Board 8 > transience presents: The 50 Most Essential 2d Video Games (with writeups)

(+) Yeah! (+)

i want in on this topic for some recz

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transience posted...
Sonic's on here, don't worry. it's just a matter of picking a game.

Sonic Adventure 2 isn't a 2D game o_O

just finding this. Oh boy, what *would* I put on this list? And for reference, I'm going to define "2d" for the mostpart as pre-32-bit. So there are a few choices that you might argue are actually 3d.


* Pong - for being the first noteworthy video game
* Pac-man - for similar reasons to Pong, except that it can be fun for more than 2 minutes at a time if you don't suck at it. (Am I seriously the first person in this thread to mention pac-man?)
* Combat - because there was simply no better game for Atari than MF'ing COMBAT!!
* Other really old games - Space Invaders, Asteroids, Q-Bert, Qix, I could go on. There are lots of old games people could bring up that DON'T belong IMO, like Missile Command, Joust (so overrated), Discs of Tron, and pretty much any derivative of Space Invaders
* Summer Games (C64 represent!)
* Donkey Kong
* SMB1
* SMB3
* Marble Madness - the view might be isometric, with some changes in elevation, but I would not call it 3-d
* Tetris
* 1942 - this is the first true rail-shooter for me. Sorry, R-type.
* Contra (original. The sequels just sucked and related games like Commando and Ikari Warriors just don't hold up.
* TMNT arcade for the definitive arcade beat em up experience
* The Simpsons arcade as a good follow-up
* Rad Racer - not because it was very good, but because it was the one racing game everybody had
* Excitebike - see Rad Racer, but very different style of racer, and was actually fun
* Rygar - first true console adventure I played, Zelda came later for me, and this did a lot of things Zelda did not
* One Must Fall 2097 - to represent all the great PC shareware titles. I feel like I should opt for a Commander Keen or a Duke Nukem (obviously I can't pick Wolf 3-d or d00m,) but this was always a big favorite of mine
* Tyrian - for one other solid shareware pick. This one wins out over Raptor.
* Civilization - this has to be there. This is *the* strategy game series, if ever there was one.
* SimCity - deserves an actual place on the list and not just an honorable mention
* Starcraft - not my favorite as I don't love RTS games, but c'mon. It's freaking *Starcraft*.
* Sonic - my pick for the series is #2, personally. I honestly didn't know anyone who owned 3, nor did I care much for it when I got to try it.
* something from each of DW/DQ, FF, and PS to satisfy generic RPG fans...oh yeah, and Might and Magic as well. The later games were sorta 3-d, so take World of Xeen there. On that note...
* Heroes of Might and Magic
* Minesweeper and Windows Solitaire - lol choices, yes, but for "most essential?" Probably more man-hours have been spent on Freecell than the vast majority of games we tout around here.
* Ogre Battle
* Super Metroid
* Maniac Mansion - or some other SCUMM game. I never played much MM, tbh. Monkey Island? Indy and the Fate of Atlantis?
* DKC
* SF2
* MK2 (or 3 if you prefer)
* SSB
* Pokemon RBY
* SoM
* CT
* The Lost Vikings


And I'm gonna cut myself off there before this post gets too ridiculous. It's a shame there are a lot of old games that I legitimately have to consider 3-d. Any space sim, any "Quest" game...and then there are tons of old classics I just didn't feel needed to be on here, like Paperboy, Bubble Bobble, Deadly Towers...

Tag

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From: pjbasis | #302
Sonic Adventure 2 isn't a 2D game o_O

I would only recommend SA2 to people I didn't want to get into Sonic games.

So I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

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LeonhartFour posted...
From: pjbasis | #302
Sonic Adventure 2 isn't a 2D game o_O
I would only recommend SA2 to people I didn't want to get into Sonic games.

So I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Seriously, if you want people to know what Sonic games are about, SA2 isn't the one to recommend.

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19. Castle Crashers

Platform: XBLA, PSN
Release Date: 2008
Video:

Every 2d beat-em-up was made obsolete on the day this game came out.

Let's start with how it looks - Castle Crashers looks great. It's got a great art style with great assets. The sound effects are dead on and hitting things feels really good. It's a *great* multiplayer game thanks to how simple it is to play. It has a great sense of style and sense of humor too. It's got a cool RPG level-up system that both reward you for killing enemies and make you want to race to the enemies so you can get more exp than your partner. It's got online multiplayer that plays pretty well now that it's been all patched up. Basically, Castle Crashers takes an old genre and brings it immediately into the present. It's basically the beat-em-up equivalent of Street Fighter 4.

Play this game if you haven't. It may not have the nostalgia of a TMNT or a Golden Axe or a SOR2, but it's so much better. Get a board 8 game going sometime and you'll have this game on your top xx lists.

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xyzzy

Despite beating the game on Insane Mode....I could never really get into Castle Crashers.

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Insane Mode was a bit much for me. my friend would always die once we hit the difficulty spike on Lava World. I thought about trying to solo it but.. why?

