Game Overkill

Game Overkill – The Update

So a few weeks ago, I announced my new project, Game Overkill. As of today, you officially have 3 weeks left to send me your lists. For those of you unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, I have asked everyone who wishes to participate to send me a list of every single video game they think everyone should play at least once to create a kind of retro gamer-sourced greatest games list. Here are the rules:

• List can be as short or long as you want. I’ve gotten a 1-game list and a 281-game list. I want as many people to participate as possible, so send your list no matter how short.
• Limit to games from 1st to 6th gen. FYI – 6th gen is PS2, Xbox, GameCube, Dreamcast, and Game Boy Advance, so you’re free to include games for those consoles and any that came before.
• I accept portable, arcade, computer, and mobile games.
• You do not need to have played the game to list it.
• You don’t even necessarily need to think the game is good to list it. The game can be notorious or carry historical importance. Both E.T. for the 2600 and Tennis for Two (a game from 1958) have been listed for those reasons.
• Do not rank your lists. You’ll just be wasting your time.
• You can email me your list: atsinganoi(at)gmail(dot)com. Word, spreadsheet, Google Doc, plain text: all are acceptable.
• Deadline is July 31st (but we can come to an arrangement if you need a little more time).

Once I’ve gotten all the lists, I’m compiling them, ordering them, and reviewing the top… I haven’t decided yet, but it will be at least 100. If you’re worried that a game is too obscure, put it on your list anyway. I plan to do several side-lists, focusing on things like less well-known consoles (Top 15 PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 games), Japan-only games, and other interesting criteria. I’ll be doing 1 review a month (minimum) right here starting in September. Every review will finish by telling you which game will be getting reviewed next. That way, you can play along with me and we can all discuss it on Twitter. The games will be reviewed in random order so that where the next game landed in the overall standing will be a surprise.

So far, I’ve received 21 lists and have had 17 more people promise to hand theirs in before the deadline of July 31st, giving me a total (probably) of 38 lists. In my head, my goal was 50, but I told myself I’d consider 20 lists a success, especially since I was worried I’d only get 5. Now, I’m confident we can make it to 50 without problems, but you know what I’d really like? 100 LISTS!!! So get your brother, your sister, your mom, your dad, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your friends, get everyone to send me a list. The more people participate, the more fun it will be.

Now for the fun stuff. I’m not going to tell you what game is currently in 1st place (and it is EASILY in 1st place), but I will share some interesting stats compiled thus far:

• 953 different games have been listed so far.
• 31 platforms are currently represented by at least one game.
• Games on Nintendo consoles make up the entirety of the top 16 games. It’s time for the fans of non-Nintendo consoles to step their game up.
• Mega Man 2 has more votes than Mega Man 3. I always thought those who ingorantly preferred 3 outnumbered those who preferred the clearly superior 2.
• Mario 3 only leads Mario 2 by a vote.
• Ocarina of Time is not the #1 Zelda game. Majora’s Mask is currently tied for 9th among Zelda games.
• Only 1 Atari 2600 game has more than one vote.
• Shockingly, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Duke Nukem 3D, Wolfenstein 3D, Shenmue, Shining Force I & II, Faxanadu, Maniac Mansion, Ninja Gaiden III, any Twisted Metal game, Final Fantasy XII, Persona 4, all Alex Kidd games, Terranigma, Diablo I & II, and Half-Life,  among many others, have only appeared on 1 list each so far.
• 330 games have 2 or more votes, 172 have 3+, 98 have 4+, 51 have 5+.
• The #1 game has 12 votes. 3 more than any other game.

Well, 3 more weeks will go by fast, so get started on your lists if you haven’t already. Oh, and you can always send them to me in instalments. Send me a list whenever, and you’ll still have until the 31st to add more games to it. Until then, spread the word everywhere and to everyone, and I’ll see you here in September.