The Busy Gamer household is something of a console museum, with videogame systems outnumbering the power sockets. It's not that we have trouble letting go (well, some of us, anyway). Rather, there are some games that are so compelling and just plain fun that we keep antiquated systems around JUST IN CASE we suddenly have an overwhelming urge to play them.
Plugging in an old-time favorite inevitably leads to some buyer's remorse, of course. From the poor graphics to lack of saves (do memory cards die? why yes!), revisiting a favorite title can be an exercise in masochism. Speaking of which, I forgot how much I really, really hated the N64 controller.
I say it's time for gamers to band together and (once again) use the power of the Internet to request - nay, demand! - that my personal favorite games once again live on, preferably for Xbox 360 but I'll take PS3, 'cause the Wii remote kills my hands and it's all about me, don't cha know.
But I digress. Here, without further ado, are my nominations for games to resurrect. Some are games that I obsessed over; others are games that I could play with my kid. All are titles I would buy again in a heartbeat.
1. Shadowman (played on N64). The game that stole me back from PC gaming, and one of the N64's notable ventures into darker material. You play Mike LeRoi, who has the ability to slip between reality and the Shadowlands, where people do voodoo oh so well. Your main storyline involves stopping a clique of serial killers from bringing about the apocalypse (I know, so clichéd). Unusually well-written and beautifully acted (I can still hear Mike's voice in my head), the game featured fantastic combat, challenging puzzles and visuals that hold up pretty well against today's standards. This was the first game I beat on N64 (yes, before Zelda) and one of the few that I finished multiple times. Plus, any game that is essentially a 20-hour lead up to a punch line gets my vote. Damn, I may have to go plug in the N64 now. Hm, what to disconnect?
2. Blast Corps (N64). A kid-friendly N64 gem with some unintentional hilarity. Bad, vaguely sexist encouragement aside, the game was a blast - in all senses. Your job is, in a nutshell: Destroy stuff within a time limit using various vehicles. That's it, that's the game. Go forth and trash things. There to keep your spirits high is a female guide whose sincerity is matched only by her chipper delivery. "You can DO this" and her congratulatory "You're just trying to IMPRESS me" are still quoted almost daily in our household.
3. Jet Set Radio Future (original Xbox). Cel shading! Japanese pop music! Illegal graffiti! Roller skates! Somewhere, someone put all of these elements together and made one of the simplest, greatest games of all time. There is no plot, really. Just a group of young, funky kids skating all over - and I do mean all over - downtown Tokyo tagging buildings, fighting the man, and occasionally getting into it with the cops. Which pretty much consists of rollerskating and spray painting the cops. Did I mention the music was AWESOME?
OK, not really selling it, but trust me, this is a game that is screaming for the high-def treatment. "We need some help in Aisle 10..."
4. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GameCube). Did you play this when it was out? Didn't think so. Go out, and find this game (it'll work in your Wii if you don't have a GameCube). Now. Seriously. This is, without a doubt, one of the best games ever released, which means of course it bombed. Eternal Darkness was a psychological horror game that went beyond the standard boo! parlor tricks to really, really screw with you, the player. I'll take this over the Silent Hill: frozen tundra game they are pushing any day.
5. Dark Summit (played on original Xbox). A snowboarding game that combined the usual jump/grind/trick gameplay with a spy storyline and a cute chick. This came out around the same time as two other snowboarding games and fell through the cracks. A shame, because games with strong female leads are rare - really fun games with female leads even rarer.
6. Almost every Zelda game ever made (various Nintendo consoles and portables). Because I love Zelda, but I hate the Wii Remote. Also, not that Windwaker game. I watched Gamewatcher play it, and from what I saw, it wasn't just the wind that blew in that one.
Agree? Disagree? Never heard of these games? Share your own nominees for games that need to be resurrected in comments!
Totally agree on Jet Set Radio, although I only played it a couple of times since we never had a Dreamcast of our own.
I would add to the list Tetris Attack which we played to death on the SNES. There have been other similar games for other systems but somehow none of them have had the magic of the original.
The first time eternal darkness "deleted" my save file when my sanity mana was low... I had to goto Gamestop... To replace the controller I broke(don't throw your stuff kids!). Turns out this was a good thing, two weeks later nintendo filed some sorta suit against wavebird and I woulda been out of luck.
boo you for hating on Windwaker. but aside from that word up to your list. I think I've started LttP like 9 times on 4-5 systems and each time it's like the joy I got from playing it that first time. I love OoT and quite frankly any of them is worthy but nostalgia puts LttP on top.
Does ED skip a lot? I don't think I had a single smooth cut scene. It was like listening to scratch records, and I was never sure if it was a) design b) my disc or c) insanity?. The crazy part about some of the sanity effects is that unfortunately some of them won't translate like the missing memory card in a Wii. System design is different, etc.. The whole concept of insanity effects is just SO ripe for the Wii I really wish SK had gone ahead with the trilogy. I'm still hoping they get to it after they finish Too Human.
Never played any others in the series but I was a huge fan of 1080 snowboarding. That game was LOTS of fun. In terms of the article title Sands of Time and MPrime are two fine examples. and I'll admit I actually did buy RE4 twice even though I've only put about 3-4 hrs into the cube version. Oh man when I get to my backlog it's gonna be ON.
Gunstar Super Heroes on GBA is a game everyone should have and not just because last i was in the states it was going for $10 impulse buy at every target, and best buy I saw. I did buy two copies of Drill Dozer (GBA) though to be fair the second I bought for my ex when she told me she was moving back to Florida. She loved it though.
@wolfkin
I don't remember much skipping. Maybe it was the disc?