I have an absurd number of video games

[Harley]

Well,
It's that time again. Yes, I've gone through all my video games and catalogued them. Just because there's so damned many of them. And I thought I'd post the list up here in case anyone might want to compare stories about some of them.

Of all of these, a good number of them are fine games. Some are on the lower end... so I just don't play them anymore. And yes, yes, I am 23 years old. Just in case there were any questions.

http://www.toonzone.net/eileen/vgdb/

Also, I wanted to post a top 10 list of my personal faves of all time. These are the games, that no matter at what age played, had me completely drawn in from beginning to end. Feel free to post your own. This should be an amazingly long post... read at your own risk!

1. Final Fantasy VIII - Favorite Game. Period. Awesome videos within the game. Full of action, adventure, love, death. A soundtrack with several songs that could stand out as compositions on their own. I was drawn in from the first FMV (Full Motion Video) which left my jaw agape and only one word escaped, "Whoah."

2. Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Another absolutely fantastic game. I was also drawn in from the beginning. This, I believe, is the way to experience what the Zelda series should be. It's a great, epic adventure.

There's nothing like playing as Link and running into a cave. Nothing but silence. He starts walking cautiously. A noise comes from above! Link looks up. We see a giant blinking eye. The creature jumps down. The ground shakes. so does your controller. And you can't help but jump a little as well. Apparently, that giant eye, which was all we could see, is attached to a huge spider-like creature that's ten time your size. Can link do it? Can he save the princess and all of Hyrule from the evil clutches of Gannon?

3. The Legend of Zelda - This is the original. Great game. Kept me busy for many hours as a kid. I just couldn't find those silver arrows for 6 months. Auuuuuugh.

4. Final Fantasy VII - This game went for the grand scheme where FF8 went for the personal. I actually started playing this game after Zelda: Ocarina of Time and had some trouble getting into it because of the jump down in graphics. But, what do you want, it was made months before. =X It's an excellent game. I completely believed the characters and their roles in the game. By the middle to end of the first disk, I was hooked. (Poor Aeris. =( ) My only complaint being the ending. I like my endings neatly wrapped up and this was very open ended.

5. Super Mario RPG - I credit the game being my intro to RPG's. It's not the best game ever, but it obviously made a large enough impression to get me to try other RPG's. It is a heck of a lot of fun. A different take on the Super Mario Series.

6. Shenmue - Now this game. This is an interesting one. I have just as many complaints as I do compliments on it. The voice overs are horrible. Atrocious. Evil. The beginning is slow. Very, very, excruciatingly slow. And there are still some elements of the game I still don't understand. Like Ryo's relationship with Nozomi... or more accurately, the lack thereof. But I do think that goes back to how badly the voiceover's were done. It's difficult to get an emotion across when the performances are so stiff, or over-exaggerated in some cases. The only reason I continued playing this game was because I'm a glutton for punishment. And I'm glad I did.

I bet you're wondering, why, if there are so many horrible things about this game do you like it? Well, the graphics in this game are nothing less than spectacular. When you do finally get to fight, the sequences are great. If you ignore the things like the voice overs, there is actually a solid story under there. It's a good combination of three different genre's: fighting, rpg and quest/detective games.

By the end of the game I was drawn in. I wanted to know what was going to happen next and felt like I was beginning an epic journey. Which I assume you should, since this is really just supposed to be a chapter in a multi-game series.

7. Super Mario Bros. 2 - Another classic. Different game play from the first SMB game. Really a gem in anyone's collection.

8. Looney Tunes Space Race - Best Kart Racer ever, IMO. Never have I had so much fun in a racing game. Bugs Bunny. Elmer. Wile E. Anvils, pianos, safes and... pink elephants... falling on your head. Not to mention lasers and punching gloves whizzing by your head. All this while trying to get to the finish line!

As far as graphics go... wow. The backgrounds look like they're right out of a toon. The voice overs are good too. And plot? Who needs a plot? It's just an amazingly fun game.

9. Streets of Rage 2 - This game sports an excellent techno soundtrack that I still remember to this day. That Yuzo Koshiro sure knew what he was doing. It almost sports a plot. ;) The gameplay is good. If you hit a button whatever's supposed to happen happens. The graphics are solid.

My brother and I would play this for hours on end. I have very fond memories of this game.

10. Street Fighter II - Boy, do I have memories of this game... or more accurately of the entire series of SFII games. I think this came out around the time I was 11 or 12. I used to play it in the arcade all the time. Alllllll the time. I played it when I went to the pizza parlor. When I went to my father's on the weekends he used to take my brother and I to play it somewhere. When I used to beat all the guys at the arcades they used to call me bad names. =X Bully for them. ;) Street Fighter is the fighting game in my opinion.

[Fish]

Nice list you got there Harl! May I say that I think you have a soft spot for RPG's? :D

The first RPG I ever played was FF8! And I must say that I love it!
Everything you wrote about the game would also be in my description of the game. One of my friends is totally in love with Squall and her computer is a FF8 shrine!

My next RPG was naturally FF7, but I have not finished the game yet. I think it will be just as great as ff8..if not better (some say)

Vagrant story is also something i'm working on and Grandia ( but I'm kinda stuck at the moment!!)

Mostly I play whacky japanese games such as BishiBashi Special 1-2-3!! :D
I also like playing DDR and other music-games, which none of my friends want to play with me, cuz they don't have a musical bone in their body :(

THE GAME:
Wipeout 1-2-3!
Hey...here I AM THE MASTER! Anybody up fer a challenge!? I'll beat your socks off you!
WO is my game! When i got my first PSX I was only a kid so I had Wipeout for a whole year before I could afford another game! Eventually I got bored with the tracks but not the game, so I got a mirror and played it while looking into the mirror thus playing it in " mirror version" I also put my TV upside-down and played.
Auricom rulezzz!

http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/animals/goldfish.gif <>< F I S H ><> http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/animals/goldfish.gif

BTW...It's just awesome to be a game nut when you are 23! I certainly hope that I will be just as crazy about games and comics when I get to be 23 and older (20 now)

Originally posted by Harley
...And I thought I'd post the list up here in case anyone might want to compare stories about some of them.
[...]...And yes, yes, I am 23 years old. Just in case there were any questions.


