Classic Video Games Bucket List

Build a house, fill eight need bars and steer a family through work and neighbours; the best-selling PC game.

Two commandos, spread guns and the Konami code; run-and-gun at its hardest.

Guide a hundred green-haired creatures to the exit by giving them jobs; the DMA puzzle hit before GTA.

Samus Aran on Zebes, and the reveal at the end; the first half of Metroidvania.

CJ across a whole state; three cities, a countryside and a jetpack.

A thief, a princess and a return to the series' fairy-tale roots; the fans' favourite.

Dual fighters and the captured ship; the shoot-em-up perfected.

SHODAN on the Von Braun; the immersive sim that BioShock remade in the sea.

The sun goddess as a white wolf paints Japan back to life with a brush; Clover's art game.

Fourteen playable characters, an opera and a villain who wins halfway; the SNES peak of the series.

Jumpman climbs girders to save Pauline; Mario's first appearance, 1981.

A boy with a baseball bat in a satirical America; Nintendo's cult RPG.

A horned boy leads a girl by the hand out of a castle; Team Ico's minimalist masterpiece.

Heroes, four races and the custom map that became DotA; Blizzard's RTS peak.

Leon and Claire in Raccoon City police station; the 2019 remake is also essential.

James Sunderland receives a letter from his dead wife; the psychological horror game.

Yoshi, the cape and 96 exits on the SNES; the launch title that still plays perfectly.

Miami in 1986, Tommy Vercetti, and the best licensed radio ever put in a game.

The mansion, the door animations and the dogs through the window; survival horror is named.

Tesla coils, Tanya and full-motion video generals; Westwood's alternate Cold War.

Dante clears Mallet Island of demons while a meter grades every combo from Dull up to Stylish.

A purple dragon glides through pastel worlds; Insomniac's first hit.

Koholint Island, a Wind Fish and a Game Boy; the dream Zelda.

From a settler to Alpha Centauri, one more turn at a time; Sid Meier's masterpiece of 1996.

The SNES Hyrule with a Dark World mirror; the template every 2D Zelda follows.

Green Hill Zone at speed; Sega's answer to Mario in 1991.

Zone, tax, build a stadium and watch it burn; the city builder that defined the genre.

The raccoon suit, the world map and the airships; the best NES game.

JC Denton, nano-augmentations and every conspiracy at once; the game that let you play it your way.

Ryu, Chun-Li and the hadouken; the fighting game that filled arcades in 1991.