Groucho

The list is best video games, not most popular.

dvd182

It doesn't even list the best games, anyway. Maybe best for its time or best in the influential sense, but certainly not best, period. It's the same thing that's going on in the Goldeneye thread.

Several games on the list have newer versions that perfect the formula or have been passed up by completely different games altogether. Doom was great when it came out and certainly influential, but to think it's the third best game period is absurd.

We should create our own list using some set of better-defined criteria, rather than comment on EW's "Games that are/were good and ordered with pretty much no rhyme or reason" list.

DaveNinja

WoW was featured in the Southpark episode that won an emmy. it should have been in the top 5. its substained over 8 million subscriptions for over a year.

Decker

Not to comment on WoW (which I've never played), but no, most popular does not equal best. If it did, Budwiser would be winning beer-tasting awards, McDonald's would be honored by the James Beard institute and the 2007 Best Picture Oscar would have been a heated battle between Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third and Transformers (shudder).

Kelkee

There are too many games now and so much history that this "inclusive" list misses the mark completly

There are popular games, revolutionary games, and influential games. You can't lump them all together and make a list.

Games that are popular are not always great. Revolutionary games are not always popular, and influential games may not be popular or revolutionary but they definately made an impact on the gaming industry.

Its like putting Nascar, IndyCar, and Formula 1 drivers all in the same bucket and picking the "best" driver ever. Each is unique to its own style.

UAIOE

Ya know, I don't think there is a single game on that list that iis/was made by Sega.

kakihara1

Mario Andretti

RichC2

Again it's a list, it was made by people with preferences.

I absolutely cannot stand WoW, but I admit it has had a cultural impact, especially on people who like paying money every month to do dull tasks at a sub-molasseses speed. It wouldn't be anywhere near my Top 100 list, and obviously, not mentioned in my own Top 50. The game is just insanely popular, but that really doesn't mean a whole lot to me.

I wasn't a fan of Super Metroid, some consider it one of the best games of all time. I also preferred ICO over Shadow of the Colossus, though SotC was certainly more unique. Hell, I loved Flashback and Blast Corps but can see those as strictly niche games.

orangecrush

Perhaps it is time to have another tournament in the Video Game forum?

Decker

I think Sonic's legacy, fair-or-not will always be as a Mario-clone. Yes, the speed element made it a different gaming expierence, but I think they'll always be viewed unfavorably -- a Parker Lewis to Mario's Ferris Bueller, a Monkee's to his Beatles, a Disney's Black Hole to his Star Wars. That's a tough shadow to emerge from.

taffer

Yes, and that means 4th edition D&D is going to suck. I seriously have not read one good thing about the upcoming 4th edition. Gary Gygax must be rolling over in his grave.

Mikael79

Budweiser. Sorry, but I had to do it.

xmiyux

I'm cautiously pessimistic about 4th edition. I think they are almost dumbing it down too much and with the addition of the "cards" for spells i think the target audience isn't someone like me who played the original boxed set. They are targeting more the MMORPG and the CCG player. Those folks are used to the cards, simple rules, clearly defined rules (at the expense of creativity), etc.

However, by making it a simpler accessible game they might hook a bunch of youth into what is kind of a dying hobby. The online stuff for 4th edition looks pretty cool as well.

I would love to continue this discussion in the Book forum btw.

UAIOE

Or it could be that the list is excrement.

Decker

This list... is an absolute good. The list is life. All around its margins lies the gulf.

kaze0

Did Sonic influence anything. Have there been sonic clones?

Michael Corvin

I was thinking more along the lines of, has there even been a truly GREAT (i.e. A+, 10.0 rated) Sonic game? Sure he is iconic, but gaming-wise haven't the best Sonic games been merely good, at best?

RichC2

I always felt Sonic 2 and 3 were fantastic but never hit the depth or creativity of the Mario titles (especially Super Mario Bros 3 and World).

And I was a Genesis kid.

slop101

As far as these EW "best" lists go, this video game one, while not perfect, is a hell of lot better than their music or movie lists.

Michael Corvin

I agree and I think it is because they don't cover games regularly. So they get a list together of the most popular and biggest selling games of the past 25 years and that's that. Unlike the other categories where I'm sure the list was debated to death in-house before it's final incarnation.

CreatureX

The only good game that Sonic has been in is Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

taffer

But there are quirky titles like Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, and Psychonauts on the list. Titles like those are neither popular nor high selling.

boredsilly

I agree about the depth, not about the creativity though. I actually would argue that the worlds visually in Sonic were just as, if not more, creative as any Mario game. Especially Sonic 2 through Sonic and Knuckles. Now the creative gameplay stuff, yeah, the power ups in Mario trump those in Sonic (even though Sonic's were pretty cool in Sonic 3).

If I were giving the 16bit era games in these franchises averages, Mario would get A++, but Sonic wouldn't be too much further behind at an A-. I know I always had fun playing those 16bit era Sonic game.