1001 Video Games
In the year 2010, Universe Publishing released a book entitled 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. It was meant to be the latest in a series of "1001" books that started out with 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die before the franchise spiraled out of control and encompassed just about everything (there are books on every topic from songs to albums to literature to children's literature to beer to golf holes.). To make a long story short, the book was terrible. If you want the full long story, you can find it here and here.
To put it short, it seemed like a quick cash in. Even ignoring their selection, the book was filled with failure after failure. The table of contents was not alphabetized properly. The page numbers did not go to their respective entries in some cases. There were factual errors abound, like claiming ActRaiser was developed by Square (it was developed by Quintet, published by Enix), or claiming that Blathers from Animal Crossing was a pigeon (he's an owl). A game in the table of contents was referred to by its PAL name, while the actual entry was referred to by its NTSC name. Mega Man 8 was in the table of contents, when the actual entry was Mega Man 9. The images were clearly pulled off of a place like Google images; the screenshot for Morrowind was from a beta build of the game. And the written entries came from people who seemed like they didn't play the game or couldn't justify why it was a "must play." The aforementioned Morrowind entry went on and on talking about how much better Oblivion was, which really didn't explain why it was a "must play."
And yes, the entries left much to be desired. Even ignoring video games like Uno or Facade or Zoo Keeper (a shameless ripoff of Bejeweled), some of the games literally could not be played. The major one was City of Heroes, an MMO that had been taken offline. That was excusable the first time around, but when the second edition came out after City of Heroes was retired and it still had City of Heroes on its list, my brain went on overdrive. For the longest time, this book has been my hate-obsession, just trying to do justice to the concept. And that's what I'm trying to do here.
This is going to be my "working" list of 1,001 video games that I would consider "must plays." Games that are either great enough, historically significant enough, or unique enough that they must be experienced for anyone who has a love of the medium. This is my opinion, and I can't guarantee that everyone will share it, but it's not my goal to. My goal is to... at least do a hell of a lot better than the book. And I've got some help this time around.
To put it short, it seemed like a quick cash in. Even ignoring their selection, the book was filled with failure after failure. The table of contents was not alphabetized properly. The page numbers did not go to their respective entries in some cases. There were factual errors abound, like claiming ActRaiser was developed by Square (it was developed by Quintet, published by Enix), or claiming that Blathers from Animal Crossing was a pigeon (he's an owl). A game in the table of contents was referred to by its PAL name, while the actual entry was referred to by its NTSC name. Mega Man 8 was in the table of contents, when the actual entry was Mega Man 9. The images were clearly pulled off of a place like Google images; the screenshot for Morrowind was from a beta build of the game. And the written entries came from people who seemed like they didn't play the game or couldn't justify why it was a "must play." The aforementioned Morrowind entry went on and on talking about how much better Oblivion was, which really didn't explain why it was a "must play."
And yes, the entries left much to be desired. Even ignoring video games like Uno or Facade or Zoo Keeper (a shameless ripoff of Bejeweled), some of the games literally could not be played. The major one was City of Heroes, an MMO that had been taken offline. That was excusable the first time around, but when the second edition came out after City of Heroes was retired and it still had City of Heroes on its list, my brain went on overdrive. For the longest time, this book has been my hate-obsession, just trying to do justice to the concept. And that's what I'm trying to do here.
This is going to be my "working" list of 1,001 video games that I would consider "must plays." Games that are either great enough, historically significant enough, or unique enough that they must be experienced for anyone who has a love of the medium. This is my opinion, and I can't guarantee that everyone will share it, but it's not my goal to. My goal is to... at least do a hell of a lot better than the book. And I've got some help this time around.
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These two are the Kirby Twins - Zelda on the left and Pauline on the right. You might recognize them as a part of my Growing Around series. In it, they run the local video game shop. Video games are their life. Pauline got the high score in every single endless runner game should find before she could even walk, and Zelda was exploring entire libraries of games before she could even talk.
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For every single entry on my list, these two will give suggestions, tips, trivia, etc on each given game. While they're twins though, they have vastly different ways about playing video games. Pauline is determined to win at any cost whatsoever. She enjoys a streamlined experience, and her suggestions tend to come in the form of challenges or high scores. Zelda on the other hand is much more focused on the journey. She likes to take her time. Her suggestions tend to be much more beginner-focused, or about uncovering niche or hidden details.
While they're two different schools of thought when it comes to playing video games, don't see it as either-or. Both ways are valid to playing video games, or even a combination of the two. The goal for me is to be as thorough as possible, and invoking each school of thought is the perfect way of doing it.
While they're two different schools of thought when it comes to playing video games, don't see it as either-or. Both ways are valid to playing video games, or even a combination of the two. The goal for me is to be as thorough as possible, and invoking each school of thought is the perfect way of doing it.