Games Everybody Should Play at Least Once

[Damon Plus]

I´ll start with the game many people consider the pinnacle of 2-D platforming. I´m talking about Super Mario Bros 3 for the Nes. Never a game was so hyped yet it surpassed all what people expected. It perfected the legend that Super Mario Bros was, adding lots of levels, cool power-ups and secrets to keep you entertained for months (or years). It´s not surprising that it sold milions of copies and became the greatest Nes game ever. It really deserves it, and people should experience this amazing game at least once on their lives.

[AB Positive]

since it's now $2.99 at EB, I dare say everyone should play Culdcept. Now


-AG

[otterpop]

I'm going to go with SimCity (any version). It's an amazing game that shows

a) video games don't have to be about war, sports, or plumbers jumping on mushrooms
b) games don't need to have an explict goal or ending
c) games can be incredible tools for learning how to solve real world problems.

Also Culdcept - A game with near infinite depth and strategy.

[killersquirel]

What system is culdcept for?

-mike

[otterpop]

PS2 - although I believe it came out on the Dreamcast in Japan.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

PS2, though I doubt they have anymore in stock. :(

[Lord_Magus]

I would highly recommend Grim Fandango, Loom and Monkey Island I,II and III. Easily some of the most unique and intelligent games I have ever played. :)

Also, for you FPS players out there, definately check out the first Deus Ex. The graphics engine might be a bit dated by todays standards, but its invloving storyline and open-ended approach are second to none. Stay away from the PS2 version though, which is extremely disappointing.

Other games that come to mind are some old Amiga classics: Moonstone, Lemmings, Shadow of the Beast I-II-III, Agony and Project X just to name a few... Pure gaming heaven.

-Note that I am referring to games which I don't often see mentioned on these forums, and therefore assume that many of you may have missed. ;)

[jslithy]

If everyone played Mappy, this world would be a much better place.

[Crush Crawfish]

Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Megaman 3.

[Cauterize]

Monkey Island
Super Mario Bros 3
Final Fantasy 7
Mario Kart 64
Super Mario 64
Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
Metal Slug
Castlevania
Sonic 1
Mega Man
Grand Theft Auto III
Soul Calibur
Marvel Vs Capcom
Ikaruga
Super Smash Bros
Resident Evil
King Of Fighters
Nights
Virtual On
Tomb Raider
Burnout 3
Gunstar Heroes
Pokemon Red/Blue
Klonoa
Street Fighter 2
Shenmue
Paperboy
Donkey Kong Country
Toe Jam n Earl
Donald Duck: Lucky Dime Caper
Mickey Mouse: Castle Of Illusion
Tetris
Ghouls N Ghosts
Outrun
Phantasy Star
Wonderboy
Bubble Bobble
Rainbow Islands
Turrican
Alex Kidd
Flashback
F-Zero
Starfox/Starwing
Donkey Konga
Beatmania
Time Crisis
Virtua Cop 2
Puzzle Bobble
Super Monkey Ball
Metroid Prime
Super Metroid
Power Stone
Daytona USA
Mario Party
Sega Rally
Banjo Kazooie
Prince Of Persia
Neo Turf Masters
Donkey Kong
Gunbird 2
Manx TT
Panzer Dragoon
Joe & Mac
Devil May Cry
Dynasty Warriors 2
Pro Evolution Soccer
SSX
Turok
Millenium Soldier Expendable
Space Channel 5
Dance Dance Revolution
Eye Toy: Play
Track and Field
Wario Land
Final Fantasy Tactics
Advance Wars
Doom
Wolfenstein
Tony Hawks Pro Skater
Halo
Fable
Need For Speed Underground 2
Jet Set Radio
Megaman Battle Network
Rayman
Metroid Fusion
Crash Bandicoot
Castlevania Aria Of Sorrow
Gameboy Camera
Virtua Tennis
Fantavision
Killer Instinct
Super Bomberman
Mario Paint
Sensible Soccer
Soccer Kid
Samurai Shodown
Grandia
Alundra
Point Blank
Abes Odessy
Pandemonium
Metal Gear Solid
Donkey Konga
Parappa The Rapper
Increible Crisis
Punchout
McDonaldland
Mcdonalds Treasureland Adventure
Global Gladiators
Double Dragon
The Simpsons Arcade Game
TMNT II: The Arcade Game
Kid Icarus
California Games
Dr Mario
The Goonies
Duck Hunt
Maniac Mansion

...just to name a few

;)

[Damon Plus]

Come on, leave some games for the others to say... LOL

I think we should say no more than three games for every member.

[calthaer]

X-Com: UFO Defense

That is all.

[imanerd0011]

Crystalis
Little League Baseball
Faxanadu

[NeoZeedeater]

Come on, leave some games for the others to say... LOL

I think we should say no more than three games for every member.

Good idea. There are way too many but here are three underrated ones that come to mind:

System Shock(PC) - Ahead of its time and still brilliant today, check out Looking Glass Studio's eerie first-person action/adventure classic.

