Destructoid operates within an industry that prescribes scores, usually a one-through-ten kind of affair, to the games we play. But as folks who live and breathe the stuff, it’s safe to say that our response to games goes a lot farther than a simple numerical value. Some games we’d bronze and pass to our grandchildren, and some others we’d melt into kibble to hurl at our most hated enemies.
There are good games, bad games, absolutely horrific games, and legendary games. Games you’d buy, games you sell, games you’d give away, games you’d throw away, and games you wouldgraft to your backif the opportunity presented itself; these are special. They’re not always sitting on top of the heap on GameRankings or taking high rank in half-assed lists of the “best games of all time”. It’s an intensely personal affection, one that tends to vary widely. These are the games we’ll be playing ’til we’re too old to crap on our own.
So what games are sitting on your shelf that you’ll never, ever sell? What games do you immediately replace in the unlikely event that your copy gives out? Hit the jump for some examples from your friends and mine at Destructoid, and don’t forget to throw us some comments and tell us your own.
[Thanks to thewhole crewfor jumping in on this article.]
For some of us — or maybe justme, who is projecting uponyou— a great game is like a great book. You want it on your shelf so you can return to it at a moment’s notice. This isn’t always easy — you don’t need a particular brand of, I dunno,glassesor somesuch to read a book the way you need a console to play a game — but for certain games, it’s worth it.
Every time I move, I have to haul along a metric ton of gaming crap along with me. It’s compulsory, something that simply can’t be avoided. Sure, there’s a lot of games I could probably sell off, and still more that I would simply trade in rather than everplayagain. But a select few hold permanent residence in my collection; games that I play more often than I ought to. When I finally got my hands on a copy ofFinal Fantasy VI Advance, it occured to me that even after four or five years away from the game, I still remembered the contents of every chest and the weakness of every boss. I played through the game so many times I had lost count, but it hadn’t lost a single inch of fun.
It’s not all sunshine and happy memories, though — it gets damned obnoxious. I’m going to have to slog around my Dreamcast ’til the day I can’t slog no more so I can get myBangai-Ofix at any given moment, butBangai-Ois one of those games that demands to be played again and again, while never losing its appeal as the years go by. Still worth it.
As you might suspect, Mario got a lot of love from our editors, particularly the originalSuper Mario Bros.and the immortalSuper Mario World. For many of us, Mario was the gatekeeper that hurled us headlong into our collective pastime.
“Super Mario Bros.was the first game I ever played in my life,” saysMike Ferry. “This was my gateway drug.”
But is it the sepia-toned nostalgia effect that brings us back for more?Nerdcore aficionado CTZthinks different. “I’ve done everything possible, even maxing outthepoints to over 9 million, and I can always just pick it up and playthehell out of it. I don’t know what it is, but everything aboutthegame is flawless.Thelevel designs,themusic, everything is perfect.”
Fronz, the daring alchemist that he is, puts two and two together: “It’s like DNA — never has a game so perfectly been constructed to standthetest of time. My favorite NES game is by farBubble Bobble, butSuper Mario Bros.istheonly game that consistently has me hooking up an entire console just to play it. If I ever have kids, watching them playthisgame will, without a doubt, be one of my favorite memories of all time.”
Another title capturing a number of hearts among the Dtoid crew wasChrono Trigger, marked for brilliance by three of us. For me,Triggerwas the first sign that gaming could truly go beyond other conventional forms of storytelling to provide an experience that was, at once, wholly unique but strangely familiar. That’s corny, I know — but hey, I was 12, and easily overwhelmed. Shit, I’mstilleasily overwhelmed.
Queen of the HiveColette Bennettchimes in: “Classic RPG perfection. I can never hear this story too many times. I’m still amazed by the whole time travel concept and the way the game puts it into action. I only get around to replaying once every year or two, but I always come back to it.”
You can’t talk up RPGs without getting at least a few thousand nominations forFinal Fantasy, in any of its twelve (going on thirteen) incarnations and myriad spinoffs. Square-Enix’s flagship series got quite a few nods, many of which were forFFVII, and before you roll your eyes,Hushgushhas some words for you.
