I recently saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which was a pretty original movie. The absolute best part was the first 15 seconds, where they (spoiler alert) show a pixellated Universal logo and play an 8-bittified version of the Universal bumper theme. The tie-in video game also hearkens back to 8-bit roots. In contrast, I recently got Elemental: War of Magic which seems fun so far, but there are more knobs on the damn thing than a nuclear power station. It'll be a month before I even get the hang of it. Older games seemed to have a better balance between simplicity and fun. My personal favorite is River City Ransom. FOCUS: What's your favorite classic game, and why? RULES: I know we have people of varying ages here, but let's try to keep to actual classic games (e.g., Super NES or earlier). Console or arcade is fine.
For home system has to be I think for me that had to be the first time you could play with someone else without having to trade off like in Mario Brothers. For arcade there was nothing like Golden Axe. I remember I played this game for the first time with my best friend at Disney Land in the arcade. Game was sick. Also I have fond memories because some kid was in that arcade figured out that if you kicked the coin return box it would spit out quarters. Great. Fucking. Day.
There are two "Classic Games" that stand out in my mind from childhood: 1) The arcade version of Double Dragon. It's the Citizen Kane of video games, and it revolutionized the industry like no other game ever has. and of course... 2) The untouchable Tecmo Super Bowl for Nintendo. There is simply never been a better sports game made as far as action, control and pure fun are concerned. This game also produced the biggest egos at who truly is "The Best" at it, myself included. Because I'm the best at it.
Super NES seems like a pretty late cutoff. But, if that's the rule, Wolfenstein 3D is from that era. Anyone ever notice that Wolfenstein sounds kind of Jewish? Also, most random Easter Egg ever: But, going back before the 90s, mother freakin' Load Runner:
I was hugely into the Quest for Glory series It took the (kind of shitty) rub-every-object-in-your-inventory-on-everything-else moon logic adventure game, took out most of the aspects of puzzles that made no fucking sense, and threw in a really good RPG engine where stats actually increased as you did things and practiced as opposed to "Oh, you gained a level, you just got better at everything!" The games were also really funny, though not quite LucasArts-Adventure Game level funny. They dated pretty well story and gameplay wise, though the first one (pictured above) and second are fuck-ugly. That said, both have been remade to look more like the third and fourth game.
A couple years ago I paid $70 on eBay for the original Sega Gamegear with all the Sonic The Hedgehog games included. I bought it almost exclusively to settle a vendetta I had against this level: This is the boss at the end of the first level of Sonic 3. As a kid I was never able to beat it. Imagine the frustration of having a whole Sonic game cartridge and never getting to play anything beyond the first level. Fucking frustrating. When I finally beat it a couple years ago, I felt like a long-term psychological barrier was lifted off my chest. This game is probably why I can't show intimacy in my relationships (that, or the abusive parents... but probably the video game). I showed this game to my 8 year old cousin last Christmas and his first question was, "Why is this Gamegear so big and heavy?" and then his second question was, "Why are the graphics in this game so bad?" I almost knocked that little fucker out.
Not really my favorite game but I spent days at a time trying to beat it, it was so fucking frustrating. It embodies the NES patience testing genre. You only get one life, no continues, no save points. There are so many gaps that look just about jump-able but aren't that you can play 3 hours straight, miss the jump by a hair and have to start all over. Also there are is a ton of ambiguous looking spots in the overhead map that you are bound to die several times by stepping on what looks like ground but is considered water or a pit. Oh, and you have to travel back and forth all over the place to collect shit the game doesn't properly explain you need.
That'd be Super Metroid. Metroid 3 is pretty much the perfect game. Fun, atmospheric and very rewarding. The backtracking and exploration never feels forced. It's actually cool to go back and do something that you couldn't do earlier because you were missing a certain item. And you're hearing a great score while you're doing so. Then there's the way that it all comes together in the end. Phenomenal.
Battletoads (Sega--I think) The second level of this game was nearly impossible for me to beat. When I finally did, I think I came for the very first time. This game was fantastic. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (NES) I got this for Christmas and didn't stop playing it for months afterwards. Bonk (TurboGrafix 16) The game itself looked like a slightly thicker credit card that you slid into the console. Most people have never heard of Turbo Grafix 16, but my cousin got one when we were kids. Bonk was a caveman baby who did flips and crushed things with his oversized head. The game is as incredible as it sounds. I still play it online sometimes. Sonic Spinball (Sega) Pinball with Sonic. I beat this game for the first time about a year ago when I played it the whole way through during a slow day at work. It's one of the crowning achievements in my personal video game history. Jungle Strike (Sega) Another Christmas gift that kept me busy for months. I was addicted to this game but I don't think I ever ended up beating it. Might have to revisit that one.
Where to even start? Others have mentioned amazing games like Sonic, Aladdin, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Golden Axe and Bubble bobble. Of course, there were also the classic Mario games (1-3) and Super Mario world, and all those mega man games. Donkey Kong Country was also amazing for its time. Um, Zelda, Link to the past (snes) still gives me goosebumps, don't care what any of you say! I also enjoyed Chrono Trigger and really liked Secret of Mana, a lot.
One of, if not the best RPG's out of the 16-bit era. The conclusion to a masterful series and one of the first RPG's to introduce macros and combination attacks. I play it on an emulator at least once or twice a year.
I think I mentioned this in an earlier thread (can't remember if it was on TiB or RMMB), but my favorite game of all time was the Sega Genesis game Rock 'N' Roll Racing. THe premise of the game was simple enough, race your car, make money, and equip it with guns, oil slicks, mines, suped up engines, handling, suspension, etc and travel through space defeating alien-racers, all of this being backed by a killer rock soundtrack that included George Thorogood. Another Sega game that was great was Streets of Rage 2.
BLADES OF STEEL for Nintendo. I was addicted as a youth. Now I watch this and cringe at how bad the graphics and concept is. Enjoy.
I fucking LOVE this game. Its the only boxing game I can recall where TWO people can be in the same career mode. Also, I remember all the names of the fake fighters you would take on. Alan Beast. John Bull. Me and my two brothers were religiously into this game. Only two peeps could be on a career mode so we had a rule. If you lost two fights in a row you had to retire. The game capped you at 40 fights anyways. We only made REAL boxing heavyweights. We went through fucking everyone. Of course it started with names like Tyson and Foreman. It ended with names like Lou Savarese, Francois Botha, and Peter McNeeley. Never beat this game, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The water levels were always the ones that fucked me up. Best sidescroller of all time. Never beat this either. And the game didn't let you save. The game was so fucking dark, at 7 or 8 it gave me the creeps. The way the characters would yell DIE! The fucking left-to-right chase levels by the big fucking spikey thing too.
Easily my favorite game of all time: There are some serious jams in the game too. No kidding, I listen to the mystic cave zone theme every once in a while.