Backloggd Canon 2022 (Sight & Sound)
At the end of 2022, the users on Backloggd got together to vote on a canon for the site, inspired by the Sight & Sound top films list released concurrently. 129 separate site members submitted ballots containing 10 games each, with 527 unique games nominated, 113 of which were voted on by three or more people. These are the results, presented here with added commentary from many of the site's most fervent users. Thank you to everyone who participated, as well as those who were gracious enough to write blurbs for each!
You can find the ballots listed here.
You can find the ballots listed here.
113 Games
RANK 28 (8 votes)
Shaking the firmament of the industry as dramatically as its distant relative Resident Evil did on its debut, Hideki Kamiya and Team Little Devils' masterpiece stole the spotlight the instant it hit the dancefloor, and no one has ever quite been able to take it back.
For decades, success in most games was binary, a matter of finishing a level or getting the highest score, and creative play often went unacknowledged and unreciprocated. Devil May Cry, however, danced an intoxicating tango that challenged players not only to succeed but to do so stylishly; pushing players into the realm of genuine self-expression through play.
Devil May Cry has aged, but it has aged immaculately, in ways that only enhance it. Its combined aesthetic sensibilities and precise rhythms of play have fallen out of the zeitgeist and been rendered laughable to many, but a combo doesn't have to be all things to all people. It doesn't have to deliver the most points or do the most damage, it doesn't have to look cool to everyone. It just has to be yours. And as long as it is, it'll still feel as incredible as it always has.
(Woodaba)
Shaking the firmament of the industry as dramatically as its distant relative Resident Evil did on its debut, Hideki Kamiya and Team Little Devils' masterpiece stole the spotlight the instant it hit the dancefloor, and no one has ever quite been able to take it back.
For decades, success in most games was binary, a matter of finishing a level or getting the highest score, and creative play often went unacknowledged and unreciprocated. Devil May Cry, however, danced an intoxicating tango that challenged players not only to succeed but to do so stylishly; pushing players into the realm of genuine self-expression through play.
Devil May Cry has aged, but it has aged immaculately, in ways that only enhance it. Its combined aesthetic sensibilities and precise rhythms of play have fallen out of the zeitgeist and been rendered laughable to many, but a combo doesn't have to be all things to all people. It doesn't have to deliver the most points or do the most damage, it doesn't have to look cool to everyone. It just has to be yours. And as long as it is, it'll still feel as incredible as it always has.
(Woodaba)
RANK 64 (4 votes)
RANK 47 (5 votes)
The original audiovisual masterpiece. OutRun wastes no bytes attempting to complicate the process of driving, instead treating your Ferrari as what is is: a vehicle towards new horizons. Visionary designer Yu Suzuki combines Sega's frantic arcade sensibilities with still gorgeous scenery and a surprisingly mellow soundtrack to create an almost zen-like feeling that remains unmatched, even by modern standards. The wind through your hair, the "whoosh" of leaving other drivers in the dust, the satisfaction of perfectly turning a corner, the shift in color palette as you cross country lines, and that big, beautiful, open sky. What else do you need?
(chump)
The original audiovisual masterpiece. OutRun wastes no bytes attempting to complicate the process of driving, instead treating your Ferrari as what is is: a vehicle towards new horizons. Visionary designer Yu Suzuki combines Sega's frantic arcade sensibilities with still gorgeous scenery and a surprisingly mellow soundtrack to create an almost zen-like feeling that remains unmatched, even by modern standards. The wind through your hair, the "whoosh" of leaving other drivers in the dust, the satisfaction of perfectly turning a corner, the shift in color palette as you cross country lines, and that big, beautiful, open sky. What else do you need?
(chump)
RANK 81 (3 votes)
RANK 64 (4 votes)
RANK 47 (5 votes)
A kaleidoscopic smattering of ideas from all walks of old horror movies, but not necessarily to a goofy degree. While camp is a large amount of horror as an artistic medium, Castlevania focuses on the terror that these icons used to instill in people when these films were fresh. Restricting, compelling and isolating in both its control scheme and level design, it’s the essence of horror. Yet there’s a rhythm to it: a mastery that can only be provided by the medium of video games, one where each successive return to Dracula’s satanic castle brings with it growth. A satisfying and rewarding experience each and every time, one so satisfying and inspired that its echoes are felt throughout action platforming to this day.
(Archagent)
A kaleidoscopic smattering of ideas from all walks of old horror movies, but not necessarily to a goofy degree. While camp is a large amount of horror as an artistic medium, Castlevania focuses on the terror that these icons used to instill in people when these films were fresh. Restricting, compelling and isolating in both its control scheme and level design, it’s the essence of horror. Yet there’s a rhythm to it: a mastery that can only be provided by the medium of video games, one where each successive return to Dracula’s satanic castle brings with it growth. A satisfying and rewarding experience each and every time, one so satisfying and inspired that its echoes are felt throughout action platforming to this day.
