I'm not being contrary, it's just that..

[Wavelflack]

..there are certain "universal truths" in gaming that I've never felt I could agree with, or get on the bandwagon.
This is more than "what unpopular game do YOU like?" or "games you can't get into?". It's more of an issue of "Do you feel like you are out of kilter with the world from time to time?"

Examples:

1. I never really cared for Pac Man. I still don't. I have the machine (because I got it for $35 at a garage sale--bad vsync connectionto the monitor--anyway--), and I'll play it from time to time, but I never got "the fever".

2. I actually liked ET. Not to the point of wanting an ET tattoo, but enough so that I would play it somewhat regularly, about as much as I would play something like Joust.
Every once in awhile I get fed up with the default public view (which I think is more rote learning/ parroting than personal experience) that ET is the "worst game ever", and I pipe up.

3. I also couldn't figure out why everyone loved Yar's Revenge. I know I probably just tripped a flag in DP's Echelon program by saying that, but I have to put it out in the open. I keep trying it from time to time. So far, no change.

4. Fast-forwarding many years, I played the demo of Army Men Sarge's Heroes (DC), and I liked it. I bought the full game. The playstyle really felt to me like a 3D "Frontline" (one of my all-time favorites). This series is apparently held in pretty low regard, but I certainly had fun with the game I played.

5. (This is where I put on the kevlar) I, eh, don't really care for SNK fighters. Samurai Shodown 1&2, okay. Everything else? Just doesn't feel right. Doesn't have that "connected" feel that SF does.

I could go on and on. I'm not just being contrary or "anti". I went fucking nuts over SMB, and it's sequels. I liked Halo, and play Halo 2. I have many common tastes, and many eclectic tastes. It just seems that I happen to NOT like more than a few games that have "universal appeal", and I DO like a number of games that are "universally reviled".

Anyone else have a similar situation?

[ClubNinja]

..I liked Halo, and play Halo 2...

Anyone else have a similar situation?

Sure. For example, I think the Halo games are junk. And the GTA series. And anything with the words "Final" and "Fantasy" attached. Boy, could I go on. But I love the SNK fighters.

[Wavelflack]

Yes, but with those few examples, you could simply be described as "anti-mainstream". Not saying you are, but that those three names are about the biggest games around right now.

My tastes don't seem to line up in any particular camp.

[XxMe2NiKxX]

I hate Half-life and Half-life 2 with a passion. I think they're bad games.

[Aussie2B]

I'm not too crazy for Pac-Man either. I was briefly mildly obsessed with playing the Neo Geo Pocket Color port, but that's about it.

As for Army Men, I've played Army Men: World War Team Assault on PlayStation, and really, it's not too terrible. I've played numerous MUCH worse games on PlayStation. Heck, my 11-year-old sister-in-law even kinda likes it, hehe.

In general, my tastes are kind of odd. The funniest thing is how I dislike both Phantasy Star 2 and Final Fantasy 7, and when I wrote reviews on them, I got Phantasy Star 2 fanboys accusing me of not liking it just because it's old and Final Fantasy 7 fanboys accusing me of not liking it because it's a modern RPG. Apparently, I like neither old RPGs OR new RPGs. :P And then people get even more confused when I stand up for commonly reviled RPGs and adventure games like Deadly Towers, Drakkhen, King's Field, Shadow Tower, Granstream Saga, etc.

Oh, and on the subject of RPGs, another problem I have is that people just cannot fathom how I can be so big on RPGs yet not care for the stories much at all. Instead, I play them for the gameplay. Harder yet for them to grasp is that I can fully enjoy an RPG in Japanese, even though I barely know any Japanese. I don't even want to think of how many times I've been called "stupid" for playing games, especially RPGs, in Japanese... :/

[demen999]

You want to know the laughs I got for liking animal crossing!?!?! lol FF, I get tired of like in 30 min. All the tony hawk games grow mold in my collection if i have some (actually I have one).