1. Final Fantasy VIII - Favorite Game. Period. Awesome videos within the game. Full of action, adventure, love, death. A soundtrack with several songs that could stand out as compositions on their own. I was drawn in from the first FMV (Full Motion Video) which left my jaw agape and only one word escaped, "Whoah."

4. Final Fantasy VII - This game went for the grand scheme where FF8 went for the personal. I actually started playing this game after Zelda: Ocarina of Time and had some trouble getting into it because of the jump down in graphics. But, what do you want, it was made months before. =X It's an excellent game. I completely believed the characters and their roles in the game. By the middle to end of the first disk, I was hooked. (Poor Aeris. =( ) My only complaint being the ending. I like my endings neatly wrapped up and this was very open ended.

[The Mad Hatter]

Harley, just about everything you listed is some darn good stuff. The Final Fantasy series... ahhh. Did I mention I got to play a bit of FF X at E3? Oh my frickin' lord, it was incredible.

But... no Zelda at E3! Arrrrgh! Still, Nintendo had lots of impressive stuff... Luigi's Mansion looked great. The Gamecube will do some serious rocking. Oh, and Nintendo has their own press event called Space World in August, and they're rumored to show off Zelda there.... I'll keep you posted...

[Inque]

i have a soft spot for rpgs toooo....

1. final fantasy 7 - the first real major rpg that i've played. a long game that kept me hooked for days.

2. final fantasy 6 - first rpg i ever played.....classic story and awesome soundtrack.

3. super mario world - this game is another classic, i played this for hours.

4. super mario bros - first console game i ever played.

5. tetris - this game kept me hooked for hours..

6. super mario rpg - a nice turn from the classic side scrolling super mario games.

7. secret of mana - started playing this after i started playing some other square games.

8. Sesame Street 1 2 3 - yes this is a game. i always played it cause i was such a sesame street fan..especially ernie's bubble bath.....

9. arkanoidd - i love this game.......just another one of those games i always play

10. zero wing - i played this a couple of times using an emulator just for the laughs because of it's poor translation (How are you gentlemen? All your base are belong to us!)

[E. Penrose]

Our account is below its mininum balance. (Hey, at least we have no credit card debt!) When we do get money, we'll update my computer.

I've got SimAnt, SimEarth and some Zork and some other games by the company which makes Zork. All are sitting by.

I tried to play an old CD on my husband's computer. Unfortunately, I put it in the CD burner. It's stuck.

E. Penrose

PS: Grouch, moan grouse, whine, complain.

[Matthew Hunter]

Good list. I've played most of those before. The latest game system I got was the N64, and I only have 2 games for it, Mario 64 and Zelda, (I still play them sometimes.) My favorite game system was the Super Nintendo, and my favorite games are sort of a tie between "Zelda: Link to the Past", "Super MarioKart", and "Road Runner's Death Valley Rally". Possibly 3 of the best for that system. All the later stuff for it like Mario RPG and Donkey Kong Country and stuff was thaat the graphics were great, but there was no fun in replaying them. You'd get through it and think "Okay, so why did I do that? I've seen it, now what do I do?" With the 3 I listed, there's replay value. With Zelda, it takes forever andf there's always something to do, with Mario Kart you can race your friends and throw stuff at them, and in Road Runner, there's a challenge, plus there's a separate sort of game...the object is to finish a level and watch the Coyote lose, but you also have the chance to collect the flags, and there are some even after 7 years I can't find. The original NES was fun too, the Mario trilogy, the Zelda games, and I remember a game that tied into Bugs Bunny's 50th birthday that was kind of fun...and maddening, it had a glitch in that one level a boss (Sylvester I think) was supposed top jump at you, but occasionally got stuck at the top of the screen, and you'd have to play the whole game over again after resetting because you could do nothing about it.
What I've played on Play Station is fun, too, I think their sports games are fun although I can't remember the titles specifically.
-Matthew

[Colin]

Well, since we seem to be talking about favorite video games of all time... Here's some of the ones on mine: (in no real particular order)

1) Final Fantasy VIII - While some feel this wasn't up to the standards of FF7, I thoroughly enjoyed this game... There was enough in the game to keep the gamer hooked via gameplay, as well as wrapped up in the emotionality of the whole thing (granted, no scenes truly as emotional as the fate of Aeris in FF7...) Easy game play, fun side quests... and Zell Dincht has become one of my favorite characters =)

2) Final Fantasy VII - Like several others, the first FF game I actually played, amazing graphics and story line... was truly a plot with a large number of twists to keep the gamer wondering what would be coming next...

3) Final Fantasy IX - like it's predecessors, the game had characters that struck the gamer... the gamer could feel what the characters were going through, whether it was Vivii's search for who he really was, "Dagger's" quest to become more rogue and not so royal... and another cast of characters to often leave you wondering what would be happening next. Gameplay was easy enough, like in FF Tradition, as well as fun and entertaining... only problem I really had with the game was they literally pulled the final bad guy out of no where... I was also never able to beat this game to see if the did something to tie that last baddie in, however...

4) Super Mario RPG - The Mario RPG that wasn't quite like other RPGs... had a fun plot and it kept moving... never a dull moment... had familiar characters from the Mario universe as well as new friends... and where else can some one be allied with Bowser?

