agree about these few, actually

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__73VLEMMtA...00/mario64.jpg
Super Mario 64

This game is the definitive platformer, and revolutionized the (albeit sadly shortlived) genre upon its release. It's still immensely playable and one of the most addictive games ever made. The N64 Controller was practically designed for this title, so if you still have a 64 somewhere, that's still the medium I'd recommend playing it on. Virtual Console for Wii (with classic controller attachment) and DLC version for DS are still great ways to play.

Not the very best game, but the one I spent the most time with - and a pioneer in my beloved space genre: Elite II - Frontier

I used to play this for months on my old Amiga CD 32.

Ack. I cannot post a screenshot yet...:banghead:
And it is still amazing, because it is soooo damn huge.

i'm more into Starglider II

Elite 2 had the bloody same space docking system, right - that alone spoilt the game for me

Did not know that game. Just checked it on YouTube. Looks like a lot more action than Frontier. I also like the Wing Commander Series, when it's about space combat and story.

i thought the first one was innovative

by 3, it had become gimmicky, with the FMV and whatnots

on a similar note, about space games, I thought the X-Wing/TIE Fighter series were the best Star Wars games

i'm more partial to TIE Fighter, cos it was more challenging, as you had no shields

Probably my best game ever was GTA: Vice City on the PS2.
Now I can't really say, my current games on the PS3 are good but not better than the classics.

Anyone else vouch for GTA: Vice City too?

San Andreas is better

though Vice City was the first 3D GTA I played, it felt plasticky and didn't improve on III much

Batman: Arkham City

I dare you to try and convince me I'm wrong.

you're still new to the universe, grasshopper

you do not possess my experience

i haven't played it yet - will get it in a while but as a spectator, it doesn't really look very interesting

^^i've played that

what platform did you play it on? I played on the humble Sinclair Spectrum

hardly as appealing as its cover, wasn't it mostly point and click?

No it was just left/right/jump.

I had it for my spectrum 128 which was fine only none of the pokes worked.

It was the first ever million selling video game in Britain.

can't really remember

it never made much of an impression on me

the game I played the most on the Spectrum was "Space Harrier", which I thought was a decent enough black and green version of the arcade game

Great adventure game.

I was so addicted to that game at the time and each time you got one of those elusive stars, it was such an achievement.

I had the choice at the time to either get a Spectrum or a Commodore 64, I chose a Commodore 64.

I had a second hand Spectrum 48 which lasted about a year, when that died I upgraded to a Spectrum 128.
The Spectrum 128 was so shit I sold it & bought a second hand Commodore 64, and never once regretted it.

Oh hells yes! I lost months of my life to that game even though my joystick was **** and would go off to the side when it should have been centered. I was so jealous when my friend got into the game when he played my version, went out and got the game himself, and his had the Balance of Power add on where you got to fight a super star destroyer. That bitch.

Yeah. Jet Set Willy :D

I used to load it from a tape on my MSX when I was like six.
Other Faves from that time:

Q-Bert
Nemesis
Hyper Sports
Twin Bee

Super Mario 64 was hellishly fun and was the benchmark for all 3D platformers, i didn't own it but i have played it

a C64 was expensive at that time, I got a Spectrum 128 +2 (hellishly hard to load cassettes)

nothing much with the 128 besides the enhanced sound chip - and the +2, which i had, have horrible loading problems, you have to tune the pitch knob until you get the right frequency, which was always trial and error - minimum time spent on tuning the thing was at least half an hour, then there's another half hour waiting for it to load - so to play a game, I need an hour of loading time

i got a C64C when it got cheaper - the cassette loader was crap also - took me half an hour to 45 minutes to load a game

i finally bought a disk drive but it tended to overheat - but the loading is less than a minute

i had to buy that add-on and install on my version - but it was ok, they were all pirated

you have to calibrate those PC joysticks then - there's a zig-zaggy wheel on the vertical and horizontal axis

Well, I seem to remember trying just about everything to get it to work. I may have just been a dumb thirteen year old, but I'd like to think that the thing was just broken and I wasn't a retard.

there's a blue protruding thingie vertically next to the stick

and a horizontal one at the bottom

just fiddle with them until it is centred

First of all, that thing got thrown out years ago, secondly I think my joystick was ghetto and didn't have anything like that.

Pulled out my NES for nostalgia sake last night. Excitebike is still one hell of a good time. Played kung fu master and the baseball also. KFM was still alot of fun but a bit repetitive. The baseball was so bad i didn't even finish an inning. I'd say excitebike is still one of my favorite games alltime by a long shot.

Also got to hit an arcade this weekend and played Super Sprint. Not sure if anyone will remember it, what a great game and multiplayer at that.

Anyone ever play the original Gauntlet? Figured that would be mentioned at least once as its kind of an early rpg.

It's not that I don't enjoy the other GTA's it's just that Vice City was the most fun for me, I agree it was quite plasticky but it was back then.

Must say I can't wait for GTA V, that looks so good! :bowdown:

it was fun but it did eat up a LOT of quarters

i just got it on an old arcade compilation for the PS2 and realized how repetitive it was without trying to stay alive with the least amount of money

so uh no, I didn't think it was that good

Kinda but like Howard said it was all about the money. The really innovative thing with Gauntlet was allowing 4 Players at the same time each with a relatively unique class as well as the in-game announcer voice clips. While it did feature 4 medieval fantasy type classes I wouldn't call it an RPG since there was no real character progression aside from how many quarters you wanted to dump into the machine.