[Daria]

.. I didn't like Final Fantasy 6 but enjoyed Mystic Quest. :P

[kirin jensen]

I have never liked Pac-man.

But get this:

I totally dig KC Munchkin

Go figure.

[RetroYoungen]

I couldn't STAND FF VII, and I didn't care for (ducking down low now) Chrono Trigger. I just couldn't get into either, not even saying they're bad games (well, FF VII was bad IMO, not so much CT). And when I bring up the Lunar series to my friends they usually laugh in my face about it.

"How can you LIKE that game? It's not even HARD! It's as easy as the Pokemon games!" (which I also play, to be honest)

Just because something gets popular doesn't mean everybody has to like it. But it IS fun to make a fanboy squirm when you tell them your honest and blunt opinion about their favorite game.

[esquire]

3. I also couldn't figure out why everyone loved Yar's Revenge. I know I probably just tripped a flag in DP's Echelon program by saying that, but I have to put it out in the open. I keep trying it from time to time. So far, no change.

Anyone else have a similar situation?

Yes, and I'm probably about to trigger DP's Double Secret Probation Alert System, but I can't stand Katamari Damacy! I don't get what the big deal is with this game. I can't stand it. I've had more fun at an insurance seminar. I mean, your better off buying a can of Play-Doh, opening it up and rolling the stuff around your house.

And I'll also add this, I can't stand rhythm games, and it has nothing to do with me being uncoordinated. Everytime I see people playing games like DDR I just have to laugh.

[esquire]

DOUBLE POST

(First time this has ever happened to me, argh!)

[Ed Oscuro]

I've never liked Pac-Man. I don't much care for Space Invaders (well, there's a few variations I like, especially Space Invaders DX, I guess it is).

Gradius. I've never been crazy about Gradius/R-Type/EDF/whatever. 'Tis great games in all their forms, but something about it nags at me. As a rule, I like person-based flying scrollers (Forgotten Worlds, Gynoug to some extent, and Battle Mania 2: TS Vintage even more than that!), though. Don't really care for Legendary Wings, though. This is a personal preference, but I like the extra control in Forgotten Worlds/BM2.

Never really cared for Raiden or most vertical shooters. Give me Nichibutsu's Ninja Emakai any day.

Capcom's stuff versus SNK fighters...well, Capcom indisputably had the edge on hardware with the CPS2. Their artwork has been better than SNK's; funny enough newer titles like The Last Blade and AoF 3 emulate the newer Capcom style. Street Fighter vs. Fatal Fury/KoF is probably the best match to make, since both franchises eventually devolved into the yearly revving contest (as I see it - not too bad as far as results go, though). I'd still give the edge to SNK here, though - I've always been more interested in the unique SNK titles. King of the Monsters 1/2, Sengoku 2, even Burning Fight - not technically as polished as Knights of the Round or Capcom's great licensed BEUs, but what the hell, I like the ambience more.

Recently I came to realize that I'd been hyping CV: Harmony of Dissonance far more than it deserves. It's got some brilliant points, but the overall experience is brought way down by a number of failures.

I don't really care for Halo 2. I realized that if I'm going to be bothered to play a console FPS, I'd rather have better aim than a jump - part of the reason I always liked Goldeneye, but am merely tepid about Halo (and even less enthusaistic about Halo 2). Heh.

[SkiDragon]

I was going to say that I like Tiberian Sun much more than Starcraft, which most people would agree with, but I realized everyone I know who has actually played both games likes Tiberian Sun better.

[Gamereviewgod]

I'm defintiely jumping on the "I hate GTA" bandwagon. I firmly believe we'll look back in a few years and see just how shallow it is (once the violence isn't as "extreme") as a third-person title much like we can see what a crappy fighter the first Mortal Kombat is now.

I hate the Phantasy Stars, or just about any RPG's like it. Turn based drives me nuts.

Strider is one I've never, ever understood, especially on the Genesis. It has to have some of the worst flicker ever.

