OP community's Big Play

[thingie1234]

Every now and then, people come up with a list of media that they think should be experienced - books one needs to read to be "well read", or movies that are cinematic milestones, or so on.


The BBC had the "Big Read" : http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml


The AFI did the 100 years, 100 * : https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Movies


I propose that the same idea can be applied to video games. In fact, it should be.


Considering the pandora's classic gaming pedigree, I'll bet that this community would have an opinion on this sort of thing.


Any thoughts on what should be on it? I've got a small list started, but the more willing to discuss it the better.


NES


Adventure Island


Castlevania 1-3


Crystalis


Dragon Warrior 1-4


Duck Tales 1-2


Earthbound Zero


Final Fantasy 1-3


Kirby's Adventure


The Legend of Zelda


StarTropics


Super Mario Brothers 1-3


SNES


Castlevania 4


Chrono Trigger


Donkey Kong Country 1-3


Earthbound


Final Fantasy 4-6


Kirby's Dreamland 3


Legend of Zelda - LTTP


Secret of Mana


Seiken Densetsu 3


Secret of Evermore


Super Mario World


Super Mario World 2


Super Mario RPG


N64


Conker's Bad Fur Day


Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time


Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask


Paper Mario


Pilotwings 64


StarFox 64


Super Mario 64


Game Boy


Final Fantasy Adventure


Gargoyle's Quest


The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening


Donkey Kong (95)


Kirby's Dream Land 1


Super Mario Land 1-2


Wario Land


Game Boy Color


Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages


Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons


Shantae


Wario Land 2


Wario Land 3


Game Boy Advance


Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap


WarioWare


Golden Sun 1-2


Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga


Mother 3


Master System


Phantasy Star


Wonderboy 3


Genesis


Gunstar Heroes


Mickey Mania


PlayStation


Alundra


Castlevania: Symphony of the Night


Final Fantasy 7 and 9


Tomba 1


It should be apparent that I had Nintendo equipment when I was a kid, and have more opinions on those games. I'd be relying on all of you for filling up some of these emptier spaces.


Also maybe taking some of them off, as I've hit 72 already, and have probably picked some things that are better through my own personal nostalgia filter.

 

[Blue Protoman]

GoldenEye 007 and Super Smash Bros. for N64.

 

[Prometheus]

I don't tend to believe in these sorts of lists (though I have a lot of time for real people's "top ten" lists ), as the way I see it it's entirely up to one's tastes what they like, rather than having some big list that dictates people must play these games to be a true-whatever, but you appear to be forgetting quite an influential series in the NES and SNES departments <cough> Mega Man </cough>.


Also, why is Star Fox 64 listed, and not the far superior original Star Fox?

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

Exibhit A

https://www.youtube.com/embed/PWeO5IkCssk?feature=oembed

 

[lulzfish]

I don't tend to believe in these sorts of lists

Yeah, they're sort of like a "OMG HOW HAVE YOU NOT SEEN MOVIE X IT IS THE BEST FRANCHISE SINCE THE ONE LAST YEAR" on a larger scale. It's still laughable. I'll enjoy art at my own leisure, and nobody else's. I don't need other people to validate my opinion of something.

 

[Gren]

Exibhit A

https://www.youtube.com/embed/PWeO5IkCssk?feature=oembed

Hmm.....WoK - this video seems awfully familiar.....

 

[Tempel]

Yeah, they're sort of like a "OMG HOW HAVE YOU NOT SEEN MOVIE X IT IS THE BEST FRANCHISE SINCE THE ONE LAST YEAR" on a larger scale. It's still laughable. I'll enjoy art at my own leisure, and nobody else's. I don't need other people to validate my opinion of something.

I don't know, they certainly can be all pretentious and condescending like that, but I'm more interested in the canonical works (see definition #2). Like, to fully understand Western literature, it helps to be familiar with Shakespeare and the Bible, since they've had so much influence on it. To fully understand modern popular music, you're probably going to look at The Beatles, a whole host of jazz musicians, and probably others who've had similar levels of influence. To fully understand current video games, it helps to have played Super Mario Bros, and I would certainly agree that GoldenEye's effects are still felt in FPSs. So name some games who's influence can still be seen in games today.

 

[thingie1234]

I don't know, they certainly can be all pretentious and condescending like that, but I'm more interested in the canonical works (see definition #2). Like, to fully understand Western literature, it helps to be familiar with Shakespeare and the Bible, since they've had so much influence on it. To fully understand modern popular music, you're probably going to look at The Beatles, a whole host of jazz musicians, and probably others who've had similar levels of influence. To fully understand current video games, it helps to have played Super Mario Bros, and I would certainly agree that GoldenEye's effects are still felt in FPSs. So name some games who's influence can still be seen in games today.

That's what I was trying to say, and I appreciate you saying it more effectively than I was able to.


The idea was that no art exists in a vacuum - even the most off the wall, bizarre game concept being produced today owes something to some of the foundational games, which is what I'm looking for here.


