What Are You Playing?

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

After carefully weighing my options, I've chosen my console for the next generation of video games:

 

I bought an N64 with eight games off a friend of mine that needed to clear out their apartment.

 

POKEMON STADIUM/SNAP- I don't have a good term for this idea, so here comes a clunky one: I'm a big believer in "ideal playthroughs." If a game is single player, typically, I'll want one good run with a game so I have some lasting memory of it and then I'm pretty much good, without any need to play any sequels. I had that with Pokemon Silver, and so I've been done with Pokemon for a long time. So playing Pokemon Stadium was a pretty good reminder of why I'm glad I had that one playthrough: the combat alone wasn't enough of a game to hold me. On the flipside is Pokemon Snap, which is an idea so very close to amazing that it's unfortunate Nintendo's never gone back to it. That PS3 game Afrika was the mechanical execution free of any of the charm or personality, which are things that the Pokemon art style is best at. A new Pokemon Snap might be a breaking point between me and getting a Wii U.

 

OCARINA OF TIME- Always hated zelda, 2D or 3D. I just never had fun with it. So since I'm waiting for the first of January to start buying more games (Gauntlet Legends wooo!) this is doing for now, plus I'm glad for the opportunity to have time with the game without severe expense. So far, it's OK. The dialog comes apart in some weird places (I keep expecting Link to go "I'M LIKE FIVE YEARS OLD, WHY DO I NEED TO DO THIS") but at least that's good for a laugh so I'm still enjoying my time with it.

 

WCW/nWo WORLD TOUR- Back on that ideal playthrough thing, I spent a lot of time with Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 through 300% Absoultely Legal Means, and before that all of my Aki Wrestling Game memories were tied to Wrestlemania 2000. So I'm having a weird time with this one. Like, it's the game I played, kind of, but it just feels... wrong. It's like I had a dream about this game and now that I'm playing it nothing is the way it should be.

 

SUPER MARIO 64- is still this game. I got all the stars on the DS version (i know (i know)) so I'm not having a strong pull with this one.

 

I also got Starfox 64, Star Wars Shadows Of The Empire, and Mortal Kombat Trilogy. I don't intend to ever play any of them.

[Red is Dead]

Completed Borderlands 2 main story with rippa being awesome as usual.

 

cheers fella.

[twiztor]

After carefully weighing my options, I've chosen my console for the next generation of video games:

 

I bought an N64 with eight games off a friend of mine that needed to clear out their apartment.

 

POKEMON STADIUM/SNAP- I don't have a good term for this idea, so here comes a clunky one: I'm a big believer in "ideal playthroughs." If a game is single player, typically, I'll want one good run with a game so I have some lasting memory of it and then I'm pretty much good, without any need to play any sequels. I had that with Pokemon Silver, and so I've been done with Pokemon for a long time. So playing Pokemon Stadium was a pretty good reminder of why I'm glad I had that one playthrough: the combat alone wasn't enough of a game to hold me. On the flipside is Pokemon Snap, which is an idea so very close to amazing that it's unfortunate Nintendo's never gone back to it. That PS3 game Afrika was the mechanical execution free of any of the charm or personality, which are things that the Pokemon art style is best at. A new Pokemon Snap might be a breaking point between me and getting a Wii U.

 

OCARINA OF TIME- Always hated zelda, 2D or 3D. I just never had fun with it. So since I'm waiting for the first of January to start buying more games (Gauntlet Legends wooo!) this is doing for now, plus I'm glad for the opportunity to have time with the game without severe expense. So far, it's OK. The dialog comes apart in some weird places (I keep expecting Link to go "I'M LIKE FIVE YEARS OLD, WHY DO I NEED TO DO THIS") but at least that's good for a laugh so I'm still enjoying my time with it.

 

WCW/nWo WORLD TOUR- Back on that ideal playthrough thing, I spent a lot of time with Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 through 300% Absoultely Legal Means, and before that all of my Aki Wrestling Game memories were tied to Wrestlemania 2000. So I'm having a weird time with this one. Like, it's the game I played, kind of, but it just feels... wrong. It's like I had a dream about this game and now that I'm playing it nothing is the way it should be.

