This is my attempt to put together a list of games everybody should play. It's probably a Really Bad Idea and will piss some people off. Oh well!
What is "essential"?
Let's say you've got somebody that has never played a video game before. You want to familiarize them with video games. Where do you start? What are the most important games and in what order would you suggest they play them? That's what I'm looking for here - what games should everybody have played or tried. This won't look anything like a "top xx games" list, but at the same time, this list will obviously be opinionated. Like I said, it's a bad idea. I don't care. I like making lists.
Why 2d?
Because I like 2d games. Simple as that.
I also think that comparing 2d and 3d games are like comparing apples and oranges a lot of the time. They're just going for totally different things. 2d games tend to focus on things like mechanics and control while 3d games are more interested in atmosphere and immersion. 2d games are usually pretty simple while 3d ones are often quite complex. This obviously isn't true in every case -- what's up Mario Galaxy, or Super Metroid -- but games started getting a lot more story-oriented around the time we jumped to 3d. Most of these games are going to be about pure gameplay. (That doesn't make them better or worse, it just means they're different). I don't ever want to try to compare The Legend of Zelda to Bioshock, for instance. There's just no comparison there.
As for what "2d" is, I struggled with this a lot more than I thought I would. Some games are very obviously 2d while others are pretty vague. I ultimately went with the following definition:
- does the game take place on a fixed 2d plane? (scrolling left to right, top to bottom, no control of the camera, etc) - does the game have sprites?
If the answer to the both questions is "no" then I threw it out. Some games are tough to define so I just went by feel. I felt kind of bad throwing out Guitar Hero, for instance, but there's enough great 2d games that it isn't tough to find 50 great games.
Okay, this intro is way too long. Here goes nothing!
Contra 4 is definitely the best Contra game that I've played. It's pretty tough but does a great job walking you through the difficulty with challenges and easy modes. My first playthrough of this game involved me being very dead at the end of stage 1. A week later, I could get to the last level without dying on normal. If I were to recommend a Contra game to a seasoned pro, it would be this one. I pay close attention to every game developed by WayForward because of this damned game. It is incredibly good.
One thing that I've noticed, though, is that once you really complete it, it's tough to go back to it. It's not a timeless classic like the original is, and it's too tough to simply pick up and play after being out of the loop for years. Contra 4 isn't a game you run-and-gun in. You get to know it intimately and then dissect it scientifically. It's a great, great game, expertly crafted and tons of fun, but if you compare it to other all-time games it doesn't stand up. That said, it's a damn good game that any 2d action fan should play. I highly suggest letting go of your gaming pride and starting on easy, working your way up slowly. It's very rewarding.
From: transience | #009 One thing that I've noticed, though, is that once you really complete it, it's tough to go back to it. It's not a timeless classic like the original is, and it's too tough to simply pick up and play after being out of the loop for years.
Very, very true. Wonderful game, but after 100%, never could play it again
This one is probably more of a personal favourite than an all-time game. It's not influential in the same way that a Super Mario Kart or even an F-Zero is, but at the same time it's so unique that it stands out. Plus it's just damned good.
Uniracers is an ultra-simple racing game based on doing tricks instead of cutting sharp corners. In that sense, it's actually more influential to games like SSX or Tony Hawk than any 2d games. It's a side-scrolling racer, something that I'm not sure exists anymore and barely existed then. You move your unicycle by pressing left and right instead of having a "go" button. It's definitely not a traditional game. You'd compare it to Excitebike before anything else, probably.
But 17 years later, it's still the most fun racing game on the SNES, and in my mind the best 2d racer ever. I'm far from its only fan, too. It would be an absolutely fantastic XBLA game. It's so simple that anyone can play it and it's a blast multiplayer -- provided two people are of the same skill, that is.
Symphony of the Night is the groundbreaking smash hit of the series, but the handheld 'vanias improved on its gameplay by a good amount. They may not match Symphony in atmosphere or scale, but the weapon crafting, the dozens of equippable souls, the weapon types -- all of this clearly tops Symphony. It's just too bad about the touch screen stuff.
I would take Dawn of Sorrow as the definitive handheld game. Aria of Sorrow may beat it in story but Dawn's superior graphics and on-screen map put it above it in my mind. I'll take Portrait of Ruin over Dawn of Sorrow as a game but Dawn is a lot more even and traditional. If I were to suggest that somebody play a CV title, I would probably start with this one. This series is good enough that even a Symphony of the Night clone can make a top 50 like this.
AoS > DoS. Better weapon system that doesn't fall back on farming, better castle design that isn't just a bunch of boxed rooms that all the DS games turned into, better story, better music, etc.
Uniracers best racing game on the SNES? Never played Rock and Roll Racing from the looks of it!
--
Currently playing: League of Legends, Chrono Cross. Current Projects: Fool's Overture, CYOA: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/60143513
I take it there probably won't be any RPGs in this since they don't really fall in to line with... for serious lack of a better phrase, "what you think typifies 2d gaming"? Still curious about how you're defining "2d gaming", though for the purpose of a list like this I don't think anyone can really fully explain that. Oh well. >_>
Just reading his paragraph about what he's defining as 2D makes me think of RPGs as the opposite to that. I suppose it's mostly when he compares mechanics to atmosphere/immersion/whatever.
Maybe some really early RPGs fall in there, but if you do that I think you're probably looking at it with a more modern perspective, maybe even using guides to get an in depth understanding of the game's systems.
I'm going to guess that people playing FFI when it came out probably didn't know 1/10 of the info in that guide. Not including the specifics, just talking about an understanding of how things work in general, maybe some formulas. I'm sure that the game was also indescribably more atmospheric or whatever back then, too.