(Archagent)
RANK 81 (3 votes)
RANK 81 (3 votes)
RANK 81 (3 votes)
RANK 64 (4 votes)
RANK 39 (6 votes)
Following in the footsteps of Warren Robinett’s Adventure six years before, Shigeru Miyamoto’s 1986 masterpiece streamlined role-playing concepts into a slick action game format, pioneering immersive open world design in the process. Simultaneously offered unparalleled freedom to explore and little to no guidance on how to progress, players were left to truly inhabit the enigmatic and dangerous world of Hyrule.
All too often these days the game is dismissed for being obtuse; and to be sure, it is. By modern standards it can seem irredeemably reliant on guesswork. However, things must be put into context. You were not meant to blast through Zelda in an afternoon or two; you were meant to take your sweet time with it – months even – slowly unfurling its mystique, trading tips with friends and scouring for solutions in newsletters and magazines, treating it almost like a cipher of sorts, a mystery inviting you to solve it. In a sense, the game was played outside the console as much as it was within it.
More than thirty-five years later, the original Legend of Zelda remains eminently influential. Its sense of mystery and engendering of real-world cooperation heavily inspired FromSoftware’s Souls series, and Breath of the Wild, currently the latest mainline Zelda entry, sought to reinvent the series by looking to the past – at the game that, through a staggering number of sequels, had not yet been meaningfully outdone. One could argue that it still hasn’t.
(baldur)
Following in the footsteps of Warren Robinett’s Adventure six years before, Shigeru Miyamoto’s 1986 masterpiece streamlined role-playing concepts into a slick action game format, pioneering immersive open world design in the process. Simultaneously offered unparalleled freedom to explore and little to no guidance on how to progress, players were left to truly inhabit the enigmatic and dangerous world of Hyrule.
All too often these days the game is dismissed for being obtuse; and to be sure, it is. By modern standards it can seem irredeemably reliant on guesswork. However, things must be put into context. You were not meant to blast through Zelda in an afternoon or two; you were meant to take your sweet time with it – months even – slowly unfurling its mystique, trading tips with friends and scouring for solutions in newsletters and magazines, treating it almost like a cipher of sorts, a mystery inviting you to solve it. In a sense, the game was played outside the console as much as it was within it.
More than thirty-five years later, the original Legend of Zelda remains eminently influential. Its sense of mystery and engendering of real-world cooperation heavily inspired FromSoftware’s Souls series, and Breath of the Wild, currently the latest mainline Zelda entry, sought to reinvent the series by looking to the past – at the game that, through a staggering number of sequels, had not yet been meaningfully outdone. One could argue that it still hasn’t.
(baldur)
RANK 81 (3 votes)
RANK 47 (5 votes)
It can't be stated enough how much Dragon Quest has done for the role playing genre and gaming space in general. Being able to translate the Dungeons and Dragons experience to the masses is no small feat, and many would say it's Japan's greatest and maybe even proudest contribution to the gaming space. It wasn't the first, but it set the roots that still hold together the Japanese role playing genre today, and honestly it made me appreciate what goes into every game. Every single word written, every non playable character placed in the world, and every interaction you have with the game itself all the way down to the hero defeating the grand evil while saving the world represents a tale almost as old as time itself. It may not mean much and may even sound cliché to a lot of people today, but in 1986, it was all you ever wanted and needed.
(ExAndOh)
It can't be stated enough how much Dragon Quest has done for the role playing genre and gaming space in general. Being able to translate the Dungeons and Dragons experience to the masses is no small feat, and many would say it's Japan's greatest and maybe even proudest contribution to the gaming space. It wasn't the first, but it set the roots that still hold together the Japanese role playing genre today, and honestly it made me appreciate what goes into every game. Every single word written, every non playable character placed in the world, and every interaction you have with the game itself all the way down to the hero defeating the grand evil while saving the world represents a tale almost as old as time itself. It may not mean much and may even sound cliché to a lot of people today, but in 1986, it was all you ever wanted and needed.
(ExAndOh)
48 Comments
This is awesome! Thank you Pangburn for letting me contribute in it and for making this happen :)
Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of this!
Thank you, everyone! Btw, there sure are a lot of trans girls on backloggd
Incredible work Pangburn in putting this altogether, and I'm very happy to have been included. Cannot express how much I love every blurb written in this list, such a wonderful showcase of the talent and genius on this site, everyone did a great job. Also, damn this is a good list of games!
based
Oh shit, I didn't know this was happening! Would have loved to join. Is it Discord only?
