30 Days of Video Games

[JezMM]

Super Mario 64

Yeah my favoruite game of all time is also Mario 64 for sure. Just... god this game is so much fun. My only dislike is the fact that I've overplayed it to the point it's now crazy easy, but even then, the stage design is just sublime, Mario controls like a dream, great soundtrack... Just really invested me in the idea of engaging with a WORLD in a way no 2D game ever had done until this.

I still play this game 100% through at least once or twice a year.

[Rawpowered]

Day 2:

My favourite game? That is a toughie. There are so many that I love but not to choose over the other. Though if I was pinned down and forced to choose my favourite, I would probably choose this:

There's absolutely nothing I dislike about this game. It's got a impressive storyline, with bizarre and interesting characters. The plot was so in depth and would really surprise you, especially at the ending plot twist. You could only catch Shadow Pokemon which did annoy some of the players, but to me the Shadow Pokemon gave the player a limit of which ones you could use and gave the player a new sense of challenge in Pokemon. The visuals were absolutely stunning for a Gamecube game. I loved the look of the environments in each area. One minute you're in a Beautiful City of water, then in a Rustic, crime ridden town few seconds later. It was really great and the environments have never looked better in a Pokemon game. The music would fantasic in fact, this song almost makes me shed tears everytime I hear it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l6pNTh8R0o

There are alot of games I love but this just wins my heart over everytime

Edited January 16, 2012 by Rawpowered

[#EndyGate]

A.K.A. my Childhood

Oh My God did this game give me a run for my money back in the day, and I absolutely loved it. The Main Campaign and the Party Games will always have a place in my heart, no matter how long I live. Not only did this game represent some of my earliest gaming on the gamecube, but it was what made me the gamer i am today. The levels in the main campaign are unforgettable, whether it be due to the undying rage you feel when you first encounter them,the crazy design of them all, or simply because of how intricate and complex they can be. Though off the top of my head I can't name them all, but two of the ones that I found to be lovely nods were AV and Gamecube. The level themes and story were wonderfully childish, with a nice touch of whimsy to them, and the tracks that go along with them are all wonderful, my favorite being Bubbly Washing Machine. The party games are all pretty fun, though I didn't especially like a few like billiards, though the main 3 party games (Race, Target, and Fight) were all loads of fun as always, while my favorite new addition had to be Monkey Dogfight, I just loved shooting up my siblings in the sky, and doing the glitch in Badboon's Space Base that allows you to go outside of the base (though oddly enough, when you go too far out you actually end up drowning. Overall this game is just one of those games for me, though some may hate it, I'll never be able forget it

My runner up would have to be Sonic Advance 3

[Commissar Hurricane]

Strangely I did not own the game for a long time, it was one of my close friends who did and we gathered every few days to play.

Every match was crazy and funny, even taking the matches seriously once in a added a bit fun.

The best memories of the game come from Hyrule Temple, no matter what other stages we picked or how many times we used it we always returned to it, most likely just to see how much damage we could survive in the lower part of the stage.

This was a game I played a lot and played it even more with friends. It is just a game that created so many fun afternoons and was still very enjoyable many years later.

[Swiss]

It was bound to pop up eventually, eh? Even though this game is probably the least liked/talked about one of the original classics, it's still always going to be my favourite. The nostalgia is obviously one reason. But mainly because of it's glorious step-up from Sonic 1. Perfect music, a lot of excellent level design (enemy placements not included) and watching Tails die all the time made us feel like better players as kids. At least it did with me anyway!

I usually play through this game at least once a fortnight and I doubt I'll ever get tired of it. I've played it to absolute death and I'd gladly do it all over again!

[Jeffhog]

Day 2:

My favourite game? That is a toughie. There are so many that I love but not to choose over the other. Though if I was pinned down and forced to choose my favourite, I would probably choose this:

There's absolutely nothing I dislike about this game. It's got a impressive storyline, with bizarre and interesting characters. The plot was so in depth and would really surprise you, especially at the ending plot twist. You could only catch Shadow Pokemon which did annoy some of the players, but to me the Shadow Pokemon gave the player a limit of which ones you could use and gave the player a new sense of challenge in Pokemon. The visuals were absolutely stunning for a Gamecube game. I loved the look of the environments in each area. One minute you're in a Beautiful City of water, then in a Rustic, crime ridden town few seconds later. It was really great and the environments have never looked better in a Pokemon game. The music would fantasic in fact, this song almost makes me shed tears everytime I hear it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l6pNTh8R0o

There are alot of games I love but this just wins my heart over everytime

I'd like to see another story-driven 3D Pokémon game again. Colosseum and Gale of Darkness were perfect!

