Rolling Stone's List of 50 Best Video Games of All Time

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I would need more evidence to conclude that the list was generated using AI.

I don't think there's much argument over the merit of each of these games. Most "best games of all time" lists would have these games. I think it's natural that critically acclaimed and widely beloved games show up on both the Rolling Stone's list and in GPT 4o's training data.

I can understand arguments regarding the order of their list however. That was my intention when submitting the link – to stir up discussion regarding the order they chose for the games.

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Well since they asked... here is my list of 50 Best Vide Games of All Time, unranked, in no particular order:

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
Steel Battalion
Super Mario World
Metroid Prime
Halo Combat Evolved
Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour
The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Elden Ring
Resident Evil (1996)
Silent Hill 2
Project Zomboid
NieR Gestalt
Dark Souls
Star Wars Battlefront II (2005)
Metal Gear Solid 3
A Girl Who Chants Love At the Bound of This World YUNO (the 90s PC98 release or Windows releases, or the Saturn release)
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Need for Speed Underground 2
Phantasy Star Online V2 (Dreamcast)
Dino Crisis
Brightis
Policenauts (SEGA Saturn release)
Yakuza 0
XCOM 2
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
The Coma Recut
Super Metroid
No Man's Sky
The Forest
Shenmue
Hollow Knight
Star Wars Tie Fighter
Crimson Skies
Factorio
Age of Empires II (Definitive Edition is actually better than the original for once)
Metal Wolf Chaos
Minecraft
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Battlefield 4
Deep Rock Galactic
King's Field II (Japan, aka King's Field globally)
Half Life
Quake II
Splinter Cell
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Rogue Spear
Elite Dangerous
MechAssault
The Operative No One Lives Forever
Gauntlet Dark Legacy

Thank you for reading my article, now give me ad revenue.

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Fuck yeah for Steel Battalion. With the rise of VR this would be an amazing game to come back to....too bad Capcom has no interest in it after Heavy Armor

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Heavy Armor wasn't FromSoftware's fault, it was Capcom's for forcing the Kinect as a controller. If they had made another controller for it like the first game, it definitely would have been better.

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That is heartbreaking

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People still read Rolling Stone?

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For anyone who wants this list without reading the article

::: spoiler List
50: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020)
49: Hades (2020)
48: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)
47: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1992)
46: League of Legends (2009)
45: Fortnite (2017)
44: Elden Ring (2022)
43: Celeste (2018)
42: Batman: Arkham City (2011)
41: Metroid Prime (2002)
40: Chrono Trigger (1995)
39: God of War (2018)
38: Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
37: Pokémon Gold and Silver (1999)
36: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)
35: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992)
34: Hollow Knight (2017)
33: NBA 2K11 (2010)
32: Ms. Pac-Man (1982)
31: Counter-Strike (1999)
30: Wii Sports (2006)
29: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009)
28: Minecraft (2011)
27: Resident Evil 4 (2005)
26: Mass Effect 2 (2010)
25: Stardew Valley (2016)
24: The Sims (2000)
23: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (1999)
22: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
21: Fallout 3 (2008)
20: Mario Kart 64 (1996)
19: Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023)
18: Madden NFL 2004 (2003)
17: Diablo II (2000)
16: Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
15: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)
14: Street Fighter II (1991)
13: Doom (1993)
12: World of Warcraft (2004)
11: Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
10: Super Metroid (1994)
9: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)
8: Final Fantasy VII (1997)
7: Metal Gear Solid (1998)
6: Half-Life 2 (2004)
5: The Last of Us (2013)
4: Super Mario World (1991)
3: Grand Theft Auto V (2013)
2: Tetris (1989)
1: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)
:::

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It looks like Rolling Stone included Baulders Gate 3.

That game is recent enough that it hasn't qualified for Wikipedia's List of video games considered the best yet.

Wikipedia's list requires an entry feature on 6 different publications' "best of" lists so that implies RS may have applied some and haven't just cribbed directly.

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Thank you!

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Doing the lawd's work, so I also thank you.

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The older I get the less I care about best lists.

It's all subjective.

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So, looks like I've played 19 of these games. Although not all of them were my thing and some of them I've barely played more than once briefly, I'll agree that they were all pretty solidly good.

A few of the others are on my wish list (especially now that they're available on PC) so maybe one day I'll be able to agree or disagree.

I enjoy seeing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on these greatest games lists because back in the days when it was originally released, it seemed like it was practically ignored in my social circle. At the time, if a game wasn't using low fidelity, standard definition polygon-based graphics (aka 3D), it had to be a fighting game or it would be completely ignored. Yet, that particular game was one of my favorites of the era and I didn't get to enjoy it with anybody else at the time because they just saw it as a lame 2D game.

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How else am I supposed to feel important?

I'm just some guy.

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I really want to like elite dangerous, but it's so boring! The flight and controls (HOTAS) are amazing and hella immersive, but God damn if there's something to do that isn't grindy as fuck.

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Its realistic, as opposed to Star Citizen which leans more on "rule of cool, not rule of real." Real life space is boring. 99% of all planets that arent big gas balls are just big ice rocks. Ships are big, slow, heavy objects that take time to maneuver. Elite has a simulated galactic economy, which can be directly influenced by just a single dedicated player. It contains fantasy political turf scuffles, colony expansion, and all sort of other stuff. You can be pretty much anything, a bounty hunter, a miner, a merchant, a taxi, they even added first person shooter parts with the Odyssey DLC (like what Star Citizen already had).

Personally I think what people think about Elite Dangerous is also why so many people complain about Starfield. I like Starfield. While not perfect, it does a good job of mostly "realistic" space portrayal, even if it does contain some fantasy elements. Problem is, people were disappointed with Starfield because they expected Star Wars Skyrim, but got Elite Dangerous Skyrim instead. They wanted even more fantasy where Starfield leaned more into realism. If you like Elite Dangerous, there is a pretty good chance you will like Starfield. But if you don't like Elite, you probably won't like Starfield.

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Rolling Stone's List of 50 Best Video Games of All Time