The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

From the art to the music to the plot to the gameplay, it's just iconic.

Super Mario World! It holds up remarkably well even by modern platformer standards. It feels great, looks great, and is a blast to explore.

I honestly feel a little disappointed that I scrolled this far and nobody mentioned Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999).

This is an RTS game, which is a dying genre. It's also a 24 year old game, which after its release two more Age of Empires games have been released as well, and the game itself has been remastered recently. Yet people continue to play the original game to this day, the multiplayer scene and competitions are still active.

If that is not timeless I don't know what is.

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Totally still works as a modern Zelda game. Especially since Nintendo hasn't really changed the core mechanics since it's release!

DooM (1993), but mostly because of the community. Constant new levels, mods, engine updates, total conversions. Even commercial games released on the engine. It just never stops.

Half Life 2 still looks and plays fantastic even nearly decades later

Skyrim, actually. It's quite dated by today's standards, but just recently I started another playthrough on a whim and ended up playing 20h or so even though I've played the game a bunch of times for several hundreds of hours throughout the years already.

Heroes of Might and Magic III.

Tetris. Straight original is so simple accessible and addictive. I really haven't cared for much else they done with it since. It was perfection also out the gate.

Also, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I can play it anytime, anyplace. The gameplay, music, graphics even today just feel so go for being 2D

Miney Crafty

My husband is currently trying Chrono Trigger for the first time, the music is catchy and the game is too, even though he's currently stuck right now. We're big video game fans sharing our passion with our little. We've been Mario Kart 8ing together, so fun!

For me it's Chrono Trigger.

I see what you did there.

I think Toy Story 2 for PSX holds pretty well as a platformer, graphics wise ofc not, I hope I'm not being blinded by the nostalgia.

Baba Is You. It could be 30 years old - or could have been produced in 20 years - but still would be the same and Great!

I have a few answers, but I agree that Chrono Trigger is one of those games you come back to again and again. I think there are many excellent games which wouldn't qualify because they are too firmly rooted in their time, or perhaps don't feel timeless due to the limitations of their interface, but here are a few titles that are not just my favorites but I also think compare boldly across systems, genres, and time. I may have got carried away :|

edit: formatting, I'mma Lemmy newb

Sega Master System

• Columns: the best iteration of this tetris-esque game series imo
• Choplifter: what a brutal, unforgiving game, and you feel so horrible when you crush people you're trying to save

Sega Genesis

• Samurai Showdown (Genesis): A fighter oozing with personality, weapons, and a good balance of combos, strategy, and special moves that reward you just enough to want to learn that next move without feeling like you can just mash buttons

PC Engine / Turbografx 16

• Ninja Spirit (PC Engine): hard as hell, but also cool as hell
• Devil Crush: ultra-stylish, demonic pinball
• Blazing Lasers: OK, this one might be an easier title, but it's so much fun to cause so much carnage, and the layered parallax backgrounds are lovely

NES

• Ninja Gaiden: I still haven't beat it, but I can't not keep trying
• Kirby's Adventure: what a charming, vibrant world

SNES

• Super Street Fighter 2 series: gold standard fighter
• Earthbound / Mother 3: a unique, unusual, and psychedelic RPG
• Zombies Ate My Neighbors: wacky, stylish top-down mayhem with an excellent responsive control and fun music
• ActRasier: Interesting cross of management and platform game where you play a deity manifesting to take care of its people against monsters and famine alike

PSX

• Castlevania, Symphony of the Night: Beautiful gothic horror metroidvania-action-rpg with great music
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: killer moves, combos, wipeouts, and soundtrack

PS2

• Guitaroo Man: Wacky superhero/superrockstar rhythm game supreme
• Katamari Damacy: obsessive, rainbow-splashed fun and mayhem
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: my favorite title in this series

Xbox

• Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2: Bioware RPG storytelling and environments at their finest
• Psychonauts: a stylish and funny masterpiece by Doublefine (except that fucking meat circus, ugggggh)
• Jet Set Radio Future: a vibrant, cell-shaded wonder in unmistakable sega style
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay: a surprisingly tight, atmospheric, and narratively compelling stealth game

PC

• Doom 1 and 2: well yea
• Minesweeper: man, I sill get sucked into this game
• Grim Fandango: a heartwarming and funny point-and-click noir adventure about death and a life worth living, beautifully styled after Mexican day-of-the-dead visuals and themes
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: you may think you know what a text adventure game is, but this game will expand your mind
• Minecraft: OK, there are a LOT of versions and updates to this game, and it has become so complex, but whether OG vanilla or latest edition, there is nothing like loading up a clean, new world to explore, survive, and shape in new and exciting ways####___

I would say Chrono Trigger, but if Chrono Trigger was timeless, what would be the plot? :P

Doom (1993), Diablo (1996), amongst others like Chrono Trigger people have mentioned.

