OK thanks again everyone who took the time to submit a list. Special thanks to @rejj for helping advise on smart person aka math stuff.
Some notes on methodology:
This poll is cumulative over time, meaning that all votes are carried forward from past poll years. For example, OutRun's total votes from 2021 are combined with its total votes from 2023 to determine it’s ultimate position. The reasoning is (1) more votes = more differentiation between positions, (2) the list is more stable and takes more time/doing to dislodge games from established positions, and (3) reflects the community in that forum users who consistently participate over time are more fully represented.
The above said, there is a recency bias built into the poll in order to help account for games that have momentum behind them. Ties are broken by vote share differentials between poll years. More on that statistic below
This list does not produce a hierarchy of the GOAT games. Submission consist of an unranked set of 10 games, and it’s likely that the #1 spot is held by a game that isn’t necessarily regarded as the GOAT by those forum users who included it on their lists. What we have instead is a list indicating which games are most commonly considered among “the greatest” by the community, and which are rising, static, or falling in that estimation.
We’re introducing a Vote Occurance Out Of 1000 (VOOO1K) stat to the poll, which will show how games perform on the list over time. It’s basically the same methodology used to track lead poisoning at the municipal level or whatever. Same formula. Differential in Change in Vote Occurance Out Of 1000 (CVOOO1K) will be used to break ties in raw vote totals.
Expansions, updated versions, revisions, etc. are generally collated into a single, base entry. So votes for OutRun 2/Coast 2 Coast/Online etc. are included under, simply, OutRun 2.
@antillese would you please unsticky the voting thread and sticky this tyvm
and in an unprecedented achievement, not a single one of @Karasu 's picks was selected by another user! Congratulations! You are the Most Insert Credit forum user, @Karasu
Honorable Mentions
the 50(+ including ties) games closest to making the main list
Key
† = a game which did not receive a single vote in 2023 trending up significantly trending up stable, trending up stable, trending down trending down trending down significantly
Rank
Title
Year
Developer
CVOOO1K
103
Portal 2
2011
Valve Corporation
-4.22
104
Streets of Rage 2†
1993
Ancient Co. Ltd.
-6.25
105
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, The
2023
Nintendo EPD
3.12
105
Yume Nikki
2004
Kikiyama
3.12
107
Landmaker
1998
Taito Corporation
1.09
107
Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei
1996
Team Andromeda
1.09
107
Pokémon Silver & Gold
1999
Game Freak, Inc.
1.09
107
Slaves to Armok: God of Blood – Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress
2006
Bay 12 Games
1.09
107
Star Control II
1992
Toys for Bob, Inc.
1.09
107
Street Fighter III: Third Strike
1999
Capcom Co., Ltd.
1.09
107
Ys: Book I & II
1989
Nihon Falcom Corp.
1.09
114
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
2010
Chunsoft Co., Ltd.
1.09
114
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
2013
Nintendo EAD
-0.94
114
Devil May Cry 5
2019
Capcom Co., Ltd.
-0.94
114
Donkey Kong '94
1994
Nintendo EAD
-0.94
114
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
2010
Capcom Co., Ltd.
-0.94
114
Harvest Moon 64
1999
Victor Interactive Software, Inc.
-0.94
114
ICO
2001
Team Ico
-0.94
114
MapleStory
2003
Wizet
-0.94
114
Monster Hunter: World
2018
Capcom Co., Ltd.
-0.94
114
Pokémon Black & White
2011
Game Freak, Inc.
-0.94
114
Resident Evil (2002)
2002
Capcom Production Studio 4
-0.94
114
Rocket League
2015
Psyonix, Inc.
-0.94
114
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
2001
Neversoft Entertainment, Inc.
-0.94
127
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
2000
Capcom Co., Ltd.
-2.97
127
Spelunky 2
2020
Mossmouth, LLC
-2.97
127
Wario Land 4
2001
Nintendo R&D1
-2.97
130
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate†
2018
Sora Ltd.
-5
131
13 Sentinals: Aegis Rim
2019
Vanillaware Ltd.
2.34
131
Anodyne 2: Return to Dust
2019
Analgesic Productions LLC
2.34
131
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, The
2014
Nicalis, Inc.
2.34
131
Daytona USA
1994
AM R&D Dept. #2
2.34
131
Deltarune
2021
Toby Fox
2.34
131
Dragon’s Dogma
2012
Capcom Co., Ltd.
2.34
131
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The
2002
Bethesda Game Studios
2.34
131
Final Fantasy IV
1991
Square Co., Ltd.
2.34
131
Mega Man Legends
1997
Capcom Production Studio 2
2.34
131
Moon: Remix RPG Adventure
1997
Love-de-Lic
2.34
131
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations
2004
Capcom Co., Ltd.
2.34
131
Picross S
2017
Jupiter Corp.
2.34
131
Rez
2001
Q ENTERTAINMENT, Inc.
