te72

Couldn't have said it better myself. Now, inspired by such an off the wall choice, I feel like I can finally narrow down my list. Consider, some of these are deserving of a "best of" list as well, they were fantastic games, but about half of them, you may never have heard of, but they were MY favorites. In no particular order: -Vandal Hearts. I've mentioned it before on here, but as far as JRPG's go, it is brilliant in its brevity. It sticks to a path and narrative, and keeps you focused on it. Plus the game design is rather solid, like a game of chess in more ways than one. Unfortunately has yet to be released on digital platforms that I'm aware of, but definitely worth the buy if you want a ~20 hour example of a solid strategy game. -Suikoden. It's an old story, but one that holds up quite well even in the modern age. Perhaps best to think of this one as the very best of the 16-bit RPG era, as far as polish goes. I've played through Suikoden at least half a dozen times, maybe more, and yet... it hasn't gotten old. Special mention for the music, every town has its own theme, every moment its mood, and they're all worth hearing. It is a relatively simple game, yet deep enough that even veterans of the genre will enjoy it. Plus, it led to Suikoden 2... both of which are available on PSN, so go pick them up. -Tail of the Sun. Otherwise known as Wild Pure Simple Life, it is exactly that. You play as a caveman / cavewoman. What do cavemen do? They hunt and gather, explore, and procreate, to further ensure the survival of the tribe. Now, I'll be the first to admit, this game is ugly. It was an early 3d game, and it shows. Get past that though, and you'll find much to enjoy. In fact, I dare you to play this for an hour and say you found nothing to enjoy. The "goal" as far as gameplay is concerned, is to find mammoths and slaughter them for their tusks, so that your tribe can build a tower to reach the sun. Don't ask me why, caveman logic, I suppose. Unfortunately not on PSN that I am aware of. -Metal Gear Solid. Most of you are familiar with this one, and with good reason. Let's look back at WHY we all love this game though... at the time, enemy AI was a simple thing, but MGS? The pursuit when you were spotted? Talk about being a hunted fox... the tension that created, the excitement, the thrill of fighting back only to see backup headed your way, it was great. That is, to say nothing of the goal of NOT being seen and the stress that arises from that. I think this is the first example of a slow paced game that has every bit of the excitement of the faster paced ones. Then, the characters, the voice acting, the music, the environments, the weapons, the plot twists... I'll say nothing to spoil it, but apart from Psycho Mantis, there was nothing really odd or impossibly unrealistic about the game. This... unfortunately got thrown out the window in the sequels, good as they were. The humor and education in the hours of codec conversations, this might have been the first game I played that fleshed out the characters to this much of an extent. It's a solid game, all around. Available on PSN. -Final Fantasy 7. Another one on so many lists, and again, with good reason. It wasn't my first RPG (FF Adventure, FF Mystic Quest, Secret Of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Suikoden, and Vandal Hearts all came before), but at the time, this game was literally unlike anything else. For those that have forgotten, or never understood what all the hype was about, I HIGHLY recommend you read the LP on the Somethingawful archive by Elentor. I've played this game a LOT over the years, and Elentor's LP taught me things about it I never knew. To keep this short, FF7 was the first game that ever brought tears to my eyes. I had lost both my best friend and my grandma in the same year earlier in 1997, so there was some very close feelings about the theme of sudden loss in that game. Available on many digital platforms these days, and being remade as well. -Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Not a PS1 exclusive, as most of the rest of the games on my list are, but a PS1 debut. I rented this one, and can't remember why. Perhaps it was the cover of issue # 2 of PSM, with its gorgeous artwork. Perhaps I remember the name from the NES days, I dunno. Whatever first got me to pick it up and play it for that first time... I'm grateful. Story? Almost non-existent. Atmosphere, music, gameplay, strategy, challenge, exploration, variety, and literally every other measure of a game? Fantastic. I never had an SNES, so I missed out on Super Metroid and the Castlevania games on there, so to me, SOTN is still the pinnacle of 2D gaming. Available on PSN and in the PSP game Dracula X Chronicles as an unlockable. Highly recommend it. -Ridge Racer. Arguably, the later games (Rage, another one I forget the name of, R4) were better games for various reasons. This game was mind blowing in 1995 if you had not been to an arcade that had it. I lived in a small town until that summer in 95, so I may not have even played Cruisin' USA yet. RR was amazing for a home experience back then. The volume, the sense of speed (something you never had with racing games until then), the immersion and sense of space / distance (thank you massive polygons), the music, the precise control... all of it so good for an early PS1 game. Plus, you got to play a round of Galaxian while it loaded, that unlocked extra cars if you shot down all the alien ships? What about the time when you first discovered that you could pop the lid after the game loaded (oh yeah, no load times, sweeeeet...), and put in your own music discs? When you discovered that once you completed all the tracks, you got to play them all in reverse? Turns out (pun intended) that the tracks are very different backwards. Oh, and does anyone else remember the black Lamobrghini? I know, none of the cars were licensed, but we all know what it was meant to be. I very nearly beat that guy, ONCE. I made a very tiny error on one corner and that black monster of a car passed me on the very last stretch before the finish line. This was a race that required absolute perfection, or you lose. Yeah, there are some tough achievements and trophies in modern games, but let's