Top 25 Games Of All Time

I have watched countless videos, from essays on specific games, on the development history of a game, the hidden gems of certain platform, or the best way to get into some series, but of course, the thing people care about the most, is defining which games are among the best of all time.

Picking out 25 favorite games is a harder task than one might think. And it’s not even because of number 1, that’s actually the easiest for me—you probably already know it. But I would have to make a list of all the games I’ve played, and then just, pick and choose.

I actually already tried to do this more than a year ago, this post was meant to be published around May of 2024.

Videogames are one of the most creative art forms, they’ve been present in my life since I have a memory, in a variety of eras and platforms. Choosing across that many years has been kind of hard, but well, this is my attempt at it.

This is what came out of my memory back in 2024, just in case you want to know how my brain remembered games (yes, Breath of The Wild was that low). It is different from the final list, so it’s not really a spoiler. Still, if you want a peek, serve yourself.

I’ve been meaning to return to working on this list for the whole year and, I guess I might as well get it over with.

This was kind of hard honestly, there are some games missing from my original selection that didn’t make it for various reason. Some are just kind of obvious, like, I decided to not put Mario Kart 8 just for variety. And I also tried to avoid repeating franchises unless the entries were like, significantly different from each other. Anyway, let’s get started.

Just for reference, here’s also a table of contents, which you can view if you just want to jump ahead.

25. Minecraft

Minecraft has been with me throughout most of my life in contact with the internet.

What else do I need to say? Among the first proper computer games I played, on a friend’s laptop somewhere in the US, was happy and had no idea what redstone (or most things) did. I recall playing the free edition on an old Galaxy Tab 2 my dad had, and getting some pirated versions on some of my phones back then.

Since then, I’ve bought the Java edition on my laptop and I play it from time to time, I think it is destined to be rediscovered by generations to come.

So many memories lingering since the early 2010s. The one realm I had with university classmates, that lead to so much chaos and despair; the server I currently pay for with a friend that we play once every couple months. Minecraft will always be there. No matter how much I try to get away, it just sticks around with you.

Alone or with friends, an delightful game.

24. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Given how many strong games are featured in the runner-up list, I felt a bit weird about having this one here. What is a random Star Wars game doing among the best of the best? Well, this is my list, and to me, this game is among the best I’ve ever completed (not that I’ve completed all the games here, mind you).

You are Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, but end switching sides, and even help start the Rebel Alliance.

It’s a hack and slash like the early God of War games, quick time events and all but not too annoying. You feel like the most powerful Force user in the galaxy.

There’s a lot of extras, fights from the movies and fun modes. These aren’t found in the Xbox and Playstation versions. I spent hours trying in the Order 66 mode.

This game was the first game I had on my PSP. A fantastic showcase of the handheld’s power, it blew me away as a kid.

Even though it is a bit low on the list, it is among the first that came to my mind when I thought of making this list. A great game to have on your PSP if you are a Star Wars fan.

23. Mario & Luigi Super Star Saga

I played this on and off since 2016 or so. I played the beginning a couple of times, the first was on my PSP via emulation, and it was awesome! However, I lost my save and had to start over.

This game starts how every Mario does, with Bowser attacking the castle about to kidnap Princes Peach, but then Peach’s voice gets stolen by some witch, and off you go chasing after it to another kingdom.

The highlight here’s the combat system. It’s turn-based, but you can enhance your attacks by hitting a button at the right time, as well as dodge attacks, by jumping or hitting an enemy back right before it hits you. And of course, dual combos between the brothers.

Yes, this game does what Expedition 33 did two decades before, and they nailed it.

The story and dialogue is hilarious, the music as well. The only caveat is the final 3rd of the game, which feels kind of rushed, which makes for a lot of battles for not that much story left.

Regardless, a unique RPG with exquisite turn-based gameplay that keeps you in focus the whole time.

22. Ys: The Oath in Felghana

Oath in Felghana represents the pinnacle of hack & slash action RPGs of old. It has everything you may need and more to be an enjoyable adventure from good old Adol, as he visits the birthplace of his friend Dogi. Soon enough, they end up involved in a plot that endangers the people on the island, and Adol is once again stepping up to save the day.

The simple combat of this game must not be overlooked, it is an satisfying gameplay loop where you can gain boosts for attack, defense and experience, as you hit enemies and chain attacks together. It is simple in execution (just spamming the attack button and using magic sometimes), but extremely addicting and fun, as you can slash enemies faster and faster due to the status boosts.

The music cannot be understated, a fantastic sountrack that keeps you on your toes the whole way through. Each dungeon will come with some upgrades to get, which will open up the game to more areas of the island and let you reach places you hadn’t before, almost like a Metroidvania, but without much backtracking.

