30 Days of Video Games - BONUS: Why Do You Play Games Pg. 142

[super saiyan weegee]

Day 2: Favorite Game

 

So, my favorite game happens to be one I talked about for the first question, but I can go waaaay more in depth about it beyond what it means to me nostalgically, so I hope it's alright that I'm doing it for today too. But yeah, let's get down to it!

 

(using a different picture for variety's sake)

 

This game, asides from having a big part in my childhood, is just an utter gem to me. I mean, especially as a huge Spongebob fan, man it's just really good. 

 

The set-up is that Plankton has created a machine that mass-produces robots that obey his every command...unfortunately, he forgot to set the machine to "Obey" and left it on "Don't Obey", thus causing them to kick him out of the Chum Bucket. Meanwhile, Spongebob and Patrick are at home playing Robots and Racehorses. Spongebob laments about how he wishes they had real robots to play with, and Patrick unveils a special shell of his that supposedly, when you put something inside of it, say the magic wishing words, then shake it, and wake up the next morning, it will magically create real-life duplicates (Patrick's evidence being he put a cookie crumb into the shell, shook it, and in the morning he had lots of little cookie crumbs, to Spongebob's understandable skepticism). They perform the ritual, and Patrick leaves for the night.

 

Upon waking up the next morning, Spongebob excitedly jumps out of bed to go play with his new robotic buddies, only to find his house in utter shambles, with a prompt "Your Bikini Bottom Stinks" crudely painted on the wall in red. After further investigation, Spongebob encounters Plankton outside, who re-caps about being kicked out of the Chum Bucket by the robots, leaving out of course the detail that all of this was his fault. Spongebob feels that it's his responsibility for setting the robots loose on a rampage (not knowing the truth of the matter), and vows to get Plankton back into the Chum Bucket, via collecting enough Golden Spatulas to get past various Tollbooths and restriction points that just exist, after he says he has a way to stop the attack. What ensues is the best dang game I've ever played.

 

You start the adventure in one of three total connected hub world areas, which contain entrances to various locations seen from the show, ranging from Jellyfish Fields, to Downtown Bikini Bottom, Goo Lagoon, and many more. All of them are translated into open environments with a whole lot of charm, teeming with characters from the show to meet, Shiny Objects to collect, Robots to fight, and Golden Spatulas to win. Each level is split into little sections, all with different objectives to meet, and fun to be had. Various side-challenges include collecting lost socks for Patrick, and oodles of Shiny Objects for ol' Mr. Krabs. It's all just a big barrel of enjoyment, man. And well, the whole thing feels like an episode straight from the show, but like, open world. It's actually pretty hard to describe. It just...it feels utterly Spongebob throughout, ranging from the character abilities, the world, characters and their personalities, the humor, the tone of the game, even the great gameplay, and the music...

 

...Man oh man, the music.

 

Just take a listen to Jellyfish Fields, The Mermalair, Kelp Forest, and especially the final boss theme, like dang that one right there is my favorite boss music piece of all time. And that's just a taste of it man, literally every song in this game is great to me, call it nostalgia, but that's the way I see it.

 

It's debatable whether or not the following sequels such as The Spongebob Squarepants Movie Game, among others, are superior, but to me man, this game right here will always be the greatest of 'em all. On a related note, I hope Heavy Iron (the developers behind this game) someday owe up to that statement they made where they said that an HD port of this game is something they'd love to. I couldn't picture anything that amazing, man.

 

I could go on gushing about this game all day, so I'll stop here. But really, haven't tried it out yet? I recommend it, not only to Spongebob fans, but to anyone who just likes a fun time with a great game.

 

A runner up to the title of my favorite game I suppose would be the lovely Super Mario 3D World, and well, if you wanna get the gist of why I think it's such a great game, I'd just refer back to as he hit the nail on the head as to why it's such a fine specimen of a game.

 

But yes, there we go, my favorite game, Spongebob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom, which by the way turned 10 last year, man has it really been that long? But yeah, there ya go.

[Chaos Incarnate]

 

Remember how a month ago in the Mass Effect Series thread I posted, I was heralding Mass Effect (the original) to be the best in the series? Well, I have no idea what the hell I was saying, you have no clue how much of a joy this game is to play over and over again, compared to its predecessor and sequel.

 

Mass Effect 2 has been talked about to death at this point, for its incredibly diverse squad, improved overall combat system+structure, engaging story that adds so much to the lore of the series, and best final mission in any video game, period, which rewards/punishes you depending on everything you've been building up to in your hours of play time.

