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[The Horror the horror]

Genre kings come and go in this business, either because those games failed to change with the times and their imitators have not, OR because their successors were just that much better.

But there are games that have remained fixed on their respective thrones for an obscenely long time, inversely, because the competition just sucks or due to the one harsh truth that perfection simply cannot be improved upon.

That right there is my pick. Released in 2005 and has kept the crown since.

For those of you lamenting over the old WWF/WCW games on the N64, let me say I was once one of you. I thought the genre was dead for good, buried forever inside a coffin hand-built by Yukes. Then I downloaded this little title begrudgingly, along with the accompanying WCW/WWF/ECW packs from another site, and played around with it one weekend...

There's no going back. Hell, there's no going forward. Hands down, the best wrestling game in existence. With the extra packs, you get virtually all the wrestlers, their moves, finishers, and even entrance themes.

https://youtu.be/uPoEBmgzGB0?t=1m27s (WWF Attitude 1998)

2005.

12 years, the undisputed king of wrestling games.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Demon's Souls

 

[psilva]

Street Fighter 3 TS, KoF 98.

 

[Feep]

A lot of people love Ori and Hollow Knight and whatever, but man, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is just sublime.

 

[Deepwater]

Rise of Nations

 

[djplaeskool]

Jurassic Park: The Lost World is one of the best arcade rail shooters known to man, and still tops in my book.

 

[Phu]

Mischief Makers.

Maybe I just haven't been paying attention but I'm not even sure another game like that exists.

 

[Wamb0wneD]

Ocarina of Time, Action Adventure. As long no studio actually wants to copy the whole formula i don't see it happening. Dark Siders tried and did ok but nothing too noteworthy imo and Okami just didn't have a good focus on dungeons.

 

[sn00zer]

Ape Escape in hunting platforming.... maybe...

 

[FLAguy954]

I lot of people love Ori and Hollow Knight and whatever, but man, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is just sublime.

This, also in the same vein: Super Metroid.

Jurassic Park: The Lost World is one of the best arcade rail shooters known to man, and still tops in my book.

What about Sin and Punishment 1/2 or the flying sections of Kid Icarus Uprising?

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Super Mario Brothers 3 for platformers

 

[Solo Act]

Many of the arcade sports titles of the PS2/Xbox generation sadly. NBA Street v2, NHL Hitz, etc. They really fall into a similar bucket with OP's Fire Pro Wrestling in terms of style and genre.

 

[Bishop89]

Crash team racing

 

[Mr. Poolman]

This, also in the same vein: Super Metroid.

Good man.
I came to post Super Metroid.
A masterpiece of game design.

 

[Nielm]

The Sims 2. (life simulation.)

Deus Ex. (immersive sim.)

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Shadow of the Colossus is still the best giant-climbing game

 

[Patrick S.]

C&C Red Alert
X-Com Enemy Unknown
Master of Orion 2
Doom

 

[StereoVsn]

Baldur's Gate 2. Between the story, characters, combat, amount of content, encounters and so much more, it is the quintessential RPG that has yet to be beaten. Even Witcher 3, for all its pluses also locks you into one particular character win limited abilities to affect the world at the end.

 

[The Silver]

Devil May Cry 3 is still the best total package for my money in the stylish hardcore action game genre

Ninja Gaiden Black may falter hard in terms of the story but it's up there too.

 

[Isaac Otherworld]

Jet Set Radio Future is the best N64 style collectathon platformer. It's just so radically different aesthetically you'd never notice it.

 

[Mike M]

Tetris only ever seems to be bested by other versions of Tetris.

 

[Tagyhag]

Quake 3 Arena in the arena shooter genre.

 

[Htown]

F-Zero GX is still the best futuristic racer

Freespace 2 is still the best space sim

 

[The Horror the horror]

C&C Red Alert
X-Com Enemy Unknown
Master of Orion 2
Doom

To this day, I don't know of any strategy to defeat tank-blitzes outside of building tanks faster than my opponent. I've tried turrets, sandbags to slow them down, even grenadiers. Nothing.

 

[Griss]

The oldest one that's still tops?

Has to be Super Metroid from back in 1994. No one has done that kind of 2d exploration game better.