face it, few would be as difficult as outrunning that black Lambo. Oh, and I still have my save file, all the way back from when I started it in 1995. Not sure if this is available digitally or not, but this is probably best left as a period game, as racing is one of those, like most other sports games, that get better with the latest version. -Tekken... err... 2... no, 3. No wait, 2. NO! Tekken 3. Definitely Tekken 3. Hard to choose between those two... man. This is probably on a lot of lists, and understandably so. The control was spot on. The characters weren't all color swapped, minimally altered ninjas. The pre-rendered cut scenes and endings. The music (seriously, turn it up!). The impact of a solid blow. The accomplishment of executing a 10-hit combo in the heat of battle with a friend, hearing them mutter and scramble to counter to no avail... This is when multiplayer meant something, at least to me. Can't even begin to guess how many hundreds of matches I played with friends over the years. As far as polish goes on 3D fighting games, this one was among the very best. Pretty sure it's available on PSN, and if not, the series is still going and still good. -Tomba. Never heard of it, you say? I'm not surprised, it's about a wild jungle boy with pink hair living life to the fullest until some evil pigs steal his grandpa's bracelet, his prized possession. Yeah, it's as silly as it sounds, but underneath it all, there is some VERY good gameplay, fun characters, a sense of progression and depth to the world you occupy. Exploration, puzzle solving, platforming, combat, new weapons and equipment, bosses to defeat... sound a bit like a Legend of Zelda game? Well, now that you mention it... the template may be similar, but the game is its very own. Made by a company called Whoopee Camp, whose only other game to date has been Tomba 2, it's a lesser known gem among a lot of other PS1 gems. Available on PSN, and I highly recommend it, fun for the whole family. Plus, it has a monkey named Charles in it. Say hi to Chuck for me. -Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo. I may be a puzzle addict. I love Sudoku, Tetris, Dr Mario, SPF2T, Critter Crunch, Bust a Move, pretty much anything that allows you to use your brain to make the best of a situation thrown at you. Now, I know there were some decent puzzle games of the 16-bit era, but nothing that was really an improvement on the groundwork that Dr Mario and Tetris laid out on the NES. Now when Puzzle Fighter came out (this was the only one, despite the "2" in the title, well played Capcom), it was a breath of fresh air. Here was a simplistic, easy to learn, difficult to master puzzle game, on a system that until this point, was pretty flush with 3D games and few 2D experiences to be had, fewer puzzle games still. It was flashy, it was in your face, it had chibi versions of our favorite Capcom fighting game stars. Yet, it was a very well polished challenge, worthy of Capcom's efforts to balance their fighting games, all that effort translated well into a puzzle game. Still holds up just fine, but there is an HD version that was released digitally a few years back on PSN and other platforms. Great party game... -Resident Evil. I have to give my vote to the original, despite 2 and 3 being better games. The sequels built on what was started here (and what was started here was likely started by Sweet Home), but for pure freshness, despite the rotten smell of zombies and other nightmarish horrors, this was the one for me. Why, you ask? The gameplay was pretty awful, particularly the controls, the acting was sub par, and darn those fixed cameras, right? To be honest, none of that bothered me. The cameras, had they been any other way, the game would have not been able to look anywhere near as good as it did, due to hardware limitations. Consider how far graphics had come in just a short time. The year prior, we were playing Super FX chipped games, Virtua Racer, early PS1 games that had depth, but little in the way of pretty textures, that sort of thing. Now, we had an isolated mansion, a dark horror theme, monsters that you could often hear, but not see, no auto-aim (complicated by a lack of ammo), and very limited resources. The game turned us on our heads, where we were raised with a "kill everything" mentality from older games. Now, we had to be smart about when to fight, and when to run. Even some bosses could be ran from... To me though, this game was the first game that had such an immersive atmosphere. The music (creepy!) and sounds played the biggest role in that respect. Plus, the memory of a friend panicking at a certain early jump scare is a story that I will never forget. Available on PSN and on various other platforms, as well as a remade version that is still one of the prettiest games I've ever seen, 15 years later. -Doom. What could the PS1 offer to a game that had already been on the market for 2 years? One very simple thing: monitor size. See, back in the early 90's, screens were small, bulky CRT things. A computer monitor was usually only in the 12-14" range when Doom was originally released on PC. Now I think my TV back in the 1995-96 era was either a 19" or 20" screen. That's ~130-150% the size of a typical monitor of the day. That one simple thing made Doom fresh all over again. Plus, the music was quite good, if I recall. -Need For Speed 3: Hot Pursuit. It may not be a big deal now, but back then, cops in a video game? You know the thrill of getting chased in the GTA games? Yeah... that all started with NFS3, at least with 3D graphics anyway. The original GTA games weren't particularly thrilling (although they were fun), but the police chases that NFS3 managed to present were nothing short of exhilarating at the time. -Treasures of the Deep. I don't remember this one all that well, but I do recall that exploring underwater worlds was a lot of fun at the time. One of those games that brought back a lot of what made Ecco the Dolphin a good experience. Consider this one a solid runner up, but probably best left as a period experience, I doubt it would hold up too well today. Yeah, I know I went more than 10, but I had to leave off probably another 15 or 20 games to even get to this point... I tried, I promise!