It's likely that the "big read" is a bad one to have used as an example, since it's more "what the public enjoys", rather than, "what influences the literary establishment", but it was what got me thinking.


The AFI's list is probably better, going off their supposed criteria of historical significance and cultural impact.


For all the pretentiousness in a list of that sort, it is inarguable that some of these games are truly groundbreaking in how they shape the gaming world today. But I'm mindful that my list is tainted by my experiences (as awesome as StarTropics is, it's probably less important to others than to me - it was the first game I rented when I first got a NES), and so I'm looking to a wider world for some other people's experiences.


I never had an Amiga (had a commodore 64, though), and so I don't know what games there were important. Tell me! My uncle had one, and I have a box of his games - but neither a way to play them, nor the time necessary to wade through buckets of medium quality games to find the true gems.


I'm hoping the pandora will give me the ability to play the truly wonderful games on a system I never got to know.


I'm hoping that the community here can help me find what those truly wonderful games are.


As far as Star Fox goes, well, I forgot. Again, I had Star Fox 64 - and I included it as (as far as I know) the beginning of Force Feedback in consoles. I never had the original, and so I didn't think to put it in. I probably should have.


As for Mega Man, I just spaced it. Fixed in my personal list, though.

 

[DaMummy]

just so you know, somewhere buried in these and gp32 forums, are threads dedicated to all the great mentionable games for virtually every console/handheld ever released, someone wonna do some linking for me?

 

[ZXDunny]

AFAICS, and as with the OP this is strictly my opinion and nothing else, Games are not like literature.


The classic books haven't changed the format in which they're delivered - ever since they were first penned they've been available for all to enjoy on paper, with digital distribution yet to take over. And when it does, those books will be converted to the new format.


That's not the case with games - people have had centuries (and at the minimum, 50 years) to decide what is and what isn't a classic book, such that their stature is almost universally agreed. Games written even ten years ago are difficult to track down and even more difficult to run on modern hardware. Emulation of the older consoles and computers is still a very niche activity, so the games that people generally tend to find to be "classics" varies from generation to generation; this is why people think that games like Zelda OOT are classic when there's far better far further back in history on the 8-Bit computers.


For my part, I cannot stand Japanese RPGs and the Final Fantasy series is shallow, lacking in substance and dull as dishwater. Ditto Chrono-Trigger - just tried that one, and found it lacking. Golden Eye and Perfect Dark are reasonable, but in my opinion RARE hit their peak with the Sabre Man series and it's been downhill ever since. On the other hand, I find myself able to play Carrier Command and Warriors of the Eternal Sun for days on end - games that the SNES generation will find pretty dull, but games that I find more rich in gameplay and depth of skill that more modern fare cannot match.


And who can possibly say that 3D Monster Maze is not the finest (and probably the progenitor of) first-person maze game ever? Actually, I'd defy pretty much anyone on this forum to even find it playable but I for one spent many a darkened night hunched over the keyboard terrified out of my wits that the T-Rex would be around the next corner, and still feel some of that now when I re-visit it. Whose jaw doesn't still hit the floor when they see Zarch running on an Archimedes? Probably not many of you younger folks, but that was a defining moment for me - when I realised what computers might be capable of in later years (yeah, then they made the Halo games and ruined my dreams. You have all this power and Halo Reach is considered the pinnacle of game play? Puh-lease.)


So for the time being, there are no "classics" - the format changes too much and too quickly, with older titles being too inaccessible for the vast majority of the public to reach a consensus on.


That's not to say that these lists are pointless - I've been populating my SD cards with games culled from the "Top 25" Megadrive and SNES lists, with a good dollop of "Hidden Gems" thrown in, and there are some great games to be had that I never knew about, not being a console-kid when I was younger. But because I wasn't a console kid, there's also a lot of what I consider to be complete trash in those lists (Zelda, I'm looking at you).


D.

 

[Prometheus]

It's likely that the "big read" is a bad one to have used as an example, since it's more "what the public enjoys", rather than, "what influences the literary establishment", but it was what got me thinking.

No, it's a great example - what the public enjoys is *FAR* more important than what a few elites consider "artistic". What the public enjoys is what sells.


A couple more games came to mind, by the way. Specifically, the three Bonk games for the TurboGrafx-16, New Adventure Island (also TurboGrafx-16), and a hidden gem for the Mega Drive, by the name of High Seas Havoc (which has an inferior PAL version called "Capt'n Havoc", which inexplicably removed the first level of the game).

 

[moz]

just so you know, somewhere buried in these and gp32 forums, are threads dedicated to all the great mentionable games for virtually every console/handheld ever released, someone wonna do some linking for me?

There´s a sticky... on both forums <_< .


also this:


http://pandorawiki.org/Emulation_essentials

just so you know, somewhere buried in these and gp32 forums, are threads dedicated to all the great mentionable games for virtually every console/handheld ever released, someone wonna do some linking for me?

There´s a sticky... on both forums <_< .


also this:


http://pandorawiki.org/Emulation_essentials


@WoK: Don´t you think that video´s a bit overused now?