Ultimate Gaming Characters

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Two controllers, one sofa. Co-op picks built for playing side by side, from chaos in the kitchen to a shared adventure across the stars.

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The games that understand fear is about what you cannot see. Fifteen of the finest scares in the medium, ranked from the very best down.

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Here I give a little list of my top ranked open world games of all time. I may have missed a few, so leave a comment underneath and I'll try to check it out.

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Three prongs, a wobbly analogue stick, and a cartridge slot. The Nintendo 64 was the home of the four-player split-screen and some of the most beloved games ever made. This is where 3D gaming found its feet, where Rare ran riot, and where a generation learned that friendships do not survive a blue shell. From the greatest game ever scored to the cult classics only the faithful remember, here is the essential N64 collection. Blow on the cartridge first.

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All the games that I love that have a female protagonist. These heroines are not just protagonists but gaming idols

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Sixteen bits, Mode 7 magic, and a sound chip that turned game music into an art form. The Super Nintendo is, for many, the greatest console ever built, home to the finest RPGs, platformers and fighters of its age. This is where Square and Enix went to war, where Rare made apes look like the future, and where Nintendo simply refused to miss. From genre-defining masterpieces to import-only cult gems, here is the essential SNES library. The purple buttons are calling.

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After watching Mortal Kombat II I felt the need to go through all the Mortal Kombat games I have owned and rank them as to how I remember them. Such an iconic game that I still love to play.

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The games that I remember fondly from growing up, probably a good thing I haven't played them again. Rose-tinted glasses and all.

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The games that I have wanted to play for a while, but haven't quite got around too.

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Every one of these had money, talent or hype behind it, and every one of them face-planted. This is gaming's hall of shame, the launches that bombed, the servers that went dark in months, the studios that did not survive their own game. Some were broken, some were boring, some were just spectacularly mismanaged, and a couple got buried in an actual landfill. Listed in order of release rather than ranked, because picking the single biggest flop is a bar fight nobody wins. From Atari's 1982 catastrophe to Concord vanishing in a fortnight, here are the disasters we will never let the industry forget.

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Sony's grey box is the best-selling console of all time, and this is exactly why. The PlayStation 2 library is a who-is-who of all-time greats, from sprawling crime sagas to lonely art masterpieces to JRPGs that swallowed entire summers. These are the games that defined a generation and still hold up today. Whether you are loading a memory card for nostalgia or discovering them through emulation, this is the essential PS2 collection. No light gun required.

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Gone far too soon, but never forgotten. Sega's final console was a box full of wild ideas, launched in the West on the unforgettable ninth of September 1999 and dead within three short years. In that brief life it gave us online console gaming, cel-shaded cool, and some of the most creative games ever made. This is the machine the enthusiasts never stopped loving. From arcade-perfect fighters to a talking fish voiced by Spock, here is the essential Dreamcast collection. Up up down down to unlock the magic.

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The little purple lunchbox with a handle on the back. The GameCube sold modestly but punched so far above its weight it is genuinely absurd. This is the home of Metroid Prime, Melee, Wind Waker and the original Resident Evil 4, plus a deep bench of Nintendo classics and cult oddities. Tiny discs, a brilliant controller, and a library the faithful still treasure. From system-defining masterpieces to bongo-powered madness, here is the essential GameCube collection. Mind the handle on the way out.

Token

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 games that let you pretend you have money and get to thrash around some of the worlds most exotic automobiles.

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The Golden Joystick Awards is the second oldest gaming award ceremony and is the longest-running video game award.

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The system sellers. The games that made you pick a side, spanning PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox.

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These are the games that did not just sell, they changed everything that came after. The genre originators, the technical leaps, the cultural earthquakes. From a bat-and-ball in 1972 to the battle royale that swallowed pop culture, every game here moved the entire medium forward and left the rulebook a little different. Listed in order of release so you can trace the whole story, from the arcade to the open world to the online universe. This is not a best-of list, it is a how-we-got-here list. Required reading for anyone who loves games.

Token

The grey box that made gaming cool and put a CD drive in every living room. The original PlayStation was the home of the JRPG golden age, the birth of survival horror, and the moment 3D gaming truly went mainstream. This is where Final Fantasy VII broke hearts, Metal Gear Solid rewrote the rulebook, and Crash and Spyro became household names. Mind your memory cards. From genre-defining giants to beloved cult classics, here is the essential PS1 collection.

Token

The big black box that crashed the console party and changed gaming forever. Microsoft's debut machine brought us Halo, Xbox Live, and a library packed with bold exclusives and cult oddities. This is the home of Master Chief, the definitive stealth games, and a controller so huge it earned the nickname the Duke. Plenty of these never left the system, which makes them all the more worth hunting down. From genre-defining giants to forgotten gems, here is the essential original Xbox collection.

Token

No publishers, no focus groups, no committees, just small teams and big ideas. These are the indie games that ran rings around the blockbusters, ranked by critic score. Some were made by a single person in a bedroom, some redefined entire genres, and all of them prove you do not need a Hollywood budget to make something unforgettable. From the game that started the whole indie boom to the roguelike that ate everyone's spare time, here is the best of the little guys. Bring a notepad and an open evening.