 

Well, let's see. I love how stylishly the game looks in terms of visuals and tone, while still not going for a grim and gritty look. ME2 has got the best squad of any Mass Effect game (you really can't go wrong with characters like Miranda,Jack,Zaeed, Mordin, Thane, and Grunt- the list of favorites goes on and on, I love them all), and it feels so polished compared to the first game. Gone is the dumb as bricks enemy and ally AI, replaced with a much better flow of battlefield chemistry going on, with an actually functional cover system. I could go on for hours about what this game does right, it's hard to do it proper justice in just one measly post describing it. 

 

Not all games are for everyone, but I can definitely urge anyone that hasn't picked it up to go out of their way to play it. Mass Effect 2 is the perfect middle point of any trilogy, and it genuinely made me the hardcore Mass Effect fan I am today. Oh, and the theme song. Dare I even need to explain why it kicks so much ass?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAcWuw2pDpo&list=FLGthnV2HF9iHzSKSmByKmeA&index=2

[turbojet]

This is hard, Like truly. I can't possibly decide what game is my favorite. I mean....

Shouldn't yall have seen that one coming?

 

Yes, I know that it was flawed. Yes, I know that it had some serious issues with level design, but sheer idea of it and it's potential to be amazing overwhelms that. Just running through a stage gives me more of a visceral thrill than any game has ever done and all you do is just run away. I mean shit. And it was not just because of the first person, but the sheer fact that they took a lot of love and focused on movement. They made running into this labor against your body. You can hear Faith breathe as she is dashing accross rooftops. You feel her stumble as she takes a sharp turn. You can sense as she takes a wrong step despite being as graceful as a motherfucking gazelle. Running in video games before this was so unnatural that once a game presents you with realistic movement, it throws you for a loop. Man, I cannot fucking wait for Mirror's Edge 2.

[Strickerx5]

What, really?! I knew this question was coming but I didn't think it'd be so soon. Oh man, throughout my life I've always had three answers to this question for many reasons but now... now I think it's time to man up and answer it truthfully. So...

 

 

Day 2: My Favorite Game (my past self would have a fit if he saw this XD)

 

Wow, this was a tough choice but man did this game have me hooked for hours... no, literal days (of gameplay). This game has everything I could ever hope to get from a game. An engaging story, fun and addicting gameplay, great online, incredible music, customization, theater mode, great graphics (at least for the time), and to top it all off a simplistic interface. I just have so many memories with this game. Beating the campaign for the first time, playing well through the night with friends on custom maps and multiplayer, meeting new friends online (some of which I still talk to), the quest for recon and glitches, just really too many to talk about here. Not to mention the community around this. Man did it give me a lot to do even when I wasn't playing the actual game!

 

Though, I guess the main reason why I chose this game above the others (Sonic Unleashed and Super Smash Bros. Melee) was basically because I went into this game not expecting to like it. With Melee and Unleashed, I went in knowing most of the characters and liking the ideas already. To be frank, a long long time ago I had a very one tracked mind on what I wanted to enjoy. I was very Nintendo oriented and thought that shooters (and most games on other consoles) were just dull, violent, and non interesting titles (it was a dark time for me XD). Though, when Unleashed was being advertised and seeing the noticeable difference between the Wii and 360/PS3 versions I decided to try out the 360 for a bit. I actually had every intention of giving it to my younger brother once I had my feel of Unleashed. But then my parents got me Halo 3 along with it for Christmas. My friend pushed me to play it a couple days after and... needless to say I never looked back at my one tracked self. So I guess you could say Unleashed led me to this.

 

Halo 3 was just a game I could enjoy no matter what. It had so much stuff to do that if I got bored in one mode, I could simply hop on another one and instantly get re-engaged. Not to mention that I could have a huge session with friends without the need of going over to their houses and using split screen. It was just a game that I could dick around with if I wanted to and be serious with if I felt like it. It was an amazing game to me then and now and pretty much has been a heavy hand in shaping me as a gamer in general.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Day 1: Most nostalgic game.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for the PC!

Basically it's a third person platformer/adventure game with "action" elements included. It's incredibly easy, but it's fun and I had it when I was four and I like it, so there. I've made a post about it before, but I don't remember where it is and I'm not going to bother going though my post history to find it.

Day 2: Favorite game

Well, I'm sorry to say a Sonic game, but:

OH. MM. YES.

 

I absolutely adore this game for two reasons:

1. It was the first Sonic game I owned myself, and it's my second most nostalgic game because of it.

2. It's a great game. Sonic's control is the best in this or Adventure 2, I can't tell the difference. But this game is better than Adventure 2 because of how Tails, Knuckles, and Gamma's stages were handled. Tails was fast and not in a mech, Knuckles had smaller stages with a decent radar, and Gamma could turn easily and make any jumps easily if you were as careful as with Sonic.

