RESULTS: UKFF Top 25 Greatest videogames

[RedRooster]

The votes are in and counted, and I've narrowed our list down to a top 25 - after that there's a bit more parity in the votes, so ranking them would be a bit challenging. A total of 192 different games were nominated - showing how many brilliant videogames exist, and how diverse our tastes are on this forum. 

I'll be posting the countdown in chunks, and a few guest writers (other members of the UKFF) have contributed posts about their favourite games - so a huge thanks to them for taking part. Before we begin the countdown, some stats...

• 192 games nominated
• 6 of these were wrestling games (and one of these wrestling games made the top 25...) 
• 26 of these were football/football management games...nine of which were nominated by @gmoney
• 22 different games were awarded 10 points by posters - including three different Zelda games (Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and A Link Between Worlds)
• Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth - the only wrestling game to earn 10 points
• On the other side of things...16 games finished with one point after everything was tallied up - those games were: 

  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey 

  • Assassin’s Creed Origins 

  • Championship Manager Italia 

  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert

  • Cool Boarders 2 

  • Golden Axe  

  • Limbo 

  • Megaman X 

  • Mercenaries 

  • Overcooked 

  • Pikmin 4 

  • Pro Evolution Soccer 98 

  • Rollercoaster Tycoon 

  • Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes 

  • Super Mario Odyssey 

  • Unreal Tournament 2004 

But now though, on with the countdown, starting with...

24 = Spyro the Dragon

It's a top 25 that starts off at 24, as we have two games with an equal number of points, the first of which is Spyro the Dragon - the only PS1 platform game to make the countdown. Spyro is a collectathon platformer that absolutely oozes charm, with a fantastic soundtrack (just listen to that intro theme), graphics which still look pretty gorgeous and a storyline which feels very nineties in a way that makes you love the game even more. Revisiting the game for this list, I thought it had aged well; although I think the best version of it is in the Spyro: Reignited Trilogy (currently just £12 on Steam, if you're interested), which sorts out some of the control quirks. 

 

24. The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

For me, this was on the of the first games of the PS3/360 era that really made it feel like the new generation had arrived. After the intro, you could do whatever you wanted. Being able to ignore the main quest and explore the open world to my heart's content, utterly blew my mind. Not only that, but I could be evil. I could be a saint, an anti-hero or the devil himself. While the game probably shows its age a bit now, it's still tremendous fun to play with great characters, and excellent mods to enhance the game and your overall experience. With rumblings of a remake on the horizon, it may be that the game pushes itself back into the public consciousness sooner rather than later. 

23. WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain

The only wrestling game to make the top 25, so therefore the greatest wrestling game of all time according to the UKFF? One for a future topic perhaps. Either way, the Smackdown games were the gateway drug to wrestling for so many of us, and this one is an absolute blast. They say you never forget how to ride a bike, and I'm pretty sure the same is true for the Smackdown video games - I can't imagine I'm the only one who remembers the control system as if I last played the game this morning. The entrances, gathering friends to play through the Royal Rumble - switching controller on elimination, growing Gamefaqs for the best CAWs - there's so much nostalgia wrapped up in this game for so many of us. Very few wrestling games have been able to capture the fun of the sport in the way the Smackdown games did. 

 

It's a four-way tie next, taking us all the way to 19th - and our first guest writer, the brilliant @FLips - I want his writing to speak for itself for reasons that will become clear, so I'm going to post it separately, before continuing with the countdown...stay tuned...

 

[RedRooster]

19 = The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker 

(With thanks to @FLips for writing - I feel privileged to have been the first person to read this)

It's something I often refer to in my reviews, but certain games and consoles symbolise periods throughout my life and whether good or bad I can pinpoint them down to places, times and feelings.

For example the NES brings back memories of my Uncle driving us home and speeding down the back lanes, only for my Grandad to absolutely chew him out for putting his only family at risk while I sat and tried to collect hats on Bart vs The Space Mutants in my bedroom. Megadrive makes me think of playing Sonic 2 on my birthday with my best mate and walking to McDonalds with him, my Mam and my Brother with Sky Chase Zone on pause for when we got back, or asking my Granny and Grandad if I could call one of the hotlines in the back of a cheat book to get past a bit on Fantastic Dizzy and being told a very solid "no", even when I offered to pay what would have been an extortionate bill with my pocket money. For SNES it's borrowing and playing Donkey Kong Country 2 on a rainy day and hearing Stickerbrush Symphony for the first time, pausing the game and just sitting in silence for what feels, in hindsight, like it could have been hours.

