The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has topped a poll of readers of Edge magazine and industry experts to find the top 100 games of all time.

The 10-year-old videogame for the Nintendo 64 games console helped usher in a new era of 3D gaming.

It is also one of only five games ever to receive a 10 out of 10 review score from Edge magazine.

Five of the top 10 titles were made only for Nintendo machines, including Super Mario 64, in third spot.

The full list of 100 titles has been compiled for a special edition of Edge magazine.

Tony Mott, editor-in-chief of Edge, said: "If you were new to video games and were going to go out and buy 100 games to make an instant collection, then these would be the games to buy."

He added: "Ocarina of Time is nearly 10 years old, but its position at the top slot in Edge's 100 Best Videogames shows that great game design does not age.

"In visual terms, it obviously cannot compete with today's Xbox 360 and PS3 productions, but, as with many classics, its appeal is about so much more than its appearance."


TOP 10 EDGE POLL
Resident Evil 4
1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina
2. Resident Evil 4
3. Super Mario 64
4. Half Life 2
5. Super Mario World
6. Zelda: A Link to the Past
7. Halo: Combat Evolved
8. Final Fantasy XII
9. Tetris
10. Super Metroid

Only one PC game makes the top 10 - classic first person shooter Half Life 2. Microsoft's Xbox also has only one representative in the elite list - with Halo: Combat Evolved at number seven.

Only five games for the next generation of consoles have made the top 100 - Pro Evolution Soccer 6, at number 15, Oblivion, at number 19, Virtua Fighter 5, in 38th spot, Virtua Tennis 3 at number 80, and Crackdown at 100.

Tony Mott said: "Crackdown hasn't been around long but has proved itself to be a very good game. It will be interesting to see people's reaction to that.

"If we did this poll in five year's time, I would hope to see more PS3 and Xbox 360 games in the list. But I don't think anyone would argue we have seen that many classics in this new generation."

The list was drawn together in three stages - thousands of reader votes, combined with expert opinion in the games industry and finally input from Edge's own editorial team.

Mr Mott said Ocarina of Time was the reader favourite as well as the overall winner.

'Brilliantly well'

He said: "It appeared not long after games made the shift to 3D; everyone was wondering if it could make the transition.

"It was a very ambitious game. The way they were able to engineer it in a 3D context was a success; it worked brilliantly well."

But he said the intention behind the poll was not to create a "nostalgia festival".

"These games had to stand up today. People will be surprised by the small amount of very old games that have made it through.

"Often these types of lists are full of games like Space Invaders and Pong - which we recognise as classics, as important games - but they don't necessarily stand up to play today."

He added: "I love the fact that old games are being made available to audiences via Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and through compilations but I am not convinced that younger players will play them and appreciate them in the way we did the first time round.

"It's very hard for younger players who play something graphically-rich like Gears of War to then play something like Robotron.

"I think it will be for the greater good of the industry when more effort is put into the content of games than the way they are presented visually."

The five titles to have received a maximum review score from Edge are: Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Half-Life 2, Gran Turismo, Super Mario 64 and Halo.

The full list of the top 100 games will be available in a collector's volume called Edge Presents: The 100 Best Videogames, on sale from Tuesday 3 July.

I hate these polls...they can be pretty unfair and unreliable.

It's like doing a poll for the best car - some people haven't even tried some of the options.

Many people who participated in the poll are probably either biased or have never even played some of the games on there - just as if a console hadn't sold well (i.e. Xbox), not many people would have had a chance to play what they could have found to be a truely great game.

If you want a chart worth reading, you should read one done by people who know their games, unbiased and who've played all the very best games that are in the chart.

The people at Edge know about gaming.
If anything they've always been biased against playstation.
Always covering Xbox and Nintendo, never sony.


I'm 100% with that list. Even though games like Pro Evoloution Soccer are way too low, i still think its correct.

I'm guessing your against it because Halo's low. I think its were it should be. It shouldnt be any closer to Zelda. That would just be a insult.

Actually I'm quite please with how high Halo's got.
Seeing as it's a pretty new game series from a virtually unknown company that's only a few years old, it's done pretty well to get in the ranks of games like Zelda and Super Mario.
I'm just expressing my opinion on polls - that's all.

And you're in no position to start dissing Halo, cos you've hardly played it. And even if you have, you haven't tried it properly, cos you're too much of a stubborn PS fan.
Anyone who's properly played Halo's multiplayer and campaign (especally Halo's campaign - on heroic and legendary especially), can't deny that it's ATLEAST a great game.

i agree YOU SIMPLY CANT SAY SOMETHING IS THE GREATEST other than greatest size etc

its all down to opinions and poll can be some of the most bias stuff around

and expect Zeda to be knocked off by GTA4 taken slot 1 lol (nah i dont think gta will ever get it )

Thats a load of crap. Jaystaffo you have played on the Zelda in mine it aint the best thing ever. There is well better games. for example:(my opinion here)
GTA Vice City
2002 Fifa World Cup(lol)
WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007
Cricket 07

That Edge magazine is a load of bollocks.(pardon my french)

People might not agree but zelda is crap (no offence to zelda fans :D)

Yeah, I ain't a fan of Zelda either, but tons of people seem to like it.
I'm more into games that have a bit more action and excitement in it.

Im in to them type of games. Guns and stuff or even Gran Turismo what a legendery game.lol.

I do like the zelda games, but i don't think it should be Ocarina of Time that is in 1st place, Majora's Mask was a far better game, although i do enjoy playing OOT, it can't be compared to MM.

the worst thing in mm is that they dont let you relax in ending the game they put a 3 days limit and you will have to go back to the first day start collecting stuff for example every time you want to go to the ranch you have to go to the gorons first and get a bomb and then explode the big rock its so looong :(
I played it cuz it has the title (legend of zelda) and because its a continuase to oot
in movements mm is better cuz its newer
but oot is the best damn thing I even read its manga

zelda OOT deserves to be the 1st
the master quest made the dungeon harder
and I will get wii for the twillight princess ( dont want the gc version)

Prince of Persia ( 1 ) should have made the top 10, it revolutionized gaming with it's realistic body movement. And it's a super awesome game.

I'm also rather against these kinds of lists as you can't make a list of the best games, it's all a matter of opinion, unless you asked everyone in the world to name their favorite game, but even then it would be biased because so many would favor newer games because of their superior graphics.

Lol, that's why i got a wii, for TP. You might aswell get it for GC if you have one, it's kinda disapointing when you buy a console just for one surprisingly short (but fun) game.

tp is the main reason to get wii
but I might get paper mario and I wish that in the coming time there will be a newer zelda game
wii has many cool games
I dont care about something called (graphic) as long as the game play and storyline are cool ;)