By Reid Frame | Entertainment | November 14, 2026
ENTERTAINMENT DESK — Ranking the five greatest video games of all time is a noble exercise in storytelling, innovation and giving strangers on the internet a reason to type in all capital letters.
After considering influence, replayability, cultural reach and the number of friendships potentially ruined by this article, The Tea Bag Times presents a deliberately debatable list. It is an editorial ranking, not a scientific measurement or a vote of all gamers.
5. Grand Theft Auto V — The game that refused to retire
Released in 2013, Grand Theft Auto V somehow became a multi-generational social institution. Players have spent years driving recklessly, buying imaginary property and asking when the next installment would finally arrive. It gave us a world large enough to get lost in and online activities capable of turning a casual evening into a second job.
4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time — A master class in getting sidetracked
The 1998 Nintendo classic helped shape three-dimensional adventure design. It combined exploration, puzzles, memorable music and the timeless lesson that saving the world can wait until you’ve checked what is inside every breakable pot. The Water Temple remains under investigation.
3. Minecraft — Millions of hours spent building a square house
Minecraft made creativity the objective and still found a way to make everyone panic after sunset. Its open-ended worlds invite players to build castles, machines and enormous cities. In practice, many begin with a dirt shelter, lose their belongings and vow never to go mining again.
2. Super Mario 64 — Three dimensions, one plumber, endless arguments about the camera
Mario’s 1996 jump into 3D helped redefine platform games, proving a castle full of paintings could be an entire universe. It also taught players that falling off a ledge often has less to do with their ability than with where the camera decided to look.
1. Tetris — The universal language of ‘one more round’
Simple rules, infinite tension and a soundtrack that can occupy someone’s thoughts for decades: Tetris transformed falling shapes into a nearly perfect test of composure. People who have never agreed on anything can agree that the long piece always arrives just after it was needed.
The honorable mentions would like a word
Super Mario Bros. 3, Pokémon, Half-Life 2, Portal 2, The Sims, Final Fantasy VII, Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring and countless other favorites have strong cases. Entire gaming communities will consider that sentence a personal insult.
The editorial team stands by this ranking until somebody makes a sufficiently passionate argument for their favorite game, at which point the list will be reopened and the meeting will become unmanageable.
Photo: Ted Mielczarek / Wikimedia Commons, CC0, archival photo of game controllers.
About the writer
Reid Frame covers entertainment, games and the entertainment industry’s ongoing arguments for The Tea Bag Times™. Meet our newsroom.
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