For many people, being able to name the best video game of all time can be challenging. Everyone plays different genres and consoles, and the library of games makes it nearly impossible to identify a favorite, let alone a game that can be considered the best. But here at For the Win, we like a challenge.
A talented group of writers and I will eventually bring you our picks for the best PlayStation 3 or sports games, but first, we put our heads together to get you FTW’s official Top 30 games of all time. Each contributor ranked his top 25 games, and the total scores were tallied golf style, with the total number of nominations breaking the tie. Read on to see which game took the top spot!
30. Grand Theft Auto 5
Nominations: one
High ranking: five
Tony Cosolo: One of the best-selling games of all time, GTA 5 brings you back to the sandbox of Los Santos and lets you go wild. You can golf as the “retired” gangster Michael, rampage through the deserts as the psychotic Trevor, or go on a long drive around the city as Franklin. This 2013 game has been released on three generations of consoles while still receiving updates in GTA Online to keep the world fresh and player counts high.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Nominations: one
High ranking: five
Dan Benton: Following the controversial The Adventure of Link, Nintendo released A Link to the Past on their brand new SNES console. The graphics were vastly improved, the art style was widely popular and the new mechanics were unique to the world of gaming at the time. Although the world itself was smaller than other Zelda titles, it did double up with a “dark” world map and several incredible dungeons. And like all other Zelda titles, the music was top-tier.
New World
Nominations: one
High ranking: four
Michael Moraitis: New World had its fair share of issues early on, but developers have done an excellent job fixing those problems and it’s a much more complete game in 2024. Set in a graphically beautifully and shared open world, the game has a ton of things to do for both PvE and PvP players and appeals to both newbies and hardcore players of the genre.
StarCraft: Brood War
Nominations: one
High ranking: four
TC: The greatest real-time strategy game ever made, Brood War expanded on the base StarCraft game, bringing new units and buildings in the war between the Zerg, Protoss and Terran forces. One of the first games that got the spotlight in the Esports world, players could take time away from playing on battle.net to watch pros to help hone their skills. In the single-player campaign, players dive deeper into the story of one of the best anti-heroes in gaming history, Queen of Blades Sarah Kerrigan.
The Sims
Nominations: one
High ranking: four
Kevin McGuire: Casual gaming may have become mainstream with The Sims. Will Wright, creator of the iconic SimCity franchise, went one step further by allowing gamers to control the lives of a Sim going through life one day at a time. The franchise has since expanded and seen a number of sequels and expansions, but it all started here.
World of Warcraft
Nominations: one
High ranking: four
Nick Schwartz: Recent expansions may not have hit the mark, but over an opening decade-plus of excellence, World of Warcraft revolutionized the MMO genre and became a worldwide phenomenon in a way few games can compare. People are still playing vanilla World of Warcraft, 20 years later.
Baldur's Gate 3
Nominations: one
High ranking: three
NS: There might be a bit of recency bias with this selection, but the wealth of highly polished content and varied paths to the same goal make Baldur’s Gate 3 one of the best RPGs of all time.
SOCOM
Nominations: one
High ranking: three
MM: SOCOM was one of the first online games available for the PS2 and even came with a headset that allowed for in-game communication. A campaign mode that allowed you to control three AI teammates via voice commands was the cherry on top.
Mass Effect 2
Nominations: one
High ranking: two
TC: BioWare hit a home run with this sequel to 2007’s Mass Effect. Combat was significantly improved with new classes and weapons, introducing great characters that players grew to love while bringing back the best squad mates from the first game. Players struggled to make the correct decisions to make sure everyone survived the suicide mission and were greeted with tremendous writing and storytelling throughout.
Fortnite
Nominations: one
High ranking: two
MM: Fortnite was a unique entrant into the battle royale space at a time when the genre was at its peak. Building was a completely new mechanic and added another element of skill that no other game of its kind could match. Adding to that, Fortnite’s live events were unlike anything we’ve ever seen and the original “Save the World” version was a solid game in its own right.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Nominations: one
High ranking: two
DB: Although Ocarina of Time is widely agreed upon as the greatest Legend of Zelda game in history, Breath of the Wild shared the same “wow” factor. Walking out of the Shrine of Resurrection and overlooking Hyrule for the first time is a religious experience in gaming circles and is a moment that will live on in the minds of those who experienced it. The world is vast, the lack of guidance allows for users to experience the game in any way they desire, and the many new mechanics were mind-blowing. Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece and deserves to be in the conversation for the best game ever made.
Anthem
Nominations: one
High ranking: one
MM: A disastrous development and rollout ultimately doomed Anthem, but the flying, combat and graphically beautiful world led to the most fun gameplay I’ve ever experienced in a looter shooter and nothing has come close to matching that since. Anthem will always be the one that got away.
The Witcher 3
Nominations: one
High ranking: one
NS: The Witcher 3 set a breathtaking standard for open worlds, narrative-driven RPGs and meaningful side quests, and arguably wasn’t matched in either category for *eight whole years* until Baldur’s Gate 3 released.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Nominations: one
High ranking: one
KM: The Legend of Zelda went in a whole new direction in Breath of the Wild, which made a strong case for being the best Zelda game of all time. That is until Nintendo finetuned things a bit, expanded on the world, and continued the story with chilling and emotional twists with Tears of the Kingdom.
Star Fox 64
Nominations: two
High ranking: 19
MM: The characters, story and gameplay made for one of the most memorable gaming experiences of any Nintendo 64 title. When it comes to games that involve flying around in a ship and blowing stuff up, Star Fox 64 was one of the best to do it.