“Don’t give me that look, you know it was awesome, no matter how cliche it is,” he writes. “I just played throughthewhole thing again about a year ago, and filled a whole memory card with saves from allthegood parts ofthestory so I can relive it wheneverthemood strikes me.”
Orcistattributes his entire history of geekery toFinal Fantasy IX. “It was my first Final Fantasy, and it drew me immediately intotheentireFFuniverse.Thewaythecharacters interact,thestory, andthegameplay are top notch. It’s alsothefirst game that I had a real attachment to. I’d say it’s what made me a gamer.”
Of course, there are moments in which mere affection mutates into something much more sinister: obsession. “IXwas the best-lookingFFgame I had ever seen,” writesFaith, “andthegame was so addictive I never left my bedroom except to work, eat and go tothebathroom.” Been there, Faith — that’s why God made adult diapers. Lemme tell you, crapping oneself to play a great game uninterrupted is one of life’s truly liberating experiences. Some games are to be prioritizedoverpoop emergencies.
I said earlier that many of these games aren’t necessarily remarked upon in the loads of “BEST GAME EVARR” lists that we see floating around the internet every so often —SMB, Trigger, andFinal Fantasyare some exceptions. But occasionally we sink our teeth into games that, no matter how flawed, quirky, or unusual, strike us as absolutely essential to our libraries and our histories as gamers.
For me,River City Ransomis definitely that title. It’s far from perfect, but I’ve never since had such an amazing time with a cooperative title as I did withRCR. It’s a brief game — you can knock it out in an hour or two, tops — but with the right company, bringing some righteous ass-beating justice down upon the hoodlums and ne’er-do-wells of River City can be the most fun you’ll ever have with a video game.
Grimresurrects a lesser-known arcade-style beat-’em-up on a regular basis. “There are two reasons why I’m able to replayCaptain Commandoover and over again.Thefirst being that it can be beaten in one short sitting.Thesecond reason is thatCaptain Commandohas some ofthecheesiest characters you’ll ever see. Most gamers probably don’t look for either of those traits in their games, but for someone with a short attention span like myself, it’s perfect.” Cheesy characters? Dude,God Hand. Seriously.
“U.N. Squadronpales in comparison to grand shooters likeRadiant Silvergun,” writesGlorious Leadertoid, “but this is a 30 minute SNES pixel-perfect workout I can pick up at any time and thoroughly enjoy from start to finish without wrinkling my forehead. At one point I was finishingthegame in hard mode with one life buying onlythelast airplane, but I’m not that hardcore anymore.”
Robert Summaought to move to Korea: “StarCraft. How can a game this old still bethebest RTS to play? I don’t know, but it just is.”
“We Love Katamariis the best in the series,” saysHushgush. “Katamarihas some magical property about it where even if it gets old, it neverstaysold. you may leave it alone for a month or two and when you come back to it, it’s just as much fun asthefirst time you played it.Thereal reason, however, istheawesome music. Don’t get me staaahted.” TheFronzagrees: “Never has a game had so much style and charisma, and yet beentheideal casual gamer title to pick up for some relaxing rolling.”
And finally,Nick Brutalhas some harsh words for all y’all who doubt the power of the falling block: “Like cockroaches,Tetrison the Game Boy will survive a nuclear holocaust. It’s over 20 years later and almost anyone can pick up a game ofTetrisand lose themselves in it. It’s not aboutthevisuals that will lose flair over time. It’s not about a story that will lose it’s shine after you’ve heard it dozens of times. It’s not about a first person shooter formula that will look archaic in ten years. It’s just fuckingTetris.”
When the lot of us are old and useless, these are the games we’ll still be playing. The industry moves fast, but every so often we get our hands on something that simplypersiststhe way that most games can’t. There you have it, gang — just a handful of Destructoid’s picks for gaming immortality. Hit the comments and tell us yours.