[Serperior]

I've got to admit, I was hoping this would be saved for last so I had more time to make a choice on this, but I'll just have to go with what I can think up now.

Not a Pokémon game?! It was a tough choice, but I ended up going with Okami. I honestly struggle to find an aspect about this game that I don't love. Ok, maybe the "voice overs" for the text can get slightly irritating at times but that's besides the point. The visual style of the game is really nice, and leads to some really beautiful environments, even by today's standards in my eyes. The celestial brush is still my favourite idea for a game mechanic out of all of the games that I've played. It fits the style and the concept of the game perfectly, it makes combat far more interesting than it already was, and leads to some really unique and clever puzzles that wouldn't be possible without it. The story is interesting, it can be serious at times, humourous at others, they even manage to throw in the occasional cutesy moments and it still works. The characters are likable, surprisingly I actually found myself liking the mute protagonist of this game for once, and I even found myself liking some of the the unimportant characters in the game. The game's soundtrack is also another really nice aspect of the game, there aren't too many upbeat, catchy songs, but for a game like this, the more quiet, ambient approach suits it so much more, and makes the soundtrack that much more because of it. It really saddens me that this game will probably never get a proper sequel, as inone not using a lot of rehashed elements, but it's still a great game on it's own, and I highly reccomend it to anyone who can get a hold of it. (PS2 or Wii works, the PS2 has things like the ricepaper filtering effect that makes the visual style that much nicer to look at and credits, however the Wii version's motion controls do make using things like the Celestial Brush feel far more natural to use, however I find it is easier to mess up what you want to do at times, and the Wii version does have a more vibrant look to it, which is nice in it's own way.)

[Tori Himemiya]

I'll be a tad predictible on Day Two and say...

...Odin Sphere.

I was really surprised by this game in a good way. I could go on about how much I love this game but as a man of a few words I'll keep it short and sweet.

Odin Sphere has quite an engaging story, inspired by Norse myth which is hardly explored, involves war and a plot to end the world. What I really love about the story is that the player will see the story take place in different points of view. Its fun to see what's happening in someone's else story and what not.

The gameplay of Odin Sphere is very unique. Its an action RPG which the player character can attack at anytime but however the character can't just keep attacking unless they want a couple of seconds of vulnerability. This means you gotta know when to attack and when not to. It gives it some strategy to it which I like.

It also have some difficulty to it. It does present lots of challanges here and there. Its pretty nice to have a challange for once you know.

But I've gone off rambling again so I'll just post now.

Oh before I forget...

My Runner Ups:

Earthbound

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

Edited January 16, 2012 by Crow the BOOLET

[E-25]

It actually took me a while to think about this one, since while I invest thousands of hours into the Monster Hunter series, saying Tri seems wrong since the amount of content isn't exactly grand and I'm sure Tri G would easily eclipse it. There's also Banjo-Kazooie, but since others have already made pretty good posts about it already, there isn't much point since I'm not exactly the most detailed. Therefore, as a primarily handheld gamer, I finally decided on:

I would have just said both since I did play them intermittently and they were great together (combined, you get the full story and the true final boss), but OoT did the time gimmick already so why not go with this half? ^^ This game kept me up long after I should have been, especially with how easy it was to just flip the system over and hide it under a pillow until parents checked and went to bed themselves, and it was the first Zelda game I actually completed (NES: never knew how to save, OoT: F'ing Water Temple... and I still have never completed either of those two, lol), so it has some extra nostalgia from that. There was also the witch, Maple, who had humorous modes of transportation that reminded me of a certain Halloween movie in which those same cleaning instruments were used to fly, ^^. Getting all the rings and items was entertaining, and years later seeing Din, Nayru, and Farore in Minish Cap reminded me of the good old days; so I can't really ignore this game (or these games if you want to count OoA).

[Nintendoga]

Day-2 Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee is my favorite game of all time. After hours and hours of playing the N64 one with my friends, I was hyped as hell to see a commercial of this for the Gamecube. I would go into K-Mart every week, just to go to the games isle and watch the opening for the game (Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one doing that). When I got the game on Christmas, that hype was met.

