What games you consider "masterpieces" without needing to think about it much

What games would you associate with as being established masterpieces in gaming without needing to really think about it too much?

Stuff like Doom and Street Fighter II, to me those are masterpieces without much needed in the way of explanation. Their impact, presentation, gameplay, innovation and longevity pretty obvious.

SF 2 turbo on the snes was and still is fantastic and has to be mentioned. Halo 3 was revolutionary on the 360.

No doubt God of War

• Call of Duty 2
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
• Need For Speed Most Wanted (2005)
• Need For Speed Hot Pursuit (2010)
• Grand Theft Auto Vice City
• Grand Theft Auto 5
• Medal Of Honor Allied Assault
• Burnout Paradise
• Batman Arkham Asylum
• Batman Arkham City
• Star Wars Jedi Knights: Jedi Academy
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The gen only? Bloodborne. Its the best Souls game ever made. Everything about it is so fantastic I dont know if I even want a sequel cause Bloodborne is perfect it doesnt need any follow up.... I need chapter 2 lol Sony make it happens!

- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

- Chrono Trigger/ Cross

- Final Fantasy 6-10

- Persona 3/4/5

- The Witcher 3

- Streets of Rage 3

- The Legend of Dragoon

- Xenogears/ Saga

- Tales of Xillia

Tetris

Devil May Cry 3

Dragon's Crown

Ninja Gaiden Black/ Sigma

Street Fighter III: Third Strike

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Monster Hunter 4G/ MH:W

Divinity: Original Sin II

Resident Evil 2Remake/ Remake/ and 4

Makai Senki Disgaea

CastleVania SotN/IV/and RoB

Dark Souls III

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Armored Core: For Answer

Chrono Trigger

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Super Mario Galaxy

*Even when I'm being critical, my list is huge

Do not consider any game to be a masterpiece, but streets of rage III? You on drugs?

Hmmm, without really thinking about it? Like, what just comes to mind?

• Half-Life series
• Deus Ex (original)
• Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
• Warcraft 3
• World of Warcraft
• Thief 2
• Command and Conquer: Red Alert
• Knights of the Old Republic
• Diablo 2
• Silent Hunter 3
• Tetris
• The Secret of Monkey Island
• Assassin's Creed: Unity

• Bioshock
• Half-Life 2
• Portal 2
• Inside
• Super Mario Odyssey

@Macutchi said:

@mrbojangles25 said:

• Assassin's Creed: Unity

I figured someone was going to call me out on that, but it's arguably the best AC game since AC 2, but not as outdated as AC 2 is. Therefore....MASTERPIECE!

1. Amazing visuals, that still look amazing to this day.
2. Arguably the last AC game with good stealth gameplay.
3. New combat and weapon system that still plays well to this day
4. Great story
5. Likable protagonist, characters, and enemies
6. Excellent time period and location...revolutionary France?!? YES PLEASE!
7. Best application of parkour in the series
8. Cooperative multiplayer

It was like rediscovering the Assassin's Creed series.

A number of classic games like:

- Super Mario World

- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess

- Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross

- Dragon Quest VIII

- Final Fantasy VI, VII, VIII, X

- Super Metroid

- Contra III: The Alien Wars

- Mega Man 2, X

- Street Fighter II, Alpha 2

- Super Castlevania IV, Symphony of the Night

Some more recent ones:

- Ninja Gaiden Black

- Bayonetta 1, 2

- Super Mario Odyssey

- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

- Mass Effect 1, 2, 3

- Super Mario Galaxy 1, 2

- Metroid Prime

- Red Dead Redemption

• F.E.A.R.
• Max Payne 2
• Battlefield 2
• Medal of Honor Allied Assualt
• GTA VC/SA/V
• Resident Evil 4
• RE2 remake
• Mortal Kombat 2
• Sleeping Dogs
• Mirror's Edge

@mrbojangles25 said:

@Macutchi said:

@mrbojangles25 said:

• Assassin's Creed: Unity

I figured someone was going to call me out on that, but it's arguably the best AC game since AC 2, but not as outdated as AC 2 is. Therefore....MASTERPIECE!

