 3 has me regularly swearing) and front mission 3 is no differtn so why did it suck me in ? wa sit because of the actually pretty damn good graphics for the ps1 the mech battles or because the story is quitebelievable to a degree set in a not too far and certainly not toofanciful future on earth
its apity the lead is a prat but its a game i still play 7 years after i bought it
pity square never deemed fit to release 1 2 and 4 in europe

soul calibur
9 years old and its starting to get a bit creaky now but its stilone of the best if not the best 3d beat em up out there other games look prettier or move faster or have more advance game play techniques
but soul calibur 1 is stil the most fun of them all and it trounces its own sequals

final fantasy 7
not because it was my frist rpg (which it wasnt)or being dragged along by the hype i only bought it in 99
but i picked this game clean did everything you can do and did it numerous times its the only ff i actually like ..wel this and DS 3 i dont play it as often any more nor as zealous a si did 8 9 years ago but once in a while i do play it

grandia 1 and 2

sequals in name and game play mehanics only because the games are both diametrically opposed the stories are linear without much surprises you can bet that the rpg cliches get trotted out in full force hover that doesnt matter because the personality of the character augmented by decent voice acting lifts the storyline a cut above the rest and makes you care for them
i prefer 2 over 1 but both are good games

star wars knights of the old republic 2
one of the few starwars games that can be called good no mean feat on its own and the kotor games are farbetter then the awfull prequal movies and in soem places better then the orginals too
kotor 1 was already a greta game but 2 just ramped the stakes up and improved in it in every way possible
even crippled with a quarter of its content cut out with a whoel planet removed and its ending mangeld its still a great game
imagine what obsidian coudl have done if they were given more time
thankfully projekt ghizka will awnser that question for us

metal gear solid
not the first stealth game certainly not the last but the best of its generation
and it pioneerd movie liek emmersion game play justa pity that the actual game is so short but that doesnt matter it has stellar voice acting a standard all video games these days are judged by and a haunting end them i hunted the soudn track down for
it might have been remade but the ps1 orginal is still a classic which i play every once in a while and usually finish in one go

tenchu
it was released before metal gear solid it is a stealth game with ninja without the hype and cinematic presentation
it doesnt look like much but i have bene playing it for years now stil one of my favorite games out there

spyro 1 and 2
i dont like platformers and i dont liek cutsey purple dragons either but spyro has something other platformers dont have the ps1 spyro games are unfortunaly the only really good spyro games after the serie sjumped generation and platforms the quality sharply dropped
the first two however are stil great game si play every now and then

broken sword 1 broken sword 2 discworld discworld 2 missing presumed ? discworld noir
point and click games a dying breed you need to like them and i happen to do like them
and i stil play these once ina while not very often unfortunaly

panzer dragoon saga
one of those surprise games thats better then you expected for a dying console in 1998
unfortunaly sega never deemed this game worthy for re release or a proper sequal

fighters megamix
what do you get if you throw virtua fighter 2 fighting vipers a host of weird extras and secrets together ?
you get a timless 3d beat em up i still play regulalry to this day 11 years after it was released

I recently played a remake of TRON. It was great, I'd have liked to play the original.

My best game ever in this order.

Valkyrie Profile
It was released quite a few years ago and looks a bit old-fashioned now, and yet its storyline is attractive and fascinating, which still urges me to play the game.

Tactics Ogre
It was released a long time ago and looks absolutely old-fashioned, but it still deserves to be well-known in my opinion. Its stroyline, characters, extra dungeon, game-balance, requiring strategy and so on. Everything was perfect, and I think it may be accepted by people who recently have begun video games, none the less because it looks old-fashioned.

Final Fantasy Tactics
It contains lots of fun. Especially its storyline was great. Just Great. Also the other things are very well thought. This game was no less than the original "Tactics Ogre".

Atelier Titles
I played Marie, Elie and Judith. All of the three was nice. These titles are heart-warming and looks somewhat not exciting, but in actual fact there is depth of creating items. When I first met the title, it was so impressive.

Bullet Witch
This might be a minor game, I suppose. Also its difficulty sometimes makes a player say "This game is horrible", but a great game to me.

Final Fantasy 7
Its storyline is, as another person mentioned already, very good, in that it contains a bit of mystery. The tune of the last boss was terribly impressive, which I love.

Final Fantasy 7 and 8 best ones in the series for me

Metal Gear Solid 4. Simply awesome. It was classic as soon as it came out, purely for being a MGS. Even if it was crap it would still be good (if that makes sense) just for that. But it wasn't. It has amazing graphics (In some parts of the cutscenes it looks almost real), great gameplay and a interesting (if complicated) storyline.
The only problem is the hour-and-a-half-long cutscenes. Show me someone who doesn't like it and I'll show you a liar or an idiot.

when I was little I ABSOLUTELY ADORED Paper Mario the thousand year door for gamecube.

I played through it about 37 times!

I think these are the best games so far in any alphabetical order.

World Of Goo
Littlebigplanet
The Elderscrolls Oblivion
Fallout 3
Zelda link to the past snes
Mario RPG snes
mario world snes
mario kart snes

There are soo many to decide, well i cant really dicede on witch is the best game, each one has its own good and bad to it. In reality there isn't (the best game of all time), all it comes down to is taste and opinion, its up to you to decide on that.

The first Red Alert. Classic. Still play it now.

Pfft, the Best game ever isn't even on a computer.



Hours of challenging game play, multi player, addable content, 4d graphics, real time sound experiences, HD lighting, even all the items are lore friendly.

What can change the nature of a man?



"Planescape Torment" of course!!! ^___^ my favourite among favourites.

Gotta say Metroid Prime (1) for me

An extremely unique FPS with massive worlds to explore, intricate detail, chilling music, et cetera. I seriously loved every minute of this game, and you can really sink your teeth into the the background/creature lore. It's extraordinarily atmospheric, and it makes you feel like you're actually inside the world. It also includes the hands-down best level in any game ever: Phendrana Drifts.

The sequels, while still good games, just aren't up to par with the first.

I have other favorites as well, but that one is definitely my "best overall" nomination.

Best classic(IMO): Super Metroid (Metroid 3)

Best modern(IMO): Metroid Prime series

Of course MP1 is superior out of them all... I still prefer MP3 the most in the series.

Classic: Diablo [For it's beautiful graphics (at it's time) and great, addictive gameplay]

Modern: BioShock [For it's incredible story and immersive gameplay]

I would have to say Mass Effect. I just recently finished playing it, and it was surprising to see just how immersive and detailed a game can be.

Fav Classic Diablo 1 and Balders Gate and Neverwinter Nights

Fav Moden: Mass Effect and Crysis

hehe