Elemental Gearbolt(PS1) - A gun game like no other, from Alfa System. The art is excellent and the RPG elements are a unique touch.

TRON Deadly Discs(InTV) - I hate the Intellivision controller but man is it perfect for this game. Pure addiction.

[Damon Plus]

My 2 other games:

Wonderboy III: Dragon´s Trap (SMS): Probably the best Master System game ever, with beatutiful graphics and an awesome soundtrack. You have to transform into different animals to use their habilities (as a hawk you can fly, as a mouse you can go through narrow passages..) while exploring a big world searching the zombie dragon to remove the curse he put on you.

River City Ransom (Nes): What can I say about this classic wich, on a recent poll, was declared best beat´em-up on the system? Innovative gameplay, lots of different moves, humour... It´s multiplayer heaven, too.[/u]

[Darth Sensei]

Vice City PS2
Duke Nukem 3D - PC
Civilization 3 - PC

Just a few that came directly to mind.

[Querjek]

ANIMAL CROSSING

[MegaDrive20XX]

CastleVania Bloodlines...many fans keep missing this one, I dunno why.

[MikeBoh8]

Street fighter 3 third strike
halo 2
Espn football 2k5

[Cauterize]

just a few more added to my huge list :P

[TheRedEye]

Grim Fandango
Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
Wario Ware

[kevates]

May I humbly suggest...

Pogo Joe (C64)

Pepsiman & Incredible Crisis (PS1)

[Damon Plus]

just a few more added to my huge list :P

Didn´t you read my post? You can only say three games :)

[Cauterize]

just a few more added to my huge list :P

Didn´t you read my post? You can only say three games :)

sorry to contribute 100 times over.... would you like me to remove them?
dont forget im not explaining why these are classics, just listing them!

[kevates]

sorry... editing my post now...

[Jumpman Jr.]

Bezerk
SMB 3
Donkey Kong

[LAGO]

Brigandine for the PS1 is freakin' sweet.

[drewbrim]

Civilization 2 multiplayer - pc
North and South - nes

[Retsudo]

Mortal Kombat 2, Doom, and Red faction

[stressboy]

ICO

that is all...

[Steven]

I'm going to say:

-Street Fighter II

The original. Maybe not the best, but the original. This is where the 2D fighter craze took off and the SF franchise has given 1000s of gamers so many good memories. Still very playable today

-DooM

Ditto, except for the FPS genre.

-NiGHTS

Just a unique and mystical experience.

[Dr. Morbis]

-Kaboom (gotta be 2600 version)
-Super Mario Bros (in it's original form)
-Goldeneye

[Cryomancer]

Shenmue.

Shenmue II.

Toejam and Earl.

[GobopopRevisited]

Conker's Bad Fur Day

[Berserker]

Half-Life - Yes, we've probably all played it, but nobody's mentioned it yet, so it's mandatory. If you haven't played this game yet, don't talk to me. Don't even LOOK at me. Just go now, and play it. Now. Go. If you're not into FPS games, or are a strict retrogamer, then it's ok, you can still look and talk to me and such. If you strictly play japanese RPG's, well, that's ok too, but since you're reading this thread, you should get around to playing it eventually anyways, or something bad could happen to your supply of pocky.

Zork - A text game. THE text game. As in, it's all text... and you have to read it, and stuff. But you should still play it. No, you don't have to beat it. I haven't even beaten it. Like all text games, I usually end up getting lost in some field or forest or something. But that's ok. Just play it once, and we won't have to speak of it again. You'll have imaginary game street-cred, you'll know what a grue is, and if you ever lose your job and have all of your console games stolen, you'll still be able to play those free online MUDs. Please note that this is the only time in which it is acceptable to play MUDs. Also please note that it is at no point acceptable to play FurryMUCK, unless you look at your dog and get a special feeling in the most wrong sort of way. Or if, deep down inside, you believe yourself to really be a werecatcrabdoghorse.

Every First-Person Game Made by Looking Glass - That includes: The Ultima Underworld series, System Shock 1 and 2, and Thief 1 and 2. I'd like you to play them all, but if you're in a hurry, play System Shock 2 and Thief 2. Looking Glass may have went out of business, but their games not only live on, they still rule significant ass. They are still your god, and you must still pay them tribute. If you've survived thusfar without playing a Looking Glass game, you really need to go ahead and remedy that, or baby jesus is gonna cry, and we don't want that. They might be hard to find now, so you might have to log on to the interweb and pirate-download them. It's ok, it's really perfectly legal*. Well, it's stealing, but it's like breaking into an old man's house, finding him dead in his sleep, and stealing his stereo equipment. It's ok, he's probably got some rad hifi shit up in heaven, and it's probably made out of gold, too. So steal it.