I got my Gamecube in Christmas of 2003 after reading a big feature on Mario Kart Double Dash in GamesMaster Magazine and falling in love. I was lucky enough that it came with a limited edition disc that featured all the console Zelda games up to that point, and a demo for The Wind Waker. Despite getting Final Fantasy X and Smackdown Here Comes The Pain, it was my Zelda disc which got major play time that Christmas. It featured three segments from the final game, one in the fire temple on Dragon Roost Island, a stealth section on Forsaken Fortress and another on Windfall Island for a casual bit of exploration and chatting with NPCs.

I played this demo to death over and over until I got the full game, and then I played that to death.

I adore everything about Wind Waker. The graphics are timeless, the music is a joy and the gameplay is so beautifully varied that it's hard to set up sails and put the controller down. It's just a wonderful package full of charm and character. It's a vast sprawling adventure with every square on the map having an island or place to visit so you'd jump in your boat and sail there while that stunning Great Sea theme played and the seagulls flew behind you. Maybe you'd find a dungeon to unlock a key new item, or a gauntlet of enemies with a heart container at the end. There are minigames and challenges and memorable characters scattered across the whole game.

I'd never really played a game like it up to that point. I was a big fan of platformers like Spyro and Mega Man but big adventure games were never really something I dove into much, if at all.  I was blown away by the size of the whole thing, even in the demos and the potential bigger world it presented to me. There are games I'd loved but none of them were to this scale or where every new encounter or area made me think wow this is perfect. Some of it may be rose tinted, for sure, but I think for fans of the series everyone's first Zelda game is something special. The same way a whole generation of kids grew up with the original on the NES, or Ocarina of Time on the N64.

Even though I played this at home initially, it's the memory of sitting on the edge of the bed at my Grandad's that stuck with me, the same way it did for most of my games and consoles growing up. I really cherished that place.

When he died in 2007 those memories for me just kind of stop. I've obviously had consoles since then but the memories don't mean as much to me and neither do the games.
The Gamecube was the final console I played at his house, after starting with the NES and playing nearly everything between. George Foreman's KO Boxing and Parasol Stars sitting on the floor in his room with the curtains drawn, or knockoff 120-1 Game Boy cartridges full of random Japanese games like Shin Chan as I sat and basked in the sun on the top of the landing. Another good one is staying up playing Final Fantasy IX on the PS1 until the early hours of the morning and then waking up early to watch SMTV Live. Entire timespans I can narrow down to games and moments in a house where I have nothing but good memories.

I never truly processed his illness then, or even now really. When staying in a hospital bed at home with oxygen was no longer viable and he was sent to hospital, teenage me was tasked with looking after his house. I spent this time naturally having friends over and we would sit and play Zelda, Smash Bros Melee, and Mario Kart Double Dash in the front room. If I was out playing nearby I'd check in for a while and make sure it was ready for him coming back.

Even on bonfire night when my family all got together at his house, as we did every year, this time to burn all of his remaining furniture, I remember still having optimism he was just in a bad way and would be coming home soon. Obviously he never did.

There's a moment in The Wind Waker where Link finds himself in Hyrule, flooded to the bottom of the ocean, monochrome and suspended in time at a point before Ganon could find and destroy it. You pull the master sword from it's pedestal and as you make your way back to the exit, the colour floods back into the world around you, bringing everything back to life as the iconic Hyrule Castle theme begins to play. It's a beautiful moment and arguably my favourite in the game even back when I originally played it.

With time though it's came to represent the link between the game and my memory of it. It's a preservation of a place that I wanted to keep safe forever but realistically couldn't. Then, for a very long time everything was monochrome and at a standstill. While it took a while I did finally pull that sword from the pedestal too.