Expanding so much from the original by adding 2x more Characters, 3x more stages, A fuck ton of trophies, and lord knows to this day, thousands (if not millions) of unlockables and bonus content. What had Melee going on for the best though, was it's fast paced balanced gameplay. Jumping right into a match with Mario, Donkey Kong, & Ganondorf, doing wild fast chain attacked combos (with the occasionallly use of an item), then dieing and jumping back in the match seamlessly, is what made Melee one of the best fighting games to play.

They even made Single player fun to play in a multiplayer game. The classic mode is back, and better then ever (though I do miss the Fighting Polygon Team), and they put in three great modes so you'll never get bored with it, All-Stars (where you fight each and every character in a row until you ge to the end), Events (Where you go through 51 wierd as fuck mission like events in order to win the match), and finally Adventure Mode (Kinda like the Subspace Emissary, only 9 hours shorter, and 2x more interesting.)

Melee is a game you will NEVER get bored with. Even if you think you've unlocked everything in the game, there's still more to unlock. The memories of meeting Crazy Hand for the first time, encountering Giga Bowser and his goons in Event 51, or random matches with my friends while trying to unlock more characters and stages, will forever be burned into my mind. Melee just has that unique charm that will keep you playing and playing for hours long end. I'm sure if I could see how many hours I invested in Melee, it would almost come uo to a Year.

People say "Well Brawl built off Melee, so why don't you love Brawl?" Well Brawl certainly added things, but the one thing it didn't improve on, was the fast paced balanced gameplay that made Melee unique and fun. Super Smash Bros. Melee is my favorite video game of all time, and I can only hope that the Wii-U/3DS Smash Bros. will be half as fun as Melee.

[Carbo]

Chances are that, if you'd know me ages ago, I'd answer the question of "favorite game of all time" with No More Heroes. The question "favorite game" is one hell of a tricky question to answer at times, and one I come back to far too often. In the end though, while No More Heroes is certainly one of my most treasured games, I have not come across a game that has given me the perfect blend of action, difficulty, originality and thought as much as Viewtiful Joe.

This game is practically flawless, it's one gigantic love letter to the Tokusatsu genre. Never has a made up, fantastic pun been so self-explanatory and perfect. "Viewtiful" is truly the best way to describe the game, the action ranges from being fast and intense to stylish and detailed, the setting is absolutely sublime and the game also has one of, if not my absolute favorite OSTs in a game ever, composed by Masakazu Sugimori, the glorious musician who also composed the music for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Ghost Trick.

I've played this game countless times and it hasn't aged a single bit. It's pure, unadulterated video game bliss. The way this game conceptualizes its design, world, characters and style is something I long for far too often in video games, and is incredibly inspiring. Out of the few games I could ever have called perfect in my life as a gamer, Viewtiful Joe is the closest a game has ever gotten. Henshin-a-go-go, baby.

[buba]

Day 2 - Favorite Video Game

Pokémon Red/Blue/Green

Pokémon is one of my favorite video game series but the 1st version is where all the fun is at.

Various Pokémon, various locations, very simple story that lets you had somethings with your imagination and makes you fell "in-game".

The music, the Pokémon, the areas, the graphics (yeah the graphics!), it is all so perfect to me and sometimes I cry when I remember me as a kid playing this game and how magic it was.

Edited January 22, 2012 by Tmsp

[SuperStingray]

If you've so much as passed me on the street, you probably know my favorite game.

Metroid Prime is not just a game, it's a masterpiece. I feel bad for Retro Studios- everyone there will be spending the rest of their lives trying to make a better game, and props to them, they've come damn close with the sequels, but this is still going to be the opus of most of its employees. What sets Metroid Prime apart is its elegant design, detailed set pieces, brilliant boss fights and adventurous feel. This may be cheating, but I wrote it so it's not plagarism; I'm going to copy paste my breakdown of Phendrana Drifts from another topic just to give a taste of what I mean.