 

SUPER MARIO 64- is still this game. I got all the stars on the DS version (i know (i know)) so I'm not having a strong pull with this one.

 

I also got Starfox 64, Star Wars Shadows Of The Empire, and Mortal Kombat Trilogy. I don't intend to ever play any of them.

 

fantastic selection of games. the n64 is my 2nd favorite system of all time (behind only the NES) and i love every game you listed here (except Pokemon Stadium).  World Tour was my introduction to AKI games and it'll always hold a soft spot in my heart.

 

for future games, start with Goldeneye and also pick up Mario Kart, NBA Hangtime, Smash Bros, and Donkey Kong 64, and you pretty much have my entire teenage years.

[Death From Above]

Star Fox 64 is great as a sort of 3-D callback to old school "kill 10000 aliens and actually record a HIGH SCORE" days. I loved it. Once you get past the obligatory Nintendo child entertainment voiceovers, it's a really good game.

 

Mario Kart 64 and F-Zero X are both must play, for completely different reasons.

 

Ocarina of Time is "A top 5 Zelda game" but I feel like it's vastly overrated over some of its historical peers for the pure gameplay. The water and fire dungeons being awesome only goes so far to make up for the overworld map having NO ENEMIES and NOTHING TO DO. I'd take the original, the SNES, and the first gameboy Zelda over it without a second thought. But that's just me. But if you hate all those, I cannot help you. Your princess is in another castle.

 

I am afraid to ever revisit Goldeneye lest I find it has aged terribly. But that single player mode was a fucking beast. Easily the best combination of fun and toughness I saw in a single player FPS campaign, at least up to that point, though Perfect Dark is a better game. That goddamn mission where the guy is hacking into the computer and you have to fight off waves of RUSSIANS who start bursting through glass windows for like 5 minutes was a madman.

 

And yeah get Perfect Dark. The fact that those shitbums who made Halo couldn't man up and work out making bots and the guys from Rare had them working fine 10 years earlier never gets old.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

I guess this is the time to point out that when I was a child my father was fiercely anti-Nintendo, so we didn't ever buy that stuff. All of my friends however exclusively had Nintendo systems, so believe me when I say I'm familiar with Smash Bros, Goldeneye/Perfect Dark, Mario Kart, etc. I've been looking for less common/dumber things (Fighters Destiny, Magical Tetris Challenge (go youtube the music for that one, holy shit)), or failing that just arcade ports (Gauntlet Legends, Blitz, Bust A Move 2), I've seen enough of F-Zero X to know that might be my thing. And shit, I might get Perfect Dark anyways since Gauntlet Legends is one of those "enhanced by expansion pak" things. I also wish I could get those Goemon games, but they're a little out of my price range at the moment.

 

 

Also to be more relevant, thanks to that one day Divekick sale, I have played hell of Divekick multiplayer this week. 

[Raziel]

The bots from Perfect Dark were so friggin awesome, it makes me wonder why Rare didn't use the algorhythem to activate Skynet and take over the world.

[AaronMLuke]

Assassin's Creed 4 and Marvel Legos Super Heroes are my current obsessions.

[Brisco]

Been working on several PSN games from PS+ and Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien is my new obsession. At first I thought this game would be super easy but no they start adding new moves to perform every level or two and it becomes very difficult, yet never loses its fun factor. To add to the fun I have replaced the story with my own. I am a running cigarette stealing back the settlement paid by Phillip Morris to the taxpayers. It may not be right, but it is the best I got.

More of you PS+ guys need to dive into this game!

[Salads]

Ooh, N64 talk!

 

If someone told me the only Pokemon they'd played was Silver I would've thought they were missing out because of how poor the combat was in Gen 1 and 2. Here you've made the same observation through Stadium and reached the opposite conclusion.

 

OoT is overrated but considering how rated it is that's kind of inevitable. Still a masterclass.

 

Star Fox 64 is one of the greatest rail shooters ever made but the main reason you should give it a go is because it's short and sweet.

 

F-Zero and F-Zero GX get all the praise but X is totally up there. EAD happily sacrifice any chances of it looking decent in a screenshot in exchange for 60fps warp-speed because they know their shit. Shame they never did another.