I mean, Doom is like a meme at this point "can it run Doom?" And so on.

Skyrim

Definitely Golden Sun.

Super Metroid is a game I have played over and over again for years. I recently played it again and I loved it so much I’ve been going back and playing all of the side scrolling Metroid games (again).

I actually just beat AM2R for a second time followed immediately by Samus Returns.

When I get through all of them I’m hitting Dread (which I only barely started when it first came out and I haven’t finished yet) and then moving to the Prime series.

I can’t get enough of Metroid, but Super Metroid is the greatest of them all. Even with the slightly dated controls, I find myself playing that game more than any other.

My second favorite game is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I play it almost as often as I do Super Metroid.

I‘ve went back to Secret of Mana a lot… Coop-able JRPGs were extremely rare for a very long time. Maybe they still are.

I take timeless to mean that it is still just as good today as the day it was released and that the game's quality isn't related to the time period in which it was released or the hardware it was released on. Dates and hardware are included in case you want to go play them. (You should if you haven't)

• Soul Calibur (1999 , Dreamcast)
• Project Gotham Racing (2001, Xbox)
• Top Gear (1992, SNES)
• Tempest 2000 (1994, Jaguar)
• Rock N Roll Racing (1993, SNES)
• Transport Tycoon Deluxe (1994, PC)
• Tetris (1989, Gameboy or perhaps the NES version)
• Silent Hill 2 (2001-ish, PS2 or Xbox)
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002, Xbox or PC)

I'm sure there are more, but I'll stop here.

A lot of people have mentioned Legend of Zelda games but I want to say that Wind Waker has held up so much over the years. One of my favourites

The Jak and Daxter series. Gameplay still holds up, story and world building still holds up, and it's been made easily available to later generations of consoles. Heck even the in-game animations hold up shockingly well, Jak's movement feels so fluid and organic compared to a lot of other older games that tend to feel a bit janky compared to modern games.

Older games in the Ratchet and Clank series also hold up pretty well too, though they're a bit harder to access unless they've been made available on the ps4/ps5 since I last played them, otherwise I have to dig out my ps3 to play the first 3 games.

I replay both game series pretty regularly and they're always equally as fun to play no matter how many years have passed.

Borderlands 2

Diablo 2, I love the grind and come back to it every few years.

The BioShock series is a timeless masterpiece

Definitely Chrono Trigger for me. I've seen most of the endings. One day I will see them all!

Also, portal 1 and 2, tf2 and l4d2.

The original Mario Kart. I could play any course with Donkey Kong without taking my finger off the accelerator -- I was a power sliding king.

Baldur's Gate. Probably not timeless to everyone, but will always be for me.

Also, Lords of the Realm II. Not sure why.

Morrowind feels like returning home, every time.

Mike Tyson's Punchout. I still play it occasionally as an adult and it's still just as fun as when I was a kid.

Mega man X! The musics are so fucking good

Ironic that a game entirely based around time is timeless.

To me, it's the n64 era, I think. Sm64, both Zelda games... Probably a dozen or so more that I'm forgetting, but those games will endure forever, I believe.

My dude. Chrono Trigger is my Lord of the Rings of video games. I keep coming back to it now and then because it's such a good playthrough.

The Binding of Isaac. I keep buying it on all platforms. No single run is the same. More expensive than it should be these days but it is my crack.

The Legend of Zelda. My kid finished Breath of the Wild and Tears and wanted more, so I put him on the original.

Hasn't aged a day. Still mind blowing. Still a ton of fun.

Earthbound will always be a top game for me.

Reading the title, I thought of Chrono Trigger as well. I guess we think alike.

Sometimes I fondly think of its gorgeous soundtrack as well.

I hope my future kids will like this classic as well.

Caesar III

This is going to be a weird one considering the graphics, but hear me out, the original Deus Ex. Something about the game just feels so well put together that the graphics take a back seat to the gameplay. There is a reason the community around the game has fought so hard to keep it running on modern hardware.