[Kaabiitorori]

Day 2: Favourite Game

 

Finding your all-time favourite can be a difficult task especially when you have poured so many hours into so many different games. As an avid video gamer you go through so many different games across different genres and video game systems, with some of them leaving a ground-breaking experience throughout your playthroughs even to the point of admiring them. It's pretty common for someone to have a good amount of titles to be considered their favourites, yet naming THE favourite one can be a tough choice.

 

Much like the previous question, I could mention a lot of games that can easily take the spot of all-time favourite; aside from those previously mentioned in Day 1, I could say Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Sonic Adventure 2, Super Mario Galaxy, BioShock, Super Mario 3D World, Fire Emblem Awakening, and many more. But since I am known to be a die-hard fan of a certain cute little character, I cannot let pass this chance to mention this gem...

 

 

Kirby Super Star

 

As a big Kirby fan for more than a decade and a half I can say I absolutely adore almost every single game in the entire franchise. Kirby Super Star, however, holds the crown to be the game that seriously stood out the most to me not only in the entire Kirby series but as an overall big all-time favourite. The reasons, you may ask?

 

For starters, Super Star offers you seven different sub-games and two mini-games, some of these with their own individual storyline. From the remade levels of Kirby's Dream Land in Spring Breeze, the meal rush extravaganza of Gourmet Race, the complex yet exciting treasure hunting quest of The Great Cave Offensive to the dark and epic input of Revenge of Meta Knight, Super Star offers you a good and fun variety of levels and mechanics to play with while retaining the core elements of what made the Kirby series so beloved at the time. Or did they actually just retain them?

 

Not only that, but they drastically improved upon them in a lot of ways! His trademark Copy Ability was  given a major overhaul since its introduction in Kirby's Adventure; the game introduced the iconic hats which granted Kirby different appearances according to the ability he was using (ie. Kirby wears a Link-esque hat while using Sword) as well as multiple input commands which performs different sorts of attacks. Helpers also made their first appearance in this game, which allowed you to create a fellow partner related to the Copy Ability you had in use. This also allowed two player co-operative gameplay so a friend could pick up and play this game as well. Together with the more precise HP System, these elements remained a staple in the series throughout the years.

 

As someone who enjoyed Kirby's Adventure, playing Kirby Super Star for the first time back in the 90s was a mindblowing experience. The fact that Super Star gave an incredible twist to a relatively young series at the time was absolutely remarkable, and the overall game does an incredibly good job to entertain beginners and experienced players alike. It's a game I absolutely adore and I could always pick up and play whenever I want to give myself a good break from other games. =)

 

And I cannot mention Kirby Super Star without mentioning what is, in my opinion, one of the best remakes ever made:

 

 

Kirby Super Star Ultra

 

After their good job done with their first Kirby remake called Nightmare in Dream Land, the guys at HAL Laboratory did not disappoint in any way when they created Super Star Ultra. Aside from offering you the core SNES game, they added four brand new sub-games and three mini-games; while essentially two of these sub-games such as Revenge of The King or Meta Knightmare Ultra are remakes of earlier sub-games, these were granted with new storylines, characters and surprises to unveil. Also, the iconic boss rush mode The Arena was expanded with a Helper-only version called Helper To Hero where you could choose any of the 20 available Helpers each with their own unique abilities, and The True Arena which featured only bosses from the remake. The game had slightly improved graphics and soundtracks (with new music tracks introduced as well) and even the in-game cutscenes were turned into actual CGI ones.

 

In other words, they picked what was possibly one of the most popular and best Kirby games in the series and made it even better by adding a lot of new content, giving newcomer and veteran Kirby fans alike a really good reason to pick up this game. And I can assure you, my dear friends, that this game is a must if you never had the chance to play the original.

[-blank-]

...Strange. I would have figured this would be one of the last questions.

 

But anyway, let's do this;

 

Here it is, people, the moment you've all been waiting for:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yoshi’s Island is the greatest video game I have ever played in my whole life. When it was first released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1995, Nintendo had once again created something truly amazing. Everything about it from the fantastic gameplay, to the great level design, to the wonderful soundtrack all come together in a true gaming masterpiece that was lovingly developed. It’s simply amazing.