A big part of that was meeting my wife and playing the Zelda games with her. I couldn't wait to show her Wind Waker and this year I've been playing it again and it still fills me with joy. I mentioned in my nomination how the Dragon Roost Island themes in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom had me welling up, and it's the same when I go back to play the original and hear it. There I am, back in 2004 playing on the edge of my Grandad's bed, and here I am now in 2024 sat with my wife as we sail the great seas together, the colour back and life moving forward.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

That is simply sensational. All the likes. 

[DavidB6937]

That post alone was worth putting all this together.

[RedRooster]

The countdown continues, although there's no chance I'll write something that'll top @FLips

19 = The Secret of Monkey Island

Very few game intros give me the same sense of nostalgia as the Amiga version of The Secret of Monkey Island. I get goosebumps, I remember being a child sitting in front of my Amiga 600, struggling to figure out how to find the sword master, and what to do with that damn rubber chicken. I remember actually laughing at a game for the first time - although I'm pretty certain most of the jokes will have gone over my head at the time. The Secret of Monkey Island is one of the few games I play pretty much once a year. The characters, soundtrack locations and narrative all meld together to create a game world that feels lived in; a game world that sucks you in and makes you wish that you were there. 

Guybrush Threepwood remains one of the greatest video game characters ever - and Monkey Island remains timeless. At the risk of bringing personal biases into this countdown, I'm absolutely delighted it made the top 25. 

 

19 = The Last of Us Part II

How do you talk about The Last of Us Part 2 without veering into spoilers? I'm going to do just that, so don't worry, but it adds a layer of challenge in explaining why this is one of the best video game stories ever told. So rather than focus on the plot, I'll focus on the representation. You have two female leads, in an industry where male characters dominate. One of them is gay, and it's never sexualised or sensationalised - another milestone in AAA videogames. In addition to that, you have another main character who is trans; someone whose journey and the discrimination they face is explored in a sensitive and sensible way - in a story thread that feels even more important than it did on release, given the hatred and venom spewed in the direction of the trans community. The game balances all of this without it ever feeling like any of the above is the story - the story itself is about hatred, how it can consume you. It's told masterfully. 

 

19 = Pro Evolution Soccer 4

The only football sim to make the countdown - and for a long while, Pro Evolution Soccer was the football sim. FIFA had the licenses, but Pro Evolution Soccer had the gameplay. You weren't going to a friend's house to play FIFA anymore, you were going there to play Pro Evolution Soccer; and lots of it at that. Thank fuck online play didn't exist back then otherwise I don't think I'd ever have got the grades to go to university. The commentary is still a bit stilted and there's a weird situation where some players have real names for their clubs, but fake names at international level - but all of that just serves to make the game more memorable. At the time, it felt like Konami had perfected the football sim; and given how well this game holds up, perhaps they did. 

 

18. Fallout: New Vegas

"War, war never changes."

I spoke about world-building earlier on in this countdown; but it's rare that a game manages to establish the grimness of its world in the first four words of its intro. It's grimy, it's in ruins and it's still reeling from a war that happened centuries ago - but it's also packed with memorable characters, moments of warmth and a quirky sense of humour that leaves you wondering if the end of the world was really that bad, after all. There's so much to discover in this game - maybe it's a diary written on a computer, revealing the final moments of someone after the bombs dropped. Maybe it's a group of slavers transporting human cargo across the desert; or maybe it's the New Vegas strip itself; packed with life - and corruption. 

 

16 = Goldeneye

Perhaps surprisingly - this is the only FPS game that has made the list; unless you count New Vegas - which I don't. In the 90s, this was the multiplayer game. For me, it was the multiplayer game that I died a lot in. I had no idea that friend groups made agreements not to go Oddjob. My pals certainly did not. We all thought my friend David was shit-hot at Goldeneye, and we were all terrible. We'd get systematically murdered, one by one as he snuck around the corridors. We also faced the not insignificant issue of it being his N64, so he always got to pick his character first. Still, it was - and remains - a lot of fun; with local multiplayer adding a level of enjoyment that online games struggle to recapture.

 

16 = Grand Theft Auto 3

Is this the first true open world game? Whatever the case, I won't have been the only person who spent hours driving recklessly around Liberty City; listening to the radio and ignoring the rules of the road, while completely forgetting what I was supposed to be doing in the main story. Although the template for GTA has evolved, it hasn't really changed - Rockstar discovered a money-making formula, that many have tried to replicate; but no one has managed to surpass. There's a reason GTA VI is one of the most anticipated games in video game history, and the foundations for its near-mythical status began here. 

