Your number 1 game of all time?

[pacpix]

OCARINA OF TIME!

*highfive*
My favorite as well; a timeless classic!

[mrnikon]

For arcade games I like Eyes. for the home consoles it would be...I may have to break it up by system. Atari 2600 Brezerk, NES Super Mario Bros.(i never get tired of playing it), SNES Donkey Kong Country, Famicom Devil World, and finally Famicom Disc System Vs. Excitebike. I don't really have a #1 for any of my other systems yet.

[shwabadi]

DOOM (I (& II) on PC)

This game will always be my number 1 game of all time, because it simply blew me away back then.
I'm still playing the first two games all the time. It's simple and raw, perfect for what it is and does.

The graphics and audio is burned into my eyes and ears. Moving through the game is just muscle memory

Oh man, I really want to agree but for me it's a draw between MGS 3 and Doom 1...
I guess Metal gear takes it since I can spend more time on it in one run

[evilnick]

Today (since this is subject to change at any time), I'm going to say Contra.  There's no telling how many times I've defeated the Vile Red Falcon.

That is easily the game I've played through the most.  But for as much as it defined a big chunk of my childhood, I think I'm going to have to give it to Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.  Unparalleled horror atmosphere, fascinating gameplay, excellent story telling and progression, perfect camera, absolutely incredible audio and music, and just all around amazing.

Eternal Darkness was Nintendo publishing and work with 2nd parties at their all-time best.  Pity it disintegrated so afterwards.

[varkias]

Easy.... Symphony of the Night

[nsignific]

This is a hard one, because on one hand it'd be so easy to pick something like Super Mario Kart, Street Fighter II, Quake 1 or Mario 64, all of which defined my childhood, but if I'm honest with myself ...

It's World of Warcraft.

I've played it on and off since release and I fully intend to play it again. I've always enjoyed it and now that Titan (Blizzard's next big MMO) got cancelled, I'm convinced the genre is dying out and WoW will simply never be matched.

[krelyan]

It's nearly impossible to pick just one game .  Super Mario Bros. 3, Final Fantasy 6, Xenogears, Dark Souls, Castlevania: SotN, Civilization 4, Shadow of the Colossus, Mega Man 2 are all games I play regularly and I can't see myself ever getting tired of them.  They all have impacted me in some dorky way and I think they're all still the gold standards of their respective genres.  The answer would be any one of those depending on which day of the week it was .  I'd probably have to put a Rock Band/Guitar Hero game in there somewhere too as I've put countless hours into them.

[dreama1]

It's nearly impossible to pick just one game .  Super Mario Bros. 3, Final Fantasy 6, Xenogears, Dark Souls, Castlevania: SotN, Civilization 4, Shadow of the Colossus, Mega Man 2 are all games I play regularly and I can't see myself ever getting tired of them.  They all have impacted me in some dorky way and I think they're all still the gold standards of their respective genres.  The answer would be any one of those depending on which day of the week it was .  I'd probably have to put a Rock Band/Guitar Hero game in there somewhere too as I've put countless hours into them.

What's the big deal with  Shadow of the Colossus? Not really seeing the appeal you just climb gaint stone monsters right? and click flashing buttons until it dies or something.

[davifus]

It's nearly impossible to pick just one game .  Super Mario Bros. 3, Final Fantasy 6, Xenogears, Dark Souls, Castlevania: SotN, Civilization 4, Shadow of the Colossus, Mega Man 2 are all games I play regularly and I can't see myself ever getting tired of them.  They all have impacted me in some dorky way and I think they're all still the gold standards of their respective genres.  The answer would be any one of those depending on which day of the week it was .  I'd probably have to put a Rock Band/Guitar Hero game in there somewhere too as I've put countless hours into them.

What's the big deal with  Shadow of the Colossus? Not really seeing the appeal you just climb gaint stone monsters right? and click flashing buttons until it dies or something.

I guess If you look at it in a simplistic way... maybe but you're missing meat and potatoe which is everything else.

[dreama1]

It's nearly impossible to pick just one game .  Super Mario Bros. 3, Final Fantasy 6, Xenogears, Dark Souls, Castlevania: SotN, Civilization 4, Shadow of the Colossus, Mega Man 2 are all games I play regularly and I can't see myself ever getting tired of them.  They all have impacted me in some dorky way and I think they're all still the gold standards of their respective genres.  The answer would be any one of those depending on which day of the week it was .  I'd probably have to put a Rock Band/Guitar Hero game in there somewhere too as I've put countless hours into them.

What's the big deal with  Shadow of the Colossus? Not really seeing the appeal you just climb gaint stone monsters right? and click flashing buttons until it dies or something.

I guess If you look at it in a simplistic way... maybe but you're missing meat and potatoe which is everything else.

It's arty farty right? I love arty games except it don't look to fun this one.

[krelyan]

What's the big deal with  Shadow of the Colossus? Not really seeing the appeal you just climb gaint stone monsters right? and click flashing buttons until it dies or something.

It's not a flawless game and I don't think any of the games I consider the best of the best are such.  Yes, that is more or less what you do, but SotC has some amazing strengths.  The overall design of the game, from the characters to the Colossi, is fantastic.  The fluidity in the character animation is still one of the best I've ever seen with the way your character sways and stumbles.  The minimalist plot is also huge boon as I find nearly all video game writing mediocre at best.  By only filling you in with the basics and letting you piece the story together in your head it ends up being a much more satisfying experience.

The downside is that the gameplay is a quite a bit on the easy side and it isn't like something like Dark Souls or Devil May Cry or other character action games where boss battles are tests of reflexes and skills but are instead (fairly simple) puzzles.  Once you figure out the puzzle (how to climb to the Colossus's weak point) the battle is pretty much over.

But all the positives far outweigh the negatives.  It's one of those games that's an "experience" which sounds like some pretentious cop-out but it truly is one of the most cinematic games I've played (also has a stellar soundtrack) and it deserves to be mentioned for it.  It's still a satisfying game but yet a totally different experience than, for example, beating some really tough final boss or getting a perfect score.

[dreama1]

What's the big deal with  Shadow of the Colossus? Not really seeing the appeal you just climb gaint stone monsters right? and click flashing buttons until it dies or something.

It's not a flawless game and I don't think any of the games I consider the best of the best are such.  Yes, that is more or less what you do, but SotC has some amazing strengths.  The overall design of the game, from the characters to the Colossi, is fantastic.  The fluidity in the character animation is still one of the best I've ever seen with the way your character sways and stumbles.  The minimalist plot is also huge boon as I find nearly all video game writing mediocre at best.  By only filling you in with the basics and letting you piece the story together in your head it ends up being a much more satisfying experience.

The downside is that the gameplay is a quite a bit on the easy side and it isn't like something like Dark Souls or Devil May Cry or other character action games where boss battles are tests of reflexes and skills but are instead (fairly simple) puzzles.  Once you figure out the puzzle (how to climb to the Colossus's weak point) the battle is pretty much over.

But all the positives far outweigh the negatives.  It's one of those games that's an "experience" which sounds like some pretentious cop-out but it truly is one of the most cinematic games I've played (also has a stellar soundtrack) and it deserves to be mentioned for it.  It's satisfying from a totally different experience than, for example, beating some really tough final boss or getting a perfect score.

Well what about ico?

[krelyan]

Well what about ico?

I think a lot of that applies to Ico as well.  Ico has better puzzles, but SotC trumps it in story, music and has better gameplay mechanics IMO.