Blacks Ops has the #1 Video Game Ending according to Guinness World Records

Ocarina of Time gets a podium finish at number 3 in a list of 50.

The folks over at Guinness World Records, whom you probably remember from many an hour of misspent youth at the school library, have taken to putting out a “Gamers Edition” of their world record collection every year. Sadly, aside from a few obvious numbers, such a book has to be filled with accomplishments of rather dubious interest, such as the scintillating “Largest Competitive Pokemon Family”.

However, it seems they’ve at least got the right idea with their list of the 50th best video game endings (despite feeling the need to call their list definitive). Gaz Dreaves, the editor of the 2012 edition of the book, said the list “recognised some of the greatest endings” and would “hopefully get gamers talking about which are their favourites”. Yes, a Call of Duty fanboy surely works at the Guinness World Records office.

Heads up, from here on out there will be spoilers for older games.

Call of Duty: Black Ops takes the #1 spot, primarily for its tongue in cheek rewriting of the JFK conspiracy. Halo: Reach is in #2 for its final firefight, which for those who don’t know, eventually overwhelms and kills you, a gutsy move in an era when so many games are focused only on making you feel like a badass. Ocarina of Time comes in at a handy #3, presumably not for its narrative conclusion, no matter how clever the way it determines which Zelda timeline is followed. And weird.

The rest goes much as you might expect, with Mario at least fairly well represented. Super Mario Bros is #10, Galaxy 2 #20, Galaxy original at 26 and New Super Mario Bros Wii sitting down at #40, which isn’t bad for a series with no narrative progression at all. Curiously Pokemon Black and White stands at #12 but the original isn’t represented at all. How that final fight with Red doesn’t deserve to be here I’ll never know.

The full list can be found here, so take a gander and get talking in comments.