Among your list, Johnny Bazookatone stands out. I recall the name, not sure if I ever played it or not. Everything else on your list, solid choices, but it's these off the wall ones that lead me to believe there's a story behind them. Destruction Derby, I remember well. That game was incredible at the time, so much carnage, the sounds the music, the polygons haha... good times.

Makes me wonder how long Nintendo intends to keep making these. I mean, sure, they could have made 10x as many as they did, but then who would buy one next year? Perhaps this is a strategy to keep demand high... albeit a silly one, because they won't see any of the secondary market sales.

As someone who grew up playing those back when that was the new thing, all I have to say is, "MWAHAHAHAHA!" Just kidding. Games back then were often difficult, but when you find a difficult game that is balanced and the difficulty is something that can be overcome with skill and practice, those games make you feel truly accomplished. I could go on and on rambling like an old man, about how easy kids have it these days with all their achievements and trophys making them feel good, blah blah blah, nobody cares. Just wait until you get a taste of Battletoads.

Chronicles is pretty brutal, I think I only made it about halfway through before moving onto another game. RE0 is still one of the most beautiful games I've ever played, as far as the art style goes, and the drop anything anywhere was a lot better an idea than the item boxes. Will be interesting to see if a game of that era can hold the attention of a kid growing up in the internet age... keep us posted?

Well said, Nintendo's first party titles were usually great. Rare also knocked it out of the park on the N64, my personal favorite being Blast Corps. If you look back though, on games of that era (say, 1995-2000), I would argue that the 2d titles have aged significantly better. Even games of the same series, for example: -Castlevania -Mario -Zelda Just a few examples, but I notice a trend there. All those started life as 2d games. A game like Resident Evil, for example, would not have worked nearly as well in 2d. Ridge Racer, same story. Metal Gear Solid, in so many ways similar to Metal Gear 2 (MSX), yet MGS was a better game in every way. Perhaps I just lean toward the simplicity of 2d, perhaps early 3d was just ahead of its time on the technology front... You know what though? I think a Yoshi's Island in 3d might have worked, on the basis of Rare's work on the Banjo and DK games on the N64. Probably would have been better off waiting for the Gamecube though, to give it the graphical edge that Yoshi games should have.

My mistake, I was thinking Super Mario RPG, that one came out in 1996. I can't disagree there. Shame Nintendo just HAD to go into the 3d world, imagine what they could have made using the N64 hardware, in a 2d game? It's not like the system (or the PS1) were overflowing with 2d games, which is unfortunate, as some of the very best 2d games were on the PS1...

There were over 700 titles released for the SNES, and you expect me to be able to pick just TEN? Heathens, the lot of you! Kidding aside, I honestly couldn't do it. Top 30, maybe, since most of my friends had the SNES, while I was one of maybe two or three that had the Genesis... I played a lot of SNES. Kitsenubi makes a good point, Yoshi's Island is a fantastic game, very colorful, solid gameplay, and quite inventive with the graphical tricks they employed. Worth noting that it came out in 1996, well into PS1 and N64 hype, so it's probably a case of bad timing.

