COLLECTION PARAMETERS
Goal
No crappy games, this is a game players collection. My objective is to collect the top 500 rated games, series, and collectible titles on each console generation, excluding annual sports titles and games rebranded “greatest hits”. Games must have manual and original case in good, like new, or mint condition. This benchmark for 500 great games reveals that approximately 500 titles from each console generation have achieved a review score of 80% or higher.
Exceptions
The PS1 and PS2 games are strictly NTSC US releases, as these consoles were region locked. Games that appeared on PS3 and beyond (not region locked) and were still released in English in other countries are included. Lightspan games are not included in the collection, as they were not generally made available to the public, and this is a game players collection. Long boxes are collected only if those titles did not receive a standard case black label release. Exceptions to casing (case-swaps) have only been made for PS2 titles produced originally in the single flimsy cases, replacing them with the more robust standard PS2 casing with memory card insert, for ease of preservation. If the final or most complete edition of a game is only available in a “Greatest Hits” version, then an exception is made to keep the best version of the game, even if it is “Greatest Hits”, rather than keeping the less complete or inferior version (Keeping Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution “Greatest Hits” over Virtua Fighter 4 “standard”). For games which appeared on multiple platforms, the most technically superior version is retained, which is usually the more modern console, rather than purchasing the game for each platform (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 on PS2 in retained over Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 on PS1). Within a console generation, in cases where a title has multiple versions and re-releases, the best and most complete or final version in terms of content and ratings is retained (the final version of any Street Fighter), while others are not retained. In cases where a game appears again within a console generation in the same format (not updated) such as, within a series compilation, the original games are not retained in the collection, in favour of saving space. (Killzone Trilogy on PS3 takes the place of Killzone 2, and Killzone 3, which appeared in the same format on PS3. However, remakes, HD updates, director’s cuts, limited editions, series compilations, and collections of classic titles are obtained, despite redundancy, as their format and content have been altered. For example, keeping God of War and God of War II for PS2, even though the God of War Saga on PS3 contains HD remakes of each game. Furthermore, games that are considered collectors’ items are included based on merit of rareness, nostalgia, completion of a series, or historical significance, regardless of review score ranking. Games with poor review scores are often kept if they retain values over $40 or fall above the 80th percentile for rarity.
DATABASE INTERPRETATION
Video game, Console, Genre, Sub-genre, Review Score, Rarity & Value
The games are listed in alphabetical order, but with exceptions for series chronology and to maintain canon. Each complete in box game is listed in the first column, with compilation titles denoted by a star showing the number of games compiled within that game. Beside the title of each game you will find the console it appeared on in the next column. Next to that you will see the genre and it applicable, any sub-genres will follow with an acronym in CAPS. Follow this link for sub-genre descriptions. Review scores depicted are the average taken from the database on gamerankings aggregate website. For titles that are a collection of a game series, the game rankings scores from each game in the collection was averaged together to form the score indicated. Rarity guide is used to determine rarity by percentile. Ebay “sold listings” may be used to settle disputes about game values for titles that also had a greatest hits or other version re-released, as it will show the true value of “first prints” or “black labels”. Pricecharting figures for any games which saw the later, will be innacurate, as it mixes all versions of games with the same content together, scewing the average value reported. Games which do not appear on rarityguide have their rarity taken fro digitalpress. However, for the values of games that only saw an original release of the same contect (the majority of games), pricecharting is used to determine the current market value. Valuable games, retaining figures over $40 are autoupdated to provide more accurate figures toward the total value of the collection. The total for each category (excluding sub-genres) are maintained by counters at the beginning of the database. See the legend graphic explaining how significant titles are marked in the collection.
Database Filter
Use the “show only” drop down menu to filter results by console, genre, sub-genre, review score, rarity, and value. To search for a specific title, you may scroll through the spreadsheet manually or jump to a title automatically by searching the page using the “command” and “f” keys together, then inputting the name of the game you are seeking in the search bar and hitting enter.
REFERENCE SITES
*Game titles and associated labels in database below are linked to Wikipedia articles, definitions, or reference sites accordingly.