The 57 Best Games of All Time (According to Game Zone Magazine)
86What do the games Duck Hunt, Double Dragon II and Rad Racer have in common? These were just a few of the games that only earned one-star from Game Zone, the short-lived magazine that covered the British console industry in the early 1990s. When I ran an episode looking at Game Zone’s worst-reviewed games, the reaction was fast and furious, angry at the questionable picks and insulting reviews. People openly wondered, if Game Zone hated this many good games, then what on earth did they like?
In order to bid farewell to 2024 in the most positive way I can think of, I decided to answer that question. Today, we’re going to look at Game Zone’s best-reviewed games and decide if it redeems them. But first, I need to blow your mind. You see, Game Zone didn’t have a five-star scale, like most people thought. In a nod to Spinal Tap, their scale went one number higher, effectively making it a 6-point scale. The regular games would fall into that one through five-star spectrum, but truly amazing games would rise above the rating scale and be called, wait for it, MEGA ZONE games. These were the best of the best, and there are exactly 57 games that qualified for that more-perfect-than-perfect rating. Will some of your favorite 8- and 16-bit games make the cut? Find out now when we countdown the 57 Best Games of All Time (According to Game Zone Magazine).
0:00 – Introduction
1:46 – Commercial: Battletoads (U.S.)
2:17 – Battletoads (NES)
2:31 – Battletoads in Ragnarok’s World (GB)
2:52 – Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday (Mega Drive)
3:15 – Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse (Mega Drive)
3:43 – Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (GB)
4:08 – Davis Cup Tennis (Turbo)
4:32 – Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf (Mega Drive)
4:58 – Devilish (GG)
5:15 – EA Hockey (Mega Drive)
5:40 – Exhaust Heat (SNES)
6:09 – F-22 Interceptor (Mega Drive)
6:38 – Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu (Turbo)
7:18 – James Pond II: Codename Robocod (Mega Drive)
7:42 – Joe & Mac (SNES)
8:13 – John Madden Football ’92 (Mega Drive)
8:46 – Krusty’s Super Funhouse (SNES)
8:58 – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
9:29 – Lemmings (SNES)
9:53 – Marble Madness (GG)
10:01 – Mega Man 2 (NES)
10:32 – Commercial: Sonic the Hedgehog on Game Gear (U.S.)
11:05 – Mega Man 3 (NES)
11:31 – Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge (GB)
11:44 – NES Open Tournament Golf (NES)
12:09 – The New Zealand Story (NES)
12:33 – Pac-Mania (Master System)
13:01 – Parodius (SNES)
13:11 – Populous (Master System)
13:34 – Prince of Persia (Master System)
13:59 – Prince of Persia (SNES)
14:18 – Road Rash (Mega Drive)
14:38 – R-Type (Turbo)
15:13 – SimCity (SNES)
15:41 – Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warship (NES)
15:56 – Sonic the Hedgehog (Mega Drive)
16:23 – Sonic the Hedgehog (Master System)
16:57 – Sonic the Hedgehog (GG)
17:18 – Speedball 2 (Master System)
17:38 – Star Wars (NES)
18:14 – Steel Talons (Lynx)
18:34 – British Slang Explained
20:16 – Commercial: Sonic the Hedgehog (U.K.)
20:59 – Super Aleste (SNES)
21:17 – Super Bases Loaded (SNES)
21:41 – Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
22:09 – Super Formation Soccer (SNES)
22:29 – Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts (SNES)
23:01 – Super Kick Off (Master System)
23:26 – Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
23:47 – Super Mario World (SNES)
24:15 – Super R-Type (SNES)
24:50 – Super Scrabble (GB)
25:07 – Super Tennis (SNES)
25:32 – Tax-Mania (Mega Drive)
25:43 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)
26:00 – The Immortal (Mega Drive)
26:27 – ToeJam & Earl (Mega Drive)
26:55 – Toki (Lynx)
27:15 – Winter Challenge (Mega Drive)
27:46 – Xenophobe (Lynx)
28:07 – Commercial; Super NES (U.K.)
29:08 – Question of the Day
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