Aware of the Suikoden 3 manga, but like you have not read it. That game, while interesting, I think missed an opportunity in making what they used for the three main characters into side stories, and Thomas, who was a side story in the game, into the main character. That probably sounds confusing to anyone who hasn't played it. Oh well, I could certainly be entertained by an anime of it, which as you point out, seems significantly more likely. Haven't any experience with the Witcher series, but it is probably my brother's favorite game this year. From what he's told me, it would make a solid story outside of the video game realm.

So, to change things up a bit and keep the conversation going, what is one game-based film that hasn't been made, that you would actually like to see? What are your requirements as far as casting, direction, score, etc? I'll throw out a few that I think could make decent comedies: -Gex (provided Dana Carvey does the voice) -Timesplitters -Onimusha (I know, it's a "serious" game, but come on, the potential is VERY much there for a comedy) Now, for something legitimately serious and close to my heart... Suikoden. Normally, I dread the thought of someone tarnishing a good experience by cashing in with a movie. However, let's have Peter Jackson take on this one. There is more than enough story, character, and emotion in those games to make a pretty solid series out of it. Perhaps movie isn't the best use of the franchise here, but a quality TV show would certainly interest me for a while. ...something tells me though, that I"m gonna get told to just go watch Game of Thrones and quit wishing for the impossible haha.

If Nintendo releases an SNES version with Yoshi's Island on it, they will sell at the very least, one, to us. As for not having the ability to expand the library, it's most likely for piracy reasons. I know plenty of us have played roms on various systems, for various reasons, but it's a smart move on the big N's part to keep the system locked down. NEO GEO X anyone? Even look at the DS... both had extremely easy to pirate setups, and it likely worked to the detriment of the manufacturers.

Speaking of zombies, a comic for you all. Make sure the sound is on loud enough to hear some subtle noises: http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=350217&no=31

Not sure where I started when it comes to zombies. Perhaps Castlevania? My first solid memory is the original PS1 Resident Evil. Rented that after seeing the previews and thinking it looked amazing, and well, the rest they say... Also a big fan of the staples. Watched Romero's original just a few years ago with a friend, and found that it holds up nicely. Enjoyed immensely the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. Big fan of The Walking Dead, both in comic form and the show, and looking forward to seeing how things pan out. Also interested in seeing how far they take TWD on the show, as the comic is just... brutal... on a whole new level. At the risk of implying spoilers, does anyone who has read the comic think they'll do THAT to the little cowboy hat wearing badass? As for whether or not zombies have run their course, I don't know. Certainly are popular, and like all things, there are gems and there are gravel, just a matter of sorting out the good stuff. Personally, I think RE ran its course with RE4, seeing how 5 is a remake of 4, and 6 is well, 6 (and they seem to have painted themselves into a corner), so I think RE if anything, should just focus on the remake of 2, and if we're lucky, 3, then call it a day.

For sure, I know it was a needle in a haystack quest I was on. Fortunately there's more needles around here, figuratively speaking. I would say give it a shot, but beyond the nostalgia, it probably doesn't hold up well. Didn't keep me from playing all day yesterday though. That makes two of us. Oddly enough, it wasn't the game list that gave it away as 100% confirmed what I was looking for. It was the menu, of all things. Just a plain menu with a few colors and squares in a few different places. Yet it all came back and I knew that this was the one I had been looking for.

So many good games over the years... I genuinely couldn't pick just one. Not gonna say that everything I played on PS1 was amazing, but man, 95-2000 were some REALLY good years in gaming. The new hardware helped with both atmosphere and exposition, so gaming as a whole became a LOT more immersive. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I have a pretty limited memory. There are only a few games that I could play through in my mind and be anywhere close to correct on story points and details. The rest of my gaming memories? Mostly a garbled mess of good feelings, imagery, and sound bytes. So, it may sound weird, but I really am able to play games I've played through, more or less, for the first time again. It's a weird blessing, but I'll take it.

Pretty easy one for me: One of the handful of bands that, when they come out with a new CD (yeah, remember those?), I buy it, no questions asked. For I know that I will like what it contains...

VGA Spectrum was one that included a lot of the games I played as a kid, but it was indeed something else that I was searching for: http://cd.textfiles.com/wizardwarem/MEGAMIX/ Wizardware. This little jewel introduced me to PC gaming, before Doom came out. Lot of the games were fun, but I found myself drawn to the adventure and puzzle games the most. Now that I think about it, not much has changed, but still. Ever play Moraff's World? This game is why I never got into any of the Bethesda adventure games. I know myself all too well, and if I dove into a Fallout or Elder Scrolls game, nobody would hear from me for MONTHS. I'm being serious. So, yeah, found what I was looking for, thank you for the help, Areala and DPS! Gonna go back to playing more Moraff's World now...

