Fans vote Black Ops for best videogame ending of all time

There are quite a few entries in the Guinness World Records that many would consider superfluous, but no matter how ridiculous some of them may be, they always have something in common — objectivity. Everything can be measured, weighed, quantified, or otherwise reduced to a value that everyone can agree upon as accurate, barring any accusations of cheating or the like. At least, they used to. I don’t know when Guinness started running user polls, but that practice needs to stop yesterday.

For the Guinness World Records 2012 Gamer’s Edition book, 13,519 votes were collected to bring us the “definitive list of the greatest video game endings of all time.” By “definitive,” Guinness means not definitive at all by their own admission that “the list will cause heated debate.” The titles that dominate, which come almost exclusively from the last decade, don’t determine anything other than how much of a popularity contest these polls really are.

Call of Duty: Black Ops tops the list as supposedly having the greatest videogame ending ever. Oooooh! Zombies! Mind-blowing plot twist right there. Do the entries get any better further down the list? Well, #11 is Super Mario Bros. That game doesn’t even have an ending! The Princess just tells you to play hard mode! And Sonic Adventure 2 is just… wrong. You can check the full list below. Admittedly, some of the games have decent endings, but there is no rhyme or reason to the order. Seriously, this did not need to be a thing.

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops
2. Halo: Reach
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
5. God of War
6. Red Dead Redemption
7. Portal
8. Metal Gear Solid 4
9. Final Fantasy VII
10. Heavy Rain
11. Super Mario Bros.
12. Pokemon Black and White
13. Halo 3
14. Halo: Combat Evolved
15. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
16. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
17. Portal 2
18. Grand Theft Auto IV
19. Mass Effect 2
20. Super Mario Galaxy 2
21. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
22. Kingdom Hearts
23. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
24. Shadow of the Colossus
25. Assassin’s Creed
26. Assassin’s Creed II
27. Metal Gear Solid
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Super Mario Galaxy
30. Mass Effect
31. Kingdom Hearts II
32. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
33. Sonic Adventure 2
34. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
35. BioShock
36. Gears of War 2
37. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
38. Fallout 3
39. inFamous
40. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
41. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
42. Super Metroid
43. Half-Life 2: Episode Two
44. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
45. Call of Duty: World at War
46. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
47. Crysis 2
48. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
49. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
50. Resident Evil 4