 

15. Tetris

There's something magical about Tetris - it's a simple idea that somehow manages to remain fresh whichever decade you look at. The Gameboy version was arguably the ultimate handheld game in the 90s; and almost certainly the one with the most cross-generational appeal. Fast-forward to the 2000s, and you had Tetris releasing on mobile phones - making time-wasting all the more convenient. Then there was Tetris DS, adding a fresh coat of paint to a timeless formula. Now, in 2024, you have the hyper-addictive Tetris 99 and the visually stunning Tetris Effect; creating brand new ways to experience the game without ever changing the core formula. There are games on this list which are dated, and there are games on this list which will date - I'm not sure that Tetris can date. 

More to follow...

Edited April 29 by RedRooster

[RedRooster]

The next part of the countdown brings with it another guest writer - the brilliant @Loki - I couldn't pull together a list like this without getting the perspective of someone who works in the games industry. Once again, I'm going to let this one speak for itself and give it a post of its own.

14. Super Mario Kart

(With thanks to @Loki for writing the below)

Strange to think, but there was a time before Mario Kart.   A time before mercilessly red shelling your best mate or loved one.  A time before power drifting across the sands of Koopa Beach or round a corner of Bowser's Castle.  A time before feather jumping the corner to steal a victory.

Before Mario Kart there were multi player games, but nothing with the immersion of Super Mario Kart. F-Zero had introduced the Mode 7 graphics look for racing which brought 3D vehicles and enemies but Super Mario Kart took that idea and expanded it into split screen  - a move that required new hardware inside the cartridge itself to pull off.  But the series has always looked for hardware innovations, as anyone who's flung a Wiimote about to get a jump, or blown into the microphone of their DS to get a precious extra balloon, can attest.

The real, franchise innovation of Super Mario Kart though was taking all the beloved Nintendo characters, good guys and bad guys, and levelling the playing field for superstar matchups.  Relocating characters into a completely different genre was groundbreaking, and became a large part of Nintendo's game design ethos moving forward.

I've played Mario Kart across four decades.  I've played it in games stores as a child. I've played it stoned at university. I've played it 8 player in airport lounges on a long delay (thanks to the DS' ability to share the game with ANY other DS owners in your vicinity, cart or no cart). And I've played it against my friends' kids across the internet.  How many games have such generational appeal?

For me though, the original Super Mario Kart is the purest - finely balanced, ruthlessly hard at 150cc, pixel perfect bragging rights gaming that sold millions of consoles on its back.

[Mr_Danger]

.

Edited April 29 by Mr_Danger

[RedRooster]

11 = Grand Theft Auto San Andreas 

It's a three-way tie for number 11 - and the second Grand Theft Auto game to make the list. The UKFF loves GTA, illustrated further by some of the upcoming picks. This game felt like a bit of a landmark at the time. It was - sadly - a rare example of a AAA game at the time to be released with a Black protagonist, and it also contained mechanics which were either totally new, or new to the series. CJ, the lead character, could gain weight or muscle mass based on what you ate. You could customise his look and hairstyle, and you could even choose who he dates. Once again, it evolved the GTA forumula something that continued in GTA IV, and...

 

11 = Grand Theft Auto V

It's hard to believe that this game is more than 10-years-old. It's even harder to believe it originally released on the PS3 and 360. Talk about pushing a console to its limits. The game is packed with things to do and see; and, for the first time, allows you to play three characters; including one of the most unlikeable leads ever in a Rockstar game in Trevor. It also introduces an online multiplayer mode for the first time in Grand Theft Auto Online. 

 

11 = Super Mario 64

 

I remember loading up Super Mario 64 for the first time, and being utterly blown away by the 3D representation of Mario's face - spending far too long pulling at his facial features and seeing how ridiculous I could make him look. But who didn't do that? And who didn't spend far too much time exploring the outside of Peach's castle, trying to figure out if there was a way to get on the roof?

