What’s the best video game of all time? It’s an impossible, arbitrary question. There are certainly obvious contenders: Super Smash Bros. Melee has been a hit most of this century, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time blew everyone’s mind, and most of Earth’s quarters are rotting away in dusty Street Fighter II arcades.
It’s safe to say, however, that an indie title from 2015 is most certainly not the best game of all time. Except that it is—at least according to GameFAQs.
For its 20th anniversary, the site planned a spirited fan poll to determine the Best Game Ever this month. That’s where a union of deft anarchists saw an opening.
In September indie developer Toby Fox released Undertale, a single-player, role-playing game for PC and Mac. It received universal praise, and has been given overwhelmingly positive reviews across Steam. But at high-profile opportunities like the Game Awards, Undertale barely registered a snub.
That only made its cult stronger. As word spread of this quirky RPG with lovable characters, stellar music, and unique battle system, a fandom blossomed. On Reddit and Tumblr communities came together to discuss theories, create fanart, gush.
As the GameFAQs Best Game Ever poll became a thing, die-hards saw a window to rally the base. The world would remember this overlooked gem.
Tumblr started reblogging in droves, bringing attention to Undertale. It breezed by many of the earlier voting rounds, but some heavy hitters made for close confrontations—Super Mario 64 almost derailed the love train in the quarterfinals.
At first, things were looking in Mario’s favor.
But Tumblr and Reddit united to turn the tide and just barely edged out what is considered to be one of the most revolutionary games of all time.