5) Paper Mario - aka Mario RPG 2... brings the world of Mario RPG into a new universe... a team of characters that are not like typical of the Mario universe... with the all too familiar "Kidnapped Princess" plotline... but with 2d characters in a 3d world, it kept gamer involved wondering what was going to happen next, and what he missed along the way (being that it was impossible to find everything on the first time around)

6) Metroid - the original version for the NES kicked major butt! Perhaps one of the best nintendo games of all time, kept the gamer going looking for new items and battling strange bad guys with the ultimate surprise at the end... who ever knew playing it the first time around that Samus Aran was a female!!

7) Legend of Zelda - the game that started the legend... another one of the greatest games for the original NES.

8) Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time - great follow up in the Legend of Zelda saga... creates a great new storyline played over two time periods with two totally different, yet similar locales (well, being that they are the same land... hehehe)

9) Mario Party - great games to play when you want to have fun with friends... sober or drunk... hours of fun for all

...and that's all I can think of at the moment...

[I.R Joey]

I love Videogames.

Here are some of my favorites.

Age of Empires series: Brilliant stuff, economic managment with millitary stuff.

Civilization 2: Best game ever, how can Sid Meir and Co improve on a game that came so close to perfection?

Battle Bugs: Like anyone has ever heard of this. :rolleyes:

Toy Commander: One of the most underated games in the Dreamcast library.

Virtual On Series: Incredible mech fighting game its from Sega's Hitmaker (you know the people who made CRAZYYYY TAXI.) Fighting system deapth beyond belief (yet a flare for the astheysic, with robots designed by Hajime Katoki of Gundam fame, great bosses and challenge.

Tech Romancer: Another fun Mech fighting game (with hints of Powerstone in it.) yet not as serious as Virtual On, and more free roaming.

[Harley]

Originally posted by Fish
Nice list you got there Harl! May I say that I think you have a soft spot for RPG's? :D

The first RPG I ever played was FF8! And I must say that I love it!
Everything you wrote about the game would also be in my description of the game. One of my friends is totally in love with Squall and her computer is a FF8 shrine!

My next RPG was naturally FF7, but I have not finished the game yet. I think it will be just as great as ff8..if not better (some say)

Vagrant story is also something i'm working on and Grandia ( but I'm kinda stuck at the moment!!)

Mostly I play whacky japanese games such as BishiBashi Special 1-2-3!! :D
I also like playing DDR and other music-games, which none of my friends want to play with me, cuz they don't have a musical bone in their body :(

THE GAME:
Wipeout 1-2-3!
Hey...here I AM THE MASTER! Anybody up fer a challenge!? I'll beat your socks off you!
WO is my game! When i got my first PSX I was only a kid so I had Wipeout for a whole year before I could afford another game! Eventually I got bored with the tracks but not the game, so I got a mirror and played it while looking into the mirror thus playing it in " mirror version" I also put my TV upside-down and played.
Auricom rulezzz!

http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/animals/goldfish.gif <>< F I S H ><> http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/animals/goldfish.gif

BTW...It's just awesome to be a game nut when you are 23! I certainly hope that I will be just as crazy about games and comics when I get to be 23 and older (20 now)




Moi? A soft spot for RPG's? Nahhhhh. Not me. =) I'm actually up for any good game. There just happen to be a lot of good RPGs out there.

I'm getting towards the end of Chrono Cross right now. Gorgeous game. Chrono Trigger was good as well. That just dealt with time travel. This one deals with time and dimensional travel and on some level, I get it... but if I start to think about it too much, my head hurts. =X I do like the battle system. It's pretty nifty. The FMV's are just... wow. If you get this game, be sure to watch the opening FMV that comes up when you just pop in the disc. Don't press any buttons! Oh, there's a fairly emotional moment in there, especially if you've played Trigger before... and even if you haven't.

FF7 better? I dunno about that. It's amazing, don't get me wrong. Well, it's just my opinion. =X But make sure to use a FAQ or something on your second time around. There are many hidden plot twists that aren't right out there. Like what happened to Zack.

And Vagrant Story. Man, that's also a heck of a ride. But the in-game cinematics are so fantastic that it gets tiresome getting through all those battles just to get back to one. Ever tried running it with bleem? It's not actually very playable. But, if you're running it at 800*600 and you have a nice old Voo Doo or NVidia card in there.... Man, just to have a glimpse of what it would look like if it weren't hindered by the playstation hardware. Makes you wish the bleemcast disc would come out for it already.

I'm up to the final boss. He keeps handing me my butt. Apparently, you need to be able to use that split second defensive button press to cut the amazing amount of damage he does in half. I'm great at the attack combos... but not at that.

Wipe Out 1-2-3? Seen it.... never played it. I'm glad you were able to get so much replay out of it. =)

Gaahh! Gotta run to work. More posts later.

[The Dork Knight]

My top 10 list

1. South Park Rally
I have never had this much fun in a kart racer before! (Actually this is the only kart racer I've ever played!) HERPES,TALKING POO, EXPLOSIVE DIAHRIA!IT'S ALL HERE!

2. Chef's Luv Shack
This was a very fun trivia game.It's a Mario Party clone with trivia folks.

3.Arkanoid
A classic, pure classic. Hitting balls is fun! :D

4. WWF Attitude
This is the hardest wrestling game I've played!Too bad it does'nt have the new wrestlers.

5. Super Mario Advance
Played it at Wal*Mart.This game blew me away!Pure genius.....

6.The Sims
I've never had so much fun raising a family and then killing them!

7.Legend Of Zelda Ocharina Of Time
One of the greatest RPGs ever.

8.Super Smash Brothers
I've always wanted to beat up Jigglypuff for some reason....NOW I CAN!

9.Kirby Tilt and Tumble
Unusual.Yes.Fun. OH YEAH!

10.Pokemon R,B,Y,G,S,C
This is more fun then the card game and the TV show for some reason.Go fig.MMMMMMMM......Figs...........