If you played the game when it first came out, I'd imagine this music will fill you with nostalgia. It's a really simple, jaunty theme, yet it's packed with memories for so many of us. Super Mario 64 was packed with discovery - and it's one of the first games I ever 100% completed, as I desperately tried to find out what happened when you collected every star. If you were a child at the time, you probably heard the playground rumours - you unlock Luigi, you unlock Yoshi and can ride him around the castle - that kind of thing. As it turned out, it did unlock Yoshi - just not in a way that made the effort in earning some of these stars feel completely worthwhile. I'm looking at you, Tick, Tock Clock world. For me, it's the greatest platform game of all time - and I'm guessing that's true for you too, as it's the highest placed platform game on this list. 

 

8 = Streets of Rage 2

It's a three way tie for eighth place - and the final one of this countdown. It's also the only Mega Drive game to make this list. Four playable characters, co-op gameplay, a killer soundtrack and gameplay that hasn't aged at day. I'm not the biggest beat-em-up fan, but even I find this an absolute blast to play multiplayer. 

 

8 = Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Yup, the UKFF loves GTA - and they love this game most of all, as it's the highest placed Grand Theft Auto on this list. Vice City introduced a speaking protagonist for the first time, and felt like a giant step forward from its predecessor, even though it involved stepping back in time; with the game itself set back in 1986. Tommy Vercetti set a new standard for voice acting in videogames; understandable given that he was voiced by Ray Liotta. That said, the whole Vice City cast was excellent - leagues apart from much of the voice acting seen in PS2-era gaming. It's one of the first times in videogames where it felt like you were part of a movie; a movie in which you controlled not only the direction of the plot, but what happened in the wider world through the chaos you caused. 

 

8 = The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

It's pretty mind-blowing to consider this game turns 13 in 2024. To put that into perspective, games that turned 13 when Skyrim came out include Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil 2 and Metal Gear Solid. 13 years before Skyrim hit the shops, Pokemon Red and Blue were released in the US and EU. Skyrim doesn't feel like a 13-year-old game, which is to its enormous credit. You could - and still can sink dozens (or hundreds) of hours into its game world before even stepping into the superb DLC, and then there's a world of mods to play around with. Very few players will play Skyrim and have exactly the same experience, given the depth of options available to you and the abundance of things to do. 

 

7. Championship Manager 97/98

It's often said that football management games have lost their sense of fun, in the quest for 'realism'. I don't know whether or not that's true, but playing Championship Manager 97/98 never felt anything less than real to me. My friends and I would spend hours talking about it, comparing signings and uncovering hidden gems - all while looking out for the development of those hidden gems in the real world. The game is beloved enough to have a fan community keeping it alive, with mods and even remakes available (including this one, from FMScout). 

Before we enter the top 5, we have another guest writer - @Mr_Danger - which may give you a clue as to what game number 6 may be...

[RedRooster]

(Thanks to @Mr_Danger, who wrote the below - and thanks to him in general for his posts about game number 6, which encouraged me to persist with it and not leave it rotting in my gaming backlog)

6. Elden Ring

 

The game that ruined games. For me at least. I first cut my teeth with From Soft with Dark Souls on the Switch. The thought of playing games because they were so hard had never appealed to me but what I didn’t realise at the time was that From Soft games aren’t just wonderfully designed thundercunts of games, they’re also community affairs. Digging in to lore videos, tutorials, wikis and watching boss fights are all part and parcel of the experience. 

This is where Elden Ring really got me. My first go at a From Soft in real time alongside everyone else and they really pulled out all the stops. Discovery, secrets, game design, bosses, open world, improved multiplayer and above all else ACCESSIBILITY! The save points and amount of areas you can buddy up with people make the game a sort of comfortable hang in ways I hadn’t experienced before. The game is still rock hard but now I have the option to run away,  power up and if needs be buddy up and try again. Those options were always there from Dark Solus and on but fuck me they made it hard to figure that shit out. Now it’s like Dark Souls in Hyrule, only with more gross body parts knocking about.

I spent more time in the post-game than I did in the main quest ‘paying it forward’ as it was. No game gave me the thrill of victory and levelled the combat difficulty as perfectly as Elden Ring. I look forward to doing it all again next month. 

(As with previous guest writers, I'm giving this its own post...now on to the top 5...)