I think this game does everything it accomplishes to do extremely well, it’s probably the best of its kind, which is why it’s on this spot.

21. Ys Seven

And yet, Ys Seven came first to my life, and brought me plenty of fun! It is one of the the highlights on the PSP and for good reason.

It is the first of the franchise to go for full 3D models for the characters, abandoning the pseudo-3D pixel art of old. The style is still great, and perfect for the PSP screen size.

You control a party of 3 characters, and switch between them with a button. Each character attacks differently: piercing, smashing or slashing; and enemies are resistant to certain attacks, which makes switching a necessity.

This game also introduced floor minimaps and skills , which make the combat system really fun, although some attacks are clearly better than others. You can also lead up a power bar which will let you unleash an ultimate attack and deal tons of damage to the enemies. Boss battles are super fun, epic and challenging but approachable.

Overall, a great journey to play through. Both Ys games are great!

20. Ridge Racer 2

I always knew of this game, mentioned in videos about the best underrated PSP entries, alongside Burnout Legends and Motorstorm Arctic’s Edge, and always thought how much better and fun those others looked. I was wrong.

Ridge Racer doesn’t have fancy branded cars, or the best graphics, it doesn’t even have damage—It has drifting.

That’s it, that’s all you are going to be doing in this game, and the physics behind it are quite simply, perfect. The sense of speed is superb, drifting your way through the same course with faster and faster vehicles, is completely different in practice.

The amazing soundtrack compliments the gameplay perfectly, and the guy commentating throughout the whole race and cheering you up (or telling you your mistakes) lap after lap.

Even though it’s complicated at first, you get better, you master the tracks, and you are hooked.

19. Hades

I kind of hated it at first, I didn’t see the point of it all, but the plot unfolded before my eyes, and the gameplay got deep, and what was repetitive for the sake of it turned into something incredible.

You are Zagreus, son of Hades, and you want break free from the dephts of hell. The gameplay revolves around fighting your way through the different levels of the underworld, all the way to the top. You’ll be aided by gods of the Olympus, who will grant you boons that’ll make it easier for you to get out.

You are doomed to fail, over and over again, the story revolves around that very fact, and it ends up with some great character moments, story and intrigue, every time you end up back where you started.

I love this game, but I haven’t finished it yet, I have managed to reach the surface a few times now, I just need some more to reach credits, and yeah, I know the real game will begin from there.

18. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

From here on out, Metroidvanias start showing up. Even if Aria of Sorrow is at the bottom of them, it’s still fantastic.

You are Soma Cruz, trapped in a Castle, you explore every corner, and survive against all sorts of enemies. When you kill them, you can gain and equip their abilities.

Unlock new weapons, face boss fights and find secret passageways. Encounter mysterious characters that will develop the story and give you hints as to where to go.

The pixel art is absolutely immaculate, the animations of the characters, the enemies, the boss fights. The fact this game is made to be portable and played in small chunks. My only issue with it was the difficulty spikes and some kinda obscure puzzles, nothing to worry much about, awesome game.

17. Metroid Fusion

These is one of the first games I ever emulated, alongside Zero Mission, some Pokemon and Final Fantasy stuff. This is a fantastic introduction to the franchise, doing everything right to be approachable and playable in short bursts, at the cost of some kinda linear level designs.

You can take your time to finish this game, and have some handy guidance as to what to do next, or you can complete this in a single session and fly through it once you know the ins and outs of the map. The gameplay is fantastic and the level design and story bits are great.

The bosses are also quite the challenge though, but in modern times where save states exist, you really have no reason not to give this one a go. It’s seriously fantastic.

One of the few games I have replayed more than once, it’s just that good and quick to get into. Highly recommended!

16. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

A seriously fantastic tactics RPG, probably the best way to get started in the series, the most incredibly satisfying pixel art animations in all of the Game Boy Advance library.

I don’t know what you want me to say, you know Fire Emblem, you pick actions and move around in a grid and attack enemies and a sick animation plays and you win, unless you lose and that character dies forever, then you load a save state and try again.

My only caveat is that I dislike the preparation sequence on these games, I just want to get thrown into the action and fight my way through the battles.

The gameplay is tight, the music is pretty good, I really enjoyed the dialogue and even the story ended up quite intriguing in the end. A highly recommended pick-up and play experience.

15. The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap

This Zelda game is just awesome. It is a tight and doesn’t take too long to beat. Every boss is great and it just looks wonderful. I wish the style used in this game was present in more games too.