1. Amazing visuals, that still look amazing to this day.
2. Arguably the last AC game with good stealth gameplay.
3. New combat and weapon system that still plays well to this day
4. Great story
5. Likable protagonist, characters, and enemies
6. Excellent time period and location...revolutionary France?!? YES PLEASE!
7. Best application of parkour in the series
8. Cooperative multiplayer

It was like rediscovering the Assassin's Creed series.

i like your enthusiasm for gaming mr bj. you're a glass is half full kind of guy. i only played it on the ps4 but personally had quite a few bugbears with it. mainly around the controls. oh god the controls. this only goes some way to capture them

• Streets of Rage 2, 3, Remake
• Sonic 1-3 & Knuckles, CD, Mania
• Mega Man 2, 3, 4, 9, X, X2, X4
• NiGHTS into Dreams
• Panzer Dragoon series
• Shenmue I & II
• Yakuza series
• Skies of Arcadia
• Gunstar Heroes
• Guardian Heroes
• Alien Soldier
• Battle Mania: Daiginjou
• Contra: Hard Corps
• Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
• Valkyria Chronicles
• Virtua Fighter Remix, VF2
• Out Run
• Space Harrier
• MUSHA
• Galactic Attack
• Thunder Force III, IV
• Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series
• X-Wing/TIE Fighter series
• Age of Mythology
• Super Metroid, Prime Trilogy
• Chrono Trigger
• ALttP, OoT, MM, ALBW
• Street Fighter II
• Ace Attorney Trilogy
• Castlevania: SOTN, RoB, Bloodlines, OoE
• Soul Calibur II
• Ninja Gaiden Black
• Super Mario Bros., Galaxy 2
• F-Zero GX
• Pokemon gens 1 & 2
• Vanquish
• Witcher 3
• Persona 5
• Nioh
• Bloodborne
• Snafu

@Macutchi said:

@mrbojangles25 said:

@Macutchi said:

@mrbojangles25 said:

• Assassin's Creed: Unity

I figured someone was going to call me out on that, but it's arguably the best AC game since AC 2, but not as outdated as AC 2 is. Therefore....MASTERPIECE!

1. Amazing visuals, that still look amazing to this day.
2. Arguably the last AC game with good stealth gameplay.
3. New combat and weapon system that still plays well to this day
4. Great story
5. Likable protagonist, characters, and enemies
6. Excellent time period and location...revolutionary France?!? YES PLEASE!
7. Best application of parkour in the series
8. Cooperative multiplayer

It was like rediscovering the Assassin's Creed series.

i like your enthusiasm for gaming mr bj. you're a glass is half full kind of guy. i only played it on the ps4 but personally had quite a few bugbears with it. mainly around the controls. oh god the controls. this only goes some way to capture them

HAHAHA yeah, definitely remember those issues lol. Wasn't perfect.

• Metroid Prime/Super Metriod
• Soul Calibur
• The Last Blade
• Bayonetta
• Viewtiful Joe
• F-Zero GX
• Planescape: Torment

In my opinion many but from what I can think of & I've played, in no particular order:

Psychonaughts

Mario Odyssey

Tales of Graces/F

Shantae games (Kind of an underrated franchise. I enjoy the games & like how simplistic they are too. Easy to 100%)

FFX

A Link To The Past

Ocarina of Time (Still need to play Majora's Mask.)

Sly Raccoon Games (1 being my least favourite.)

A Hat in Time

Wow, tall order. Let’s look at what the word properly means...

noun

noun: masterpiece; plural noun: masterpieces

a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship.

Based on that, a few videogames come to mind.

Asteroids

Pac-Man

Gyruss

Super Mario World

Tengen Tetris

Mario Kart Double Dash

Halo CE / 2

Rainbow Six 3

Ghost Recon

Burnout 3: Takedown

Project Gotham 2

Titanfall 1

Forza Horizon 3/4

These are games I’d qualify as masterpieces.

Wonder Boy in Monster Land

Golden Axe

Virtua Racing (Genesis)

Ecco the Dolphin

Flashback

only games you played as a kid? if you're going for that era you've got to take another world over flashback, shirley?

The only game I have ever used the masterpiece word on was Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition.

I know many amazing games though.

I like a few of these lists! Some games I see also considered as well, though too much. . so didn't add quite a few of them, considering the rule of the thread.

@Macutchi: Still pondering a list? Assume based on previous threads it would have Thief II: The Metal Age, Fallout 3, Dishonored, Crysis, and Horizon: Zero Dawn among the selection_

Or I'm way off and it's Anthem, Knack, Mighty No. 9, Evolve and Crackdown 3 (~￣³￣)~

Thief 1+2

Okami

Chrono Trigger

Starcraft

Planescape Torment

Baldur's Gate 1+2

Super Mario World

Sonic 2

That kinda thing

@sakaixx: Agreed. Bloodborne is my only masterpiece from this gen.

@Macutchi: I took masterpiece to mean a work of unparalleled skill and artistry and the crowning achievement of a given developer. Where the graphics, sound and gameplay work together to form a sum greater than their parts.