[BomberPat]

It's probably a toss-up between Tetris and Monkey Island of which of the games on this list so far I have piled the most hours into, but Monkey Island is the one with most nostalgia attached for me.

I was a console kid. Sega, especially. Yes, I'd had a Commodore 64, but that was a holdover from my older brothers', and a bit of a consolation prize as they had a Master System in their room, and that room was off limits. Sometimes my brother would bring it downstairs and let me play on it when he babysat while my parents were out - the advantage there being that it was on the proper living room telly; in their bedroom they only had a black and white TV, something I've told people only slightly younger than me recently and they outright refused to believe it, but it's true - the first time I ever played Altered Beast it was in black and white. From the Master System, to the Mega Drive. 

It meant I had a somewhat narrow idea of what games could be, even though I owned or rented or otherwise played plenty that didn't fit the bill. To my eyes, you had platformers (which I felt made up the majority of games, and were somehow the purest and most honestly video game-y of games), beat 'em ups, shoot 'em ups, driving games, and sports games. Anything else was an anomaly. 

Sometimes you'd go to a friends' house, and something I only really thought about recently is how gaming didn't feel at all homogenised or standardised back then; so few people I knew had consoles or computers, and every computer felt like a completely different beast. We had owned the C64, and there was an Amstrad in our "office" at home (in reality a bit of a storage room - neither of my parents worked office jobs at the time, and I never have figured out why they had a computer in the first place) that seemed to be purely a word processor, and school had a BBC Micro and later an Apple computer and in my final year of primary school upgraded to Windows, and friends had any number of Acorns, Apples, Amstrads and Spectrums, usually with only one or two games apiece, so it felt to me as a kid that there was this huge potential world of games out there, with as many machines to play them on as there were games themselves, and I was helped in that belief by mentions in games magazines of things like the Lynx, the Jaguar, the Neo Geo, and other consoles I never knew anyone to own.

But then, some new kids moved to the village. They were richer anyone else I knew - they lived in a big house, their parents had exciting jobs in universities, their Mum was American and so they spent every summer there, and this was all very exciting. We became good friends, and they introduced me to a ton of things I became a fan of - Discworld, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Monty Python - but they also had a PC with games on it, and games like I'd never seen before. Strategy games, like Civilisation 2, Sim City and Warcraft! Later, when they updated said PC, Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, Dungeon Keeper, Starcraft, a whole genre and world of gaming I had never known existed and immediately loved. They had games like Lemmings and Worms. And they had The Secret of Monkey Island.
 

One time I was there, and they pulled this game down from the shelf, in the pure nostalgia fuel of the massive cardboard boxes that games used to come in. It was across eight discs, which was something I'd never seen before. The artwork was evocative and gorgeous, the music and that introduction are amazing - but before that, there was Dial-A-Pirate. It was such an unusual and silly thing to have to play with this physical object before you were allowed to start the game, and it was years before I realised that it was a bit of anti-piracy protection; everything else about this game was so quirky and unlike anything else I'd played that it just followed that this other thing was a weird comedy touch too.

I fell in love with it immediately, and wanted to play it every time I was at this friends' house. I never realised that games could be honestly funny before, or that they could challenge you in ways more complex than amping up the difficulty with more enemies, or harder to reach platforms. The puzzles were a kind of lateral thinking that (mostly) made sense to me and, when they didn't, it was rarely frustrating to just wander around trying to figure things out, or resorting to desperate "use every item with every other item" brute-force tactics, because the world of the game was so appealing, the characters were so much fun, and there was such a joy of discovery, whether that was seeing the story unfold, or just trying out every line of dialogue, or finding the odd moment when trying an odd combination of instruction and item warranted a bit of unique dialogue rather than the generic "that doesn't work" responses. 

I'd never known anything like it. Never played a game with a real story beyond the bare bones narrative of a Sonic or Streets of Rage game, a game where the story wasn't explained in the manual and illustrated through text scrolls and end of level animations, but where the story was the game. I was completely enthralled. I remember doing a lesson on poetry in maybe Year 4 or 5, and trying to write something about the game - only having ever seen the word written down, I rhymed "Melee" with "rubber tree". 