I can't speak for tran, but I don't get the sense that's what he meant. I think what he's saying about 2D games focusing more on gameplay mechanics over other aspects is pretty accurate. It isn't to say they didn't have their own atmosphere, or immersive qualities, but that you weren't playing something like Mario for its interesting story. You played it for the solid platforming, the great level design -- things like that. I wouldn't be too worried about RPGs not showing up. You can't make an "essential 2D games" list and leave something like Chrono Trigger off!
From: transcience | #023 I played a ton of Rock n Roll Racing. Uniracers kills it.
I'm always in another time zone argh
Best quotes, best music (literally the only music ever that can both make you feel like a king in first place and make your pal feel pumped up and ready to kick your ass if he's in last), awesome item system. Can't ask for much more! Uniracers feels a little too disjointed for me. I guess I just like my standard racers more. I should go back and finish it one of these days!
--
Currently playing: League of Legends, Chrono Cross. Current Projects: Fool's Overture, CYOA: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/60143513
yeah, RPGs are fine. 2d RPGs in general were more gameplay-oriented anyway. compare FF1 to FF13 and there's a whole different level of control there. one game lets you choose your class and choose where you want to go and in what order while the other one is corridor walkin' that doesn't trust you with its full battle system for like 20 hours. some RPGs will be very high on this list.
At the time, Ninja Gaiden was pretty important, up there with the Castlevanias and the Metroids and the Mega Mans. NG is the first game I can remember to have cutscenes. The opening scene (seen above) was really impressive when compared to something like Kid Icarus or Mario 3, and the stories after bosses with all kinds of silly plot twists seemed kind of mind-blowing.
But now? The game is mostly remembered for being a frustrating, hard as hell action game. It's certainly well crafted, has good music and is one of the ten or so games you think of when you think of the NES, but I don't know that it really changed the landscape that much. Cutscenes are one of those innovations that were going to happen anyway. It's like praising Metroid 1 for being able to go both left and right.
So ultimately it comes down to just how good NG is. All the innovations are pretty minor and it doesn't have a whole lot of genre-defining moments. It has some great weapons and it's fun to climb on walls. Killing bosses and watching them explode while your time adds up is super satisying. But it's so punishing that I don't know that I could recommend it to just anybody. This is for a special kind of gamer that wants to know what things were like in the late 80s or just wants to play man vs. game. My experiences with this game as a child were me absolutely refusing to let a game beat me. I would sit there and bang my head against it until it finally broke. It may have taken hours, but I ended up winning in the end!
Outland, maybe more than any other game on this list, is derivative. It takes elements from clearly defined games such as Ikaruga, Shadow of the Colossus and Metroid. It is possible -- probably likely -- that very few people will remember this game in five years.
But there's something to be said for exceptional design and Outland has that. The mechanics work together well, the levels have fantastic progression and a perfect difficulty curve, and the bosses might be the best in any 2d game ever made. Maybe this isn't the first game you should play in the genre, but after checking out the basics, there isn't a much better place you could go. It's tough to do something new in 2011 when people have been making sidescrolling games for nearly 30 years. Sometimes you just have to take previous ideas and make them better than ever before. Outland does that well.
Outland one of the best downloadable games this gen! I agree that it has some derivative elements, ones that it doesn't try to hide, but good design and being fun to play wash that all away.
This game is really loved and so this pick will probably be a bit unpopular. DKC was notable in its day for its graphics - it was one of the first games to use pre-rendered 3d - but other than that, DKC didn't really do anything "new". It didn't introduce any new mechanics. It didn't have cool powerups. It had some mine cart traversal and the two-character system, but in the grand scheme of things it added very little to the genre.
Where DKC2 excels is in its polish. Every level has tons of secrets. The sound effects and music are spot-on. I love picking up a bunch of bananas just because of the sound it makes. Finding the KONG in each level was oddly satisfying in a way that Super Mario World couldn't match. If you want to look at pure level design, DKC is probably one of the best pure platformers ever made. I don't really like the series very much but I can appreciate great design. This game has it.
Outland is really f***ing good. Had lots of ideas for puzzles and seemed to always make you think about what you had to do, at least for a bit. Then some of them required a decent bit of execution to get through, or at to do so without a ton of damage.
I think I'm missing 1 Health or Energy upgrade and I feel like I need to go get before I'd think about doing other things in the game (Just Time Trials/trophies, I think?). Eh, basically did 90% of the game but that still bothers me. >_> Got all the Marks/Money Vases so whatever...
Just felt really smooth, too. It feels to great to launch enemies with an uppercut then do the 3 hit combo to kill them.
The crouch sword hit is so ass. Has a fair amount of recovery, doesn't have the chain combo the stand sword hit does, and doesn't launch like an Uppercut or slide kick. That might not be so bad since it should fill some kind of a niche for a low attack, but the Uppercut ends up doing that better! Thing has a plenty good low hitbox and has slightly more recovery than the crouch sword but it launches and you can actually do something off of it.
Physics-y puzzle games are nothing new or groundbreaking, especially in the PC space. Where World of Goo really kills it is in its presentation - the design of the goo balls, the force feedback from picking them up, the squees they make when you grab them, and the music. Oh god, the music. This game might have the greatest in-game soundtrack of all time. It's just a silly puzzle game where you rearrange goo balls to make a structure but god damn. The music is so inspirational and exciting. The whole game feels super fresh and clever as a result. World of Goo just makes you feel good.
Well, unless your structure falls apart like mine always do. That really sucks. Anyway, I think this game is a must-play if only for how they managed to make a simple puzzle game feel so emotional and exciting.