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xyzzy

LeonhartFour posted...
Seriously, if you want people to know what Sonic games are about, SA2 isn't the one to recommend.

Half of the series IS like Sonic Adventure!

Half of the series isn't spending 2/3 of the game running around in mechs and treasure digging, so I don't want people forever associating that with Sonic.

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pjbasis posted...
LinkMarioSamus posted...
This. We might as well be comparing RE4 to Metroid games in that case (seriously, that's how it felt to me when I played RE4 for the first time a few months ago - it felt like a Metroid game where the emphasis on puzzle solving, bright colors, and space tech flair were replaced with all-out action, "photorealism", and a rural setting).

So basically if Metroid is like Resident Evil 4, with all the Metroid taken out in favor of Resident Evil 4?

More or less. RE4 reminded me of Super Metroid so often (and also Prime and even Other M at times).

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I've seen people solo it

I don't know how they did it. I barely did it with a group of 4 people that were all level 99

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What I said was really a sarcastic remark, LMS, to illustrate that Metroid is nothing like RE4.

However, with a gaming repertoire as small as yours, it's possible that you may have made connections others normally wouldn't. So I'll let it slide.

Even so I have no idea how RE4 could remind one of Super Metroid.

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that dead woman pinned to the wall in the first area totally reminds me of that time in Super Metroid when I fought the ghost

like they were both dead right it's totally similar

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From: azuarc | Posted: 9/13/2011 9:32:35 PM | #303
Rygar - first true console adventure I played, Zelda came later for me, and this did a lot of things Zelda did not

How the hell did I forget Rygar? I love that game, especially the music.

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From: Theon_Greyjoy | #316
Even so I have no idea how RE4 could remind one of Super Metroid.

His inability to compare and contrast things must be why he compares two games from completely different genres in his inequalities.

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I've played the Castle Crashers demo with a friend. Seemed pretty good! I dunno about better than SoR2 or TMNT though. Actually I liked Scott Pilgrim the game a bit more than Castle Crashers, from the demos. Gonna buy them both pretty soon.

18. The Legend of Zelda

Platform: NES
Release Date: 1987
Video:

This one could go anywhere -- in the top 5 or not in the top 25. Zelda 1 is actually unlike any other game in the series in a lot of ways. It's a game that focuses on both free-roaming exploration and combat over the traditional formula of atmosphere + puzzles. Above all, it drops you into a world, gives you a sword and lets you go. That kind of freedom is not explored in Zelda anymore.

Here's the thing with Zelda 1: people had more patience for this kind of game back in the day. Nowadays, if someone tried to play this game they'd be on GameFAQs within a few minutes. They would never do the "burn every bush" thing that most of us relied on back in the day. There would be no Nintendo Power egging us on with hints. Zelda is a series that evolved from the first one to the point where it's almost obsolete.

But I would say that this game has more classic moments and notable parts than Link to the Past does. "It's dangerous to go alone, take this", "it's a secret to everybody", "master using it and you can have this" -- Old Man might be the most quotable guy on the NES. Zelda 1 is also notable for letting the player do things in whatever order they wanted, for having an entire second quest built in, for having actual challenge and for being more rewarding in general. You can really feel like you accomplished something for taking down a room of those darknut jerks without getting hit. Later Zelda games are all about those puzzles, and those are rewarding too but in a different way. Zelda 1 was about skill.

I would still recommend this game - it's my favourite Zelda game by a good bit - but I'm pretty sure most younger gamers see it as a relic from another era. It's got enough unique stuff to make it worth a play but it'll need to be somebody who can go explore on their own without running to a FAQ site if they can't find what they want after ten minutes.

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xyzzy

yeah I think you had to play Zelda 1 at the time, there's no going back to it now. LttP was my first and I certainly don't have the patience for the first one.

I never did beat that second quest, there were two dungeons I just couldn't find back then.

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17. Braid

Platform: XBLA, PSN, PC
Release Date: 2008
Video:

Braid is notable for a lot of reasons. It legitimized Xbox Live Arcade as a place for original content and not just simple arcade games. Braid's trippy, reality-bending atmospheric style created a ton of imitators. It took indie games to another level due to unprecedented success on a console, a place normally reserved for big-budget games. And it was made by essentially one person, making it a feel-good story.

But all of those things -- while notable -- aren't the reason Braid is so good. Its level design is second to none. Braid's designer thinks way outside the box to create some mindbending solutions that take a while to wrap your head around. The game is smarter than you and lets you know over and over by keeping it simple but challenging you mentally. It also has an abstract story woven in that stays with you for quite a while due to a really powerful ending scene. There are so many imitators of the Braid style that it's one of the most talked about games of the current gen. I can't even count the number of games that try to claim that they're 'like Braid'. There's only one Braid.

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xyzzy

Castle Crashers so good. My only problem with it is that it's tough to tell where you line versus enemies. That's kind of annoying.

Zelda 1 would probably be top 3 for me. I don't think you need to fix too much in order to make it an acceptable game today. Give people an in-game map with some key points and you're set. Really good game.

