150 Games to Play Before You Die

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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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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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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.

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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.

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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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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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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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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.

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Forget copies sold, this is about cold hard cash. The games that turned pixels into fortunes, ranked by estimated lifetime gross revenue. Fair warning, free-to-play and arcade earnings are notoriously hard to pin down, so these figures are the best widely-reported public estimates rather than audited accounts, and the order near the top is genuinely up for debate. What is not up for debate is the scale. From a Korean brawler that out-earned Hollywood blockbusters to the mobile match-three game funding itself off your nan, here are the biggest money machines gaming has ever built.

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

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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 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.

Token

A ranked list of my favourite gaming personalities. If they feature in a franchise then only one game will be picked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Forget copies sold, this is about cold hard cash. The games that turned pixels into fortunes, ranked by estimated lifetime gross revenue. Fair warning, free-to-play and arcade earnings are notoriously hard to pin down, so these figures are the best widely-reported public estimates rather than audited accounts, and the order near the top is genuinely up for debate. What is not up for debate is the scale. From a Korean brawler that out-earned Hollywood blockbusters to the mobile match-three game funding itself off your nan, here are the biggest money machines gaming has ever built.

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

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.

Token

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

Token

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

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

A ranked list of my favourite gaming personalities. If they feature in a franchise then only one game will be picked.