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[ButchCat]

With a lot of the industry ditching the single player design philosophy and leaning heavier on live services, trailers have become somewhat of a dying art. Trailers are some of the most powerful marketing tools that when executed correctly can save even some of the most mediocre games (I'm looking at you Dead Island). ​

​

So gaff I wanted to look back at some of the best trailers of all time and nominate a winner through a poll and to do that here are the rules:​

• You need to post at least one nomination with a video link if possible​

• A game trailer can be ingame, live action or a cgi cinematic​

• Once a specific trailer gets mentioned twice it will be considered a nominee and added to the poll​

• You will then have to select up to two poll choices​

• You can change your poll choices​

• A game demo does not count as a trailer

I will continue updating the poll as you submit in your nominations. I will add and update the top 5 trailers according to your votes below. So far Gears of War - Mad World is in the lead.



#1 Gears of War - Mad World



#2 Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty - E3 2000 Trailer



#3 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Nintendo Switch Presentation



#4 Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Official Trailer



#5 Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer



I have also added a few other trailers below just to refresh your memories and allow you to quote some.
​

Assassin's Creed 2 E3 Trailer​

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood: E3 Premiere​

Assassin's Creed III: E3 Official Trailer

Assassin's Creed Unity E3 2014 World Premiere Cinematic Trailer

BioShock Infinite Premiere Trailer

Dead Space 2 - Launch Trailer

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Cinematic Trailer

Dead Island: Official Announcement Trailer

God of War - Be A Warrior: PS4 Gameplay Trailer | E3 2017

Halo 3: Starry Night

Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots - Trailer E3 2006

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" E3 2013 RED BAND Trailer (Extended Director's Cut)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Official Trailer

The Last of Us Premiere Trailer

UNCHARTED 2 - Cologne Trailer

I'm curious to see your choices so please do post away!


​

 

[Lionel Richie]

Nothing else comes even remotely close.

 

[mansoor1980]

mgs4

 

[ButchCat]

mgs4

You have to post the video so we know which one.

 

[Sidney Prescott]

Modern Warfare 2 is up there.

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[SinDelta]

Mass Effect 2 and Twilight Princess were the standard for me, until Breath of the Wilds 2017 trailer came along.

 

[Kev Kev]

this one. too bad the game didnt turn out as good as this trailer was. still a great trailer tho. the music, the lines, the imagery. beautiful.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" E3 2013 RED BAND Trailer (Extended Director's Cut)

 

[amigastar]

 

[Bonfires Down]

One of the most memorable trailers for me. For better or worse as it didn't represent the actual game very well.



And this one of course.



This would be the third.

 

[Come On Tars]

2nd place is not even on the same planet

 

[Sub_Level]

This literally blew minds.

 

[Africa's Toto]

Honestly, I'm not sure a consensus can be reached. This is a really subjective topic, but I'm going with Skyrim

Spoiler: Reasons

- Amazing proprietary music you can actually hear in-game
- Almost 100% of the trailer is straight-up gameplay, yet it still looks cool
- It covers a breadth of biomes, enemies and abilities in a short amount of time
- You come away from the trailer knowing exactly what you're getting into
- No other trailer moment I can think of is punctuated with something close to the "Fus-Ro-Da" moment (again, actual gameplay)
- There's narration to introduce the setting and plot, yet it somehow isn't boring and knows when to shut up

I can't seem to find any other trailers I would want to nominate. I feel most game trailers try to get you to ignore the fact that you're looking to play a game.
You come off a trailer thinking "man, that would be a really cool movie, I want to watch that" rather than "damn, this could be a really cool game, I want to play that". Case in point: Almost all Dead Island trailers.

That said, I'd probably go with The Witcher 3


and

The Witcher 2

 

[N30RYU]

One of the most memorable trailers for me. For better or worse as it didn't represent the actual game very well.

+1 but the japanese one... much better voice acting

 

[jdforge]

A moment in gaming history



Not the best trailer ever released but it created a moment of magic, which makes it stand above the rest for me. Miyamoto’s smile, epitomising the joy felt by so many who witnessed it.

 

[onnextflix5]

That Fake Killzone trailer lol, maybe one day

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Nothing will top the hype of FF XIII for me.

 

[carlosrox]

Anyone who uploads the BOTW trailer NOT in Japanese deserves to be shot on sight.

Edit: sigh, see it happening in this thread already

The other two options in the poll are who.jpg to me.

 

[ButchCat]

Anyone who uploads the BOTW trailer NOT in Japanese deserves to be shot on sight.