 

[Vital Tundra]

On a purely mechanical standpoint Mario 64 for 3D platformers. I love Galaxy 1/2 way more honestly but there is so much sanboxy nature in the platforming itself in 64 it still kinda blows my mind.

Super Metroid hasn't been top'd in the 2D space, either.

I think Prime 1 is also still the best 1st person adventure game.

 

[night814]

Mega Man 2(or 3 depending on which you like more) for run and gun

Super Metroid for action/adventure

Metroid Prime for first person adventure(although DOOM is almost in this category if it wasn't as shooter heavy)

 

[broncobuster]

Project Gotham Racing 2 remains the best (semi simulation) racing game near 14 years after release.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

OP pretty much nailed it, though I've got high hopes for Fire Pro Wrestling World. All it really has to do is be Returns + more stuff and it'll be the best wrestling game of all time.

 

[120v]

Super Castlevania IV

show me an action platformer with that much attention to detail on *every single stage*... OST customized for every single level -- even sub-levels. different challenges throughout the game, whether it be enemy encounters or boss encounters. not saying it's the best game ever in its genre, wont open up the can of worms how it compares to the rest of the games in the franchise, but this game has some top notch craftmanship i have yet to see outclassed

 

[Laws00]

Street Fighter 3 TS, KoF 98.

BAM

 

[pixelation]

Jak and Daxter TPL, the open world platformer king still has to be dethroned.

 

[SargerusBR]

Capcom vs SNK 2

GOAT fighting game.

 

[Mcleon6494]

Demon's Souls

Ugh no. Bloodborne is infinitely more playable today

 

[Fou-Lu]

Terranigma is likely the best top down action RPG that has ever been made.

 

[HylianTom]

Agree with F-Zero GX for the futuristic racing category.

And I'd name Morrowind in the western RPG category. Such an astounding game.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Souls series
Streets of Rage series(sad, that most modern beat em ups do not even looks as good as Streets of Rage 1.)
Tekken series
F-Zero
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Virtua Fighter series
Street Fighter series
Ninja Garden Black and Ninja Garden 2
WWF/WWE wrestling games on the N64
Silent Hill 2 and 3
Mario 64

 

[Gulz1992]

Silent Hill 1 for horror games. No game has outclassed it in it's effectiveness at getting you irrationally scared of the unknown.

 

[capitalCORN]

Thief 1 and 2. No stealth game better.

 

[MezzoForte]

Street Fighter 3 TS, KoF 98.

I like you!

 

[TharpDaddy]

World of Warcraft for MMOs. So many games tried to be the "WoW killer" and none succeeded.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

There is a reason that game is still extensively modded to this day. Few other games do so well in delivering exciting melee duels, and nothing honestly beats it for delivering the most 'Star Wars' experience out there. Sure, other games may have better stories, or have better particular systems, or look more like the movies through raw visual fidelity, but nothing will ever quite make you feel like a Jedi the way Jedi Academy does.

 

[Enzo88]

Mario 64.

 

[arigato]

Quake 3 Arena in the arena shooter genre.

Japanese castles on CTF is always a good time.

 

[chillybright]

Starcraft Brood Wars

 

[Servbot24]

None of those hyper-specific genres for me. "stylish hardcore action game", "giant-climbing game", "futuristic racer". Psh-shaw! These games are too good to need to do that.

Mega Man X (Sidescroller)
Metroid Prime (FPS)
F-Zero GX (Racing)
Demon's Souls (RPG)
Zelda: Majora's Mask (Adventure) ...Amazingly, this game came out 2 days after the game that would otherwise hold this position, Mega Man Legends 2

 

[Dorygrant]

I've been playing Pokémon Puzzle Challenge on my 3ds and it may be the best portable version of Tetris Attack (the DS entry had not very good music/look to it). Only recently did they release that Animal Crossing New Leaf update that has a version but it's not a standalone version of this game (and I feel has yet to be topped).

 

[Piston Hyundai]

Worms Armageddon.

 

[VlaudTheImpaler]

Warpath (Classic)

 

[Emu-Fred]

Mario 64.

What about Banjo-Kazooie?