Random: IGN's 'Best Video Game Of All Time' Tournament Is Getting WILD

Ok I like New Vegas a lot but how did it win against KOTOR

New Vegas is one of the best Fallouts but KOTOR is literally like one of the finest WRPGs, let alone Star Wars games ever made

Also Pokemon Yellow vs. Batman Arkham City is such a weird and unfair pairing lol. You're pitting a 1996 Game Boy game against BATMAN ARKHAM CITY

Arkham City is better than Super Mario 64 though... A lot of those are arguable, but if we're looking at playability today and not impact SM64 doesn't stand a chance.

Eh. People vote what they know.

These kinds of brackets are always nonsense and have a lot of bias from the website's userbase. If NintendoLife would hold this exact bracket it would definitely have Nintendo games winning all over the place, obviously.

Why do we care about which games are better than others, anyway? Just play whatever YOU like, best game be damned.

Portal 2 should've gone farther. That game transcends the medium.

First of all how did symphony of the night lose to re4…. Like this is a best of bracket for high schoolers.

This is...weird. How do you even compare some of these?

Maybe I'm missing something, but how the f*** do you compare Mario Kart to Grand Theft Auto when they're not even in the same genre? Or Chrono Trigger with Burnout?

GTAV will probably win.

Of those games I'd say Zelda, Batman or Witcher but a big reason for that as well is that for the life of me I cannot feel why someone would play Ghetto Auto or Soldier of Duty.

I was certain I would hate the results from the beginning. A lot IGN's followers are The type of gamers that give us all a bad name and hate everything that Isn't dark and doesn't go pew pew.

Arkham City is easily my favourite game, no question. Amazing to see it reach this high.

@Clarice ghetto auto? Settle down.

@Clarice Lmao GHETTO Auto. Calm down buddy who hurt you

@RBRTMNZ Most of the games that made the finals bracket aren't even shooters so this comment doesn't even make any sense.

Does anyone remember that "best character" poll on GameFaqs that was won by a Tetris L-Block?

Comparing Chrono Trigger to Burnout is literally the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

why would you listen to IGN...

whats wrong with you

Super Metroid losing to Apex Legends hurts my soul

You simply can´t get mad at this. Just look at the Bloodborne vs Tetris Bracket. I love both but is like comparing Ice Cream vs Lord of the Rings, it makes no sense.
Just relax and watch GTA V win the final against GOW.

Apex Legends beat Super Metroid
Apex Legends beat Super Metroid
APEX LEGENDS BEAT SUPER METROID
😵🤯🤮😑😡😒🙄🤔🤐😬😟🤬😤😱😖😩🥺😳

Alot of the match ups are unfair in my opinion, I mean how do you even compare Last of us to SSBU? like WTF?

They’re pretty much all good games though, and this is a numbers game. Stands to reason that games with a wider appeal would win. Also Burnout 3 is brilliant. I probably would go for Chrono Trigger but I wouldn’t begrudge anybody picking Burnout.

@sketchturner Its just an unfair match up, Apex legends is a FPS BR, SM is a Totally different game.

@Clarice Damn Getto Auto, you K?

@Strictlystyles you don't think it's a fair description? It is roleplaying a criminal from the ghetto, carjacking is the biggest gameplay mechanic...they even market the game as such, no?

Forget all of the ones mentioned, the real shocker here is surely that Half-Life 2 lost to Rise of the Tomb Raider!

People take these things too seriously though. What's not to love about a head to battle between Pokemon Yellow and Street Fighter II?!

@Snatcher I had some fun with Apex Legends and don't dislike the game at all. But when this is supposed to be about greatest games of all time? That's insane, regardless of them being different genres. In 20 years gamers will still talk about Super Metroid, but I doubt anyone will still be talking about Apex Legends.

There is a big difference between foundational classic and flavor of the week. But it seems we live in a flavor of the week culture.

@TheFrenchiestFry Why so literal? I knew I would get this needlessly pedantic response and I still did not reword my comment so it is my own fault. These may not all be shooters but you know what I meant. I meant violent and shooters tend to be among the most violent games. To be more clear, IGN followers mostly like dark brooding violent games and not the type of colorful happy games made by Nintendo.