Among 2D Zeldas, this is the one I have played to completion and even a bit more, collecting stuff and trying to unlock all the sword abilities and the like. There are so many things to discover other than the main quest, and the traversal in the world is great, it is so colorful and fun, the sense of adventure is real on this one. Just a great game to pick up and play.

This is one I haven’t replayed in a while, I might have to give it go later this year? I won’t promise anything though, but I have no doubts it will hold up really well.

14. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

This is a Metroidvania that simply does everything right. It collects the best features of every great game in the genre out there and gives it a fresh coat of paint that ends up as a fantastic mix between Metroidvania, Soulslike and Celeste.

I couldn’t care less about the story, but the world you explore and move around is fantastic. The movement and the flow is probably the main thing here, it just feels great to play from the start, and every new ability you unlock only expands on that feeling.

The bosses are challenging, but not as difficult as the ones that can be found in Hollow Knight, it is rather approachable thanks to the more forgiving save points, and the accessibility options that earned the game the Accesibility award last year.

This was my GOTY last year, and I loved it so much!

13. Celeste

I played this game when I found it for free during Christmas on Epic Games. Since then I also bought it on Switch, though I’ve not played it again just yet. This was a really right platformer with fantastic mechanics and tons of levels to complete. I really really enjoyed playing it and beating all of the main levels from start to finish in only a couple of days.

In this game, you go up a huge mountain, traversing to a series of extremely difficult levels, that get harder and harder as you get further up. However, the levels are not unfair, you just have to keep trying, you die and respawn instantly, which encourages you to just learn the muscle memory and finally move forward.

The game has some accesibility features for those who have a hard time with it, and it doesn’t shame you for it at all. This is a nice touch that makes the game approachable for everyone, and there’s tons of extra levels as well I might one day complete, whenever I play it on my Switch at last.

In my opinion, it is an experience worth having.

12. Final Fantasy VII

I had a hard time justifying this game being in my list, don’t get me wrong, it is a good game, but I have not completed it even once, or come close.

However, I’ve played enough to see all of what the game has to offer. The story and the setting is among the most ambitious of its time. And the mechanics are pretty good even today.

I was a bit annoyed after I could not progress any further since my PSP crashed during an FMV sequence in the game, but after I transferred it to my Miyoo Mini Plus, and then my Anbernic RG35XX SP, I have been able to play it on and off.

Even though I kind of feel bad about adding it to the list when I’m still only maybe halfway through the game, I just can’t not put it here.

I will one day finish this game and maybe I’ll have to reconsider its position on theon the list.

11. Dragon Quest XI

This, this is an incredible game, with a lot of things to unpack. It should not work, to have such generic plots and sidequests, and to end up twisting it in a whole different way everytime.

Dragon Quest has a very clear path it wants you to take, and that sometimes is the only way forward. The world is more limited and a lot of stuff is out of reach.

However, when I play Dragon Quest XI, I feel like I am reading the quintessential fantasy tale. Chosen heroes, powerful mages, sneaky thieves, and strong fighters. Almost every trope you can imagine, you can find here. And everything absolutely works.

There are kingdoms and cities, towns, ports, casinos, and people to talk to and learn from. Every house will have something, books you can read with trivia, recipes or lore, secrets and treasure to be found everywhere.

And of course, eventually you can travel by sea, and access even more places. Each town has its own story, a quest to complete that will reveal more about the overarching plot, but that can be completely separate as well. Each of them working as a bedtime story, pretty much.

The summary feature, present after returning to the game, is very useful to recall what I was doing last time.

I just love how the plot is always moving forward, yes sometimes it’s in a bit of a roundabout way, but it always ends up being worth the extra effort, precisely because the game goes beyond the tropes and actually has something to say, it’s a story with a heart, and it can be felt throughout the whole experience. I still don’t finish it, but I definitely will.

10. Hollow Knight

Compared to any RPG, Hollow Knight is a short game, but compared to any other Metroidvania, it’s a massive undertaking. With only a few safe spots where you can save and recover health, it is also brutally difficult, it doesn’t hold your hand at any point, and you will die, constantly, before you figure out how to move around properly and be decent at combat.

But, once you get around all of that, Hallownest is an incredible place to explore, it is a desolate land of a once prosperous kingdom. The place contains a variety of biomes, filled with enemies and obstacles. What I really like is what the layout and wildlife showcase about what even happened in the past, alongside the lore and characters that can be found who reveal a bit more about themselves and what happened to Hallownest.

Honestly, I don’t want to talk too much about this one, I literally just finished the game, so I will work on a review for it soon. But go play it especially now that Silksong is going to come out soon.

