The All-Time Best Games on Every Platform

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – March 28, 2017

Below, find a collection of the highest-scoring games exclusive* to every platform, ranging from current-gen consoles all the way back to the Sega Genesis system. (Note that for the oldest consoles not available on Metacritic, games are ranked by scores assigned by our sister site GameRankings.)

* In the year of their original release. (Some of these games may have been reissued for other platforms at a later date.)

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89*

Ristar

Sega Genesis

Sega, 1995

The most successful console of its time (at least in North America), the 16-bit Genesis had a number of exclusives, including the Shinobi, Sonic the Hedgehog and Streets of Rage series, Gunstar Heroes, and Ecco the Dolphin (not to mention non-exclusive classics like NHL '94).

Many of the platform's games, admittedly, predate the rise of online game reviews, but among those titles with at least five reviews on GameRankings, the surprising #1 is Ristar, a side-scrolling platformer from the developers behind the Sonic series (who based Ristar's star character on some of the original concepts for Sonic). Despite being fairly well-regarded by some, the game did not sell well and thus never received a sequel.

Runners-Up
#2	89*	Sonic the Hedgehog 3	1994
#3	89*	Shining Force II	1994

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