2.34
131
Ribbit King
2003
Jamworks Co., Ltd
2.34
131
Slay the Spire
2017
Mega Crit Games
2.34
131
Street Fighter 6
2023
Capcom Co., Ltd.
2.34
131
Streets of Rage 4
2020
Lizardcube
2.34
131
Tetris (Game Boy)
1989
Nintendo R&D1
2.34
149
428: Shibuya Scramble
2008
Chunsoft Co., Ltd.
0.31
149
A Short Hike
2019
Adamgryu
0.31
149
Armed Police Batrider
1998
Raizing Co., Ltd.
0.31
149
Asuka 120% Limited/Limit Over
1997
Fill iin Café Co., Ltd.
0.31
149
Bare Knuckle 3
1994
SEGA AM7 R&D Division
0.31
149
Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair
2015
Sandlot
0.31
149
Factorio
2016
Wube Software LTD.
0.31
149
Final Fantasy V
1992
Square Co., Ltd.
0.31
149
Gitaroo Man
2002
iNiS corporation
0.31
149
Hades
2018
Supergiant Games, Inc.
0.31
149
Half-Life
1998
Valve L.L.C.
0.31
149
Halo 3
2007
Bungie Studios
0.31
149
Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia
Key -
† = a game which did not receive a single vote in 2023 trending up significantly trending up stable, trending up stable, trending down trending down trending down significantly
Whoa!! This list has drama to it!! And I'm really pleased to see that we have a seemingly quite effectual metric with which to bust up the long string of ties at the top of the list, even decently past the Top Ten!
considering that I'm thinking of voting next year purely for the sake of moving titles up or down the table; this list itself has now become a game to me
@yeso is the CVOOO1K value of Outer Wilds some kind of error, or is that because it is alone in having somehow received precisely the same proportion of total votes in both counts?
@“yeso”#p126737 not an error. Outer Wilds received the exact same proportion of the vote both years
Ha, that's neat! Even more neat that it was somehow the only game that, essentially, the collective community's feelings towards have not changed at all over two years, which is why I thought it could be an error.
Even more surprising that it is such a recent game. To do a bit of armchair statistical analysis, the data suggests it is cementing its status as an instant classic (which I'll define as a game from the last ~ 5 years that has broken out into the Top 20) of a certain stature. This is a quality the data could be suggesting it shares with _Disco Elysium_ and _Bloodborne,_ that the results could challenge and challenge more over time with regards to _Celeste_ and _Death Stranding,_ and we have a new dark horse coming from behind kind of instant classic in _Dragon Quest XI._ Perhaps the community needed more time to digest that gargantuan, beautiful game.
I imagine this is incoming but I would be interested to also see the raw vote counts, as well the changes between years in raw vote counts, too. If for nothing else to see that _Outer Wilds_ got 17 votes last year and 19 votes this year, or whatever.
@“thebryanjzx90”#p126744 Ok so what happened to drop RE4 and SOTN so much I wonder
With _Resident Evil 4,_ perhaps replays as a reaction to the remake, or even just reappraisals due to the mere existence of the remake, has changed the collective perception of it?
With _Symphony of the Night,_ I have no idea. The past two years there's been a lot of meta discussion of the _Metroid_-like, but I don't necessarily see how that would translate into a reappraisal of such a landmark of a game. Maybe more people just got sick of thinking about _Metroid_-likes.
Speaking of _Metroid_-likes... _Hollow Knight_ also took a big hit (a change in its stature I contributed to by voting for it last year and not this year...), but, I can kind of see that as being almost a product of background anticipation for _Hollow Knight: Silksong,_ in a weird way. Personally, I think there's every reason to believe it will be a highly competent sophomore release from Team Cherry, so it's almost like I'm ready to stop thinking about _Hollow Knight_ and am primed to feel its sequel will be a game that is at least a little better in almost every way, and in many of the same ways... if that makes sense. Not every sequel or series will or even can cause this kind of feeling, it's just, sometimes you just know that if a team is making a sequel, and it will be a lot like the first game but just be bigger or executed upon by the same people but with more experience (and ideally more time (and even more ideally more money)), it can sort of even pre-emptively diminish how you feel about the original game. Is this kinda like the _Sonic The Hedgehog_ vs. _Sonic The Hedgehog 2_ kinda situation?
At the same time all of these little armchair analyses of the change in trends could instead just be explained by the community collectively all having similar thoughts on individual list choices, which can be summarized by “I can take this off of my list, the rest of the community will surely give it the recognition it deserves,” and the largest changes in the trend can perhaps be explained by pure coincidence of 2+ people doing that for the same game. The CVOOO1K metric was a really elegant way to recontextualize the data here but we are still dealing with a relatively small sample size, and a smaller sample size makes the resulting data more prone to some at least mild misrepresentation of what its trying to quantify through, just, weird coincidences lining up.
