What’s a great endnote for a turbulent, remarkable year? Another heralded ranking for Breath of the Wild. What’s an even better way to cap off 2021 for Zelda fans? Mr. Miyamoto himself taking over Nintendo’s Twitter account to talk about it.
On December 27, 2021, the Japanese television network TV Ashai ran a special three-hour show that revealed Japan’s top 100 video games of all time, showing them off one by one. The results came in from the votes of over 50,000 people in Japan, an impressive feat to say the least. Some beloved games fell off the list, while other forgotten titles made the climb in the epic competition. But through it all, only one climbed to the very top, and that game was none other than Breath of the Wild.
Amazing as it was, an even better surprise came the next day when Shigeru Miyamoto shared a special Tweet on Nintendo’s Japan account thanking everyone for the prestigious victory. Here’s an English translation of the tweet, courtesy of @Cheesemeister3k.
After so many years, it’s nice to know that the father of the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario franchises is still very much involved with Nintendo. It seems he isn’t stopping anytime soon! The complete list of TV Ashai’s Top 100 can be seen here via Kotaku. Game titles that made it in the top ten are as follows:
10. Super Mario Bros. 3
9. Final Fantasy X
8. Chrono Trigger
7. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
6. Dragon Quest III
5. Splatoon 2
4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
3. Final Fantasy VII
2. Dragon Quest V
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild
Interestingly, Ocarina of Time stood its ground placing number 17 in the group. Skyward Sword, Majora’s Mask, and the first Legend of Zelda also made it in the pack. Not long after TV Ashai’s rankings were aired, IGN revised its own Top 100 games list on December 30, 2021. What did they place as number one? You guessed it, Breath of the Wild.