[The Mad Hatter]

All right, I've finally had the time to ponder my list and (briefly) weigh in:

1. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. What's left to say? The graphics were incredible, the puzzles were nicely devious, the world was huge, the bosses were epic and it was just flat an incredible game that hasn't yet been surpassed. I also liked Majora's Mask a lot, along with pretty much the entire series. I just got the new, linkable Game Boy Color Zelda games, and they're marvelous.

2. Final Fantasy 7-9. You know, I'm not going to hash out their differences. I enjoyed all three of them immesurably, but in different ways. I've also liked the rest of the series... I can honestly say I've been a FF fan since the original NES game.

3. Metal Gear Solid. Oh, now this was fun. It had a great story, graphics that pushed the old PlayStation to the limit, and gameplay that constantly threw new situations at you. Oh yes.

4. Mario Kart. I can't tell you how many hours my friends and I wasted on this game, and loved every moment of it. Have you noticed the sheer number of Mario Kart clones out there? This game was truly ground-breaking.

5. Banjo-Kazooie/Banjo-Tooie. Oooh, British weirdness! These two top even Mario when it comes to platforming, and add a fun british wit that tops it over Rayman in my eyes. And the voices! They were done by playing back a few noices at different speeds... the witch would sound like "reh REH reh ree rah!" And I'll never forget Gruntilda's awful rhymes, no matter how hard I try.

6. X-Wing series. This one goes way back to the early 90s. These games were incredibly engrossing, and threw together some really complex missions. I also enjoyed the introduction of in-mission chatter too, not to mention that the dogfights were intense.

7. Conker's Bad Fur Day. Yes, it's crude and I generally don't go for that, but this was one darn impressive game. The graphics were even better than Zelda's, and the context-sensitive buttons that allowed you to a variety of things were genius. And the music was truly good as well, whether it was opera, techno, gothic or cartoony. The facial expressions were great too, and the voice acting left me in stitches. All of you with an N64 needs to give this a try, gross-outs be damned.

8. Vagrant Story. A neat little RPG with a nifty graphics style, a great story and an innovative battle system. Not to mention the weapons creation system. Ah, I spent a lot of time on this.

9. The Mega Man Series. I've always liked this little blue robot, but what was most fun were the strange bosses they came up with over the series (Crashman, Gyroman, Storm Eagle, Sting Chameleon, etc.). I've played this for years.

10. Samba De Amigo. I never would have bought this game, or the expensive maracas controllers you need to play it, if Sega didn't send them to me for my column, but I'm glad they did. Yes, waving around the maracas is stupid, but it's stupid fun. All my friends are amused by this.

[Fish]

10. Samba De Amigo. I never would have bought this game, or the expensive maracas controllers you need to play it, if Sega didn't send them to me for my column, but I'm glad they did. Yes, waving around the maracas is stupid, but it's stupid fun. All my friends are amused by this.

!!!!!!!!!!! You have this game!!??? COOL! :cool: !!!
I don't have a sega but that isn't an obstacle I couldn't overcome if I would. How much is it for the controllers? ( imagine you got em fer free!! *grr* ;) )
AH I love musicgames...the only time ny friends want to play DDR with me is when they are drunk and then all serious gamedancing is gone!

:rolleyes:

http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/animals/fish.gif <>< F I S H ><> http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/animals/fish.gif

[The Mad Hatter]

I don't have a sega but that isn't an obstacle I couldn't overcome if I would.

Now is a good time, if you're looking for a Dreamcast. Because Sega will soon abandon it, you can buy one for $99 at most, usually much less. It's not a bad investment, since there are a ton of great games that have been released for it, even if its lifespan is limited.

You like music games? I finally got to play DDR on a dance pad at E3, and I had a lot of fun! I'm trying to pester Konami to send me one for review. Also at E3, there was this strange PS2 music game called frequency.... you lay down music tracks while you rush through this vectorized background. Very strange, but cool.

As for Samba... how badly do you want to play it? The game has dropped down to $20, but the controllers... are $80. That's for one set, if you want two people to play at once, you'll need two sets. And I warn you, Samba is NO fun to play on the controller.

[Inque]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter

You like music games? I finally got to play DDR on a dance pad at E3, and I had a lot of fun! I'm trying to pester Konami to send me one for review. Also at E3, there was this strange PS2 music game called frequency.... you lay down music tracks while you rush through this vectorized background. Very strange, but cool.


DDR you say? I think Pump is more fun. It's basically the same thing, except it uses the 4 corners and the middle.

Its basically the Korean version of DDR with all Korean pop songs.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Hmm, well, time to add some more 16 bit fire into this thread...

Well, with the FF series, one either wants a story or a game. I think Final Fantasy VI combines the best of both worlds, though those who like the story aspect will undoubtedly find complaints about it, especially the dated graphics (which I sometimes prefer over CGI, but I'm wandering here...). FF VI does, however, have the best soundtrack of all the series, and you can see how really good it is if you managed to hear the original soundtrack through import CDs.

FF IV was the one that got me into it, and it is still my favourite FF. It's got cheap graphics, shameless melodrama and gushy, corny romance. Yet I love it. It's the best romantic fantasy out there in the Michael Moorcock vein.

Earthbound--second favourite RPG on the SNES, by far. I find it oddly compelling, despite the deliberately crude graphics. It has a very retro soundtrack, and there is a crude charm to it that just draws me in. Really!

Super Mario RPG--slickest RPG on the SNES, and fun, to boot. Too short, however.

Chrono Trigger--Prettiest RPG on the SNES. Too short, however.

NBA Jam--It's easy to play (though not to beat) and it's kinda dumb, but I spend hours playing it with my siblings when we have nothing to do.

Zelda: Link's Awakening--believe it or not, this is my favourite Zelda game of all time. Yes, the Zelda for the Game Boy! Made me think, made me excited, made me cry. The ending is great.

Zelda for SNES--Another good Zelda game.

And for the other systems, I liked Phantasy Star 1 and 4, but found 2 excessively difficult and 3 excessively boring.