 

It's a game I've since replayed several times - upgrading to the CD re-release, which changed the text-only inventory to graphics, then the remaster - and it shows how great it is that there's that level of replayability in a game built around puzzles which largely only have one solution. I have a T-shirt of the box art, I had concept art from it framed on my wall in my old flat, and I found myself actively envying my girlfriend when she played through it a couple of years ago, for the experience of seeing it all for the first time. I have still yet to play Return to Monkey Island, and have largely avoided spoilers despite my Twitter feed being full of stuff about it on release, because I wanted to wait until she finishes Monkey Island 2 before I start it. As much as Monkey Island 2 is often held up as the best of the series, I never quite got on with it - it felt fiddly and full of backtracking in a way that other games in the series rarely did, and some of the puzzles a little too convoluted or unintuitive (the spitting contest requiring three or four steps to get right being the most glaring example that came to mind), and an ending that really annoyed me as a kid. It never captured the magic of the original, though I equally adore The Curse of Monkey Island for being a rare update to a franchise that just seemed to get everything right - perfect voice acting, tone, additions to the world and the lore, it all worked. 

I've played plenty of other point-and-clicks since, but it's the benchmark against which all of them are judged, and always will be.

[Mr_Danger]

That’s not the Peggle Nights write up I sent you!

[RedRooster]

5. Final Fantasy IX

The Final Fantasy series, up until IX, had taken a very grim tone - and had moved away from its fantasy roots. VI was steampunk, VII and VIII were set in futuristic game worlds and meant that many people had an introduction to the series that was far removed from what it once was. The first time I played Final Fantasy IX, I hated it. It was fantastical and a bit silly. There were castles, princes and princesses. There was an evil queen, and talking animals. This wasn't my Final Fantasy, for god's sake! But as I played on, I realised how wrong I was. Final Fantasy IX was light at the end of the tunnel - against a gritty and dark gaming landscape at the time, it dared to do something different. Yes, it was silly - but it wasn't afraid to hit you with an emotional gut punch. The characters were colourful - but they were all distinct, and in some cases very melancholic - a contract to what the game seems to be during the early hours. And like all Final Fantasy games, the soundtrack is sensational. I can't talk about this game, and not share this utter gem: 

One of the best boss themes ever, in my opinion. The game also had a brilliant lead villain in the androgynous Kuja - a character who has more depth than is initially apparent. the protagonist, Zidane, is a lot less sullen than protagonists in the previous PS1 games - although he probably has aged worse than either Cloud or Squall, given that he spends much of the game sexually harassing the female lead - he's a creepy little fucker. 

That said, it doesn't take away from a magical experience, and an otherwise beautiful story. I'd also argue that it has one of the best endings out of any game ever - the subtle tragedy of the final sequence is heartbreaking - but done in a way that could easily be missed. If rumours of a remake are true, it'll be a day one purchase for me. 

 

4. Metal Gear Solid

The intro to Metal Gear Solid blew me away; and not just because of the gameplay. At the time, it felt like it could have been from a high budget TV show. It featured credits - telling you the name of the voice actors; purposely going for a cinematic feel, making it feel like more than a game. It felt totally different from anything that came before it - and that made it seem like a huge deal. And it absolutely was. Sneaking around Shadow Moses Island was absolutely thrilling - and the villains and boss fights felt distinct, creative and unique. Take the Psycho Mantis fight - where you have to plug the controller into another port to stop him from 'reading your mind', and Mantis also breaks the fourth wall, commenting on your memory card. 

Then there was saving Meryl - and the ability to fail at that mission while still completing the game. And there was the torture sequence which felt utterly brutal, even though it was relatively tame by modern standards. MGS broke into the public consciousness to the point it had a stand-up routine written about it: 

And Snake became such an iconic character that he made it into the Smash Bros series - it's kind of sad to consider how uncertain the future of the series is, given what Konami has become - and given the company's relationship with creator Hideo Kojima. Maybe it's for the best, though - Snake's story has been told in a mad, over-the-top, Kojima way without him ever overstaying his welcome. 

Now on to the top 3, and our final guest writer - @Lion_of_the_Midlands...