 

So the plot of this game can basically be described as such;

 

The story takes place when Mario and Luigi were babies, being delivered to their parents via stork. However, on the way, the stork is attacked by a Magikoopa by the name of Kamek. He steals Baby Luigi and causes Baby Mario to fall quite a distance down. And somehow, he manages to survive with not a scratch by dropping onto the back of a Yoshi. Kamek meanwhile is really pissed off that he only got one child, so he sends some Toadies (which by the way are in no way related to the Toads commonly in Mario games) to get Baby Mario. As for the Yoshi, he and his friends decide to reunite the Mario brothers and take them to their parents. And… that’s it. And you know what? That’s fine. While I do appreciate a good storyline, this game got along just fine without much of one.  I'm one of those people who can deal with the shittiest of shitty stories in games, as long as everything else about it is good.

 

The main graphical style is actually quite good. It sports a rather unique style that looks as if it had been drawn with felt markers and crayons, creating a living storybook of sorts. And I know what some people might be thinking – that the game must be really freaking childish, right?

 

 

 

 

No.

 

 

 

 

There’s so much more to the art style than meets the eye. Yoshi’s Island set out to do what many games, in a time when huge technological advancements were being made (3D, etc), did not – it pushed the SNES near to its limit, but it didn’t do it in a way that was blatantly obvious. Instead, Yoshi’s Island took a more restrained approach to its style.

 

There is actually quite a bit of detail in the graphics, but it’s not something so obvious that it’s in your face. It’s something you have to stop and look at to really grasp. It’s this subtlety that gives the intention of what Nintendo was going for when they created the style of Yoshi’s Island; it recreates a sense of child-like innocence and a feeling of a story that, as the game itself puts it, happened ‘a long, long time ago.’ It takes the player back in time, to when things were simpler, when anything seemed to be possible, to a world of dreams and fantasy. But the subtle little details allow the game to do all that without the risk of dumbing anything down. It’s a style that I feel can appeal to people of all ages. Plus, it just looks nice;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the cave levels by the way – I find them the overall best looking out of all the level types you see in the game. Also, they have the best music in the game. Which brings me to my next point:

 

The soundtrack of Yoshi’s Island is utterly fantastic. Generally Mario games always tend to have good music.  And Yoshi’s Island was certainly no exception.  The composer of the game’s soundtrack, Koji Kondo, really did a fantastic job on the music. The tunes range from soft and easy to listen to;

 

 

To sounding quite catchy and fun;

 

 

To being rather atmospheric at times;

 

 

The music, put quite simply, is awesome.

 

And the level design? Holy shit, this game really feels like an adventure. If the graphics didn't already make the game come alive, then the fantastic level design certainly does. This game really focuses a lot on exploration - you'll find a lot of hidden secrets if you look for them, and getting a 100% on every stage requires you to go off the beaten path. But there's another aspect of the levels I should touch upon. You know how many levels are in Yoshi’s Island? Forty-eight, not counting the extra and secret stages. Now I know what some of those who haven’t played the game are probably thinking; oh, that means that there’s going to be a lot of rehashing of levels and ideas. But, not really. I mean, sure you’ll see a lot of concepts and gameplay elements and so on repeated. However, Yoshi’s Island takes these concepts and puts a fresh twist on them – the levels you go through always have something different to offer, even if the concept itself had already been done in a previous stage.

 

And now we get to talking about the meat of the game; the gameplay.

 

Yoshi’s Island, despite being called a sequel to the fantastic Super Mario World in some areas (don’t understand why. I mean, it’s clearly a prequel to the entire Mario franchise), actually doesn't have much in common gameplay-wise with other entries in the series. I mean, sure you can jump on your foes to kill them and there’s plenty of platforming to be had. But there’s much more to this game than that. You know how many ways you can kill enemies? Well, you can jump on them, of course. You can also swallow them and turn them into egg. You can also throw eggs at enemies. You can spit foes at each other, and you can ground pound them.

 

Oh wait, I forgot about the three melon items you can use; the regular watermelon allows you to spit seeds at enemies like it’s a machine gun, the fire melon which true to its name lets you breath fire and burn your foes, and finally the ice melon you can freeze enemies with. Oh and you also crush them with a giant Chomp Rock, and there are some other items you get that allow you to kill enemies.

 

So yeah, there are a lot of ways one can take out foes. Really adds to the variety of the game I think, but without it being a complete overkill.

 

Controls are, for lack of a better word, fantastic. Yoshi himself runs at a steady clip, fast enough to get through the levels, but slow enough so that you still feel you have optimal control over the dino. Then you have what is now a major part of his repertoire, the Flutter Jump, which proves to be very useful throughout the game and it especially makes what would have been otherwise highly frustrating platforming segments tolerably and, dare I say it, almost fun at times. 

 

So, in conclusion, Yoshi's Island is an utter gem of a game. It is a video game masterpiece that I feel should be looked at closer, one in which game design in general could take a page out of in terms of making a truly great experience.