If this was a best game of the 2010s tournament and you ignored the 2 games not from the 2010s, this would not be a terrible list. The lack of Undertale or Minecraft would still make it make no sense, but it'd be much less stupid than it is.

I mean, the reality is that IGN is, for lack of a better phrase, the normie gaming site, so its gonna be the most boringly obvious, big budget modern classics, at best. At least until fans or trolls try to sabotage it. Like was it the Gamefaqs poll where it was a running joke that every year was OOT vs. Final Fantasy VII back in the day? Same thing here.

In all honesty was it to hard to compare Apex legends to TF2? its parent game? LMAO.

Breath of the Wild is better than RE4 what world are you from? It’s worlds better

@sketchturner Oh i'm sure, But its unfair, Now if it was SM and idk, some other game from then, I'm sure it would have won, and if apex was compared to TF2 then idk who would have one, I Think the reason apex won was bc There are just a bunch of fps fans there.

But I agree with you, M had a impact on the gaming world, Apex legends had an impact on the BR world, you know which is bigger.

@RBRTMNZ Just because these games are mature does not signify that gamers ONLY like those kinds of games. Games like Witcher 3 and Bloodborne are still very well crafted and should be judged on their own merits as games and not catering to a non-existent bias for people who want their visuals to be muddy and grey

The fact Witcher and Zelda made the finals bracket literally flies in the face of that argument lol. Those games are vibrant as hell

@TheFrenchiestFry IKR, Whoever put this list together Really needs to look back on it and think, what the hell i'm I thinking.

This bracket is SO WEIRD. KOTOR vs Tony Hawk 2 Pro Skater? CIV IV vs Assassin's Creed?

@Clarice spoken like someone who's never played a GTA game. You're probably basing all of this off of a single picture of CJ lol. Ghetto residers make up a really small fraction of the kinds of people you play as or interact with in the series

@Yosher But if you had NL PS and PX, then you would get a fair list.

@TheFrenchiestFry Yeah, Witcher 3 is pretty much the opposite of gritty. People seem to think it’s gritty when most quests are fairly light-hearted albeit with mature themes. It’s also got beautiful environments that wouldn’t look out of place in a Nintendo game.

@nessisonett I never played it, but from what I have seen I almost thought it could be a T Rated game, if it wasn't for the, er other stuff.

@Clarice San Andreas is pretty much the only GTA where the ghetto is a plot point. And even then it’s for 5 minutes at the start and then you’re off cross-country. The rest you’re playing as a mute white dude, a Russian dude or as one of several non-ghetto protagonists. Even Franklin in GTA V is in the ‘ghetto’ for 5 minutes and it’s barely relevant to the plot.

@Snatcher I don't think a 'fair' list will ever be gotten because in your case we'll only get votes from an English speaking audience while the Japanese would get an entirely different list still in a similar scenario.

A list/bracket like this shouldn't ever be seen as a way to decide the best game. It's just for fun for the website's community, and that's fine, but it'll always be biased for the audience that goes there.

@nessisonett Literally all the games in the finals bracket excluding Bloodborne are pretty environmentally and visually diverse, and at least with Bloodborne it's muddy and grey in that sort of abstract Lovecraftian sense where it's very clearly fantasy but in a more depressing Victorian-era gothic sort of way

@Snatcher Witcher 3 should be played over the age of 18 not because of content reasons, as 12 year olds play violent games all the time, but because the themes explored land better with players who’ve at least lived a little. It’s mature for an actually good reason rather than just sticking boobs and gore for no reason.

"Is Chrono Trigger better than Burnout 3? According to IGN's audience, it is not. Also, Skyrim is better than Ocarina of Time, Breath of the Wild is better than Resident Evil 4 and Super Mario Bros. 3, Batman: Arkham City is better than Super Mario 64, Titanfall 2 is better than Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Bloodborne is better than Tetris."

Actually, I agree with a couple of these. Breath of the Wild IS better in terms of variety, control and nuance. Burnout 3 is better for accesibillity, control, flow and appeal. Bloodborne is better for realised ambition, atmosphere, scale, variety and a host of other reasons.

I'll be looking forward to motorbikes in The Witcher 3 and GoW2018, then.😄 But speaking seriously, what's to marvel at? These are all user polls and they're bound to get crazy. Which is why mass media, including IGN, love them. Crazy generates attention... as this very newspost kinda goes to prove.