Flashback has far better gameplay than Another World and I think the story is better. I don't think we will ever see pixel art as well animated as Flashback again. Those skills have been lost when Delphine Studios went bust after making Shaq Fu.

My favourite Black Isle rpg is Baldur's Gate 1. Because i started a game of 2 the other day and it was choosing characters for like hours and hours. I had l30 odd characters to choose from and a party of 8 before I'd even seen a monster. I think they took the concept of character migration a bit too far. Especially as I didn't have a save game of BG1 to recall.

that doesn't mean there haven't been any masterpieces in the past 25 years!

i thought flashback was amazing but another world was such an inspired and original piece of gaming art, i'd personally give it the nod over flashback.

haha you're close mate. horizon and fallout 3 wouldn't get near the list but thief 2, crysis, dishonored they'd definitely feature. half life 2, chaos theory, secret of monkey island and vice city would as well. probably several others too depending on how far back i go.

i'm guessing yours would feature at least one entry from the monster hunter, resident evil and soulsborne series? maybe a doom game too? and crysis of course; can't forget your favourite ever fps!

edit: doh just realised you've already posted your list! i was right (apart from doom)!

@Macutchi: alright then. Far Cry is a masterpiece. Maybe also Max Payne.

@Macutchi:

Half Life 2, Knew was missing an important one.

and crysis of course; can't forget your favourite ever fps!

hahaha well it is a well regarded game regardless of my experience with the game. The first one and its expansion at least have qualities worth being impressed with.

i'm guessing yours would feature at least one entry from the monster hunter, resident evil and soulsborne series? maybe a doom game too? edit: doh just realised you've already posted your list! i was right (apart from doom)!

Still guessed well. Sadly passed on D00M due to recycled content and weak A.I. across the franchise. Much like you with Fallout I would imagine, just misses the mark, and relevance to the thread_

A difference between enjoying a game and marvelling its craftmanship. D00M is excellent at shooting mechanics, music, and level design (minus D3) yet wouldn't state it does much else very well. Also a testament to why platforming in FP is usually a terrible idea. If I had doubts about calling a game "masterpiece", it seemed right to turn it down.

Disgaea with all its sequels, Makai Kingdom, Star Craft, Final Fantasy 7 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles were the first ones that came to my mind.

Indeedeo.

These are just the games I like so to me they are special.

Uncharted great stories and nostalgia as well as wisecracks.

Horizon Zero Dawn' depth and lush world. Variety of tribes.

Bloodborne: how a game about killing grotesque monsters can have such a deeper lore. Grateful for challenge.

Starcraft/Broodwars
Sonic the Hedgehog 1/2
Sonic/Knuckes
Sonicmania
Super Mario Brothers
Super Mario Brothers 3
Call of Duty Modern Warfare
Torchlight 2
Doom 2016
Command and Conquer Red Alert 2

Elder Scroll series starting from number 3.

Baldur's Gate I and II

@uninspiredcup:

Red Dead Redemption 2

Halo Reach and 4

Metal Gear Solid 4

Super Metroid

Resident Evil 2 Remake

Elder Scrolls Skyrim

Fallout 4

Bioshock 2

Spiderman ps4

God of War 4

Grand Theft Auto 5

Saints Row 2 and 4

Persona 4 and 5

Forza Horizon 3

Tomb Raider Anniversary

Doom 2016

Another World

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Dune

Alone in the Dark

Skyrim

Super Mario World/64/Galaxy 1 & 2/Odyssey

Zelda BotW

RDR

Half-life 1 & 2

Halo

Hmm I always held that some games are near-perfect masterpieces and some of them are:

Street Fighter 2

Streets of Rage 2

Shining Force 2

Megaman 3 (and 2 i guess :) but I played 3 first

Bloodborne

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (probably my favorite PS2 game)

Forza Horizon 4 It is the best racer ever, period.

Soul Caliber (DC version with VGA box on a VGA monitor)

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Probably toss Shiny's MDK on there as well. Not a very well known game now, and pretty short, but everything that is there is perfection.

Portal 2.

- Witcher 3

- Original World of Warcraft

- Warcraft 3

- Diablo 2

- Dragon Age Origins.

+ Tales of Xillia

+ World of Warcraft

+ Apknite's Angry Birds 2

+ Kingdom Hearts 3

+ Burnout

+ Fallout 3

Dawn of War

Dawn of War 2

Total War Warhammer 2

FF7

FF8

FF10

FF12

RDR2

GOW

C&C

Red Alert

Witcher 3

Baldurs Gate 2

Ice Wind Dale 2

Pillars of Eternity

Apex Legends

WOW

Skyrim

Stalker

Doom 2016

Doom 2

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within