The 2019 IGN “Top 100 Games Of All Time” List Is A Complete Joke

I know, I’m a little late getting at this one (as I am with virtually everything) but I couldn’t let this one happen without sharing my thoughts on it. When the list was first brought to my attention the main focus many had was how there were no Sega games, for example, on it, and how the selection was pretty odd to many people. I didn’t take a look at it myself until just before I began typing this, and let me tell you, it’s as bad, if not worse (depending on your opinion of certain games) than I expected.

It isn’t just a case of it lacking classic titles, no no, it’s got a few of them, but it’s more the fact that the list reads less as an actual proper “these are the absolute best” and more of a “these are just what’s trendy to say and that the kids like.” While at the end it does, mostly, begin to finish out as you would expect such a list to, I’d say the vast majority of what’s here is specifically done by / intended to appeal to the average 20-something “gamerbro”, rather than someone with a more mature look at the gaming ecosystem.

That being said, I’m not going to go over the list and talk about every single entry — that would be insane. Instead I’ll point out some of the things that stand out most to me, personally. That being said, here’s the link to the article; at the end I’ll share the list in plaintext form.

Let’s do this.

https://www.ign.com/lists/top-100-games/100

They open trying to explain the criteria of the entire article, saying:

As we leave the decade behind and look forward to a new generation of consoles, we believe it’s time to take stock of the games that we would still recommend even once we’ve got our PS5s and our Xbox Scarletts; games that are so good, they transcend decades. The primary criteria we considered when creating this updated list is as follows:

How much did this game impact us, and can it still be considered an excellent game in 2019?

This meant we de-emphasized the importance of longer influence on the industry, even if many of the games on 2019’s list were hugely influential (if it were all based on influence, 90% of the games would be from before 2003). Although some of the games on this list may be a little long in the tooth, we still believe every one of them stands up as an incredible gaming experience to this day.

So, beyond the typical banter about “next generation” consoles on the horizon, they try to explain just by what criteria the games were chosen: that they have to have an impact and “transcend decades.” They then, in what seems like a contradiction, say that the games won’t be measured on their “longer influence on the industry” and that if they did it based on that that most of the games would be from before 2003, which sounds like about the earliest anyone who wrote this article can remember back to.

It’s funny they would stress that, as that seems to hint that most of the growth of gaming happened before that time period, which I’d agree with. By about 2003 many aspects of gaming began to stagnate, and by 2006 gaming had pretty much gotten “stuck in a rut” so to speak that it hasn’t climbed out of yet – we’re just kind of rehashing the past decade’s obsession with First Person Shooters by obsessing over “Battle Royale” titles.

My point is, they seem to really betray their biases here, although I’m not calling them out on that yet — just pointing out some clues as to why the list may be what it is.

We then get to a list of “other considerations:”

Other considerations:

We didn’t want this list to be inundated with Zeldas and Marios, so we cut what we felt wasn’t the peak of those series in order to make room for different games.

We placed no specific emphasis on different editions or versions of a game, even if it has appeared on multiple platforms.

All entries must be a single video game — bundles or compilations are not eligible (Sorry, Super Mario All-Stars and Orange Box).

This list was formed from the collective opinions of everyone on IGN’s core content team.

The key thing to take away is that say they “cut what wasn’t the peak of those series” yet they have multiple entries from the same series on here. Granted, they didn’t say they were limiting themselves to only one entry per series, but if you’re going to cut down on the number of games, you might as well go all the way to one game at a time, but nope — some series have 3 or 4 entries here, all pretty close to one another.

Then we get to the actual list… oh boy…

It’s a hell of a lot to take in. It has the kinds of games you’d expect, titles from the Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and the like, there’s an equal amount of gushing for relatively new titles like Overwatch, Bloodborn, Pokemon Go, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and, oddly,the Resident Evil 2 remake is mentioned specifically even though the above “other considrations” say no specific emphasis on other versions or editions of a game. Even Red Dead Redemption 2 is on here and while it is, quite possibly, the best game I’ve ever played I don’t think it’s old enough yet to be considered this influential.

And of-fucking-course, you have Fortnite… Hell, I can’t even deny what it is; the main Battle Royale game being played and sort of the archetype of the genre at this stage, but could we have let it go, along with the others, just this once?

Then you have just, seemingly strange additions – The Witness? Inside? Dota 2? Spelunkey? Rock Band? For fucks sake Rock Band? Hell, I’ll give them Undertale by comparison — at least that had some originality to it, but Rock Band? Fuck that. These have their places, sure, but being considered this influential? Yeah, I doubt that.

This isn’t even to start on the few titles I’ve pretty much never heard of. Granted, no one is going to know every game ever made, but I’d imagine if it was this influential I’d have heard of it at least a few times in the past….

Then you notice even more oddities, like Monkey Island 2. O… kay, sure. Mega Man 3 is on the list, but not Mega Man 2.. you know, 2 being the one everyone knows and loves with 3 having its fans but generally not being as well regarded. Their praise for 3 can be applied to 4 (my personal fave) just as well, so… where’s the logic?

That’s really what I was asking as I skimmed the list, where is the logic here? The sense of importance really seems to not stem from an academic look at everything but instead this is like a blended “favorite games” list of 3 editors at IGN.