I can pretty much guarantee the only reason they added the functionality to have 4 Players was to quadruple the potential revenue stream rather than encourage friends to work together to try beating the game.

The Call of Duty Modern Warfare games are by far and away the best games of all time. After that I've always love BioShock...Super Mario...Zelda for N64....Mortal Combat and Street Fighter for Super Nintendo

I always thought Ocarina of Time was more gripping. Especially the transformation from young to older. Separate parts but linked quite well. I appreciated the build up here (the sages and fulfilling the triforce) which had a lot more epic feel to it, where Majora's Mask was a bit too dispersed. It starts off with a pretty enlightened note by obtaining the Ocarina the flute like instrument.

I liked the idea of obtaining masks in MM. But the Skull Kid was a pretty underwhelming enemy compared to Ganondorf.

I have to agree with Resident Evil 4. The game play stepped up quite a bit. Diablo II was great as well. Final Fantasy VII was revolutionary with graphics back then, but I've always preferred VIII. VII had the better storyline and characters though. As for GTA... Vice City!

Always wanted to play Half Life but never got to it.

i also prefer VIII over VII

these days, though, X is my fave

that's mostly cos the puzzle-solving bits are good

If we are talking storyline, VI wins for me every time. There are a ridiculous amount of characters and somehow you end up caring about each one (save for Mog or that Saskwatch type character). If you ask me, VII just expanded on VI... Only not as well. If we are talking gameplay, though, I agree that X is pretty damn fun. I really liked that they got rid of the ATB gauge. It was so satisfying to plan out my moves based on the turn order and then watch it all play out perfectly. I can't wait for the HD version to come out for the PS3.

I've never played VI. It has been sitting in my games pile for a long time. I have about a 100 games to play... Xenon being one of them.

Does anyone know the Tales series?

same for me as well

i have played III, IV and V

all good

You're in luck, because this Friday the culmination of a community project to update the original Half Life to a modern graphic engine hits Steam (just need to have a free account and download the necessary files).

It won't contain the entire game yet but from what I've read it covers the entire Black Mesa facility and they estimated a good 8-10 hours of play. It definitely does not have Xen though. Either way I'll be getting it this weekend.

As for the Final Fantasy talk I've always split the games into two camps with 1-6 and 7-infinity. On the old side I'm torn between 4 and 6, essentially better story or better game mechanics. On the new side I'm all about 12, I know a lot of people who call 10 the pinnacle and I tried it but it just didn't do it for me, I just stopped caring to play once I ended up in that dungeon where I had to run around to find all my companions again.

and the Tales series, I only played partway through Tales of Symphonia but it was freaking awesome. Totally different fighting system than any other console RPG I've ever seen and it was handled incredibly well.

XIII was a pile of crap, really - at least XII had some improvement in the combat mechanics

never bothered with XIII X2

I was a big fan of Symphonia, joined the forums at the peak of its popularity, somehow signed a contract with Namco, and moderated it. One of the perks was being sent a whole bunch of other Tales games for free.

Seriously this series has almost as many releases as FF in Japan, and is an inch behind its high profile.

There are several new releases on PS3/Wii I need to check out. See if they've advanced it any further.

Combat system for an RPG is unmatched btw.

I really loved Tales of Symphonia but I don't know if I could revisit it very successfully for two reasons: it was so freakin' long (think my save file had over 70 hours on it when I finished) and the voice acting/dialogue would be harder to stomach at this age.

Wow, I'll be checking that Half Life update out as well.

I like XII quite a bit as well...I think it helps a bit if you've tried XI since it was kind of the jumping off point, though I'm sure most people didn't bother. Storywise, it was another VI-based type deal with an oppressive Empire and whatnot. The only thing that got to me was eventually it became difficult for me to set up gambits that actually worked. In the end, I just wanted to finish the damn story and kept getting really tired of trying to figure out the best ways for my guys to act. So I got really close to the end but never finished it. One day I will, I'm sure...that's how it goes for the FF series for me.

I thought XIII was excellent. I'm surprised you didn't like it if you liked X so much...it's basically the same setup. They give you a straight path to run down and the story advances in much the same way. Graphics-wise, it's freaking gorgeous to look at. I'm running through XIII-2 right now and I'm finding it a little hard to get into. The concept is cool, but I need a large character base to work with so that if one starts annoying me, I can focus on the others. 2 main characters just does not fly for an FF game. The same thing happened to me with X-2.

I think the best games of all time are the ones you are good at and to that end (Only having a gamecube and PS2) I would say the first 3 Crash Bandicoot games on PS1 and the masterful Metal Gear Solid PS1 are still immensely playable and inventive.

I love Mario Kart Double Dash too but I AM NOT A GAMER, so just carry on as you will!

my favorite childhood games would have to be resident evil 2, resident evil remake, super mario 64, mario kart, super smash bros., mortal kombat 2,3, and dont forget about golden eye. Raised by the big 64 console.

it's too bloody "linear"

given the new advacements, they could at least have tried a freer movement thing

i didn't like the combat much, back to turn-based, at least XII had a semblance of "real time"

i mean with stuff like "Skyrim" around why do I even want to bother with FF anymore?