Double Dragon--Yes, it's the two brothers who beat their brains out at the end of the game! Loved it then, love the retro feeling now.

[I.R Joey]

Virtru Fighter is the grandfather of the 3d fighting genre, yet it still ranks among the best. Yes its graphics are not as flashy (VF4 will fix that though :D) but the gameplay is awesome.

[Harley]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
Harley, just about everything you listed is some darn good stuff. The Final Fantasy series... ahhh. Did I mention I got to play a bit of FF X at E3? Oh my frickin' lord, it was incredible.

But... no Zelda at E3! Arrrrgh! Still, Nintendo had lots of impressive stuff... Luigi's Mansion looked great. The Gamecube will do some serious rocking. Oh, and Nintendo has their own press event called Space World in August, and they're rumored to show off Zelda there.... I'll keep you posted...

I saw some clips of FFX on the tube. Drooooooooool. It sure am purty. And actual voices? Man.

Hey, I just beat Chrono Cross last night! Nee ha! Wasn't that difficult, IMO. I only died a few times along the way. After looking through the FAQs, there seems to be a heck of a lot of replay if you're anal enough to want to collect all the items and see every single ending. Neat. Gorgeous graphics. Fairly intricate plot that left me spinning for a wee bit. I saw Pixar in the credits. I suppose that would account for the absolutely beautiful FMVs.

[Harley]

Anyone out there a collector of VG sountracks?

What sticks out in your mind as the best of the best in soundtracks?

[The Mad Hatter]

Chrono Cross... I'd love to play that. In fact, Square sent it to me. But because of all the other stuff I've had to review, I haven't had a chance to get to it. That's a problem I have... all too often I have to give up playing something good to play something else to review. Ah well. At least the game at the moment are the new, linked (not a pun) Zelda games for the Game Boy Color, which are much, much better than any game has a right to be on that tiny system.

Anyway, video game soundtracks... oy, another tall request. Can't narrow it down to one, so I'll list a few...

The Final Fantasy series. Every single game has an incredible soundtrack, but I'd have to give the ultimate nod to II and III (IV and VI in Japan). Remember the music for the crystal bosses? Man, it sounds great, especially when the kettle drums kick in.

Later games in the Sonic series. From 3 onwards, these games have been infused with some nice, semi hip-hop beats that I really dig. In particular, I can't get the music from the lava cave section in Sonic Adventure out of my head.

The original Super Mario Bros. Yeah, it's primitive now, but for its time the music was much, much better than anything else out there.

Super Mario RPG. It combined the best of Square's musical complexity with Mario's happy bounciness.

Parappa the Rapper. I normally don't dig rap, but good lord, those songs were so good! P. Diddy (or whatever the heck he's calling himself now) could only dream of coming up with stuff this good. Not to mention the sheer bizarreness of the "waiting in line for the bathroom" song ("I need to go just as bad as you/ what I had today, I don't even want to say to you").

Banjo Kazooie/Tooie. Anyone who's played this can tell you how impressive the dynamic music is... if you haven't experienced it, the music will seamlessly change depending on what you're doing. The tune remains the same, but certain instruments drop in and out. Go underwater and gentle harps will replace louder instruments, encounter a large character and a baritone sax will kick in. I love it.

But the best soundtrack I've encountered recently... I keep trying to convince the people here that it's an amazing game in spite of its reputation, but I know it's a losing battle. Nevertheless...

Conker's Bad Fur Day. This game's music has examples from a ludicrous number of generas, and they're all excellent. Be it cartoony, flamenco, hoe-down, techno, opera, gothic or orchestral, the music is positively amazing. Heck, the music in the nightclub sequence is incredibly danceable and sounds much better than most commercial stuff.

[don Jaime]

You know about this site, right, Harl?

http://www.seanbaby.com/nes.htm

Originally posted by Harley
Street Fighter II - Boy, do I have memories of this game... or more accurately of the entire series of SFII games. I think this came out around the time I was 11 or 12. I used to play it in the arcade all the time. Alllllll the time. I played it when I went to the pizza parlor. When I went to my father's on the weekends he used to take my brother and I to play it somewhere. When I used to beat all the guys at the arcades they used to call me bad names. =X Bully for them. ;) Street Fighter is the fighting game in my opinion.

I've never owned a home system, and the quarter eaters drove me crazy, because I could beat the first two opponents with Honda before losing pitifully. Never could get him to headbutt.

So you can imagine my joy when SF2 was twinned with the Marvel games in team ups. That recovery time gave me the chance to outpace the computer. Throw in Storm's aim-free tall Typhoon and I beat "X-Men Vs. Street Fighter" with all 17 characters. I still love that game. The next two weren't as good, but the recent "Marvel Vs. Capcom 2" is another wonder.

And I still wish I could play the original "Samurai Showdown." That game was cool. I still wish Shiranui Gen-An was available to fight Ryu and Ken.

[Firefly]

I got a lot of games but I mainly collect video game consoles my favriote games currenty are anything Metal Gear, Super Mario World, Metriod, Kirby's Adventure, Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, Super Smash Bros, Super Mario 64, Phanasy Star II, Crazy Taxi 1 and 2, Virtual Cop, and many others

I can't Wait for Metal gear Solid 2, Super Smash Bros Melee to come out this fall I heard that they were big at E3 this year

[I.R Joey]

How the heck did you get Sonic Adventure 2 it isn't even out yet? I envy you spill it... oh wait I get it you have Phantasy Star online don't you and yeah...sonic...playable...demo...right gotcha.

[Firefly]

Yea, thats what I ment I got the demo to Sonic Adventure 2 when I bought Phansey Star Online. But I did reserve the actual game which comes out on June 21 worldwide. Sorry about the confusion.

[Dante Bunny]

Here it is, my favorite games I like to play, top ten and the Hottest games.