If I haven't made my opinion clear on this game, let me reiterate: Metroid Prime is brilliance incarnate. Godliness forged by human hands. And within all of it, Phendrana Drifts stands proud. It's difficult to explain why Phendrana Drifts is so great without tying the rest of the game into my compliments, but it's only because it's juxtaposed with everything else so well. Every step in Metroid Prime is another step into the unknown, and the Drifts' juxtaposition and contents introduce the unknown as something to be feared, welcomed and studied. See, the preceding chapters raise questions about the goal of your enemies and the fate of this world, but Phendrana Drifts is where the answers start; the game's centerpiece- it's where your fight truly begins. It starts with the ascent out of a burning, hellish cavern into a crisp, ice cave with glass walls, and ambient music I can only describe as shiny. After walking though a short hallway, not knowing what lies ahead (other than it being an ice level), you emerge in a frozen valley. The camera slowly pans around to show you the scale of it. Between that and the following exploration, you discover how the world has become cold and barren, yet its ecosystem still thrives and its remaining inhabitants are still peaceful that despite the forsaken state of this world, it still breaths. It's living and dying. Something beyond hope but still worth fighting for. And in all of it, you feel at ease. Peaceful. A perfect break after a hostile volcanic environment and a boss fight with a giant plant monster. But shortly into the level, you'll see the shadow of Ridley as he flies over you. A perfect omen and a subtle reminder of why you're here. And after a stroll down several corridors, you find the space pirates' hidden labs where nightmares begin. This is a very important point in the game's level design. The game doesn't tell you the space pirates are evil- it doesn't have to. It makes you FEEL the evil of the space pirates the second you walk into their domain. The cold, mechanical rooms combined with the looming presence of these militant monsters is a recipe for true fear. But before too long, you find yourself on a bridge back in the snowy winds, coming up for air before diving back down into this nightmarish machine. But before you thought you were done with this ominous nightmare, you'll have to go back out again the same way you came. IN THE DARK. And now that you have the thermal visor, the game combines environmentally-induced fear with a tutorial for a new mechanic in an absolutely brilliant show of game design. The chapter finally comes to a close with the boss fight with a giant rock monster the pirate's quarantined off. Now that you have a reason to fear the pirates, the game shows you the kind of power they're playing with. But then you destroy it, replenishing the feeling of power that comes with being Samus after losing it to the fear that came in the pirate labs. And now you know your true mission. I'll be honest with you, I've played a lot of games and I've NEVER played a level that gave me such strong feelings of both peace and fear in the same environment before or since Phendrana Drifts. How it let one emotion to flow into the next so seemlessly and invisibly. How the game is able to teach you not only not patronizing you but giving you an emotional need to learn to use what you've just earned. It's not only game design brilliance, it's literary brilliance. And that's why Phendrana Drifits is my favorite video game level of all time.

tl;dr: GO PLAY METROID PRIME AGAIN.

As I said, Drifts is my favorite level, but it's merely a microcosm that demonstrates how the game at large is so great. But I think my favorite thing about it is what it represents. Games that aim to capture a player's emotion are often simple and place story over gameplay. Say what you will of Fumito Ueda's games, but they work because they're simplified. Metroid Prime, on the other hand, doesn't have to sacrifice traditional gameplay elements to tell a great and emotionally driven story. Speaking of which- the story. The part of the story's brillience is in how its only as deep as you want it to go; if you get to the end without scanning a single nonessential object, you'll know nothing of Tallon IV, but still have played a great game. But if you want to learn more about its fate and each of its regions, its inhabitants and its background story, you have a lot to look for and an abundant amount of information to discover. And that's why Metroid Prime is my favorite game of all time.

Runners Up: Team Fortress 2, Demon's Souls/Dark Souls, Vanquish, Super Mario 64, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Banjo-Tooie

FAVOURITE GAMEU EXTREMEEEE EDITION 34!!!!!!!!

Aka: Do I really have to pick?

My 'favourite game' cycles through a lot of different games constantly, usually within the same 4 or 5 games, but it still cycles depending on my mood. However, that said, I am going to narrow it down then to one of those games which basically appeals to all my interests and pretty much most of my aesthetic tastes and love for really fast paced games. You may be going "oh here comes the Sonic" but NO I SAY, THAT ISN'T THE CASE.