@Clarice If we're talking about the original OoT, Skyrim is VASTLY better in terms of sheer replayability and density in content by comparison. Games like Breath of the Wild were literally built off a lot of Elder Scrolls' fundamentals in open world progression and design for a reason. It also actually has a story that can be summarized in more than just a paragraph or two which gives it bonus points

@TheFrenchiestFry 'Ghetto residers'? What the hell are you on about...ghetto refers to a living area as well as lifestyle and subsequent behaviour. It's the glorification or normalisation of criminal behaviour which is the ESSENCE of the game.

@Clarice Except in GTA whether you actually turn completely to a life of crime or choose to actually reform is completely up to you. Some of the criminal activities you do are completely unalterable but especially in GTA V it's about how the playable characters rise above their previous misdeeds and attempt to turn over a new leaf despite being broken people with no other option before other than crime, especially for characters like Trevor and Michael

Remember kids, this is just a bit of harmless fun. Please riot responsibly when your favourite game gets eliminated.

@nessisonett Sounds right to me.

This list is painful.

@TheFrenchiestFry Don’t forget that basically every criminal in these games eventually meets a grisly end or experiences consequences for their actions. The entire point of San Andreas revolves around the family being ripped apart by their own greed. Them saying it glorifies criminality is like saying The Wire glorifies drug dealers. Showing that successful criminals make money is just plain common sense.

@Clarice Where is the jab against masculinity?

I think it’s worth taking into account the average age of people voting on these things…..judging by this list the voters are relatively young (as most of the games are relatively recent).

@KiraMoonvalley Never heard of that game.

I took one glance at the top games and I was like, "Oh, that's right. IGN is BS. I forgot."

Bloodborne is better than Botw. But either way this list sucks.

@TheFrenchiestFry I never spoke in absolutes. I did not say all gamers or every IGN fan. Nor did I say all the games are dark. I hope for your sake that you're being intentionally obtuse as a bad faith form of debate because otherwise... Either way you're not having a discussion, you're being weirdly defensive towards me and others for reasons I do not understand, so I'm done here. Also Witcher is a very mature and violent game.

Mario 3 beat Persona 5 💃💃💃💃💃😎😎😎😎

Also, no Crash 2?

Everyone here’s falling for it too. It’s nonsensical so say BOTW is better than Mario 3 or to even try & compare SOTN to RE4. There seems to be a madness here - compare Metroid prime to Mario 3. Which is the best? If you answer with either game you’re a moron

@Clarice Regarding your definition of “ghetto,” the actual definition is:

“A quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure.” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Historically, this refers to Nazis forcibly concentrating Jewish people in the lead up to genocide - something I’m sure you’re aware of with that profile pic.

Saying ghetto refers to glorifying criminal behavior reinforces the decades-old racist trope that minority = criminal. I’m sure you mean well in your discussion comments, but please be careful about stereotyping people who live in ghettos.

Gamers nowadays tend to favour whatever's pushing the consoles graphical technology the most and/or whatever is the most "social" experience, and maybe some story stuff and lots of drama and the like, with possibly a bit of virtue-signalling thrown in for good measure. That's not for me, but I don't get to decide for them, I guess.

It's interesting that they don't even have Super Mario World, IGN's best game of all time in their top 100 games. Also not included are Red Dead Redemption 2 their number 3 game for XBox One, and Divinity Original Sin: 2 one of their top PC games of all time.

@KiraMoonvalley you would have 3 visual novels in your top 8 games of all time?

As long as modern warfare doesn’t win we’re good

Jesus Christ, talk about a glorified popularity contest.

What do GTA:SA, GTAV, BOTW, Witcher 3, Arkham City, GoW2018 and COD4 have in common? They're all AAA games that sold more than 10 million copies each. They're not bad games, but it's clear that actual game quality is not a priority here.

Well it's IGN so I wouldn't expect anything good or relevant.

Let's play Dance Dance Revolution. 🤓

I need a partner to play DDR together.