10. Tiny Toon Adv: Babs' Big Break- it's easy but fun!
9. Street Fighter II- I bought game 7 years ago, and I'm still playing it.
8. Mortal Kombat- too violent, I have to quit playing before I get too addicted.
7. TTA: Buster Bust Loose- Another favorite TTA game.
6. WWF Smackdown!- My favorite wrestling game.
5. Chrono Trigger- Every weekend, I went to the video store and keep renting it and all I got so far is to the evil queen rising Lavos.
4. Tiny Toons (original)- My second TTA game after I got TTA: Babs' Big Break.
3. Sonic 1,2,and Spinball- My cousin own these three games, those background music brings me back memories.
2. WWF Smackdown 2- I like those cage matches, entrance music, and the TLC (tables, ladders, and chairs) matches.
1. Super Mario RPG- I almost beat those Axem Rangers at the Volcano Stage.

and the Hottest games I Like to play:
STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 2 AND FINAL FANATSY 8
Street Fighter Alpha 2- It takes me back memories at the Pizza Hut Arcade.

FF8- I love that role playing game:D

[Craig Crumpton]

I've never been able to get "the hang" or have the patience to learn the controls for most RPGs. And then there's the whole thing with how time-consuming they are to play them. Just give me a gun and let me blast away at stuff. I like first-person shooters, flight combat sims with very simple controls and lots of weaponry), real-time strategy combat, and I yearn for the return of fun interactive "graphical adventures" like "Sam & Max Hit the Road", Monkey Island, and Indiana Jones.

I mostly watched friends play RPGs until I dozed off, making sure to tell them ahead of time to wake me for any cutscenes.

I don't think I could name a top ten, so here are games I've enjoyed the most in no certain order:

- Monkey Island Series
http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Genres/Adventure/Graphical_Adventures/Monkey_Island_Series/
In the days before multiplayer games took over the market (and in the early days of computer gaming), there was once a thing in video gaming called "graphical adventures". LucasArts was at the forefront of developers for them, and the first Monkey Island games were hugely popular (also loved the Maniac Mansion series, especially Day of the Tentacle, but the Monkey Island games were more fun to play). No voices, just text for dialog and a list of commands to get Guybush Threepwood to interact with his environment. The music was midi, and the SFX were hokey. But they got better as technology advanced. But it was the story, characters and gags that made them so much fun to play. And the amusement grew with each new title in the series. I recall with much fondness the summer I spent working at college, playing the game after-hours with 4-6 other guys looking on and laughing at the clever, witty dialog and visual gags. I haven't played the new 3D "Secret of Monkey Island" yet. I'm waiting for the price to go down.

- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Loved all the challenging puzzles, dialog, and story (at least until the end - it's a common complaint with LucasArts games that the endings are often anti-climactic). I played this game on a laptop every weekend for a semester of college. And then shortly before I beat the game, the guy whose laptop I was borrowing said, "Yeah, that game's so much more fun with the voices." Dang him to heck - he never told me it had anything more than music and SFX. He had the dialog turned off. I felt compelled to start the game over in order not to miss any of the voices.

- Sam & Max Hit the Road
http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Genres/Adventure/Graphical_Adventures/Sam_&_Max_Hit_the_Road/
Your basic dog and rabbit buddy game, but with a sharp wit and smart, funny dialog. THE most fun graphical adv I've ever played. It's the only one I ever played more than once. The voices are great, the wits are quick, the dialog is mercilessly funny, the characters are likable, and the visual gags are very amusing. Very quotable too.

- Star Fox
I practically memorized each level of this game, I played it so many times. I beat Star Fox 64 at Walmart while waiting for my mom to finish shopping (if that tells you anything about my mom's shopping habits).

- Warcraft
My first taste of real time strategy combat. Loved the genre ever since. The sequel was even more fun, and StarCraft was an improvement even over that. Still disappointed that production on the graphical adventure Warcraft spinoff "Lord of the Clans" was scrapped. I think it woulda been one heckuva game - would've had like 60 fully-animated cutscenes and the voice talents of Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Clancy Brown (Lex Luthor) and Tony Jay (Hunchback of Notre Dam, ReBoot, The Tick). What a pity.

- Star Wars: Dark Forces
It combined two of my favorite things: Star Wars and first-person shooters. Great story, voices, and animation. Fun to play. The sequels were an improvement technically, but I didn't enjoy them quite as much due to the use of live-action rather than animation for the cutscenes (because the actors were all unknowns).

- Tomb Raider
No red-blooded male can resist this series. And I can't wait for the movie release - Angelina Jolie even SOUNDS like the game Lara Croft. It's fantasy become reality! (er...in a manner of speaking)

- Mario Kart
Ditto everything Hatter said. My brother and I spent many marvelous hours taunting each other with different voices and shooting turtle shells at each other's booty.

- Metal Gear Solid
Again, ditto Hatter. Unfortunately, I came up short for cash one month, and in order to pay a bill quickly, I had to pawn my Playstation and most of my games. I never got to complete it.

- Quake Arena
The multiplayer action rocks.

- Wolfenstein
The original, now classic 1st-person shooter that spawned many a clone. Lots and lots of mindless, trigger-happy fun.

- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
My personal favorite of all the SW space combat games (all of which I enjoyed also, but Rogue is the best, IMO).

- Goldeneye OO7
The first shooter with intelligent enemies. Great fun.

- DOOM
After completing Wolfenstein, there was a void in my life. DOOM filled it. Loads of mindless, splattering mayem with big-***** guns.

- Duke Nukem
A shameless Doom clone, but very entertaining nevertheless.

- Outlaws
A high-fallutin, shootin good time. Good story, fantastic voice cast, and an outstanding music score. And any game where you get to shoot chickens is fun.

