A reader names the five video games he thinks are almost entirely without fault and just as playable now as when they were first made.
Before I start this, I want to address the obvious and say that nothing is perfect. So all the games I’m about to list do have flaws, but they’re small and unimportant that the overall impression is that they literally do not put a foot wrong.
What I’ve realised in making this list is that the older a game is the easier it is to be flawless, because the less it’s doing. You might say Space Invaders, or whatever your favourite arcade is, is perfect but that’s in large part because it’s not really trying to do all that much.
On the other hand, newer games can be absolute classics but still quite flawed. Nobody would argue that the combat in The Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2 is anything more than mediocre at best but just as much, nobody would argue that they aren’t amongst the best of the last decade. So with that in mind, see what you think of my list (which is no particular order).
Super Metroid
In doing some research for this list I was surprised to find that Super Metroid on the SNES was perhaps the least controversial choice for calling any game perfect. Not that it doesn’t deserve to be, but I was surprised at how many people were happy to just accept that as fact. It has aged incredibly well though and as one of the very first Metroidvania games it still feels like something that could be released today.
The design and open-endedness is so well done and while it’s less obvious now the graphics were state-of-the-art at the time. But on top of that it even had a decent story going, with a very memorable ending. Super Metroid is so good even its unintended glitches are fun. Also, Metroid Prime is pretty much perfect too.
Chrono Trigger
Looking around, I saw a lot of people calling Final Fantasy 7 perfect but that’s really not the word I’d use for it. Like The Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2, it’s definitely a great game, and very influential, but it’s riddled with flaws – most obviously it’s terrible translation. For me the best role-player on the SNES, and the best Japanese role-player of all time, is the incredible Chrono Trigger.
Why this series hasn’t been milked to death, but Final Fantasy has, I don’t know but what amazes me about Chrono Trigger is that it’s so well paced, whereas even back in the 90s role-players were long-winded and bloated. All the characters are likeable, the combat is relatively traditional but fast-paced and doesn’t waste your time, and the setting and story is constantly on the move.
It’s so perfect all they could think to add for the director’s cut is some animated cut scenes and a new, but completely random, new area.
Super Mario World
To be honest, there could be a lot of Nintendo games in this list. I considered Zelda: A Link To The Past and Ocarina Of Time, as well as various other Mario games and Advance Wars. But I think Super Mario World deserves the spot the most.
You could argue the graphics were a bit primitive, even back in 1991, but beyond that this is just masterpiece gaming, with a mania for inventing and exploring new ideas on every level, almost to the point where it feels like it’s being programmed live – with Nintendo just coming up with wild ideas off the top of their heads.
Super Mario Bros. 3 is probably no less perfect and Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 are up there too, so yeah… looking forward to that new Super Mario for the Switch 2.
Civilization 5
Like every Civ fan, I’ve been very disappointed by Civilization 7, which is the worst I’ve ever seen the series at launch. As a reader said recently, you only ever buy a new Civilization when it’s replaced by another new one and I think that probably is the rule of thumb for the fandom, so I’ll be looking into Civilization 6 a lot over the next few weeks.
But at the moment, with all the DLC, updates, and mods I think Civilization 5 is the perfect incarnation of the idea and a perfect game in its own right. It takes time to learn but I don’t see that as a flaw; it’s a game about controlling the whole of human history, you’re not going to do that without a certain degree of complexity.
The fact that it works at all is some kind of miracle, but Civilization 5 manages to have the perfect balance of depth and accessibility that means it’s almost impossible to improve on.
Tetris
The thing that unites all these games is that they’re something that has never aged and probably never will. But nowhere is that more true than with Tetris.
The grandaddy of puzzle games is 40 years old this year and not only is the original version still fully playable (and I’m talking about the old Russian version, not even the Game Boy) but the new versions that are being made today, like the excellent Tetris Effect, are still basically the same game.
The graphics are better, as far as they can be, and the controls are a little smoother, with more player assists, but it’s 99% the same game it was in 1985. It’s essentially perfect and I salute it.
By reader Benjy Dog
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