@link3710 But it's about the best games of all time, so the impact should be considered too. I mean, Mario 64 was huge, inspiring alot of other games (Ocarina of Time too). So this voting is very unfair, based just on graphics/shooting and not the overall things

With so many different game genres and personal tastes, this feels like a pointless diversion, which I suppose it is. Games are art, and art is subjective.

Invalid since they are doing looking on social media. Minecraft beating Bioshock is funny, shows how many little children are voting, and those things are useless.

This is why when people ask me "are you a gamer?" I say no.

Mandatory hollow knight fan complaining here- but come on, not even Celeste on the list? IGN themselves gave it a 10/10

Without looking at the match ups that’s not a bad top ten really xx

The older I get the funnier it gets that there are competitions as if there’s one piece of art that “reigns supreme”. 😜

I never look at these polls just because of this reason. But for what it's worth, my favorite game is breath of the wild but the best game ever made is ocarina of time.

You can't have the general public vote for best games. They're idiots or too young to understand the impact of games historically in the medium. Also the idea of best games is wild. There are so many games for who their influence is far reaching or their genre particular that it would be a darn shame to leave many out.

This is just a popularity contest where a game like roblox could actually crush Mario 3 because a lot of ppl don't consume games as a fan of video gaming and more like fans of particular games.

@KirbysAdventure yup its a popularity contest between games that have sold outrageous numbers during a time of higher game purchases with bloated budgets and advertising behind them. It's a contest between one stack of money against another stack of money. Tbh this is why game award shows in general are zzzzzz

Ocarina of Time, Super Metroid, Mass Effect 2 and Goldeneye have all been completely disrespected.

At this point if Breath of the Wild doesn't win that silly tournament, we should just call for an asteroid.

You get a real sense of the IGN audience just looking at “the Witcher beat Minecraft.” Minecraft is a dynasty; it’s deeply creative, and like Tetris, debatable whether a sequel is even possible. Imagine Chess version 2.0. It makes upwards of 250 million dollars a year, and represents an apex of design; it’s a game that defines video games.

I’m honestly not sure that Breath of the Wild compares with Minecraft. I’m not even sure if Breath of the Wild compares with the influence of GTA. But I’m quite certain that A Link to the Past is the greatest video game ever made.

It should say, "the most popular video games (the 2021 edition) by public vote", not "best" and not "of all time". The list of games available for voting is very limited, missing many older classics. And of course the newer games are more popular, because they are fresh in memory and many of the voters may not have even played much of the older games. But I guess it's just simple fun content that gets readers involved, but it doesn't really tell much about anything, either than that video game fans like video games that are popular at the moment...

That line about Breath of the Wild only making it to the semifinal because of a motorbike got a genuine chuckle out of me.

If there is going to be a "Best Video Game of All Time" bracket, there is going to be different genres going against each other. Otherwise it is a "Best RPG" or whatever genre you are comparing.

I'm not sure what's worse, the results and list, or this comment section..

Like every form of entertainment, I knew things were moving progressively downhill...but I never could have imagined things were THIS bad already.
What have we become??

Out of the top 8, BotW is the only game I have and will ever play.

I wonder if IGN has a higher demographic of only PC/Xbox players.

@Pukadon
https://store.steampowered.com/app/314340/Chess_2_The_Sequel/

Nes?? Seriously?? Why not go back to the Atari days??

I only think it's fair when you compare games with others released around the same time.

Of course they will vote out older classics, most of the current gamer public are probably around 20 years old or less. What they're missing and probably weren't considering is the impact those games had at the moment they were released.

Tastes and technology have changed with time, so in my opinion, if you want to compare the overall quality of games from different eras, refer to the average review scores of trusted gaming media from their time and put them in a list.

Tetris is quite literally and without hyperbole a perfect game. It’s likely the actual best game of all time… but honestly who cares? Most people have different tastes than I do I guess.

This is like comparing apples to the legend of Zelda breath of the wild

How the heck is a call of duty game “one of the greatest games ever made”, hell make all the call of duty games up there, their all just copy and pasted. I think that the final four are going to be both the GTA’s, God of War and botw, so I’m excited to hear what ign users vote.

Voted in a couple of these, but when I saw Tetris had been knocked out by Bloodborne I realized it wasn't worth my time.