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As of now LTTP is the only 2D Zelda I've beaten, and it's my favorite of the five Zelda games I've beaten (aka GODLY).

I'm sure my "oddball" opinions on the series have been well-documented by now.

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Ugh Braid so overrated. The visual style was alright but the plot was incredibly stupid (made worse by how pretentious the whole thing was) and the difficulty of the puzzles is overblown. A lot of the hardest puzzle pieces simply rely on being a pain in the ass to execute (looking at you Fickle Companion).

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the gameplay in Braid is quite good, and on gameplay alone it's one of the best things from this gen. I could probably do without the story though. it's a little too over the top and impressed with itself.

What exactly makes Arkanoid more special than other Breakout-style games?

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the gameplay in Braid is quite good, and on gameplay alone it's one of the best things from this gen.

Man, this gen must be pretty strapped for gameplay then (I've largely stayed out of the loop). Braid had a few neat mechanics but was still nothing more than a decent puzzle platformer. It doesn't belong on a top 20 of anything except maybe indie games (and I haven't played many indie games so I wouldn't know).

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SubDeity wants to vote for Calvin Coolidge. [Evil Republican]
Play Der Langrisser.

Arkanoid just takes the formula in a fun direction. powerups are really cool and the addition of enemies and special blocks are cool too.

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xyzzy

16. Contra

Platform: NES
Release Date: 1988
Video:

There are 4 or 5 things about the original Contra that will always make it the definitive game in the series. The first stage is just a classic - the music, the exploding bridge, the first boss. The music is some of the most iconic on the system. I think it's the first multiplayer sidescrolling game on a console that had any traction. This game was pretty much the best multiplayer game on the system. And, of course, the origin of the Konami Code.

Unlike most other games in the series, Contra was a game anybody could play. The Code made it so literally anybody could get through it without much trouble. Levels were kinda challenging but not to the point where you had to memorize everything. You could beat it on one continue without a whole lot of trouble. The game is also the most replayable of the series.

As far as classic NES titles go, it's hard to do much better than Contra. There are only two or three NES games that have aged better than the original Contra.

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xyzzy

Dragon Warrior definitely has no place on this list. FF1 has that "classix RPG" feel without being you know, terrible. Braid is also kind of an iffy choice but given how much you hype it I'm not surprised it's on here. Those are probably the only two I have issue with being on the list at all so far, not considering placement. Though I haven't played most of the Indy games on the list.

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No problem!
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you can't put FF1 on this list without Dragon Warrior. either put both or neither.

I am far from Braid's biggest fan on this board!

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xyzzy

And, of course, the origin of the Konami Code.

Gradius, actually.

BTW there had better be a damn shmup on this list.

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SubDeity wants to vote for Calvin Coolidge. [Evil Republican]
Play Der Langrisser.

Gradius uses it? I thought only Life Force did. hrm.

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xyzzy

Eh I think having both is redundant to an extent.

I guess the worse part of having Dragon Warrior on the list at all is having it above FF1, though, when FF1 is better in pretty much every definition of the word essential (better game, more prolific franchise, more relevant to direction of the series in the future, more iconic stuff in it).

Ridiculous...!

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There are only two or three NES games that have aged better than the original Contra.

Yeah I can't think of many. Super Mario Bros 3 of course. Castlevania 1 or 3, maybe.

Some simpler games on the NES aged rather well, like Thunder and Lightning (a Breakout-style game post-Arkanoid, FWIW).

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SubDeity wants to vote for Calvin Coolidge. [Evil Republican]
Play Der Langrisser.

More relevant to direction of series in the future? That pretty much defines DW1 dude. That series didn't even stop looking like DW1 in battle for 20 years!

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xyzzy

Eh I'd say FF1's battle system is closer to later games in the series than DW1's.

Mostly cause of the whole party thing. Luckily DW learned that 1v1 rpg combat is stupid.

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No problem!
This is a cute and pop genocide of love!

Though I guess I could see argument for either way. DW did keep a lot of archaic crap in it well past its welcome.

"Talk Examine
Item Status
Look Door
Stairs Unlock
Barter Hopscotch"

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No problem!
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FF1 loses that battle every time. FF evolved a lot more than DQ - look at FF1 and FF13 and there's absolutely no comparison, but look at DQ1 and DQ9 and you can definitely see a similarity.

of course, DQ10 renders all of that moot argh

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xyzzy

Give me DQ1 before FF1. I'd rather play any NES DQ over NES FF!

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peace comes from within

give me neither please

4 is where the good FF games start and I have no idea where the good DQ games start though 5 seems pretty solid

I heavily considered putting 3 instead of 1. that's the game where DQ became really good. it isn't as noteworthy as the original though.

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xyzzy

All Dragon Quest games are good, I think. There hasn't been one yet that I would call "bad."

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peace comes from within

The GBC version of DW1 is pretty fun!

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I've heard that's a lot better. I was thinking of playing it sometime to see if the reduced grind made it a lot more fun. it might.

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xyzzy