Help me making a to play list


elw3

ƐʍlƎ
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Aug 10, 2010
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Ever since ordering these china junk consoles filled with 128gb of retro games i feel totally lost in what i should try out.
So lets try (again) to collect stuff that is actually worth spending your time with.
I dont mean to have top ranking or a must play list. But Simply a list that tells me what to try out so i can safely ignore the 3 million junk titles. Just name anything that comes to your mind
Also i dont want to fall into the trap of playing bad ports of a game when better versions exist, comix zone on gba for example, nope, thats an horrible option.
So if a game runs on multiple systems, name which it is the best on.
Like:
GBA - Golden Sun
 
For some older games, I recommend looking for patches on romhacking.net, they can make the experience better and less frustrating (Zelda 1 is great but isn't made any better by having you spend a lot of time trying to bomb every wall and burn every tree to find the secrets).

Series:
- Mario
- Zelda
- Castlevania
- Megaman
- Donkey Kong Country
- Contra

SNES:
Shooters :
- Pocky&Rocky: A solid top-down shooter. It has cute graphics but is relatively brutal
- Super SWIV: A solid shoot'em'up, though the main appeal is its 2 players mode
- The Firemen: Shooting flames in a burning building
- Wild Guns: A fast-paced cyber-western gallery shooter, very arcade-like.

RPGs:
- Illusion of Gaia: An excellent action-RPG with a story that goes a bit deeper than in most games and some interesting character development.
- Terranigma: A masterpiece. It starts relatively slow and basic but eventually opens up with a great story, some open-world and side-quests elements.
- Live-A-Live: Different short RPGs with each its own approach to the genre
- Robotrek: For some reason I really enjoyed it. It has a basic crafting system that's actually fun (and easy to break but that's not a bad thing)
- Gunman's Proof : Zelda with a gun in the Old West.
- Secret of Mana : classic action-RPG, more fun with two or three players
- Shadowrun: Interesting adaptation of the PnP RPG with a surprising interface that felt like it was meant for PC
- E.V.O Search for Eden: Play as a creature and choose how to have it evolve. Fun concept but the game itself could have been better
- Earthbound: Maybe overrated but it's still a quite unique RPG

I'll probably add some more later
 
Game Boy Advanced
I enjoyed, and got frustrated by, Max Payne on the GBA (due to controls). I played Max Payne on PC, Xbox and Android already but the GBA version is really different.

Classic Mario games usually do well to: GBA - Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
While I haven't played these myself, I got them recommended: Metroid series, Advance Wars, Zelda series.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
NES - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II The Arcade Game

Commodore 64
C64: Boulder dash, probably available on other platforms but I haven't played those.

Sega Mega Drive
SMD - Street of Rage 2
And obviously the Sonic series.
 
GBC: Duke Nukem. I love it, in and out, up and down.

SMS: Super Off-Road. Lovely top-down racer.

Rock'n'Roll Racing: no matter if SNES, MD or GBA. Gameplay exactly identical.

These are always fun to me - again and again :)
 
GBC: Duke Nukem. I love it, in and out, up and down.
In the spirit of the original Duke 'Nukum' and Commander Keen, you could try Bio Menace (for free) on PC: https://www.gog.com/en/game/bio_menace
I played it a long time ago, in monochrome and from a floppy, but I enjoyed it a lot.

It links to many other classics from Apogee / 3DRealms, like Rise of the Triad (the Wolfenstein 3D follow-up) and Shadow Warrior (Duke Nukem 3D-like experience). Some of these have console versions to.
I even think there was a Doom version on the GBA. While having this port was a real achievement, the experience is best on a PC. Unless you prefer the fancy original N64 version, which is now also available on PC.
 
Yes. Miyamotosan is video game Moses. Life's too short for mediocre games. If i complete one game a year let it be a Zelda.

since ordering these china junk consoles filled with 128gb of retro games i feel totally lost in what i should try out
Watch out! I became similarly overwhelmed when I acquired a Pro Fighter Q (SNES game copier) and quit gaming for 20 years. It was my Dark Age. Don't let this happen.
 
Will i get stoned if i confess that i dislike all of Miyamotos games?

Anyway keep up the suggestions, if i find some free time for it i will compose them all into a text file looking somewhat like ElPocos post.
Getting like 10 titles for every genre in every system would be good. You know so that you quickly find a playable game for something but are not overwhelmed.
 
MSX:

Knightmare
Knightmare II maze of gallious (completely different game than the first)
Kingsvalley
I second Maze of Gallious. I played it on the N900 and it is great. It thought me what it means to be a true knight of honour. Without it I would not be the hero I am today.

Race games:
Super Tux Kart
Extreme Tux Racer
Nspeed

2D platformers:
Super Tux 2
Frogatto

Roguelikes:
Rogue
TomeNET
Powder

3D platformers:
Sonic Robo Blast
 
if they can do amiga 500 then world class leader board.... a mate and i played the heck out of it. assuming you dont mind golf games...lol
 
Okey i poured the structure i want in the end into a file.
I will ad to it when i try out the tons of china consoles i ordered recently.
Discussions are welcomed, any games mentioned will be blindly put it.
The not waste your time game list

Purpose:
Since the whole retrogame scene has moved to having large collections of litteral thousands of
entries finding something that actually makes sense to play has become a challenge.
And i am by now rather fed up with having to playtest for hours before finding something that
i actually enyoy playing.
Thus i propose this list, not any kind of ranking but simply a plain statement of
"i found this game and it was good".
This should also help us to get around systems we dont know shit about, like i am completely
lost at say msx or amiga stuff and someone should point me to just some _good_ names.