Vanquish. And for many good reasons. I still actually have not found the time to beat the game (on the last boss on hard and it kicks my ass so much) but the game as a whole really appeals to me. It is fast paced, its sci-fi, it's corny in all the right ways. Basically it is just a whole load of FUN. I haven't ever really played anything else that is like it. Sure it is a third person shooter but the whole arcadey aspect of it really gives it a unique feel. The booster mechanic is really amazing and the visual style of the game is also fantastic. Sure there is a lot of grey and whatever, but it really works, and is usually accented by some colourful pieces here and there that do not take over the style the game is working towards and just makes for a lot of visual eyecandy. The game is just overall a fantastic experience and while it may or may not be my favourite videogame (like I said, it cycles) it just comes the closest to what I want out of a videogame. I'd love for a sequel, more robots, more energy gauge, more super fast action, more melee attacks, more EVERYTHING. MORE SCI-FI.

BRING IT PLATINUM. Or Bayonetta 2, one of the other games that is also my favourite. You can do that too.

I can't say it's my FAVORITE game, but I'm glad you claimed it because I think it's fantastic enough that it deserves to be at least one person's. I was addicted as all hell to this game for a while- the campaign may have been a mere 5 hours long (at best) but I got a good 60+ hours out of the story mode alone trying to beat God Hard mode (and I did, and now I'm the 59th best Vanquish player in the world, last I checked the leaderboards.)

Edited January 16, 2012 by SuperStingray

[krazystitch]

My favorite game..hmm, that would probably have to be:

This game just basically has everything I absolutely love and so much more. This game is HUGE. But, then again, I suppose that's to be expected with something that's coming from Rockstar, after all. To start off, it's a game set in the Western times. I, myself, love stuff that's set in Western times, so that was automatically a huge plus for me. The single player story is great and so damn long, it took just about forever to complete just the story alone. After that, i set out to get 100% in the game and I was finally able to after days and days of playing this. So many missions to do, things to collect, places to see..and then there's the Undead Nightmare story that just adds even more to it! I haven't even began talking about Multiplayer yet! All the fun game modes that have deathmode type or capture the flag type meanings behind them are great, and doing Co-Op missions with friends is unbelievably fun. I got this game two Christmases ago, even though I had already beaten it before when I had rented it, and I still play it to this day.

[Sonic the Hedgehog in 3D]

Yes, I took this from my Day 1 post

So, Sonic Adventure is my favourite game, why? Nostalgia, I grew up mainly playing this game through my life, I own 9 copies of it (3 DC, 1 GC, 3 PC, PSN and XBLA) I love everything about it sans fishing. The voice acting while bad is barable for me. Sonic Gameplay is amazing but I've alwaysed love tails more, this game has cheered me up when I was down and introduced me into the franchise. It's also the only Sonic game my brothers will play and these are the only people I know who have played it, it's sad for me as none of my friends have played the game I hold dearest to my heart.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Day 2: Favourite Videogame.

I hate trying to decide what my favourite game is, mainly because one day I'll say 'this is my favourite game' then I'll think of something else that does something I like or beats the other choice in some way... so if I must decide I'm going to have to take the cowards way out and select one of the following.

Terminator Skynet is one of the first PC games I had the fortune of playing, the man in the shop was trying to convince me to get a star wars game instead of this, but I wanted this... and I got it... from a different shop.

Terminator Skynet takes place in the original terminator universe, specifically in the future that Kyle Reese dreams about. The game takes place when he's still in his teens.

I played this game a lot when I was younger, mainly because I didn't know any better, but also because... it was bloody good! It's a classic first person shooter, tons of weapons, tons of different grenades and even a lead pipe you can swing at your enemies. The machines are all iconic from Terminator 1 (no T-1000's in this game) as well as some newly designed machines for the game.

One thing I remember from this game was the sound effects. In the original Terminator movie, James Cameron edited out the 'correct' sounds that the guns made and replaced them with the following.

Uzi = Gattling gun.

Shotgun = 2 cannons.

He wanted to give the impression that every weapon the terminator touched was enhanced in some way, to give it a sense that it was unstopable. They've done the same with some of the guns in this game, I can remember holding the heavy machine gun and feeling like the world was coming to an end when I would empty a clip into an endo.

This was the days before regenerating health and hugging cover, but you could take cover behind objects and run and shoot. You had to be on your toes. So many different weapons, machine guns, uzi's, grenade launchers, rocket launchers and even the iconic plasma rifles seen in the future sequences, which also had a real time scope that would show you the area in front of you in a green/night vision style display.

Every stage ends and begins with a cut scene with actors who are... quite bad... the guy who plays John Connor more or less spends every scene staring at this womans chest.

