yes Zidane was a monster. I would say he shares the top 3 with Romario and Ronaldo - don't know who's 'the best' - but indeed Zidane was great more consistently and constantly than the other two.

now, if you're not sure Pelé was the best ever, it's because you didn't see enough of him.

I like guys like Cruyff, Maradona and Garrincha much more as 'icons' or 'characters' but Pelé was the best by a fair share. of course it was another era. he was the only one with the shape of a player of today, sometimes playing against semi-amateur opponents, but what did he do? he kicked their asses and won everything and scored over 1000 goals, no one else did it at ant other time.