- Roger Wilco/Space Quest Series
http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Genres/Adventure/Graphical_Adventures/Space_Quest_Series/
A fun, funny graphical adv from the very beginning. It hit a common thing with its target audience: Roger Wilco was an underachiever, a nobody, the space station janitor - an unlikely hero. Through the entire story, he remains clueless and inept, and yet he still manages to save the day. And when Gary Owens (Space Ghost, Blue Falcon) was added as narrator in later sequels, it increased enjoyment a hundred-fold. If you want to indulge, I recommend finding a pre-played copy of "Roger Wilco: Unclogged" (Sierra) - it includes all 5 games on a single disc.

- Earthworm Jim
Fun-fun-fun side-scrolling action-adventure-comedy.

- Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
Yeah, it's a Tomb Raider clone, but it's Indy! I'm only halfway through this game - I stop for a while every time I hit a snag. (I only use walkthroughs, hints if it's absolutely necessary. I play with integrity the first time through, and then go back through a second time with cheats to see what I missed.)

- Clay Fighter
The California Raisins meet Mortal Combat. What could be more fun? (Well, besides a mindless shooter.)

- Soldier of Fortune
Another multiplayer shooter that rocks the world, but I prefer the capture-the-flag levels. Can't say I care much for the actual game because of the stupid thing with having to "buy" ammo after you've unloaded your clip into your enemy.

- Animaniacs Game Pack
You know at least one WB title had to be on here. Stayed very true to the animated series, even has 2 original songs on it (in the classic A! style). "Baloney's Balloon Drop" is fun primarily due to Jeff Bennett's Barney the Purple dinosaur impression, and getting to drop anvils on Baloney's head. And "Belchinator, Too" is endlessly fun. Just the ability to have Wakko make enemies explode by belching in their general direction is very amusing to me.

- various Atari and Nintendo classics
Asteroids, Q-Bert, Frogger, Combat, Spy Hunter, NBA Jam

- Aliens Vs Predator
May possibly be my favorite game ever. The ability to play from 3 different perspectives: Predator, Alien and Marine - what more could a guy want? Can't recommend this game highly enough.

That's all I can think of right now.

[Peace Keeper]

What level is your guy on PSO, Firefly?

[The Mad Hatter]

A few comments fer Gookie:

Monkey Island: I've played the 3D one for my column, and it was a heck of a lot of fun. You'll dig it. Though I don't blame you for wanting to wait till the price goes down... adventure games are great, but once you've finished them, you've finished them. Incidentally, have you ever played Grim Fandago? It's another Lucasarts adventure game that was truly great. You can find it in the cheap CDs at Wal-Mart or Best Buy if you're willing to dig.

Star Fox: Another good 'un. I always got a kick out of the in-flight chatter. Oh, have you heard about Star Fox Adventures for the Gamecube? It's Star Fox in a Zelda-esque setting. Really. Looks good, though...

Warcraft: Oh yes. I was also ticked when I found out that Warcraft Adventures got canned... but it may have been for good reason. There's still a trailer for it on my copy of Starcraft, but the animation looks EXTREMELY rough, and it was almost ready for release. Poor Blizzard... because of their high reputation, they can't afford to release anything risky that might not sell. Oh, I saw Warcraft III at E3, and it looked great.

Tomb Raider: Eh. Maybe I'm burnt out, or annoyed by the fact that Laura Croft's breasts get bigger in each game (much as I like breasts, that gets a little demeaning after a while). Actually, it's probably the lack of innovation over the years that's turned me off... the fifth installment is pretty much the same as the first, and the first came out five years ago.

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron: I saw the sequel to this at E3 for the Gamecube. This is the first game where the Star Wars vehicles are represented on any platform with 100% accuracy and detail, and the game was still running silky smooth. The Death Star run that I played there had me gibbering.

Earthworm Jim: Oh yes, great animation. The bit in EWJ2 where you have to bounce around puppies thrown out the window by Psy-Crow still cracks me up, along with the fact that the title screen burps out the name of the game.

[Craig Crumpton]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
Monkey Island: I've played the 3D one for my column, and it was a heck of a lot of fun. You'll dig it. Though I don't blame you for wanting to wait till the price goes down... adventure games are great, but once you've finished them, you've finished them.

Yeah, I think that may have been what killed the genre. You spend $35-40 for them when they're released and spend an enjoyable week or so playing the game (or less, depending on how much time you have to waste), and afterwards you say, well that was fun - now what? It's almost like paying $40 to see a fairly enjoyable movie. No replay value. And then if the game has an anticlimactic or just plain stupid ending, you really feel like you got ripped off.

If they'd found some way to incorporate multiplayer into it, maybe it would've lasted.


Incidentally, have you ever played Grim Fandago? It's another Lucasarts adventure game that was truly great. You can find it in the cheap CDs at Wal-Mart or Best Buy if you're willing to dig.

No, but I've heard it's a lot of fun. Want to buy it, but I haven't found an inexpensive enough copy of it. Even the local places where you can buy used games don't have a copy for $10 or less, and that's as much as I'm willing to pay for it.


Star Fox: Another good 'un. I always got a kick out of the in-flight chatter. Oh, have you heard about Star Fox Adventures for the Gamecube? It's Star Fox in a Zelda-esque setting. Really. Looks good, though...

Did you ever think the "inflight chatter" sounded like they were swearing sometimes? One character (forget which at the moment) sounded like he was saying "Gonna say d*mmit."

Hadn't heard about the Gamecube game. For that matter, I don't even know what the "Gamecube" is. Guess I've been outta touch with the latest developments in gaming.


Warcraft: Oh yes. I was also ticked when I found out that Warcraft Adventures got canned... but it may have been for good reason. There's still a trailer for it on my copy of Starcraft, but the animation looks EXTREMELY rough, and it was almost ready for release. Poor Blizzard... because of their high reputation, they can't afford to release anything risky that might not sell. Oh, I saw Warcraft III at E3, and it looked great.

