Computer Gaming World's 150 Best Games Ever (1996)

http://cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1996&pub=2&id=148

Computer Gaming World 150 in 1996 contained a list of their top-150 games ever, a list of 50 worst games ever, and various shorter top-15 lists on many different themes, published in November 1996, 25 years ago.

The thing that strikes me is how random the list looks, from a 2022 perspective. CGW had a bit of a slant towards strategy games and simulators, and that tells to some extent, and it is just one subjective list based on whatever, but I still find it interesting to compare games from within the same genre.

The top-10:

1. Civilization (1993)

2. Ultima IV (1984)

3. MULE (1983)

4. Red Baron (1990)

5. Doom (1993)

6. Sim City (1987)

7. Wing Commander (1990)

8. Empire (1978)

9. Wasteland (1987)

10. Falcon 3.0 (1991)

Picking Ultima IV from 1984 as the top RPG, 12 years old already when this magazine came out, was a surprise to me. The only Ultima game I see mentioned much these days is Ultima VII, but that one is not even on this list from what I can see (Ultima III, Ultima VI, and Ultima Underworld are further down the list). Ultima is probably the franchise with most games on that list. And Ultima VIII shows up in the list of worst 50 games of all times.

Doom at 5, while Quake only shows up at spot 36 (followed by Duke Nukem 3D at 37). There is also another list in this issue with top-15 most innovative games ever that has Doom at 3 (after Pinball Construction Set and Ultima IV). Quake does top the Worst Back Stories Of All Time and the Best Ways To Die In Computer Gaming lists though.

I think it was nice that they mentioned Empire from 1978, the game that inspired later games like Civilization. Not sure if anyone was still playing that in 1996, but at least they were giving some credit where credit was due.

Just outside of the list above is Lemmings at 12, a classic that you do not hear much about anymore (?). Tetris at 14 is of course still around, which is a bit sad to me as so many better games on this list are forgotten.

Warcraft only makes it to 125, beaten by Dune 2 at 70, and by Command & Conquer at 48, although Warcraft 2 is all the way up at place 28. Those are all behind several turn-based strategy games, but I guess that says more about the bias of that magazine (I think Panzer General at 15 is still well-deserved though; I would put it on my top-10 list of best games ever even today). I saw on the cover of a later issue of Computer Gaming World when Starcraft came out they proclaimed it the best strategy game ever though. This list was just too old to have included it.

And so on. It is an interesting read I think. Probably half of the top-150 games are games I never even heard of and I never played many of the other games. It would not have been easy I think in 1996 to look at a list like this and predict what games would still be remembered, or still have sequels made, in 2022.

tags: #games #dos

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