It looks like a fairly fun list. Any chance this'll be yearly?
It looks like a fairly fun list. Any chance this'll be yearly?
@FrozenRoy Decade-ly
This comment was deleted
Proper good stuff man, and thanks to everyone involved!
This shit is straight up Legendary. Should be promoted anywhere on the site.
such a great way to be introduced to more of the wonderful writers on this site. bravo!
I'm glad to have been able to put this together for everyone on the site! thank you again to every single person who was generous enough to submit commentary for each game, as well as everyone who considered writing one, helped edit or prepare one, or pointed me in the direction of someone who would be perfect for the role!
to those wondering: I left the bottom half of the list without blurbs to make the coordination process easier, as those who were writing two blurbs already were under enough pressure as is to put theirs together, and handing out 60-odd blurbs was already very time-consuming. the five-vote cutoff was arbitrary... the bottom tiers of this list were so coarse that it was difficult to cut it cleanly in half LOL. I'm sure this will happen again in the future though! I don't know if I'll be the person running it, but I'm sure one of these could happen biyearly or so as the site continues to evolve -- the original s&s poll occurs once each decade but that seems a little long for a random internet community lol. regardless, if you didn't submit a ballot or write a blurb this go-round, perhaps you'll get a chance the next time this happens!
@letshugbro I didn't even think to tell people placements for games when I assigned blurbs LOL but I think the ambiguity definitely added some fun surprises even for those who had a sense of what was on the list and what wasn't
@FrozenRoy I definitely advertised it in the discord but the actual submissions were located at the list linked in the description above. I'm sorry to you and other "prominent" users for not getting a notif about it! I initially considered tracking down people just to ask them to submit ballots but didn't for a couple reasons... I knew some people already weren't interested and I didn't want to harass them about it, and I also didn't want to implicitly exclude people who may be well-known but not known to me... easy for me to overlook people on accident, esp since I spend less time on the site now than I used to. but hopefully now that this has been done once we'll get even more ballots for a potential redo a couple years down the line.
thanks again to everyone who participated! this is probably a good time for me to start tucking into some of the games listed here that I've never gotten around to playing...
to those wondering: I left the bottom half of the list without blurbs to make the coordination process easier, as those who were writing two blurbs already were under enough pressure as is to put theirs together, and handing out 60-odd blurbs was already very time-consuming. the five-vote cutoff was arbitrary... the bottom tiers of this list were so coarse that it was difficult to cut it cleanly in half LOL. I'm sure this will happen again in the future though! I don't know if I'll be the person running it, but I'm sure one of these could happen biyearly or so as the site continues to evolve -- the original s&s poll occurs once each decade but that seems a little long for a random internet community lol. regardless, if you didn't submit a ballot or write a blurb this go-round, perhaps you'll get a chance the next time this happens!
@letshugbro I didn't even think to tell people placements for games when I assigned blurbs LOL but I think the ambiguity definitely added some fun surprises even for those who had a sense of what was on the list and what wasn't
@FrozenRoy I definitely advertised it in the discord but the actual submissions were located at the list linked in the description above. I'm sorry to you and other "prominent" users for not getting a notif about it! I initially considered tracking down people just to ask them to submit ballots but didn't for a couple reasons... I knew some people already weren't interested and I didn't want to harass them about it, and I also didn't want to implicitly exclude people who may be well-known but not known to me... easy for me to overlook people on accident, esp since I spend less time on the site now than I used to. but hopefully now that this has been done once we'll get even more ballots for a potential redo a couple years down the line.
thanks again to everyone who participated! this is probably a good time for me to start tucking into some of the games listed here that I've never gotten around to playing...
I will be putting this on my CV. Wonderful job!
Im just astonished DOOM is the Top 1, seriously, im impressed
I'm sad I wasn't able to participate in this event. Goddamn, that's cool as hell. And such great games!
@Pangburn Hey, yo, no problem man! It's my own fault for not being on top of things, especially given I am Following you anyway. Really, I'm glad you even seem to consider me prominent at all, heh. I will say I would definitely recommend not doing a full decade like S&S, it'll be way too long for an internet community like this and Backloggd itself could be gone by then. IDK if people would want yearly but if not, something like 2-3 years seems good? 2025 would be an even number. 5 years instead is possible but I honestly think it might be too long, especially since unlike S&S there isn't a critic's base to rely on so who knows how much interest there will be.
Thanks again for organizing this to begin with!
Thanks again for organizing this to begin with!
When will the next edition be?
Cab
1 year ago