Enough of the hatin' ... time for a little love

[LAGO]

Seems like all i've seen on the boards lately is an I hate this or that company is the devil in electronic form or this and that. So I thought i'd throw up something in a little different direction. What game/company/console do you truly enjoy and what was the game/system that won you over?

I'll start with two Atlus and Koei. I like virtually every game these companies come out with, but the first one's that got me where Uncharted waters 2: New Horizons by Koei. I'm not sure why exactly because the first time I played it I hated the game, but the second time I had reached gaming bliss. Roleplaying on the high seas and shooting pirates all in the pursuit of the destruction of the Spanish Armada. I think I played it for 18 hours straight or something ungodly like that.

As for Atlus i'm going to have to say Brigandine is truly an awesome game. A lot of reviews on it were terrible but I enjoyed the whole concept of leveling up monsters and the turn based combat. My cousin and I play that game still to this day like it was fresh off the shelf.

So those are two companies whose games I really enjoy ... mock me if you will ... haha

[Kamino]

i'll toss a vote out for ROCKSTAR games. VICE CITY brought me back to consoles after a year? year and a half? drought.....and i've yet to play a shitty rockstar games production.
as for a console, i'll toss a vote out for the master system; i thought most sega systems were shitpiles until i got a master system.

[Nez]

I LOVE my Dreamcast. First system I bought by my self. It only cost 30$ too! That was a year ago and, I'm on my way to collecting the whole us collection. I have nothing but love for it!

[classic gamer]

For system I would have to cast my vote for Mattel. While they only made one console (OK three models, but only one real system), I love how it was done. Especially when the IntelliVoice came out, that was incredible!! If I had to get rid of all but one of my systems I would have to keep the Inty. It has the most sentimental value for me. While the first system we had was a VCS (1977) the Intellivision is where gaming started to suck me in.

For a game company I would say Digital Pictures I love what they did. The CD-ROM medium was just coming out for consoles and they took a chance on FMV games on the Sega CD. The industry wasn't ready at the time and they are no where to be found today. But where would the gaming industry be if no one took a chance like they and others have done?

[Graham Mitchell]

It's pretty tough for me to say what would be my favorite publisher/designer, because a lot of games are hit or miss. Sometimes a company that is wonderful for years starts churning out a bunch of garbage and never really finds its old glory. That being said, I've got a couple of honorable mentions.

Hudson Soft has got to be one of the most prolific designers that was ever around. Look at the PC-Engine library for proof. They were the spine of that system, which means that they were responsible for creating all types of games to satisfy different tastes. And lets not forget some great NES games that they designed (Milon's Secret Castle, Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (go ahead and laugh. It rocks.) Sure, they messed up a few good series (Wonder Boy to Adventure Island) and hijacked a few (Dungeon Explorer was developed by Atlus...but it's a wonderful game!) And somebody has to mention Bomberman, Cratermaze, Photoboy, Nectaris...the list goes on!

I really enjoyed stuff from Telnet Japan, as well. Valis is a great series. Gaires, Sol-Feace, Earnest Evans (all for Genesis) are must-plays.

[Crush Crawfish]

As far as companies go I'm quite partial to Atlus and Capcom.

Atlus is the only ciompany with the balls to release kick-ass imports like Cubivore, Robopon 2, Disgaea, Shin megami Tensei, River City Ransom Ex, and so on.

I love capcom for making so many great game series (Mega Man, Breath of Fire, Street Fighter, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Power stone, Devil May Cry, Final Fight, and so on) but they don't get the respect they deserve. People tend to complain that they rehash their games and make too many sequels. Well, I've yet to play a Mega Man game that I didn't like, so I just want capcom to keep making them.

As far as systems go, the SNES is my favorite. It has a huge amount of sentimentality for me and so many of my favorite games- (Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Breath of Fire 2, Mega Man X, Super Mario RPG, and so on)

[YoshiM]

Oh man, let's see...

I don't really have a favorite company per se, no one is perfect. Rare and pre-Gamecube Nintendo would be up there, though. I can answer the fave system and game/system that "won me over" question.

When I went from system to system, something "won me over". It would have to, especially for me at a time when collecting game systems really wasn't a hobby that came to mind. But the one system that had knocked my socks off was the NES, hands down. It looked great, played great and had a great library (even though there was a little monopoly thing goin' on, but anyway...). It was practically like the arcade came home BUT it offered up avenues of play that I never really experienced before. I'm glad to have been able to be a part of that generation.

So naturally one would think I would say the NES is my favorite. Well....close. It's a tie between the NES and the N64. Even though the Playstation took the realm of 3D and opened the door, the N64 kicked it in with many hardware features and software trends that are standard today. I also loved the fact that the N64 brought out the serious talent in those who tried to create for the difficult platform. Not only was it hard to program for but you had to shoehorn decent 3D graphics and music onto a cartridge. And the NES? Hey, they are releasing games from the NES these days, so I don't really need to explain why that platform is an all time fave.

