It’s like the hardest question one could ask a gamer. I’ve been asked this so many times by my viewers and I’ve always had difficulty answering it. So, instead of trying to do it on my own, I solicited my FriendFeed and Twitter followers to see what they thought. It turns out, I’m not the only one who has difficulty narrowing it down:

Twitter:

dunnfann @Bwana madden xbox360

pcmacsmackdown @Bwana mine would be Unreall tournament 3

otherbayarea @Bwana resident evil 4 ftw

MikeNally @Bwana Pole Position (old school baby)

pcubed @Bwana Final Fantasy VII. No question.

GvLPunisher @Bwana that’s a tough one but I would have to say military madness for the TG16.

Beonarri @Bwana Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

Dualbo @Bwana Abe’s Oddysee- PS1 though the DS lite is my top pick for best console/platform.

ultimatejosh @Bwana Deus Ex for PC

MichaelMidnight @Bwana favorite video game of all time: SNES’s (and just currently released on the DS) Chrono Trigger!

kenGe @Bwana Super Mario Bros 3 for NES

therealchris @bwana i think descent 2 was the best in its time & still a great game

terpkristin @Bwana Of course, it really is Final Fantasy VI, as it was in Japan

terpkristin @Bwana Tough question! Final Fantasy III on the SNES was what really drew me into JRPG’s, and one I still go back to, so that’s my vote.

HeyEddie @Bwana Mario! What else?

fiveofeight @Bwana Half Life 2 for the PC

kyleve @bwana Super Mario Galaxy

FriendFeed:

DS Lite: Animal Crossing (in Japanese). Wait – SNES: The Legend of Zelda. No – PS: Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. Hold on – Gameboy: Metroid II. Nono, Nintendo: Super Mario Brothers II… wait Mario Kart… Mortal Kombat II… Bwana, please don’t make me choose. My head hurts. :\ – Mona N.

GTA – Ali.Atrvash

Sonic / Puzzle Bobble / Peggle / Bewjeled 2 / Quake 3 Arena / Puzzle Quest / CoD 2 / Max Payne / Need For Speed Hot Pursuit – Underground – Milan Luca aka Vibes

Donkey Kong, arcade version. Many quarters died in the making of my fascination of that game. I’d buy a standing version and keep it in my house if I had room for it. – Derrick

I remember how much I loved the Atari game Adventure- it was one of the first games I ever played. But my daughter and I have been playing a lot of Cooking Mama so I’ll go with that because it makes her happy. – Abby Martin

Civilization – I’ve lost track of how many evenings “disappeared” to that game – Mike Taylor

Here’s a few or mine: Arcade – Missile Command | PC – Quake Series, Battlefield Series, Half-Life Series | Atari 8-bit – Spelunker, Jumpman, Lode Runner | Atari ST – Midimaze, Dungeon Master, Stunt Car Racer, Populous | C-64 – Below the Root | Atari 2600 – Breakout | Playstation 3 – FIFA, Motor Storm | Wii – Sports, Fit – Mark Krynsky

The Legend of Zelda, Punchout, Metroid, Final Fantasy, all on NES. I couldn’t think of any others until Is aw Mona mention Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo on the Playstation, I have that sitting on my desk I’ve played it so recently! – Joe Pierce

(Nintendo) Mario Bros., Zelda, Mario Kart (PC) Half-Life Series (XBox) Halo Series (GameBoy/DS) Tetris – Jeffrey Blais

Ultima VII & Ultima VII Part 2. – Akiva Moskovitz

Super Tecmo Bowl, Ultima I-IV, Knockout (? – game with Glass Joe as the first boxer), – Amani

Call of Duty – World at War – iCombine

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri. – Mark Trapp

Final Fantasy II (The US Version) – Matt M.

