The debate about “the greatest” is inevitable, no matter what industry you are in – be it sports, TV, movies or video games. The debates tend to be full of apples-to oranges comparisons, and as such, they are unlikely ever to produce a conclusion that everyone is happy with. This is what makes these debates so interesting. We decided to use the month of march to host our own bracket style tournament. Readers voted to decide the best video games of all time.
Even though we at Game Informer assembled the bracket, it was heavily influenced by our 2018 Reader Vote in conjunction with our 300th Issue. We assembled the bracket using data from our Reader Vote in 2018, staff input, sentiments expressed by various online communities and reviews of more recent games. There were some notable exclusions, including the original Deus Ex as well as Super Smash Bros. Melee and Max Payne.
We then held two voting rounds per week to narrow down the field until one winner was selected. The Game Informerreaders, community and more than 200 000 votes have crowned The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time as the best video game of all-time! The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt won our Reader Vote in 2018, and The Last of Us was a close second. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was ranked third in the 2018 reader vote. It’s no longer the story of the underdog, but still a testament to Nintendo’s masterpiece from 1998.
We had our share of blowouts along the way. But we also saw some close calls. Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater narrowly beat the iconic Pokemon Red and Blue by 12 votes in the closest matchup of the tournament. Samus defeated Ellie in one of Metroid Prime’s biggest upsets, The Last of Us Part II. The margin was only 23 votes. The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past was narrowly beaten by Half-Life 2 despite a small difference of less than 90 votes.
Below you can view the entire bracket!
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The debate about “the greatest” is inevitable, no matter what industry you are in – whether it’s sports, TV, movies or video games. The debates tend to be full of apples-to oranges comparisons, and as such, they are unlikely ever to produce a final answer that everyone is happy with. It’s the fun of it that makes these debates so interesting. We held a bracket style tournament in March, where readers voted to decide the best video games of all-time. We assembled our 64-game bracket based on the 2018 Reader Vote, staff input, sentiments in online communities and reviews of more recent titles. There were still some games that we excluded, including the original Deus Ex as well as Super Smash Bros. Melee and Max Payne. We then held two voting rounds per week to narrow the field down until one winner was determined. After receiving more than 200 000 votes, the Game Informer readers and community has named The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time as the best video game of all-time! The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt won our Reader Vote in 2018, and The Last of Us was a close second. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was ranked third in the 2018 Reader Vote. It’s no underdog tale, but the legacy of Nintendo’s 1998 masterpiece is still evident. Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater narrowly beat the classic Pokemon Red and Blue by 12 votes in the closest matchup of the tournament. Metroid Prime’s win over The Last of Us Part II was one of tournament’s biggest surprises. Samus defeated Ellie by just 23 votes. The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past was the final game to win, with only a small margin of votes between them. When did you lose your favourite? What surprised you most about the results? Comment below to let us know what you think!