You don't just walk around shooting, theres missions in which you drive and even fly a HK, these levels are awesome, and the plane/car responds as you imagine it to, it was quite an advanced game for the time. It even had a multiplayer of sorts, never looked into it since there was no way I could use it, although it did look like a lot of fun with the different character models running around.

The levels were huge, I remember one which has you walking through the city trying to find the Cyberdyne building, the level was so big I ended up exploring the whole city and eventually found the old Tec-noir club from the movie, you could even go inside it and there was one really odd easter egg if you went to the DJ decks.

Amazingly there is a screenshot of this online considering how obscure the game is. Even if it's a little creepy watching Elvis dance on top of several dead bodies on the dance floor.

It definately holds a lot of fun memories this game, sadly not many people have played it, which is a shame since it's quite a lof of fun and has some of CGI sequences in it too. It's a little strange that this game didn't get much recognition since it recieved scores back in the day of 85-95% in various magazines, a score of that back then was rare and a must buy.

Some interesting facts of the game.

It used uses the X engine which lets it to use a full 3D perspective and real time lighting effects (long before Quake did).

It was one of the, if not the first game to use the mouse and keyboard combination for gameplay control.

In multiplayer mode, you can add jeeps and HK's which you can jump in and out of freely... years before battlefield or any other multiplayer FPS did this.

Heres a really good video review on it.

One... possible game that I could have said...

I wrote my thoughts about this game It's not my favourite game because... well... despite how wonderful it is... I'm just not that in love with it as an entire product, the one thing about it though that I marvel at... are the boss fights...

If you have not played this game, you don't know what a boss fight is like until you play this game, every boss fight is so different yet so epic in scale, and once you master the boss, you'll keep replaying it because the thought of you taking out something so big is just out of your comprehension.

Heres a video showing the first boss fight in the game

It's just.. when you first beat a boss and it falls... your reaction is always... 'WHAT DID I JUST DO!' Because you can't quite believe you killed something that big for what size your character is.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Hogfather

[Gregzilla]

^{Favorite? Oh geez, hard question. The term 'favorite' can be heavily influenced by nostalgia and personal opinion, but I think I'm just gonna have to go with the game I think has the least flaws out of almost every other game I've played.}

^{Super Metroid - I have played hundreds upon hundreds of games ever since I was like 3. I had my favorites, and most of them brought lots of memories flooding back. Then in 2008 (I think), a time when forming nostalgia had kinda stopped for me, I played this little game on the Wii's Virtual Console. After beating it, I pondered it, and came to the conclusion that I had just played the best game ever made. I don't think I've given such praise to any game before or since, especially so quickly. But really, this game is a masterpiece. The atmosphere, the controls, the exploration, the upgrades, the bosses, the music, EVERYTHING = nearly FLAWLESS. It's one of the only games I actually have to try extremely hard to find something wrong with. It's also one of the only games where I enjoyed every area - even the water area! Most games have at least one world or level that one doesn't look forward to, but Super Metroid doesn't. It is, in my opinion, the closest a game has ever come to being perfect, and currently the only game in existence I would even consider giving a 10 out of 10.}

^{Honorable Mentions:}

^{Sonic series - I could have picked a Sonic game, but as I try to think of which is my favorite, I honestly can't choose. Sonic 2 was my first, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is arguably the pinnacle of the 2D series, Sonic Adventure is so nostalgic, AAGH. I truly can't choose one, and I don't think I ever could.}

^{Doom/Doom 2 - I don't have much nostalgia for these games, but I can safely say that they are ten times more fun than almost every shooter today.}

^{Portal 2 - A great puzzle game made greater with some of the best writing to ever grace a game.}

[Shoot em up Capbusta]

My favorite game along with my favorite N64 game has to be StarFox 64. This game at the time was like no other for me with the alternate pathways and the different boss battles.The variety of vehicles you get change up the pace once in a while but besides the arwing the landmaster is my favorite of the alternate vehicles. Even the cutscenes as annoying as some of them can be *slippy* I still love the character interaction between the starfox team. From the cocky and arrogant Falco who thinks you can't do anything right until you save his ass. To Slippy a character who wouldn't be shit shit without you and peppy the wise old man that gives you constant advice. Especially the other characters you meet along your journey are interesting as well. This is one game I would see myself dusting off my N64 and play it from front to finish. I can never get bored playing this game is a classic.