IGN can be fun to visit, but I stopped listening to them as reviewing authorities when they started giving spectacular reviews to mediocre things. Maybe their user voting can be more authentic

Why is BotW being greater than RE4 / SMB3 controversial? They are all wildly different games that will appeal to different people to lesser or greater extents, but BotW was an instant landmark in gaming history that absolutely deserves consideration as the GOAT of games.

@MajorasLapdog I'm relieved I'm not the only one who noticed a pattern of negativity amongst those comments.
Imagine following a specific writer's articles just to leave smarmy comments.

Ign is being subtle with how they are expressing themselves, but basically, all they are doing is announcing that they support a "change" in the way things should be valued. More importantly, they're spreading the "putting one above another in ranks is normal" mindset. There's no way to judge two masterpieces and put them above another, especially if they're completely different genres. We can rank based on opinion, we also debate and argue but most of us understand that there's no way to set a ranking up as 100% fact as if set in stone. They show off that they are doing it by votes but just because a couple of thousand of IGN voters prefer BOTW over Bloodborne or vice versa doesn't make it superior. This is assuming they are telling the truth. They want a younger generation to see what they're doing and have them think it's okay, and logical to do this. This isn't harmless, it's their attempt at getting our feet in the water for change. That change is, it's fact aand true because we said so. We can't question them since they hold superiority.

Anyway, I don't want to even see this stuff reposted here. Not taking this seriously because it's just a "harmless" fun ranking is how they want you to think right now. This mindset needs to be firmly corrected in the beginning. It's sickening.

@GeneJacket ha! They did it

I’m sorry but there is no way BotW loses to any of the 7 remaining. It’ll come down to Witcher 3 and BotW. BotW will walk away the winner hands down.

As of veteran of the GameFAQs Character Battles it's always fun to see how other userbases rank games and characters.

I have my doubts about BotW. The game takes the best aspects of many open world games, but it really needs much more.

It's IGN......so this means absolutely nothing to me.

What a list, a bunch of 3d action-adventure games. I would have rather seen something more interesting like Super Mario Maker or Hades. I'd rather play ARMS, Splatoon, On Rush, or Wii Sports Resort than any of the games listed.

@Danondorf thank you, and yes I am very aware of the original definition of ghetto and actually do not agree with the change it went through after World War 2. It's not my decision to make but the comparision to what the Jewish people went through with the current poor neighbourhood is just not on.

However, the meaning has changed and nowadays when people say ghetto they understand very poor neighbourhood with disenfranchised residents.
I am not sure why you are trying to put words in my mouth with regards to an attitude towards criminal behaviour and minority groups. That is not my reasoning, just that yes in the economically heavily disadvantaged areas i.e. ghetto, crime and the attitude towards it reflects what the developers of GTA portray and market towards.

Sorry, but I can't take anything that refers to a "round of 2" in place of "the final" seriously.

(BotW to win!)

@link3710 LMAO

IGNs audience is the same group who was raised on whatever gamestop was pushing the last decade. Basically trash generic AAA games.

Pretty sad, but it is clown world afterall.

@rdm22 BOTW, while a good game, is just an Ubisoft open world game with the veneer of a zelda game.

This tournament lost all meaning the moment you said it was done by ign. I'm still surprised that site is still active after all the controversies that it bin involved with

@BrazillianCara I was there that day, when the strength of men triumphed.

Let the children play, while I enjoy FFVII for like the 100th time all over again.

This is just pure BS. Tetris compared to Rock Band? Fallout to League of Legends? They are not even the same universe.
Also, Final Fantasy VII matched against Breath of the Wild in the first round and Super Metroid against Apex Legends and lost?
I though this is for best video game of ALL TIME. Who will remember Apex Legends in 5 years from now?

@Nintendo_Thumb
Hades is on that list though; just didn't make it into round 2

I can sorta agree with you but then again, this might not necessarily have to do with 2D or 3D but with ratings and userratings.

some thigs are kinda interesting. Like GoW 2018 ranked over Skyrim. Didn't expect that as one game is available on all systems and has one hell of a legacy and the other is PS4 exclusive.

It's a fun idea, but of course they are wrong. Journey should've won against whatever game it lost to. Super Metroid is also final contender material. I'd like to see wipEout at least in the tournament. For me, based on hours played, I'd be forced to say Rocket League is my favorite game. But my feelings tell me Breath of the Wild is my favorite game. So this unfair IGN tournament could still end up being scientifically true.