That's my list. Yeah, there's actually more than three games mentioned on there, but I grouped them as three items, see? That means it's valid. Oh yeah, I don't think they sell Zork anymore, so you're probably going to have to steal that, too. It's ok, steal! Don't steal Half-Life, though. If you steal Half-Life and then try to log onto Valve's Steam service, something bad happens to your testicles. So don't steal that. But go ahead and steal those other ones. As long as you don't have 200 gig's of stolen porn, movies, and high-end software on your computer, you shouldn't get caught. If you do get caught, this one-way conversation never happened... but yeah, steal.

[Aussie2B]

I'm gonna reply more like "games everybody should play but they haven't" instead of listing the classics that everyone HAS played. :P

Goemon's Great Adventure - I've played most of the "big" N64 games, yet I still rank this as my favorite N64 game. Seriously. The variety, the difficulty, the depth, the humor, it all adds up to one of the best platformers I have ever played. Everybody should experience the extreme anger and joy that the ghost castle brings.

Dragon Spirit - I always make it a point to plug this game when appropriate. It doesn't matter what version you play; they're all good. I often start up the game for some silly little reason like I want to hear Hosoe's brilliant music for stage 1, and then I end up playing several levels. :P What Goemon's Great Adventure is to platforming, Dragon Spirit is to shmups. It's so loaded with variety and creativity. Every stage feels so different and requires a different style of playing. I really gotta import Namco Museum Encore one of these days just so I can play its sequel.

Any tri-Ace game - Okay, okay, so maybe I broke the rules, but it's hard to pick one that works best as a universal recommendation. For every tri-Ace game, there is a group out there that hates it. However, anyone who is remotely into Japanese-style RPGs should at least play one of the Star Ocean games (1, 2, 3, Blue Sphere) and/or Valkyrie Profile. They're all beautiful works of art that I've put hundreds of gameplay hours into (easily 600+ at this point and much more I'm looking forward to).

[Jorpho]

I'm gonna reply more like "games everybody should play but they haven't" instead of listing the classics that everyone HAS played. :P

Hmm. I was going to say Chrono Trigger, Tetris, and Grim Fandango, but when you put it that way... Let's go with Jumpman.

[PDorr3]

Retro:

Mario 1,2,3,
Sonic 1,2,3

Next gen:
Ico
beyond good and evil
Klonoa2

[Cirrus]

- Ico

- Star Ocean 2

- Snatcher

[Richter]

Eternal Champions: CftDS
with the Senator

[FooFighter]

X-Com: UFO Defense

That is all.

Include X-Com Terror from the Deep and I second that, but put the that is all part right after Pirates! :D

[FooFighter]

X-Com: UFO Defense

That is all.

Include X-Com Terror from the Deep and I second that, but put the "that is all" part right after Pirates! :D

[Ridley30]

C'mon here, guys!

Military Madness for the TG-16

Eternal Darkness for the GameCube.

[kirin jensen]

K.C. Munchkin
AND Pickaxe Pete
"Pickaxe is kickaxe"

[SuperNES]

metal slug 3
Halo 2
Super mario bros.

yep, those are my list of games.

[ghostangelofcky]

shadowgate (NES) A classic point and click and it makes you think

Wolfenstein 3D (ANY) A great game that got over shadowed by Doom

Phantasmagoria (PC) Just take my word for it and play it

[Jorpho]

Wolfenstein 3D (ANY) A great game that got over shadowed by Doom

O_O

[Tron 2.0]

Zipang pretty much it's (Solomon's Key) but with a samurai theme.

Wind Jammers doesn't take much to beat it but 2p is fun.

Bonk any one in the serise.

Samurai Shodown II i still feel this "fighter" has stood the test of time.

[Cmosfm]

Mine would be Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, the ARCADE version.

That and Journey, Arcade version as well.

Both 100% excellent games that I've played many many times and everyone else should play.

DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'

[Damon Plus]

[quote="Tron 2.0"]

Wind Jammers doesn't take much to beat it but 2p is fun.
[quote]

Agreed :)

[goatdan]

I would definitely say Headhunter for PS2 or Dreamcast (PAL import). This is really the game that, for me, redefined how music could fit into a game. One of the most incredible game soundtracks ever, and the gameplay holds up extremely well. Headhunter is the game that to me takes the most cues from Hollywood and has created a total package from start to finish.

[Dj Glitch]

Ultimate Qix

[Dj Glitch]

ICO

[Liquid_death]

alter echo is a weird but really fun game.

[Ackman]

Super Double Dragon SNES, great music, excellent challenge, the real feel of the beatemup spirt, best nunchucks use in a game screw maxi from SC, varried moves, it's *%&#$#^@( double dragon

Donkey Kong Country SNES all forget mario, forget sonic this is where it's at besides great graphics, it has an excellent fun factor, gameplay and replayability you'll definately go back to this one a fall in love with all over again

Street Fighter 3 Third Strike DC If you think you know fighting games, then you owe it to yourself to play this game second only to KOF2k2 imo hehe :D