I’m not going to say it’s all bad — far from it, there are some good selections here — Final Fantasy 6 and 7 get representation, Grand Theft Auto Vice City gets acknowledged alongside San Andreas and 5 (I feel San Andreas should rank way higher than 5, however.) and of course near the top you have your Mario’s and Zelda’s all occupying there spots (with Super Mario World being the #1 game on the list) and that’s when it hits you — the lack of Sega properties.

There isn’t a single Sega Genesis game on the list. This list treats Undertale, Dota 2, Fallout New Vegas.. hell fucking Batman Arkham City as more important than Sonic the Hedgehog? I’m sorry, you have to be crazy to not grasp what Sonic did to upset the game industry in the early 90’s and how that lead to a slightly more mature take on games (“extreme” attitudes being trendy back then) setting the stage for what would come in the 2000’s. Hell, I’d expect there to at least have been every 20-somethings favorite game, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, to be on the list, but no, not even that. No Crazy Taxi, no Shenmue, nothing you would expect to see at least mentioned from Sega.

That’s honestly the crazy thing about the list — it acknowledges Halo, Chrono Trigger, Half-Life, Counter Strike, StarCraft, hell, Sim City 2000 even, but doesn’t touch Sega. People were right to make this a key point in their criticisms of the list, but it’s so much more. The list shows what the modern “younger” gamer knows, and cares about, with regards to gaming. Many of the classic titles are well known, and I won’t even get started on how nothing from the Pre-NES era is mentioned except for Ms. Pac-Man, of all things! At least they gave us that.

Still, you love to bring up Mario, but won’t talk about how the platformer as we know it was really born with Pitfall on the 2600. Nope, can’t acknowledge that. Can’t give Adventure a place for being one of the first Role Playing Games of any type, oh no, gotta make room for Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.

No, it shows that those involved in, at the very least, this article’s creation seem to know the “big names” when it comes to classic gaming and give them their rightful recognition (if in orders which show more appreciation for the most recent release rather than the older ones) but the sheer volume of relatively new titles here, many of which have yet to establish any kind of long-term trend in gaming, is mind boggling.

Yes, there are some great games on here — I’m not saying any of them are bad, but even their own criteria is supposed to be influence, and I have a hard time seeing how Baldurs Gate 2, Uncharted 2, Monkey island 2, The Last Of Us, Dishonored, Undertale, Inside, or Rise of the Tomb Raider have changed the direction of gaming or somehow defined a genre in the same way that Final Fantasy 7, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario Bros 3, Doom, Ms. Pac-Man, and other such legendary titles had.

I hate to say it, but I’m going to — this list reeks strongly of influence from a group I call “NintenStation” fans — those who’s whole gaming lives revolve around a combination of Nintendo and PlayStation products, who really can’t well see beyond them and anything on them or related to the brands. Again, I won’t deny games on here are good – even for the games I don’t like on this list I understand why they are popular. I’m just saying, many of them seem to be on here because they are the “flavor of the week” (or, year) rather than because of historic significance which is what a “top 100 games of all time” list should be, and that’s the main problem.

As promised, here’s the entire list in text form:

100 Pokémon Go
99 Borderlands 2
98 Divinity: Original Sin 2
97 Dishonored
96 Final Fantasy VII
95 Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
94 Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
93 Burnout 3: Takedown
92 Fallout 2
91 Undertale
90 League of Legends
89 Mega Man 3
88 Soulcalibur
87 Thief II: The Metal Age
86 SimCity 2000
85 Inside
84 Contra
83 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
82 Monster Hunter: World
81 Resident Evil 2 (Remake)
80 System Shock 2
79 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
78 Persona 5
77 Fortnite
76 Fable 2
75 GoldenEye 007
74 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
73 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
72 X-COM: UFO Defense
71 Suikoden II
70 Battlefield 1942
69 Dota 2
68 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
67 Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
66 Spelunky
65 Donkey Kong
64 The Sims
63 Rock Band
62 Red Dead Redemption 2
61 Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
60 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
59 Silent Hill 2
58 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
57 Mass Effect
56 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
55 Rise of the Tomb Raider
54 Batman: Arkham City
53 The Witness
52 Journey
51 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
50 Overwatch
49 Deus Ex
48 Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
47 Ms. Pac-Man
46 Counter-Strike 1.6
45 Left 4 Dead 2
44 EarthBound
43 Resident Evil
42 Diablo II
41 StarCraft
40 World of Warcraft
39 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
38 Fallout: New Vegas
37 Final Fantasy VI
36 Mass Effect 2
35 Pokémon Yellow
34 Bloodborne
33 Metroid Prime
32 Resident Evil 4
31 Shadow of the Colossus
30 Metal Gear Solid
29 God of War
28 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
27 BioShock
26 Sid Meier's Civilization IV
25 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
24 Minecraft
23 Halo: Combat Evolved
22 Half-Life
21 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
20 The Last of Us
19 Doom
18 Chrono Trigger
17 Portal
16 Dark Souls
15 Street Fighter II
14 Super Mario Bros.
13 Halo 2
12 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
11 Grand Theft Auto V
10 Super Mario 64
09 Red Dead Redemption
08 Half-Life 2
07 Tetris
06 Super Mario Bros. 3
05 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
04 Super Metroid
03 Portal 2
02 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
01 Super Mario World