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Having written my top 20 and started sharing it over a month ago, today, I share with you my all time favourite video game. The amazing image above has been used to create some kind of suspense so that the preview image doesn't ruin the surprise. If you missed the previous 4 parts, I have included links at the end of this post.

So here it is...

1 - Championship Manager / Football Manager (Amiga 500 / PC)

I know it's not a single video game but a collection of titles that could easily have taken my top 5, but I think you'd have found that boring. Not all of these games have achieved greatness - the hard fork in 2003 saw Sports Interactive and Eidos part ways. This saw the creation of Football Manager to rival the existing Championship Manager game. Whereas CM went down a more graphically orientated route, FM seemed to have more heart and the soul of the original which won through over time.

When I was younger, I was totally addicted to these games. Waking up excited to play it in the morning, my mum worrying that I'd starve bringing me sustenance throughout the day and continuing to play until after the midnight wanting to play "just one more game". I dread to think what I could have achieved with the same dedication to something else. Instead, I have memories of a World Cup Final managing Hong Kong and taking Enfield Town into the UEFA cup. There were even nights out on the lash where I'd end up talking about such achievements with some random in a nightclub. This can't be said of any other games on my list which is why it had to be my number 1. I hope you're not too disappointed!!

So, here are my favourite versions from these iconic series.

Championship Manager '93 (Amiga 500)

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This is where it all began for me in what's now a 28 year love affair. Just look at the squad after 2 minutes in the above video - just 8 attributes with the well known rating out of 20. Always wanting to lure Gazza, Platt, Des Walker and Lineker back from Italy and Japan. Christian Vieri and Alessnadro Messi - the coup of signing an Italian Player. Looking at that video now makes me want to play it again despite knowing how annoying holding the space bar was to make the match go faster. But I can't resist... So much so, that in looking for a download, I've found this link and I can play it online.

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Championship_Manager_93-94_1993

I can't decide how wise this is. I know it's not. I can't help myself. I have an article to write. Focus. Move on....

Championship Manager '97/98 (PC)

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This was the next great version and a massive improvement on the previous versions. More attributes, more leagues (I didn't need to buy a separate CD to manage in Italy or Spain) and an incredibly usable interface. A game which brought Ibrahima Bakayoko to stardom. A game so good, and so popular that there are people who still create player updates for the 2020/21 season.

This was the version that I played with my friends at uni on a mini-network and to show how deep a part of our lives this game became, whilst out and about, we'd rate people (ourselves included) and events with the same rating system - e.g. watching some bloke in a club falling over whilst trying to buy another beer - Balance: 1, Decisions: 5, Determination: 20, Pace: 1, etc.

Championship Manager '01/02 (PC)

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Looking back at the great versions of this game, it seemed to be every 3 to 4 years that we saw a significant improvement. This was the last great version that I remember owning for quite some time. When a game is this good, why risk getting a newer version? You could get Taribo West on a free transfer and then the likes of Tonton Zola Moukoko and the legendary Andri Sigporsson. This was also pretty much the last version before the infamous split and I waited to see where the cards would fall.

Football Manager 2010

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This is the version where I think the new franchise peaked - it was before the overly complicated training regimes, agents and all of the other overly realistic elements were introduced. There were half decent graphics if you like that sort of thing but the core stats based data was (and still is) still there. It was so good and in reading how complex the game started to become after this point, I decided to steer clear. For a decade.

Football Manager 2020

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And so to 2020. The year the world changed and with it, a "games for heroes" initiative for NHS staff gave me the opportunity to get the latest version for free. I was happy with 2010. I loved 2010 so could I handle the change???

It turns out that yes, I could and I really love this version of the game too. The complexity is still there if you want it but if you don't (like me) then you can delegate these tasks to other staff. If you're still with me and reading then I can only assume that you have enjoyed at least one version of this game too.

When I talked about Worms in my previous article, I said that it was unusual for a game to retain its fanbase for so long and there's no doubt that CM/FM has achieved this along with enhancing its fan base along the way. From a sports genre perspective, only FIFA has managed to achieve this and along with many other games, should have made my top 20.

So here's my all-time top 20 video games. I hope you've enjoyed my min-series as much as I've enjoyed writing and thinking about it. Following Part 4, I downloaded Worms Revolution Extreme on my PS Vita so maybe I'll ramble on about that at some point. Or maybe I'll start rambling about games 21+ which didn't make my top 20. The likes of Paperboy, Road Rash, FIFA, Sim City, NBA Jam, Theme Park, F1, Age of Empires, Diablo 2, Quake... the list is (possibly) endless.)

1 - Championship Manager '93 / Football Manager '97/98, '01/02, 2010 and 2020 (Amiga 500 / PC)
2 - Super Mario World (SNES)
3 - Goldeneye (N64)
4 - Worms (Amiga 500) / Worms Armageddon (PC)
5 - Dune 2 / Dune 2000 (PC)
6 - Settlers II (PC)
7 - Civilization II (PC)
8 - Street Fighter II (SNES)
9 - Cannon Fodder (Amiga 500)
10 - Sonic The Hedgehog (Game Gear)
11 - Lemmings (Amiga 500)
12 - Syndicate (Amiga 500)
13 - Speedball II (Amiga 500)
14 - Mortal Kombat (Master System)
15 - Sensible Soccer / Sensible World of Soccer (Amiga 500)
16 - Grand Theft Auto (PC)
17 - The Sims (PC)
18 - Double Dragon (Amiga 500)
19 - Space Invaders (Atari 2600)
20 - Treasure Island Dizzy (ZX Spectrum 48k)

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Part 1 (20 to 16)
Part 2 (15 to 11)
Part 3 (10 to 6)
Part 4 (5 to 2)

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