Joey's list is so Joey, and I don't mean that in a bad way! The five top games there are these foundational titles that taught so many of us about video game bedrocks like speed, difficulty, scope, and control. Words With Friends is one of those backdoor mobile picks (like someone else taking Angry Birds) that seems simple on the surface (it's just Scrabble), but when that game was hot you could have 10 games going with 10 different people and just have a great time (easy to cheat at, though, which is rough). I have the best memories of playing Zelda (both as a kid and later on an emulator as an adult), and mostly just touched the other games to be familiar enough with them.DurdenCommaTyler
Contra (Arcade)
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (NES)
The Legend of Zelda (NES)
Ms. Pac Man (Arcade)
The Sims (PC)
Words with Friends (iOS)
Monkey_Driven
Tetris (GameBoy)
Super Mario 64 (N64)
Red Dead Redemption (PS3)
MD's team has one of those foundational titles in Tetris, of course. I know it wasn't the first 3D game, but moving around in Mario 64 for the first time really did feel different. I know it technically isn't an open-world game, but I feel like the hub of that game doesn't get the recognition it deserves for how it influenced the way open-world games look and feel. RDR is so-hot-right-now, and it's kind of hard to remember when we all didn't like riding around and being cowboys, and I think there's something to be said how this game is probably more universally loved than the GTA games (i.e., everyone likes RDR at least a little, while there are plenty of people out there who do not like the GTA games--just my impression).
When it comes to the games I haven't played, I think MD did a great job picking a wide variety of games to try and represent the multitude of experiences one can have while gaming (not surprising). H:ZD is on my PS4 playlist, can't wait to get into it. If I had ever gotten through ME, I probably would've played ME2. I watched plenty of people play Rock Band when it was hot, and I had 0% interest--never even asked to be handed a controller for a turn. But I think that is a result of the type of team he built--not everything is for everyone. The Resident Evil games on both lists cancel each other out for me, as I wasn't a huge fan of those either. Stopped PC gaming right before KOTOR, bet I woulda loved it, but no experience.
So I think it comes down to, for me, the foundation-of-gaming style of Joey's list vs. the breadth-of-experience style of MD's. I would probably vote for MD in another round vs. another team, but my vote is for Joey.