Deus Ex or Portal – Richard Bradshaw

Old school, but Artillery/Scorched Earth and variants http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A… – Micah Wittman

Final Fantasy VII and Super Mario Brothers. – Jason Huebel

Starcraft & Fallout (1) – Squirrel Girl

Animal Crossing on the DS and any Burnout on the 360. – Michelle Martinez

Mario Kart. – Steven Perez

Bwana, if I have to I could narrow it down to 1 for each platform but it will take me all afternoon to decide based on a thorough process of elimination which I have yet to devise so please don’t make me do it. - Mark Krynsky

Hands down…Mario Kart…loved it as a child & still love it now. A close second would be The Sims. I wasted a few straight months of my life before reentering the real world. – Jennifer Van Grove

I’d have to go with 007 Golden Eye for N64 =) – John

Final Fantasy 12, Descent, Myst. – tehKenny

Ico – Robert Haas

Ocarina of time – N64 – Dominic Dale

god of war, gta san andreas, nintendo kung fu, megaman – Cardeen Martinez

Our family spent many hours with Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga on the Wii but I liked it more on the PSP. It went everywhere I went. – ZenGiraffe

Can’t pick one but Super Mario Kart (SNES), Final Fantasy VI (SNES), Final Fantasy VII (PSOne), Super Metroid (SNES), Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (PS2) and Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Fighting (Arcade) are up there. – Martin Bryant

C64 – Wasteland – Nick

Hmm…tie between Final Fantasy VII and Gran Turismo… – Alex Scoble

Too many categories. There’s no way to pin down even just a few. KaBoom, World of Warcraft, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Ms. Pacman, Galaga, Lode Runner, Donkey Kong Jr, Archon, Starcraft, Ultima III, Super Mario Bros. 3, Grand Theft Auto 3, Scramble, Choplifter, Qix, Rally X, Tetris, Tempest, Military Madness. Included old stand-ups as a platform since their all playable now through emulation. I’m probably missing dozens of others. In every case, i’m talking about originals, not remakes. – ·[▪_▪]·

Grim Fandango – invariant

Ocarina of Time on the N64 – Michael Perschbacher

Phantasy Star for the SEGA Master System. – Percival Carti3r

WoW, starcraft, CounterStrike – Alan Le

I have two…1. 007 Golden Eye for the N64 and 2. Diablo 2 for the PC – Rob

1. The Legend of Zelda (NES), 2. Metroid (NES), 3. Halo (XBox), 4. Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (N64), Grand Theft Auto III, 6. 007: Goldeneye (N64). Those are my personal favorites. I remember just having a lot of fun and enjoying playing these games more than others. There are probably other games that I may like as well that I have not played yet. It’s hard to beat Nintendo for plain old fun in the game play. – Rolf Schewe

Ah, man… How could I have forgotten this: World of Warcraft. I’ve been playing it for a couple of years now. - Jason Huebel

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (Xbox), The Legend of Zelda The Windwaker (GameCube), Half-Life 2 (PC), The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion (Xbox360) just to name a few. – dbz

Metroid – NES. Wizards and Warriors and Zelda get honorable mention. – ChangeForge | Ken Stewart

Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda. – David Cook

We <3 Katamari, ps2. SMB3, nes. Zelda Ocarina of Time, n64. - Kamilah Gill

Chrono Trigger (SNES) – John Long

As you can see, these results indicate a high level of uncertainty, but I’ve tallied the responses and declared the top response is Mario Kart.

Results sorted by number of users and top 10 graphed

This non-scientific method of determining the best video game of all time is surprisingly close to other sites. I believe The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remains the highest rated game of all time, and it’s near the top of our list.

So what about you, Bwana? What is your favorite video game of all time?

Well gather around children, and let me break it down for you. I, too, have trouble narrowing it down to one single game, so I’ll list my top 5 based on number of hours enjoyed, and replay counts. Then, I’ll attempt to pick a winner.

1. Super Mario Brothers (NES)
2. RC Pro Am (NES)
3. Dune II (PC)
4. Starcraft (PC)
5. Street Fighter II: Turbo (SNES)

Ok, now that my brain hurts, I might as well continue this non-scientific method of determining my favorite. I think of the top 5 listed, I would say my favorite would be Super Mario Brothers (NES). This is a game that I enjoyed both at the arcade and on my Nintendo at home. This was the one game I could finish with my eyes closed and to this day, I enjoy playing it. It’s such a hard task to pick one favorite, but that’s a testament to the many, many wonderful game titles we’ve all been exposed to for the past 30 years.

So what’s your favorite video game of all time? If you didn’t respond via Twitter or FriendFeed, let me know in the comments.

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