The file:
Contains an alphabetical list of systems, sometimes shortened and without company.
Everyone reading this should know what a GBA is.
For each we have a list of categories and i am aiming to have around 5 entries in there, or more if there are just many.
So in the end the goal is to get together around 25 games per platform that are good and playable.
Random comments may be added after a -.
Under the systems we have room for notes and to mark stuff that has several versions on different systems.

Categories:
Arcade - When you reach for a high score instead of an ending, this also contains beatem ups
Plattformer - Jumping around, 2D or 3D
Puzzle - Stuff where you use the brain, ranging from box moving up to economy simulations
RPG - Contains funny points, exp, HP etc and running around doing errands for badly written NPCs
Shooter - Anything with bullets in it

Ports:
One Mayor purpose of this file is to identify games that where released on several Plattforms
and pointing out which version should be played.
This is is up to debate for some games, eg Shining Force with its improved gba remake.
Or as clear as deciding if comix zone should be played on MD or GBA.
And then there is stuff like paperboy where we probably have to compare like every system ever.

copy
Arcade:
Plattformer:
Puzzle:
RPG:
Shooter:

GB
Arcade:
Tetris
Kirbys Star Stacker
Kirbys Block Ball
Plattformer:
Kirbys Dreamland
Kirbys Dreamland 2
Wario Land
Puzzle:
RPG:
Shooter:

GBC
Arcade:
Plattformer:
Wario Land 2
Wario Land 3
Puzzle:
RPG:
The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening
Shooter:
Duke Nukem

GBA
Arcade:
WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania
Plattformer:
Warioland 4
Puzzle:
RPG:
GoldenSun - Counting booth parts as one as they have to be played in order
Shooter:
Max Payne

Mega Drive
Arcade:
Comix Zone
Super Off-Road
Streets of Rage 2
Plattformer:
Puzzle:
RPG:
Shooter:

NES
Arcade:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II The Arcade Game
Plattformer:
Puzzle:
RPG:
Shooter:
Contra
Super Contra
Contra Force

ps1
Arcade:
Puzzle:
RPG:
Grandia
Suikoden
Final Fantasy 7
Shooter:

ps2
Arcade:
Puzzle:
Disgaea 1-2
Soul nomad and the word eaters
RPG:
Star Ocean: Till the end of time
Final Fantasy 12
Shooter:
Time Splitters 2-3

Snes
Arcade:
Plattformer:
Puzzle:
RPG:
Illusion of Gaia - An excellent action-RPG with a story that goes a bit deeper than in most games and some interesting character development.
Terranigma - A masterpiece. It starts relatively slow and basic but eventually opens up with a great story, some open-world and side-quests elements.
Live-A-Live - Different short RPGs with each its own approach to the genre
Robotrek: -For some reason I really enjoyed it. It has a basic crafting system that's actually fun (and easy to break but that's not a bad thing)
Gunman's Proof - Zelda with a gun in the Old West.
Secret of Mana - classic action-RPG, more fun with two or three players
Shadowrun - Interesting adaptation of the PnP RPG with a surprising interface that felt like it was meant for PC
E.V.O Search for Eden - Play as a creature and choose how to have it evolve. Fun concept but the game itself could have been better
Earthbound - Maybe overrated but it's still a quite unique RPG
Shooter:
Pocky&Rocky - A solid top-down shooter. It has cute graphics but is relatively brutal
Super SWIV - A solid shoot'em'up, though the main appeal is its 2 players mode
The Firemen - Shooting flames in a burning building
Wild Guns - A fast-paced cyber-western gallery shooter, very arcade-like.

Ports To discuss wher to play
ComixZone - MD/GBA/PSP/PS2 - leaning to the orginal here
Rock'n'Roll Racing - SNES/MD/GBA - make up your mind
Paperboy - so many versions
Shadowgate - I mean i love this, but is this more playable with a mouse?
Lemmings
 
Well I think all those games are shit ..

Actually most consoles have <5 games worth playing. That's why I'm into emulation: I need to try dozens of crap suggestions before I find a single game that I enjoy.
 
This might also be a good Thread for others, you dont have to buy a Cheap Chinese Emulator Console, some times your Click Finger is too fast when you hover over Sites whit "Roms" and woop!! You have a Zipfile on your Computer whit all existing Gameboy Games..
 
Well I think all those games are shit ..

Actually most consoles have <5 games worth playing. That's why I'm into emulation: I need to try dozens of crap suggestions before I find a single game that I enjoy.
I think many games are passable if you would be locked up in a room and had to play that single game.
When having the choice of a lot of games it makes many games not pass the bar. In the past you probably wouldn't have a large collection of games like now with digital game libraries, so after spending $100 on a fancy game cover and you would be stuck with a 'meh' game being forced to enjoy it.
 
I think many games are passable if you would be locked up in a room and had to play that single game.
When having the choice of a lot of games it makes many games not pass the bar. In the past you probably wouldn't have a large collection of games like now with digital game libraries, so after spending $100 on a fancy game cover and you would be stuck with a 'meh' game being forced to enjoy it.
Indeed. I've played the shit out of a lot of "shit" games in the past. And I very much enjoyed it.

Every year, the bar is raised for the expectation of quality and realism in games. But I can't help feeling that with each passing year, we're also losing something... As you say, at the very least, in an ocean of games per genre, the impact of each individual one gets somewhat watered down.

I remember with each new console I've had, the games I've played in the first year or two were generally the most memorable (and enjoyed the most). Even if they weren't the most technically advanced, as due to the lack of other games at the time, I was impelled to play them much more thoroughly.

Recently I've spent more time looking for games to play than actually playing the buggers.
 
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