Bloodborne should win.

Half the list is lit, the other half is genuinely a joke. How in the name of God is fallout New Vegas not in the top three, it's so rough that it was put anywhere close to KOTOR, that's genuinely brutal and straight up cruel. Also, damn why did they include modern shooters in this list? It's the most vapid genre in the entire industry that peaked in terms of quality with the doom series

@TheFrenchiestFry in my opinion, fallout New Vegas is the best written video game of all time and Kotor is a very good wrpg but it lacks the brilliant writting, world building, world design and Characters like New Vegas does, Kotor is a very good bioware Rpg, but every bioware Rpg feels very similar after that point, i often feel like it struggles to face down its own future compared to other games of the time, but regardless, I consider KOTOR to be one of my favourite games of all time and it's sequel Kotor II to be my favourite game of all time and the best written star wars property of all time and also the second best written game of all time (to my knowledge)

@Clarice Ghetto Auto! I will henceforth never call it anything else!

hmm.. So IGN is having a video game popularity contest and we are surprised that their audience (mostly trending younger) love games they grew up with....

It would be like running a poll on Atari Age and being shocked that Pitfall beats out a lot of competition from the modern era.

the only correct Best Game of All Time list is one with Ace Attorney and Paper Mario TTYD in the top five

I don't make the rules, sorry

ITT: people make assumptions about games they've obviously never played

@RBRTMNZ here's a revelation - you give Nintendo fans a bad name with your cynical and self important reductivism.

The only people who are right in these comments are the people saying let people enjoy what they enjoy (and also that the brackets were super dumb). Nintendo diehards are always so ignorant about everything not Nintendo.

@Therelon No I didn't do those things. I didn't make blanket statements. I spoke of a specific type of gamer that absolutely exists and makes up a loud toxic portion of the gaming discourse and who typically thinks Nintendo games and anything less than bleeding edge tech are for babies. You don't need to get defensive if you're not that person. Though if you are that person you suck and should change. And also don't worry if you built your personality around being a fan of one of the above mentioned games. I like all of them so no need to be defensive about that also.

@Strictlystyles
While SotN is awesome, so too is Resi 4, an it isn't exactly new. It's a deserved victor imo but also the right victor when you consider what it done for the series.
Best of bracket for high schoolers is just silly. we are not in 2005...

@Rosona “while sotn is awesome..”
no you truly don’t understand how sotn is literally one of the best games of all time. There is literally a entire genre of games defined because of it (metrioidvania is a thing but usually when the phrase is used it means a sotn styled game specifically ). It’s always up there in gaming top lists so for it to lose to some like re4 is childish at best. I mean honestly, the entire bracket looks like it was picked by kids who started playing games in the mid 2000’s. Newer games generally beat out older ones so the age of the people voting and not actually gaming knowledge Is clear.

@Clarice just stop. It’s not really a defendable argument. There’s Clearly undertones with that type of wordplay which makes it very inappropriate.

@Strictlystyles
No, you don't understand that other people can have different opinions and you wrongly assume I am not a huge fan of Castlevania so then attempt to educate me on something I already know.
You evidently can never be wrong too.

You clearly misunderstand how well liked Resi 4 is and rightly so, it isn't wrong to compare one great game to another.
Stating childish at best is effectively stating you are a child because of how you have reacted and responded to something that is different to your opinion.

While some of your points are valid and I agree with in regards to the age range of voters.

I think we can agree that some matchups are not exactly fair ones, it probably would have worked better to do old versus old & so on then join up. Putting one of my favourite games of all time in FF7 against a modern great in BOTW is never going to go particularly well for the older game.

I clearly understand people can have different opinions but if your talking about greatest games ever I’m not voting wit my heart I’m making an informed decision l. I don’t care if re4 is more popular, the impact it had on gaming as a whole was not as large as sotn. hell, it’s not even the best Re game( even at the time it came out).this is all arguable of course, which is why I’d never rate it over sotn, even if I was biased against re4(which I’m not).

This brackets just seems like an American kids popularity contest and it’s trash bd I’m over it.