TC: Nintendo rarely ever misses, which is evident with this rail-shooter that follows the adventures of Fox McCloud and his band of mercenaries fighting to free the Lylat system from the evil Andross. Star Fox 64 introduced new vehicles to battle foes and multiple paths to complete your journey across the galaxy. Players who took the correct route could even get a special ending that included Fox’s father helping him escape harm in the game’s final mission.
Street Fighter II
High ranking: 11
TC: One of the best fighting games ever made, Street Fighter II opened its roster of fighters, including some of the most iconic characters in gaming history. From seeing your plane travel to Japan to take on Ryu to seeing it head deep into the Brazilian jungle to fight Blanka, you never knew where the next stop on your journey would be.
KM: Odds are you were a Mortal Kombat or a Street Fighter II player when these arcade fighters came home on Super Nintendo and Genesis. Both were great and had their style, but the look and feel of Street Fighter II has aged quite well over time.
Elden Ring
High ranking: 15
TC: From Software’s Magnum Opus. After taking players through games such as the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne and Sekiro, they threw it all into the open world of The Lands Between. The first attempt at bringing this type of game into an open-world format, Elden Ring mixes in open-ended storytelling, secrets in every corner of the map, and the typical brutal difficulty that will have you struggling to “Git Gud.”
Mike Tyson's Punch Out
Nominations: two
High ranking: eight
MM: Filled with iconic characters who each had their own weaknesses, you simply couldn’t button-mash your way through the ranks. Facing Mike Tyson at the end of the game was a daunting task, but there are few things more satisfying than being able to finally beat him.
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3
Nominations: two
High ranking: 12
NS: THPS 2 also rightly received a few votes from our panel, but the amazing graphical leap to the PS2-era means THPS3 still holds up wonderfully today. Iconic levels, one of the best soundtracks ever, and the introduction of reverts pushes Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 over the top.
Resident Evil 2
Nominations: two
High ranking: seven
MM: Set in Raccoon City, RE2 was by the far the best edition of the series to date. The world was dark, dreary and hopeless, and a fantastic opening cinematic and the scene inside the gun shop set the tone right off the bat. There were horrific dangers awaiting players at every turn and the game had some of the best jump scares ever. But players couldn’t just run and blast their way through the world, as puzzle-solving was a key mechanic throughout.
Mortal Kombat
Nominations: two
High ranking: 10
MM: Mortal Kombat not only had fun combat and memorable characters (Scorpion’s kunai and “get over here” voice line are iconic), it was also one of the most controversial titles in gaming history due to its violent nature that could only be fully attained with a “blood code” that veterans of the franchise can still recite off the top of their heads today (A, B, A, C, A, B, B).
Grand Theft Auto 3
Nominations: two
High ranking: eight
MM: After utilizing a top-down view for the first two installments of the series, GTA III moved to a third-person view, which revolutionized the gameplay and paved the way for it to become one of the most iconic franchises in gaming history. There was an expansive open world with no shortage of things to do and cheat codes only made the experience more fun.
GoldenEye
Nominations: two
High ranking: three
DB: There were solid first-person shooters before the release of GoldenEye 007 and there have been more quality adaptations since then, but it was such a unique multi-player experience on the N64 that it can not be overlooked. The argument could be made that Perfect Dark was the superior console option but sitting down with your friends for a GoldenEye tournament is something that can not be duplicated, even in the modern online world. For older gamers, it’s nostalgic. For newer or younger games, it’s still a fun experience even if someone is always cheating by looking at your screen.
Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow
Nominations: two
High ranking: three
TC: The generation one trio of Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, the games that started a worldwide trend represent the peak of handheld gaming. Players were thrust into a new world with many creatures to meet, from the powerful Charizard to the cute and fluffy Jigglypuff. The gameplay was easy to learn and hard to master as players learned about type advantages and evolution on their way to becoming the Pokémon Champion of the Kanto region.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
Nominations: three
High ranking: 19
KM: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had quite a history on home consoles back in the 1990s, but Turtles in Time showcased the best game in the franchise and brought the fun of the arcade game home the way few games could do reliably.
Super Mario Bros. 3
High ranking: two
KM: Before jumping into the world of 3D, Nintendo set the bar high for everything a 2D platformer should be with Super Mario Bros. 3. You had to live through the hype to truly appreciate the mark this game left on the industry.
Tetris
Nominations: three
High ranking: three
Tetris took the world by storm when Nintendo packed it in with the Game Boy, and before long it was the game anybody could play. The best puzzle game has gone on to spawn countless versions and ports, but the pure simplicity and addictiveness is ubiquitous.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Nominations: three
High ranking: one
TC: Never has a game carried such an emotional impact as the story of Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde Gang. Red Dead Redemption 2 showcases Rockstar’s tight gameplay to accompany a vibrant and engaging world, with players finding new treasures even after multiple play-throughs. If you have never played a good guy and seen Arthur’s cutscene with Mother Superior Calderón, you are missing out on one of the great scenes in media.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Nominations: four
High ranking: one
DB: The Legend of Zelda has always been a cross between an open world game and a puzzle game. Ocarina of Time blends those together perfectly with a vast open space that allows Link to explore freely without any significant restrictions. The massive world and time traveling element were an entirely new experience for users and that first play through can never be replicated. OOC is one of the best gaming experiences in the history of video games.
Super Mario 64
Nominations: five
High ranking: two
DB: Already one of the best video game franchises of all-time, Super Mario 64 took things to a new level with its 3D platforming and control style. While the controls weren’t flawless, the many other innovations, which paved the way for future 3D games, created an entirely new feel in the gaming world. Mario entered a somewhat free-roaming space while staying true to its platform roots. The results were one of the best video games ever created — a game that still holds up today.