[Your Vest Friend]

Day 2! Yay!

Favourite video game? There can only be one choice for that one;

CTR: Crash Team Racing

Man, has this game been so influential on me and my tastes, despite it being a spin-off. While I got a PSone in 1998, it wasn't until the following November that we got some proper names in our household. So, on November 7th, 1999, I opened up my presents and received...Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer. My sister got CTR on her birthday (which is at the end of November, ergo), and we both stuck to our respective presents for a while. Then, one day in December, I stole her game while she wasn't bothered with it, tried it, and instantly fell in love with it. I especially adored Pura as a playable character, and it made me think that Crash was evil based on his apearance in the game (kind of legit reasoning since he WAS supposed to be evil in the mythos, he just got rejected from the Cortex Vortex).

But it wasn't just the characters that made the game worthwhile; the control were intuitive, the levels were fun to race through, the adventure mode was expansive, it was just a treat. It also acted as my gateway into Crash Bandicoot, where I pursued the later Crash games and the original trilogy years after (I got Crash Bash in 2000, so that wasn't included in that). Nowadays I have a digital copy of the game downloaded off PSN with the save data from when I used the PS1 disc, but I'd still be heartbroken if anything were to happen to the original copy that's served me well for 13 years previous and is still running a charm to this day.

Fun fact; Despite owning both CTR and Crash Bash way back when, I never got as far as Glacier Park/Big Bad Fox until years later, so one of the characters I didn't care about, as well as the likes of Pinstripe and Tawna, was Komodo Joe. I think my past self would be gawking at me if I told her what's happened since...

Edited January 16, 2012 by VEDJ-F

[MykonosFan]

DAY 2: YOUR FAVORITE VIDEO GAME

This is actually rather tough for me. Sure I have a lot of games I fall back on to play when I just want something to play, but to pick an actual favorite out of them is hard. Plus, well, it changes a lot for me. Not to mention that aside from my Day 1 post, I really wanna try and keep my focus off of Sonic.

So, with that said (and with lots and lots of looking over my collection)...

Custom Robo. I made a post about it recently, but I have to back it up more than I did.

Custom Robo (the first in the series released in America) grabbed my attention when it released in 2004. Not because I had been following news about it on the internet like I do these days, I was just 10 years old in a Walmart. I was a kid who loved Japanese robots ever since seeing Gundam Wing a few years earlier on Toonami. Lo and behold, here was this cool looking game on the shelf called Custom Robo with just that on the cover; Japanese robots! I looked over the case (of which was sadly lost over the years when lent to a friend, it sits in a pitiful replacement now) and read about the game and it just sounded so cool. I had to have it. Thankfully I had enough cash that day so I went home with it.

I found out that this game was everything I had hoped it would be and more. So basically, this is how the story goes. You're just some young adult lookin' for a job. You live in an artificial world. No real trees, no real grass, everything revolves around technology. You come across a small, down-on-their-luck bounty service called the "Steel Hearts", and by way of a mix-up, you end up working with them and obtaining your own Custom Robo. A Custom Robo is an 8 centimeter tall robot used to fight other robots. Nearly every time you beat an opponent, you gain another part or robot in which you can customize to suit your combat style. Big and heavy, slow and nimble, rapid-firing or slow-powerhouse, you name it.

Of course, while the game play is addictive, short, and tough (especially in the post-game tournaments if you're going for Gold Trophies), that's not all this game has going for it. Custom Robo has a very clean, cool look to it. Characters have portraits that emote alongside their words (there is no spoken dialog, it is all text-based), and in the right comedic situations can be a perfect complement to a funny line. On that note, Custom Robo has a wonderful sense of humor. Whether it was like this in the original script or not is beyond me, but it was translated beautifully so that you'll always laugh when you're meant to. A generic scientist working in a corner somewhere may openly brag about how much manlier he is than the rest, or a generic young boy will make a comment about how he looks like everyone else. You're going to want to talk to every single person you can in this game, and you're going to want to make round trips to every location in the game to talk to people, even if you should be doing something important, like, saving the world. (On that note, don't forget your watch!)

I could gush for a long time about this game, but I really think it's one every body should try at least once. It is by no means perfect, but it's so good it really doesn't matter.