[junglehunter]

.....and i've yet to play a shitty rockstar games production.

I'm guessing you haven't played State of Emergency?

[-hellvin-]

My all time favorite system is the sega genesis. I always felt in despair back in the day when I chose this for a new system as a present and ALL my friends had a damn super nintendo. I remember watching snes displays in stores and just desiring one. But after time grew I received some of the best 16 bit games I have ever played and it has become my favorite all time console to this day, even more than the NES. The system/company that started it all for me was Atari's 800xl computer. My dad owned this computer and my half brothers would come visit every weekend and they would load up all the games for me and it just rocked!

[RetroYoungen]

My favorite system is probably the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The small library is filled with games that I love to pop in and play, like Metal Slug, Bust-a-Move, Puyo Pop, Kind of Fighters, Biomotor Unitron, Cardfighters Clash... the list goes on. And pretty much all of those games are by SNK, which I'm choosing as my favorite company. It may sound a bit fanboy-ish, but really, once you play SNK, you'll stay!

Whoh, that was cool, it all rhymed and everything...

[Kroogah]

Just so I don't disappoint anyone...

I LOVE POP'N MUSIC!!!!!

Click that sentence for video fun!

[Kamino]

.....and i've yet to play a shitty rockstar games production.

I'm guessing you haven't played State of Emergency?

I BEAT state of emergency.
GREAT game. a+, highly reccomended.

[OldSchoolGamer]

Love my Dreamcast and really loving my recently acquired Saturn, can't beleive how good it is and what I missed the first time around! My 3DO is coming soon too! I don't HATE any gaming platform, it's all good!

[MegaDrive20XX]

I love Commodore 64 and Mattel's Intellivision. I love Atari 7800.

I'm a big Sega fan, and I feel their decisions they made were bad, yet the innovation they had mark them in history of being the first in most things. Such as the 1st 128-bit system on the market, the first true 32-bit system on the market. Starting the 16-bit revolution of the late 80's/early 90's (even though NEC started it to be honest, yet Sega made it a household name)

my favorite RPG maker is WORKING DESIGNS.

I adore Capcom, with a slice of SNK on the side

I love Mircosoft for making the Xbox, because they give me choices of games I like.

PS2 on the other hand is great, but I like having the Xbox save my progress on the HD and have easy online play abilities without buying another part.

Yet I will say PS2/PS1 made some fine games, such as bringing back Ghouls N' Ghosts as Maximo: Ghosts to Glory and having Konami bring back Gradius and the return of R-Type. Creating Silent Hill and the Resident Evil series for their system was a brilliant idea.


and I think that's most of the love of games I can give right now...I'll post later if I can think some more.

[Jasoco]

Just so I don't disappoint anyone...

I LOVE POP'N MUSIC!!!!!

Click that sentence for video fun!

...Wow

[SirDrexl]

Although I'm not a fanboy or anything, I think Microsoft did a great job designing the Xbox. Having a built-in hard drive for caching game data and storing game saves is really nice, and allowing space to be used for custom soundtracks is great too.

Also, I really like that they included the hardware necessary for games to support Dolby Digital surround sound. PC games had surround sound for years before the Xbox was released, and I don't know why Sony and Nintendo ignored this capability in their consoles. (Heck, Nintendo didn't even provide a digital sound output on the Gamecube at all. Sure, they have Pro-Logic II, but that's a newer technology that doesn't have a fraction of the installed user base DD has, and it isn't even as good anyway.) Props to MS for giving those of us with Dolby Digital sound systems something other than movies to use them with. Having that surround sound doesn't just make the game more entertaining-it actually affects gameplay in a 3D environment, as you react to not just what you see in front of you, but also what you hear behind you and to the sides.

The whole package, which also included the built-in ethernet, was put together in a nice case that looks like a modern component. It's big, but not much bigger than, say, a DVD player or VCR. It still fits fine in a rack or TV stand. Considering what's inside, the size isn't a problem.

I didn't like the controller it shipped with originally, but they soon remedied that with the Controller S, which IMHO is much better than the controllers the competition has. Also, since the controller ports are USB ports (albeit with differently-shaped connectors), you can use the same controller on a PC if you get the drivers for it. Having the breakaway cable is also great since you can cut up an extra one of those to make a USB adapter, and use one controller for both Xbox and PC.

I wish there were more good games, but there are enough-for me, at least.

BTW, the fact that it was designed with technology so close to a PC, and hence, with some changes you can make to it (cough*mod chip*cough) it can do SO much more (cough*emulators*cough*media center*cough), is just the icing on the cake.