Super Mario Odyssey

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The big one. A lifetime of gaming distilled into 150 essential experiences, the games everyone should play at least once in their life. Ordered from 1978 (year before I was born) to today, this is a guided tour through the entire history of the medium, from the arcade cabinets I used to pump hundreds of 10p pieces into through to the modern masterpieces still being made. Every genre, every era, every must-play. You will not agree with all of it, and that is half the fun. Pick one, start playing, and work your way through a lifetime of greatness.

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The heavy hitters. The records nobody can touch. These are the games that did not just sell well, they redefined the ceiling. Ranked by total copies sold across every platform and re-release, this is the all-time sales hall of fame, from Tetris and Minecraft up on their hundred-million-plus thrones down to the modern blockbusters muscling in. Figures are the latest publicly reported lifetime sales, so bookmark it, because these numbers only ever go up.

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The cream of the crop, the games critics simply could not fault. Ranked by Metacritic score, this is the all-time critical elite, every single one sitting at 95 or higher. At the very top, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and its near-perfect 99, a record that has stood for over two decades. Below it, a roll call of Nintendo classics, genre-defining shooters and generation-defining RPGs. If you want a reading list of the finest games ever made, start here and work your way down. There is not a dud in sight.