Yeah, the animation on the trailer did look kinda poor, but I think I'd have still enjoyed the game. Now, they'd have done it in CG. There's a few screen captures for the actual gameplay at warcraft.org.

Also looking forward to Warcraft III. In the meantime, I'm contemplating buying the StarCraft: Brood War expansion pack.


Tomb Raider: Eh. Maybe I'm burnt out, or annoyed by the fact that Laura Croft's breasts get bigger in each game (much as I like breasts, that gets a little demeaning after a while). Actually, it's probably the lack of innovation over the years that's turned me off... the fifth installment is pretty much the same as the first, and the first came out five years ago.

I've only played the first 3 games, but I kinda had the same observation. I had this thing where I'd purposely run Lara into walls so she'd make that little "unh!" groan.


Star Wars: Rogue Squadron: I saw the sequel to this at E3 for the Gamecube. This is the first game where the Star Wars vehicles are represented on any platform with 100% accuracy and detail, and the game was still running silky smooth. The Death Star run that I played there had me gibbering.

Ooooooh.


Earthworm Jim: Oh yes, great animation. The bit in EWJ2 where you have to bounce around puppies thrown out the window by Psy-Crow still cracks me up, along with the fact that the title screen burps out the name of the game.

You weren't the only one.

[The Mad Hatter]

Basically, the Gamecube is the next-generation Nintendo system. Comes out in early November for $199. It's more powerful and easier to program for than the PS2, though it doesn't play DVDs. I saw the games for it at E3, and it looks like it's going to seriously rock the house. It's going to be a while before we get the next Zelda game for the 'cube... dangit.

For more info, go to cube.ign.com and dig around.

Fun fact... the creators of Zelda named the princess after F. Scott Fitzgerald's partying wife.

Did you know that Microsoft is getting into the whole console game? Their Xbox will come out three days after the Gamecube and retail for $299. It's slightly more powerful than the cube, but the games I saw at E3 sucked royally. Bill Gates needs to get his minions to work harder. For more info on that, go to xbox.ign.com .... though I warn you, the editor of that site is a ranting, sycophantic fanboy.

[I.R Joey]

I think Brandon Justice is gone isn't he dude?

Anyway I'm an editor at a VG site consolewar.com (by my own admission it isn't very good but we're getting better.)

I had this thing where I'd purposely run Lara into walls so she'd make that little "unh!" groan

*Slaps forhead*

If I'm reading you right you may just want to try the Dead or Alive fighting game series.

[Craig Crumpton]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
Basically, the Gamecube is the next-generation Nintendo system. Comes out in early November for $199. It's more powerful and easier to program for than the PS2, though it doesn't play DVDs. I saw the games for it at E3, and it looks like it's going to seriously rock the house. It's going to be a while before we get the next Zelda game for the 'cube... dangit.

For more info, go to cube.ign.com and dig around.

Interesting. Thanks for the link - I shoulda known IGN.com was the place to go for info on it.

Any info on what this "Batman Dark Tomorrow" title's gonna be about?

That Star Fox Adventures preview is pretty keen. Animation looks really good for any game I've seen.



Did you know that Microsoft is getting into the whole console game?.

Yeah, I had heard a few details about the Xbox console, but you're right - they don't seem to have many interesting titles. Although, a new Oddworld game wouldn't hurt, and that Simpsons Road Rage game looks fun. Two Star Wars titles as well as one for the the first installment of LOTR. Guess we'll just hafta wait and see how they turn out.

Oh, and I see that Interplay's doing a MATRIX title for the Xbox. Ooooh... it might just make spending that extra 100 bucks worthwhile.[/B][/QUOTE]

Originally posted by I.R. Joey
I think Brandon Justice is gone isn't he dude?

Yeah, whoever it was that Hatter disliked appears to be leaving IGN:

http://xbox.ign.com/news/35649.html



Anyway I'm an editor at a VG site consolewar.com (by my own admission it isn't very good but we're getting better.)

An interesting site though. I didn't know there was a sequel to Metal Gear Solid on the way. Thanks for the link.


*Slaps forhead*

If I'm reading you right you may just want to try the Dead or Alive fighting game series.

You're probably reading me right. ;)

[The Mad Hatter]

Any info on what this "Batman Dark Tomorrow" title's gonna be about?

Not much... I saw a demo kiosk at E3, but only had time to watch the CGI opening (I soon discovered that trying to cover the ENTIRE expo by yourself is lucicrous). It seems it'll have the grey and blue Batman from the comics going up against the Joker. It may be a launch title (as in, it'll come out at the same time the system does). IGN has done a little bit on it... dig around in past news and you'll find it.

Although, a new Oddworld game wouldn't hurt, and that Simpsons Road Rage game looks fun.

Oddworld looks darn good. Maybe not good enough to justify getting a system just to play that game (like, say, Zelda or Final Fantasy), but darn good.

Simpsons Road Rage was an unabashed Crazy Taxi rip-off. Nothing original at all. I played it, and CT did things better. Still, Road Rage looks scads better than that awful Simpsons Wrestling... yech.

And I hadn't read that Brandon Justice was leaving. Still, that's a good thing... he was very condescending and abusive toward his audience, and he tended to be a major-league suck-up. I don't mind journalists playing things a little loose, but that guy just rubbed me the wrong way.

[The Mad Hatter]

(after actually reading the Brandon Justice article)

Ah. Methinks that was just a joke borne of a guy who actually loves it when people are ticked off at him, just like Rush Limbaugh. Or maybe he really is leaving, and wanted to depart on one last condescending note. Either way... man, he's a jerk.

[I.R Joey]

Heh slap him Hatter slap him.

[Christopher N. Denner]

I must me INSANE. :p

14 Genesis Games
23 SNES Games
34 (C)Gameboy Games
53 Playstation Games
77 NES Games

And about 7 Master System games, and dozen or so TG16 games. But I have them packed away and can't count them.


:D