The disc itself had a wizard drawing on it. Nothing super fancy, more cartoonish, if I recall correctly. Tank wars is WAY more advanced than the game I played, which only took wind into account. I believe it used a green and black background, and would leave a trail of dots to show you how your shot went. You would enter angle and power inputs, fire, then hone in on your target as needed. Simple, but fun for the time. I might have come across something similar, which I'll try to explore this weekend: http://cd.textfiles.com/vgaspectrum/games/ I think this might have been it... possibly. If I could see a menu or something along those lines, it would help. Also have my sister checking with the parents to see if they still have our case of old pc games. We're both skeptical, but hey... never know.

Quite certain that this was from 1993, POSSIBLY 1994. I know it was in the house my folks had built in 1993, but we had this computer before moving to Arizona in 1995. Apogee was the company here, not 3d Realms. Commander Keen was among the games on it, as was Duke Nukem (and possibly DN2?), the old 2d side scrolling shooters. Quite certain that Doom hadn't been released yet either. Looked through all those links (thank you both, by the way), but nothing seemed familiar. Reached out to my brother and sister, it is possible, although unlikely, that my family still has that CD, somewhere...I thought that maybe I had snagged it at some point, but not sure where I would have put it. If I had, it's probably with my Worms 2 disc, wherever that is.

Hello all, I'm wondering if any of you might know what I'm thinking of here. When my parents first got their first PC, sometime in oh... 1993, I think it was, it came with a sampler pack called Wizard 101 Games or something along those lines. What I remember of it: -3d Realms had quite a few on it -Moraff's World, and a couple other Moraff's games -DOS based CD-ROM -Hugo's Adventure (and I believe its sequel) -Some racing themed card game -Some variant of Breakout -Some variant of Scorched Earth (Dueling Cannons, perhaps?) Anybody here remember what I'm talking about? I spent the better part of a couple hours last night, looking for that, and found next to nothing. Figure this is likely to be the best source of knowledge on this sort of thing...

At first, I was gonna say, "surely you jest, VB?" and then I got to thinking... we have VR headsets now. Why not? Planning on picking one of these mini NES's up for my birthday. Already have means of playing all these games and more, but I like the idea enough to support it. Have been saying for a few years now that they need to reproduce the original hardware, in semi-limited quantities, sell them for $50-100 a pop, just in time for the holidays. We all know they would sell every last one they made, provided they don't go completely overboard with production. This, on the other hand... will likely sell even better than my desire to see original hardware remade. So, good luck Nintendo! My fiancee also wants to pick up one of the mini- Famicoms, as she likes the color scheme and that the controllers have a nice little place to sit, as with the original. I wanna know, can you blow onto the Famicom's controllers?

I don't even think I could narrow it down to a top 20 list... heck, even 30 might be difficult for me. PS1 was easily my favorite system for the fresh experiences, despite my love for the NES / SNES / Genesis era. Still, for anyone who doesn't have Suikoden 1 & 2, as well as Tomba in your memories, get to it, they're all available on PSN!

Personal favorites: Resident Evil 1, on PS1. This was one of the first games that, for me at least, really set the atmosphere with the music. It wasn't necessarily something you would listen to outside of the game, (yet, I still have the OST), but it captured every tense feeling that slasher films were good about. You know when the music makes your hair stand up on the back of your neck, you're hearing something special. Blood Omen, Legacy of Kain. Again, great atmospheric music here. Everything just felt so... heavy. Which, if you've played the game, you realize just how appropriate that is, given the circumstances of said game. Suikoden, pretty much anything from this one, or its sequel. Celtic influences in a JRPG? Works quite nicely, makes the world feel alive. Wish the original composer would come back to that series. Then again, wish that series would come back... not holding my breath there though. Dirge of Cerebus. Likely the most underrated of my favorites, as the game itself was pretty much panned. However, the soundtrack is quite solid, and worth a listen. Chrono Cross. Hmm... I know lots of us played this one, but how many of us remember the OST, or any of its music? I would say it falls into the underrated category simply by its relation to Chrono Trigger. However, it is another really great OST, most of the songs hold up nicely on their own, some (such as the opening and "Those Seized With Life") are particularly strong. Kitsenubi, you asked for favorite vocal tracks in a game? How about "Why" from FF7: Crisis Core? Never played the game, but I love the OST for the most part.

High five to Lowscore!

Quick wikipedia dig reveals that the singer of Information Society also composed the music of the Soul Reaver games. All comes around huh?