 

If you're after less cited N64 gems, I'll stake my reputation on Doom 64 AKA the real Doom 3. And yes, holy shit at Magical Tetris Challenge music.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

Perfect Dark had laptop guns and crossbow. It owned.

[The Man Known as Dan]

Anyone here play Minecraft?

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

I did but I got bored a few months ago. Anything changed?

[The Man Known as Dan]

I'm asking as a perspective buyer: it seems like a game that is more fun with more people.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

Definitely, but there's no purpose. Its just a creativity thing. I'd wait until there's questy shit to do.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

This isn't up for discussion:

 

If you buy DLC you're a fucking tool.

 

Arkham Origins has a number of serious glitches across every platform. Game breaking ones in some cases, in mine I just can't finish the side missions. Still annoying as fuck.

 

LUCKILY WB are bringing out a new DLC pack with some fucking skins that make no difference to the actual game itself other than it looks slightly different. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE: the skins are included if you bought the season pass. If you bought the season pass, you paid extra for some skins but not this:

 

The Batman: Arkham Origins Black Mask Challenge Pack ($2 on all platforms and not included with the season pass) features new challenge maps Lot Full and Hidden Facility. Those who own the Deathstroke Challenge Pack can play as Deathstroke in the new content.

The third new expansion released today for Batman: Arkham Origins is the Supply Drop #1, available on all platforms and also not included with the season pass. It features additional multiplayer content in the form of new clothing items for Bane and The Joker, as well as the new Sawn-Off Shotgun weapon. Extra weapon progression bonuses and skins are also included.

 

So basically if you buy any of this shit you are a fucking mark, an idiot, and you're enabling this poisonous twats to keep doing this.

[Raziel]

But, DLC is the future, it makes games better.  BETTER I TELL YOU!!!!

 

 

 

*the proceeding post was total sarcasm

[Big Fresh]

I love good DLC. The Citadel DLC was one of the best parts of ALL of Mass Effect. Same with Borderlands and Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep.

[Big Fresh]

DLC as a whole is never gonna go away. You can fight it all you want, but it's just yelling into the wind, at this point. But vote with your wallet. Buy the good DLC, skip the bad. And that's how they get the message they gotta make it worth your money.

Batman Origins not getting fixed sucks though, if the problems are really that bad.

[Super Ape]

Would like to THIRD BL and Salads' call to YouTube Magical Tetris Challenge's soundtrack. Might be the trippiest game soundtrack I've ever heard since the original Sonic CD music.

[twiztor]

hot on the heels of buying a Wii-U, i have also (finally) picked up a 3ds (XL). the Zelda game put it over the top for me. What does everyone recommend with that? the only games on my "must-have" list are Kid Icarus and Mario 3D Land. keep in mind that i never owned a regular DS either, so all those games are fair play.

[Adam]

This is an appropriate time to say that I'm playin g the current X and Y Pokemon games (Well, just Y)

 

Anybody else pokefiles?

[muhammedboehm]

Anyone play Godus? is it worth 9.99 on the steam sale?

[Travis Sheldon]

Finished up the main storyline on Arkham City, so I picked up GTA V Friday.

I imagine that's going to be all for me for the next few months.

[Salads]

To cover three unrelated topics recently mentioned:

 

If there is a game with DLC that I want to play I refuse to buy both and make sure to buy the base game second hand before buying the DLC. I choose not to think about how this may be making the problem worse by skewing the game's profits DLC-wards.

 

Elite Beat Agents is my (unexpected) personal pick of the DS's massive library and as a bonus it's nice and cheap now (Honourable non-obvious mentions: Ghost Trick, Bowser's Inside Story). Haven't used my 3DS yet but I don't think you can mess up by sticking to the main first party releases like you're already doing.

 

I'm a Pokemon fan, but I'm going to be waiting for the inevitable Pokemon Z because I'm also a money fan.

[Adam]

Not sure if its inevitable, people talked and talked about Pokemon Grey following Black and White, but they moved on to sequels. Not sure if the days of the third game of a generation are over or not, but i'll also be getting Z or whatever. 

 

Can't help myself, I caught my first shiny EVER yesterday. Not counting the original shiny Gyrados of course.