9. Halo 3

The original trilogy of the Halo franchise is really something else. I am one of the few people who was fine watching my friends play, I had cousins who played CE on their laptop, I had a friend who played Halo 2 on their Xbox, and I was happy to watch it, because the game and the music were simply fantastic. Such a unique experience!

Halo 3 is one of the few games I’ve completed not by myself. This is a game that I completed in a single sitting, with some friends back in middle school, we stayed overnight and played through pretty much the whole campaign. It is one of my fondest memories in my life. To just play until 4 or 5 am, sleep, and wake up and complete it at last.

I really can’t believe there was a time when I did that, but it happened, and since the game remains among the best in the FPS genre.

And the music, the soundtrack, it is simply outstanding, I listen to it almost every night as it is on my playlist of music to sleep to. Just play the whole trilogy already if you haven’t. It’s still super fun.

Masterpiece.

8. Jeanne D’Arc

This is a tactics RPG for the PSP that was recommended to me a while back. It is a very fantastical take on a historical figure, which is not something commonly seen in JRPGs or videogames at all.

It was one of my first introductions to the genre—other than a couple levels of Advance Wars—and I definitely found it really engaging. I didn’t really need much grinding, other than doing the extra stages once at least.

The game features skill crafting, which makes it so even grinding has more benefits other than XP, since enemies drop their own skills to be combined with others, and the abilities you get from some are just amazing. It is a much better feature than skill trees, since pretty much every character can be tuned up to what you want it to be when it comes to magic and attack styles.

Each character has their weapon and initial stats to be better at certain things of course, and the variety is great. Of course my favorite is the thief, who can wreak havoc, moving the most, evading everything and poisoning everyone!

Honestly, this is just a Tactics RPG that does everything extremely well. With wonderful art, great music, some epic anime cutscenes and just everything you may want, in order to go on and fight for France!

7. Final Fantasy VI

The last of the 2D Final Fantasy games, and the best of them all—among the ones I’ve played at least—and it is absolutely wonderful. The art is good, the story is just incredible, the music is top notch, everything here is high quality.

This game has been living rent-free in my head for the past 8 years or so at this point. I already told countless times the tale of how I had already played it almost to completion until I messed up, and my save file got lost to the void. It’s almost an inside joke here.

It is one of the all-time classics for a reason. It features many innovations for its time. The world in it is big. I also love the cities scattered throughout the map. It has a lot of environments and the plot is really well executed. The lack of a clear protagonist is a refreshing take, and you can customize your party to your liking pretty much the whole time.

The only problem is of course the random encounters, they really are a bit of a pain for those not used to turn-based combat. I personally don’t mind at all during dungeons and when I’m just wandering around in the overworld, but when I just need to reach a place in the map and keep getting into battles, it hurts. And the caves, oof.

Everything in this game is so well polished and I just need to finish it for once.

6. Zelda Breath of the Wild

Breath of The Wild is one of those games that you can’t just ignore, at the time it came out, it seemed like the peak of gaming, in handheld form, and I was eager to play it some day.

When I finally decided to buy a Switch, a friend let me borrow his copy of BOTW to test it out. I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly since then. The exploration, the vibes, the environment and the wonder, everything is still there. A world to explore and get lost into.

I left this game for a whole year. I was feeling a bit stale on the weaponry and armory department. I guess I just felt weak against a boss that kept defeating me, and I grew tired of it. But eventually, I managed to overcome that, and got sucked right back into the world of Hyrule.

This is a game where you can literally go anywhere on the map, with little to no limitations to your movement, other than your own stamina and heart count. I knew from the start that I wanted to avoid guides to find my way through the game, although I might use them for some puzzles here and there.

Finding and completing shrines, sneaking around enemies, making use of the environment and really getting to know my way through pretty much everything the game has to offer, is one of the most satisfying gameplay loops I’ve experienced.

5. 1000xRESIST

This “videogame” goes beyond what a videogame even is. 1000xRESIST is an experience worth living through.

The narrative, the dialogues, the scenes, the voice acting, the sountrack, the framing.

Everything here comes together to create an extremely unique piece of science fiction, dealing with theme upon theme upon theme expertly.

As Watcher, you are part of a society of clones, all of them from the same immortal being, the ALLMOTHER, your creator and goddess, who gave you a purpose, to observe, which you follow dutifully, hoping you are one day chosen to fight alongside her against the Occupants, alien beings who caused the extinction of the rest of humankind.

One day, you are tasked to perform your first Communion with the rest of your sisters, a procedure where you are able to relieve the memories of the ALLMOTHER and see her past memories. Until everything goes wrong.

As you uncover the truth, and see the reality of it all, everything is not what it seems. Will you comply, or will you resist?