Unfortunately, I hear the next game in the series (and the last released), Custom Robo Arena, really failed in a lot of ways to continue this game's charm and fun, and is apparently quite daft. It's a true shame.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Mykonos

[Chooch]

Sonic 3 and Knuckles (primarily the Sonic and Knuckles portion of it) remains my favorite Sonic game in existence and my favorite video game ever. It's timeless and I never find myself unwilling to replay it from beginning to end regardless of how many times I have previously. The level design is superb, and the atmosphere of each level in combination with the music makes for an unforgettable and infinitely replayable experience.

I think the primary reason why Sonic 3 and Knuckles has the edge over every Sonic game made is because it has multiple playable characters that, while having their on distinct feel, never truly lose what makes Sonic, well.. Sonic. What makes those games fun in the first place. It's something I've wanted from Sonic games for a very long time now and for right now, no game does it better than this Genesis / Mega Drive classic.

Honorable mention goes to Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal because it's the absolute best game in the Ratchet series still and every game in it is great.

[null]

You are a gentleman and a scholar. This was quite the hidden gem for Gamecube. I distinctly remember being scared of Rahu and during the final parts of the game for whatever reason.

[Shane]

I loved Donkey Kong Country. It was the first game to really suck me into its universe, and as soon as I played it in 1996 I had to have this one too. I had to learn about the new characters, experience the new environments, and hear the beautiful new music.

And it was so much more amazing than I expected. I got a used copy of this for my birthday in 1996. I still have the same cartridge and I still play it regularly to this very day. The gameplay is almost perfect and it's greatly improved upon the original. This game is part of who I am today.

I love all of Rare's games, but this takes the cake. Donkey Kong Country 3, which I got for Christmas that same year, is a close runner-up.

[Chibinuva]

Day 2: Your Favorite Video Game

As fanboyish as this is, I'd have to say Generations (though Mega Collection would be pretty close.) The modern stages are a blast, speeding through levels from some of my other favorite games, and IMHO the combination of speed and platforming is pure bliss. The classic stages, while not as fun, can be pretty fun, especially certain ones like Speed Highway and City Escape. The amount of extras is great, and I simply love the ability to switch out tracks on levels (especially interesting combinations like Palmtree Panic on the rival bosses.) The bosses, despite most being chase battles are pretty fun, and some like the Death Egg Robo and Silver fights are really well done. It also takes a lot of things from older games, such as Crisis City or the Vs. Silver music, and makes them so much greater than their original counterparts, that it helps do justice to worse games like Sonic 06. The skills are also fun to use, be it running on water in Modern SSH using endless boost, or boosting through Classic Crisis City using the Flame Shield.

The only gripes I have with this game are

1) It's fun, but needs to be longer (hopefully they'll be DLC to help combat this.)

2) Super Sonic and the Final Boss, given that the final boss was meh, the music was okay, but not great, and the way it combines the "collect all chaos emeralds during the story and go super sonic on the final boss," with the "collect all the chaos emeralds to play as Super Sonic in all the levles." And don't even get me started on how annoying it is trying to competently use Super Sonic on the levels.

But despite these few flaws, I love the game to pieces, and I'd have to say, it's got to be my favorite game ever! (though given the nostalgia, Sonic 3 came pretty close.)

[Cobalt_Bolt]

This is a tough one in picking my favorite game here on day 2 as I have alot of favorite games over the years. However one stands out in my mind the most and it might surprise some of my fellow forum users.

NFS Porsche Unleashed. (PC Version)

This game stands out to me the most because it had everything I could ask for in a racing game and then some. The tracks inspired by real world locations such as Monte Carlo or the Alps trying you throughout their length. The cars are incredible even though Porsche was the only manufacturer in the game with the proper handling of the cars modeled well for the time throughout the entire range from the 356 pre-A to the 996 GT3 with each car having their own characteristics which included popup spoilers and headlights for certain models. There were also 2 career modes: a factory driver for Porsche testing the different models, and an evolution race mode spanning the entire years of Porsche's model range for that time. There was also a visual chronicle for each models history included as well. All in all this game difined my virtual world for the better part of my childhood until I got my Gamecube in 2005.

Runners Up: Sonic3&K, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, GTR 2, NFS Shift 2 Unleashed ( PC Version unofficial community patched)

Edited January 16, 2012 by Cobalt_Bolt