Edited April 29 by RedRooster

[RedRooster]

3. Championship Manager 01/02

(Thanks to @Lion_of_the_Midlands - who wrote the below)

In The Usual Suspects Agent Kujan says "Every criminal I've put in prison, every cop that owes me a favor, every creep and scumbag that walks the streets for a living will know the name of Verbal Kint"

In the same way every single person who ever played Championship Manager 01/02, and even people who haven't know the name Cherno Samba. A game so good that it makes cult heroes of players who travelled the highways and byways of footballs backwaters. If you wanted to play on extra hard mode you didn't sign Samba, Mark Kerr, and Tonton Zola Moukoko. I'm sure there were others but they were the main 3.

If I could have a quid for every hour spent on Champ Manager 01/02 I'd be a very rich man but I'd happily trade it all to guide Millwall win to another Champions League, or Lincoln City to a World Club Cup. It had its quirks and it wasn't perfect, but it was the best because it hadn't crossed the line from an absorbing game to play to an actual simulation of managing a club. Maybe that's what others want but it was never for me, and I never really progressed beyond 01/02. Plus it had the added quirk that it made Ferguson retire from United at the end of the first season.

Still a joy even to this day, the game I've played the most, and the game I love the best. 

Now on to the final two...

 

[RedRooster]

2. Final Fantasy VII

 

I've tried not to show bias throughout this list - but I'm going to here. This is my favourite game of all time, and I wanted it to win. In spite of that, I can't complain about the winner at all - but I'll reveal what game that is shortly. 

Final Fantasy VII is everything gaming can be, to me. It's fun, it's beautiful, it's devastating. Its characters stick with you - and the game leaves you thinking about it long into the night. Given that there's a remake, I won't spoil the plot too much - but I will say that this was the first video game that made me cry. In fact, that sequence at the end of disc one - forcing you to fight a boss after what happens unfolds, complete with the music they choose to play - it's magnificent; using the fact its a video game to play with your emotions in a way that simply isn't possible in TV or film. 

But outside of that, you have a game packed with things to do - there's a world map which doesn't mark every destination, meaning that there are secrets - and loads of mini games to keep you occupied. There's nothing more satisfying than breeding a gold chocobo for the first time. 

I mentioned the characters earlier - and each one of them has their own story, and individual heartbreaks and tragedies. Barret's in particular sticks with me, with a devastating conclusion (and rock solid boss fight). 

And years later, I'm discovering things about the game - I only learned last year that there were whole new sections of story if you explore the Shinra Mansion at a certain point, revealing Zack's fate - which I initially had assumed had been designed in Crisis Core. 

The Final Fantasy VII Remake is very good - and it does the game justice; even if it does alter the story somewhat. But it's different - meaning that there's still value in playing VII all these years later, even if you haven't played it before. It's one of the best video game stories ever told, and it's depressingly timely given what's going on in the world right now as far as climate change denial goes. It may not be number one in the list, but it's my number one. 

Speaking of which, the video game you voted the best of all time is...

[RedRooster]

1. Red Dead Redemption 2

The UKFF loves Grand Theft Auto...and Rockstar games in general. In the end, this was the runaway leader - it wasn't a close race. 

And heck, it's justified. Red Dead Redemption 2 takes the idea of an open world, and combines it with a life sim. You want to look after your camp, you want to feed them and make sure everyone is happy. But there's that layer of dread - you know what happens, and you know what is to come. Yet you hold on to the hope of the impossible - that what you know will happen - if you've played the first game - won't happen. 

Sometimes, when a game shifts protagonist for its sequel, it's badly received - look at Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2. But in the case of Arthur Morgan, Rockstar built a flawed hero who actually surpassed John Marston from Red Dead Redemption. The acting throughout is tremendous - and the story is so beautifully told that you have emotional investment in everything from your camp, to your loyal horse. 

Then there's John Marston - knowing his fate adds to the story, rather than takes away from it. 

Red Dead Redemption 2 leaves you feeling like a cowboy - giving you a sense of adventure and endless possibility - even though, deep down, you know the possibilities are not endless - there's only one direction you're heading towards. 

 

It's brilliant, heart-breaking, fun, immersive - and a justified list-topper. 

******

A huge thank you to everyone who voted, and to @FLips, @Loki, @Lion_of_the_Midlands and @Mr_Danger in particular for tremendous contributions that pissed all over anything I could write. 

And a huge thank you to everyone who has read this!