Edit: sigh, see it happening in this thread already

The other two options in the poll are who.jpg to me.

The poll will be updated as you guys post in your nominations.

 

[Grumpy Toe Nail]

Anyone who disagrees is a cuck.

 

[carlosrox]

The first song was broken up into a bunch of little vids on IGN back in the day while the other 2 were equally misrepresentative. Still one of the GOAT.



As a huge fan of Turok 1 you have no idea what this did to me as a kid.



One of the greatest lies ever told by man.



One of the best trailers of all time. Marked the return of Classic Mario and redemption for 3D World which looked kinda uninspired when first shown.



You can have your stupid quips and memes about how this game turned out (I loved it anyway, fuck the consensus) but the trailer was a dream come true.



Once 2:54 starts it's pure magic.



I hadn't heard awesome sounding Japanese in a trailer since about the time of the MGS1 trailer posted above. Hearing that again after so long was magic to me.

 

[Arachnid]

Came here to post Dead Space. Glad to see it so early

 

[Demigod Mac]

MGS2's trailer was absolutely mind boggling at the time. There was a lot of disbelief that it was running in real-time on a PS2.
It was arguably "the trailer that sunk the Dreamcast"

Konami even later released it on a DVD.

 

[Inviusx]

Nothing even comes close IMHO:

 

[Captain Toad]

Dead Island

 

[ButchCat]

MGS2's trailer was absolutely mind boggling at the time. There was a lot of disbelief that it was running in real-time on a PS2.
It was arguably "the trailer that sunk the Dreamcast"

Konami even later released it on a DVD.

Already up on the poll

 

[carlosrox]

Kids ready to be taken to school some more?

Never forget how this fucked my kid brain when I saw it, and the countless times I watched it (and still watch it to this day!)





One of the very greatest lies ever told by man. I thought Shen Mue was gonna be an open world game before I even knew what an open world game was! I thought you were gonna be able to walk around a giant world and realistically interact with EVERYTHING in it!

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Nothing will top the hype of FF XIII for me.

It looked amazing at the time. I had faith and I was hurt later by it.

 

[Great Hair]

 

[Fuz]

 

[deriks]

Twilight Princess is not mentioned because is not fair, right?!

 

[carlosrox]

Deserves its own post.

First real trailer for the game is beautiful, especially the early part with the flute. They were saying it's time for Link to "wake up" and come back to the gaming world in a big way. And they were right.




Proper Japanese version and the one shown FIRST. This trailer sold the Switch and helped turn Nintendo's fortunes around. It can't be understated how fucking important this trailer was. Ending it with "March 3rd 2017" was Nintendo telling gamers "your move" as they dropped the fucking mic at the end of that presentation. Just pure genius.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

It looked amazing at the time. I had faith and I was hurt later by it.

Same. Definitely fell short of the hype, but man that was an exciting time to be a gamer. IMO that era was the last time gaming felt truly “next gen” and not just an incremental improvement over what we already had.

 

[REDRZA MWS]

How could this not be #1

 

[MasterDerico]

This trailer man...;

 

[carlosrox]

RE5 had several incredible trailers.

Trailer is GOAT caliber alone for that snuck in Jill reference at the end. That's the kind of fan service shit I go crazy for.



God tier.



Straight fire.

 

[Batiman]

Halo always had some of the best. Not even in the poll. SMH

 

[Darlingcognito]

Mad world trailer for Gears of war by a fuckin mile.

 

[carlosrox]

One of the most unexpected game announcements of all time. It was out of nowhere, late at night, and I'll never forget how it blew me away.

 

[YukiOnna]

My heart still hasn't let go. I still want this game.

 

[NeoLed]

I'll go with Skyrim Fus Ro Dah and The Witcher 3 : "A Night to Remember"

 

[DrumNBassDanTTV]

The Best.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Halo 3 for sure

 

[Gunstar77]

Best trailer by far, I still watch the trailer about once a month even though the game has been cancelled for 2 years now.

 

[Hulk_Smash]

Super Mario Bros 3


Super Smash Bros


Mortal Kombat


Star Wars Battlefront


Final Fantasy Remake


No Man’s Sky


Halo 3 Finish the Fight Trailer

 

[Bonfires Down]

Super Smash Bros

This is genius.

 

[brock sexy lesnar]

This one is the best.

 

[Perrott]

 

[molasar]

Mortal Kombat II (for home devices; commercial in 1994)

 

[mansoor1980]

RDR2 is another GOAT