GameSided Greatest Game of All Time: First Round
Sonic Region
#1 Sonic The Hedgehog 2 vs. #16 MVP Baseball 2005
If there was a chance that a #16 could upset a #1 in this tournament, this matchup would be it. Sonic 2 is a classic in every sense of the word. From level design to its soundtrack, Sonic 2 was a complete game from top to bottom. On the other side of things lies MVP Baseball 2005. This was the last, and best, baseball game from the EA Sports brand. With the following that MVP has — it still receives yearly updates from fans — it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it move on.
#2 Diablo II vs. #15 Rock Band 3
Diablo II is arguably the best hack-n-slash game ever made whereas Rock Band 3 is the greatest rhythm game ever made. On paper, this looks like it has the makings of a pretty close matchup despite the seedings. However, it all depends on how the fans view these games.
#3 NHL 94 vs. #14 World of Warcraft
NHL 94, to many, is the greatest sports game ever made. It’s a game that has stood the test of time, and continues to be played heavily even 20 years after its release. World of Warcraft, on the other hand, truly defined what an MMO could be. It grew from a small niche genre to making MMOs one of the top genres for PC gamers across the world. The seeding seems low here, but WoW could be one of the Cinderellas in this tournament.
#4 Civilization 4 vs. #13 Shadow of the Colossus
Sid Meier’s Civilization games gave fans what became known as “God Games”. These types of games where a player can control any part of the world they choose in order to get a certain result is something that changed how people played games on the PC. It also resulted in hours upon hours of lost time in the home. Shadow of the Colossus received nearly perfect scores across the board when it was released in 2005. Though it was a great game when released, it seems to be a great action game from Sony that people have forgotten about.
#5 Super Mario 64 vs. #12 Paper Mario
It’s an all-Mario showdown. The first 3D Mario game against a very well-created Mario RPG. This battle simple comes down to genre preference as there really is no loser in this one.
#6 Halo vs. #11 Burnout 3
When the original Xbox was released in 2001, many were skeptical as to whether or not Microsoft could be a serious player in the console market. Halo changed all of that in the blink of an eye. It doesn’t need stating just what Halo did for Microsoft in the console wars. I mean, it was arguably, along with Xbox Live, the primary reason that Microsoft took a nice chunk of the market from Sony in the early part of the 21st century. In terms of Burnout 3: Takedown, this was the absolute best game of the Burnout series. I mean, a game about trying to do as much damage in a car crash as possible? Sign me up!
#7 Portal vs. #10 Counter Strike: Source
Portal originally came inside The Orange Box from Valve, but quickly became a game too popular to simply be bundled with other great games. Eventually garnering a sequel in Portal 2, the original Portal made puzzle platformers an “in” gaming type. Counter Strike: Source is a game that has stood the test of time. It was released in 2004, and is still one of the most popular first-person shooters today.
#8 Doom vs. #9 Pac Man
The first-person shooter that changed all FPS against the game that took arcades by storm in the 80s. This is a contest that needs no dialogue. I mean, the games speak for themselves in this toss up.