Token

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.

Token

Three prongs, a wobbly analogue stick, and a cartridge slot. The Nintendo 64 was the home of the four-player split-screen and some of the most beloved games ever made. This is where 3D gaming found its feet, where Rare ran riot, and where a generation learned that friendships do not survive a blue shell. From the greatest game ever scored to the cult classics only the faithful remember, here is the essential N64 collection. Blow on the cartridge first.

Token

All the games that I love that have a female protagonist. These heroines are not just protagonists but gaming idols

Token

Sixteen bits, Mode 7 magic, and a sound chip that turned game music into an art form. The Super Nintendo is, for many, the greatest console ever built, home to the finest RPGs, platformers and fighters of its age. This is where Square and Enix went to war, where Rare made apes look like the future, and where Nintendo simply refused to miss. From genre-defining masterpieces to import-only cult gems, here is the essential SNES library. The purple buttons are calling.

Token

After watching Mortal Kombat II I felt the need to go through all the Mortal Kombat games I have owned and rank them as to how I remember them. Such an iconic game that I still love to play.

Token

The games that I remember fondly from growing up, probably a good thing I haven't played them again. Rose-tinted glasses and all.

Token

The games that I have wanted to play for a while, but haven't quite got around too.

Token

Every one of these had money, talent or hype behind it, and every one of them face-planted. This is gaming's hall of shame, the launches that bombed, the servers that went dark in months, the studios that did not survive their own game. Some were broken, some were boring, some were just spectacularly mismanaged, and a couple got buried in an actual landfill. Listed in order of release rather than ranked, because picking the single biggest flop is a bar fight nobody wins. From Atari's 1982 catastrophe to Concord vanishing in a fortnight, here are the disasters we will never let the industry forget.

Token

Sony's grey box is the best-selling console of all time, and this is exactly why. The PlayStation 2 library is a who-is-who of all-time greats, from sprawling crime sagas to lonely art masterpieces to JRPGs that swallowed entire summers. These are the games that defined a generation and still hold up today. Whether you are loading a memory card for nostalgia or discovering them through emulation, this is the essential PS2 collection. No light gun required.

Token

Gone far too soon, but never forgotten. Sega's final console was a box full of wild ideas, launched in the West on the unforgettable ninth of September 1999 and dead within three short years. In that brief life it gave us online console gaming, cel-shaded cool, and some of the most creative games ever made. This is the machine the enthusiasts never stopped loving. From arcade-perfect fighters to a talking fish voiced by Spock, here is the essential Dreamcast collection. Up up down down to unlock the magic.

Token

The little purple lunchbox with a handle on the back. The GameCube sold modestly but punched so far above its weight it is genuinely absurd. This is the home of Metroid Prime, Melee, Wind Waker and the original Resident Evil 4, plus a deep bench of Nintendo classics and cult oddities. Tiny discs, a brilliant controller, and a library the faithful still treasure. From system-defining masterpieces to bongo-powered madness, here is the essential GameCube collection. Mind the handle on the way out.

Token

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.

Token

The games that let you pretend you have money and get to thrash around some of the worlds most exotic automobiles.

Token

The Golden Joystick Awards is the second oldest gaming award ceremony and is the longest-running video game award.

Token

The system sellers. The games that made you pick a side, spanning PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox.

Token

These are the games that did not just sell, they changed everything that came after. The genre originators, the technical leaps, the cultural earthquakes. From a bat-and-ball in 1972 to the battle royale that swallowed pop culture, every game here moved the entire medium forward and left the rulebook a little different. Listed in order of release so you can trace the whole story, from the arcade to the open world to the online universe. This is not a best-of list, it is a how-we-got-here list. Required reading for anyone who loves games.

Token

The grey box that made gaming cool and put a CD drive in every living room. The original PlayStation was the home of the JRPG golden age, the birth of survival horror, and the moment 3D gaming truly went mainstream. This is where Final Fantasy VII broke hearts, Metal Gear Solid rewrote the rulebook, and Crash and Spyro became household names. Mind your memory cards. From genre-defining giants to beloved cult classics, here is the essential PS1 collection.

Token

The big black box that crashed the console party and changed gaming forever. Microsoft's debut machine brought us Halo, Xbox Live, and a library packed with bold exclusives and cult oddities. This is the home of Master Chief, the definitive stealth games, and a controller so huge it earned the nickname the Duke. Plenty of these never left the system, which makes them all the more worth hunting down. From genre-defining giants to forgotten gems, here is the essential original Xbox collection.

Token

No publishers, no focus groups, no committees, just small teams and big ideas. These are the indie games that ran rings around the blockbusters, ranked by critic score. Some were made by a single person in a bedroom, some redefined entire genres, and all of them prove you do not need a Hollywood budget to make something unforgettable. From the game that started the whole indie boom to the roguelike that ate everyone's spare time, here is the best of the little guys. Bring a notepad and an open evening.

Token

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.