Your Favorite Gem

[PDorr3]

Out of all of our collections I am sure we all have at least one game that never fails to impress us. No matter how many times we play it it never gets old. A gem game is very rare to come by, its a game that sweeps you off your feet the moment you first play it.

The game that did this to me the best is Ico on PS2. I remember about two years ago when the Official PS Mag released their issue featuring Ico. At first I was like "what the heck is this" but after reading the article I was anctious to play the demo included with the magazine.

After playing through the 10 minute demo once, I was simply awed by its graphics, gameplay, and simplistic story. I found myself completing the demo over 10 times before the full version was released. The full game had to be one of the most involving games I had ever been engrossed into. Its gameplay was like no other, I found myself actualy stopping and moving the camera around to gaze at the environments, it was simply fantastic. It envoked emotion, joy, and seriously spectacular gameplaying all at once. No game will EVER match the quality of Ico.

I am telling you, if you hav not experienced Ico you MUST play it now, it is unlike any game experience you will ever have. It has been a good year since I last played it, but I still find myself recommending it to new PS2 owners or hardcore PS2 collectors. This is why Ico is my third favorite game of all time. Play it.

Runners-Up:
Klonoa 2
Dark Cloud
Heart of Darkness
Beyond Good & Evil

[NintendoMan]

The games that I can play just over and over and over and over are:
Super Mario Brother 2 + 3
Super Mario World

I mean I can play all the mario brothers games all the time, its just these 2 stick out!! It's just something about the mario brothers (ALL OF THEM REALLY) that stick out to me, and just attract me to the screen. There so much fun!

[Britboy]

Road Trip for the PS2

[Dire 51]

These ten consistently amaze me, for many reasons:

Axelay
Space Harrier II
Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night
Strider (arcade)
Radiant Silvergun
Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo
Contra (NES)
Gunstar Heroes
Gradius III (SNES)
Castlevania

[poe]

Castlevania: Symphony and Dragon Warrior 3. Both are just massive games, and with Symphony specifically, I have yet to actually play through the game and collect every item (only ever got the Medusa Shield and Ring of Varda once, and not both on the same play-through).

[josekortez]

If I could answer this question with a system, my answer would be the Dreamcast. I didn't know it was possible for a machine to faithfully bring arcade titles into the home before I saw the DC in use. In fact, the machine single-handedly reignited my interest in games back in 2000.

As for a single game, I would have to say Crazy Taxi (DC, GC) because it's extremely simple in nature, but it's fast and addictive, not to mention some of those drops and jumps in original mode make your heart drop into your stomach the first time you see them. Of course, the DC version has a lot of slowdown, but as far as I'm concerned, even those hiccups happen in just the right places.

Runners-up are a mixed bag. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV on SNES would be one only because it faithfully recreates the arcade game and it never seems to get boring, even for a beat-'em-up. Dead or Alive 3 on Xbox would be a candidate because of the detailed graphics. Tall: Infinity on PS1 would be a choice because it's a puzzler I never get tired of, nor can it really be been, although Bombastic on PS2 is coming up close. Heck, Mr. Driller would count for the same reason.

Oh, yeah, and Rez (DC) just defies explanation.

As you can see, I dig different games for different reasons, but there are too many gems for me to list...

[briskbc]

A few that I really like are:

Chrono Trigger - Great everything.
SSX Tricky - As close to perfection as any game has ever come.
Joust - Great idea with unique design.
Metal Gear Solid - More than I thought an adventure game could be.
Metroid - I almost quit in frustration until I discovered you had to blow up obstacles to carry on with the game.

[gamergary]

Any Metal Slug game are games that I can just play for hours and hours at a time.

[swlovinist]

Of the 3500 different games that I own, when it comes to gems, I have to go with Dark Wizzard for the Sega CD. The game took me over 100 hours to beat, and the level of customization you can do is massive. I absolutely love strategy RPGs and this one has excellent sound, and story. Oh yeah, and you can play it through four times with different people and monsters. Dont read the reviews on it however, they say it sucks. Gamefan magazine did a 2-3 page speard on the ending of the game. My friend owned the mag and when he saw the article, he gave it me and said that he wasnt worthy of owning it!

[Dr. Morbis]

For me:
-Contra
-Castlevania
-SMB 1
-SMB 3

I've played 'em all a million times, and I keep coming back for more.

[Kroogah]

SNATCHER, BABY, SNATCHER!!!

Tony Hawk games, believe it or not.
All Bemani games of course
Super Punch-Out
Street Fighter Alpha 3

[NintendoMan]

These ten consistently amaze me, for many reasons:

Axelay
Space Harrier II
Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night
Strider (arcade)
Radiant Silvergun
Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo
Contra (NES)
Gunstar Heroes
Gradius III (SNES)
Castlevania

Whoops, I forgot to mention:
Contra (NES)
Castlevania (NES)
Mario Kart Series

[AB Positive]

KoF '97, '98, 2000
Final Fantasy III, VII
Money Puzzle Exchanger
Last Blade
SNK v. Capcom Card Fighters Clash...


those ones especially are favorites of mine. I'm on my first go through Chrono Trigger but I have a feeling I can add it to this list soon as well.

-AG

[Zubiac666]

mmh...games I use to play again and again are:

Super Probotector(aka Contra 3) SNES
Super Mario Kart SNES
Star Soldier (Gamecube)

there are just too many to list
but these are the first that popped in my mind