4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

This is one of the first games I emulated myself in an old desktop computer with 512 MB of RAM running on Windows XP CIRCA 2012. It ran well enough for me. I recall that I played the first few areas, I managed to find the sword and the shield and got all the way to the boss in the Great Deku Tree, Queen Ghoma.

I couldn’t do it, it was too scary for me and I did not dare open the game again, the creepy atmosphere and music were too much for kid me.

It wasn’t until 2015 or 2016 that I just went back to it, and managed to complete the game! I even bought a PC controller, this time playing it on an old laptop I no longer have.

This game really does feel like the ultimate adventure, a legendary tale written in the books of old. It’s similar to what Dragon Quest does, but older, and well, it’s action based, not turn based combat. However, even today, the combat system is awesome. Z-targetting and all of the innovations here that are now expected of game with a 3rd person vew are here.

Sure, some aspects might have ages poorly, but I just can’t bring myself to not include this on my top 5, it is such a core memory of my childhood, and such a groudbreaking part of gaming history, it deserves this spot for sure.

It is an experience that I really have to relive soon.

3. Metroid Dread

Speaking of games that are a masterpiece of their genre, Metroid Dread dominates supreme as the latest entry in the franchise that started a whole genre, it only makes sense it has become my favorite one of the bunch.

This game is so fun to move around in, and has so many challenging boss battles and good puzzles to unlock new areas, this is the only game I’ve ever completed 100%, I just didn’t want to leave it incomplete, especially since it was lended to me by a friend as well.

I really, really liked it. And I also love the fact that it takes so long to get the morph ball, it makes it feel so different to any of the classics, with its sliding mechanic and I can’t help but love the animations all around. It is such a big flex from the developers, this game is a true accomplishment of game design, I want to be like it when I grow up.

2. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

Quite simply, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is a challenging game where you go after monsters, poke them until they die, and gather materials to build better armor and sticks. But of course, there’s more to it than that.

This is one of the games I keep bringing up from time to time. I’ve talked a about playing this online with weird VPN programs and PPSSPP. Eventually better and more open tools, from OpenVPN to Zerotier or Tailscale emerged, and playing with other people is easier than ever.

The mechanics of this game are great, it is hard to think that it runs on a PSP, the controls are hard to get used to, especially the Claw grip if you play on real hardware, but pretty much the same controller scheme remains to this day. Whenever I play Monster Hunter Rise it kind of feels exactly the same, except for the extra buttons and extra attacks, but Freedom Unite is the escence of it all, and it comes with tons of content! Hundreds upon hundreds of hours of classic Monster Hunter at its peak.

This game has provided me with the best online experiences I’ve had in ages, playing with complete strangers from all over the world, with the shared goal of simply getting beter and better, and improving ourselves through teamwork against impossible odds.

There’s a reason this is my most played title to this day, playing it together with a friend, is something you can’t miss out on.

1. Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger is the best game of all time.

I played this game for the first time in 2016 I think, I was looking for random games for the SNES to play on my PSP, my emulator handheld back in the day. I saw Chrono Trigger in many lists, and I have to admit I was a little skeptical, but I decided to give it a go, and from then on, everything changed…

–Chrono Trigger is Thirty years old

In this game you embody Crono, a guy who goes to the fair to see her best friend’s experiment, a teleporter! He stumbles into a girl in the way, and she ends up trying out the teleporting machine, until everything goes wrong, and she’s lost in a sort of dimensional gate. Only you have the courage to go rescue her, and change the course of your own destiny!

There’s not enough praise I can give to it. It’s one of the few JRPGs I’ve ever replayed, it is one of the few I keep watching YouTube videos about after many years, countless essays, dozens of playthroughs, I just love Chrono Trigger, I love to know when people play it for the first time, I want to see everyone enjoying it, knowing about it. This is the game that changed the way I see videogames as a whole. This is why I think of videogames as art and not just entertainment. The reason I can see they can have a message, something to convey, something that sticks with you forever.

And Chrono Trigger’s message is a beautiful one. The future is worth saving. Your comfort and easy going life is worth leaving, for the sake of those who haven’t even been born yet. When you know what’s coming and you know you can change it, it’s at least worth a try. The world itself is crying for help, will you be up for the task?

Final thoughts

So, what are your favorite games of all time?

Make sure to also see my individual game reviews for some of these titles, and you can always check my weeknotes and monthly media summaries to see general thoughts on each game I play!

I have so much more to say about some of these games, but it’s also time to sleep so…

Tomorrow, just because I already wrote it but didn’t want ot make this longer than it is, I will share some honorable mentions! Until next time.