Certain shooters never really did it for me, like Gradius as mentoned above. For the final time people, if I die on the last boss, don't send me back in there without a SINGLE FREAKIN' POWER-UP.

I liked Army Men Air Attack and Sarges Heroes was eh.

System Shock 2 is a disaster (ducks). It's great that I can level up and all, but there's absolutely nothing else I liked about it. I can understand how someone can praise it, but it did nothing for me.

[jp]

1. I think Spawn: In the Demon's Hand on DC is a fun multiplayer game.

2. I think the Final Fantasy series ceased being worth the time it takes to play one after FF6.

3. I highly dislike GTA... I even disliked it when it was the hip game to play in the school computer lab.

4. I think Blast Wind and Metal Black are two of the best shmups on the Saturn.

5. I don't really like Pac-Man either... or any interation thereof.

[Push Upstairs]

I never liked Street Fighter 2 or any of its variations.

I like Vice City. The open endedness and its humor/satire of the 1980's is great.

I don't like turn based RPG's....so you can have all the "Final" and "Fantasy" to yourself.

I also hate playing any type of FPS game on a console. Keyboard + Mouse forever!

[Promophile]

I hate Halo... with an extreme passion.

[nate1749]

I also randomly stumpled onto army men for DC as well and it is my favorite game for the system and the first time I ever played any Army Men title.

The series is held in bad regard (to my understanding) because it just kept doing the same thing over and over and over again. Everytime it does it well, people just expect more the 2nd, 3rd, or 7th time around.

For instance, the strike series (which I love all) didn't get high reviews near the end (nuclear strike) because it was too much like prevoius one. Although if a game changes too much, then the critic will complain about that and why they fixed something that wasn't broken.

To each their own =)
I'm not a huge RPG person anyways, but yeah say Final Fantasy to me and I'm hitting the snooze button.

Nate

[Ed Oscuro]

[quote="Gamereviewgod"]I'm defintiely jumping on the "I hate GTA" bandwagon. I firmly believe we'll look back in a few years and see just how shallow it is (once the violence isn't as "extreme") as a third-person title much like we can see what a crappy fighter the first Mortal Kombat is now.

I hate the Phantasy Stars, or just about any RPG's like it. Turn based drives me nuts.

Strider is one I've never, ever understood, especially on the Genesis. It has to have some of the worst flicker ever.

Strider isn't one of my favorites on any system, either, arcade perfect or otherwise.

As for the Genesis ports I've rated it like this:
The more popular early Capcom Genesis/MD ports: Strider, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and I think one other I can't remember at the moment - really not that good. GnG is more detailed on the SuperGrafx, and the sound? Yuck.

Now the lesser known Capcom to Genesis ports Forgotten Worlds and Mercs are awesome. Funny how that works.

System Shock 2 is a disaster (ducks). It's great that I can level up and all, but there's absolutely nothing else I liked about it. I can understand how someone can praise it, but it did nothing for me.

I recently completed a multiplayer play-through. The fun's in finding out new things to do, new ways to play, and yelling at each other in Teamspeak...along with a whole host of other things. I liked the atmopshere in single player, too. There are a whole host of problems with it - the ESP system is incredibly clunky, might as well have made it a command line interface, and the physics are dodgy (shoot a piece of exploded maintenance robot on the ground for a good example, DOOM III reminds me of this at times), but it doesn't do the whole spooky shooting thing too bad. The voice work here is priceless. SS2's biggest failures are in the graphical department, but I've learned to live with these.

Of course, if you don't like it, no number of words will change your mind :P How far did you get, anyhow?

[Emily]

Mortal kombat 2 was my first game....and I loath it.
I hate the entire Mortal kombat franchise. I tried the arcade machine at GCE, but still couldnt enjoy it.

I find Halo to be boring, and Halo 2 could have been a better sequel IMO.

I dont like Donkey Kong.I love Donkey Kong on Gameboy because of the new content, but I was always bummed that the original didnt have more screens.