 

Yoshi's Island, everybody, fantastically designed, and my absolute favorite video game of all time.

[C4k3]

Day 2: Favourite Game

 

 

Don't worry, I'm not going to be bringing up the GTA series in every question. But it just happens to be one of my all time favourite games.

 

No matter how many times I go back to San Andreas, I can always guarantee I'm going to have fun with it. The huge map to explore. The freedom to do what you like. It's all I want in a video game. After the huge success of the previous 2 games in the series, San Andreas was going to seriously up the ante once again for the series. And boy, did it ever. The game added so much more to do than it's predecessors.  What makes it even better is that the PC version allows extensive modding and even a huge fanmade multiplayer service, so the fun doesn't end at just singleplayer.

 

I can't believe it's been almost 10 years since its release. Time really does fly. But blowing up shit and just causing vehicular mayhem will never get old.

[LATER BUDDY]

Day 2: Favorite Game

 

Solatorobo

 

 

http://www.solatorobo.com/

 

 

For the longest time I've bounced between this game and Okami, but a few months ago I decided that Solatorobo is definitely my favorite game, on a multitude of reasons.

 

"The fuck is it?" is the usual answer I get when I mention the name, and I feel like it's hard to explain without getting the "lawl furries" response. You play as that fox/dog/guy person on the box there, Red (the Hunter) Savarin, a hunter that takes on jobs at various towns to get by in life. The world is populated in dog and cat people, living above the clouds on floating land forms, traveling to each on airship or mech. The game pretty much starts as Red and his sister doing another job when they accidentally interfere with something pretty big and it just escalates from there.

 

And that's putting it in the most summarized version of terms I can think of without giving away more. The thing I love so much about this game is that I'm a fucking sucker for world building, and my god does this game have ample of that. You can tell that developers loved every ounce of this game, and it's almost a shame that they couldn't have expanded more, since there's an unlockable library that just tries to at least scratch the surface on all the ideas they had for this world they created.

 

To be more on point since I can (and will if I don't stop) ramble about this game for ages, the ironic thing about this being my favorite game is, well, the gameplay is the worst aspect hahahaha. It just goes to show that a video game is definitely more than the input controls anymore. A majority of the game you're Red on his mech machine, and follows the simple rules that the game before it was about it (it's like a spiritual successor, not directly, though the same creators at least), Tail Concerto. The basic object of the game is to lift and throw things with your mech to fight or solve puzzles. The game play is a breeze and I've yet to see the gameover screen, but literally /everything else about the game/ makes up for it for me that I don't even care or get annoyed with it.

 

Aside from the fabulous world building, all the characters are really love-able and unique (Red especially even if his personality isn't anything new), the plot blew my mind since it pulls one of those "wait you thought the game was over? Lawl there's still another half the game and btw, it's 5849032x more intense and crazy" dealeos, the music is one of my favorite soundtracks in existence for a video game (they even released a "perfect" edition that doesn't sound ripped from a DS but in high quality), and the art is so vibrant and cozy feeling that you never want to leave the game ever.

 

I could do a spoiler deal, but honestly I'd much rather for anyone even remotely interested in this game to check it out if they ever can. It's a long fun story that you never want to put down, like a grand fantasy novel that you're apart of. Cheesy yes, but I can't stress enough how awesome this game is.

 

So yeah, Solatorobo is hands down my favorite video game.

[Winston]

Day 2: Favorite Game

Team Fortress 2

Man let me just tell you how hard this was, this was extremely hard of a decision to make for me, but I soon realized it was the right decision, because it's the only game I've never quit playing. Seriously, I've been playing this game for like two or three years and I'm still not sick of it, even if it is super fucking rage inducing. I just really fucking love this game, and Valve are just geniuses in every aspect for creating this game.

 

The story is just superb, even though the actual game itself doesn't have a story, the Team Fortress 2 official website has on-going comic books, even a series going on right now of 6 issues or so, but it's currently only at #3 at the moment. The writing is fucking hilarious in these comics, and it really makes the universe feel alive. It really brings out the best of the characters that you don't already see in the games, as alot of the lore and shit comes from these comics and it just genuinely makes me laugh out loud every time I read a new comic.

 

The gameplay is also fantastic, it plays like most Valve FPS, but it's so addictive for some reason. I guess all Valve games would be addictive if they didn't follow a story and such, as TF2 does not, but the characters themselves are expressive enough to pull through. The game has 9 different classes, which each of them hugely different from the rest. Scout can run really fast and double jump, Soldier can shoot rockets and rocket jump, Demoman can use a grenade launcher, and use a stickybomb launcher, Pyro can airblast and make people catch on fire, Heavy is really slow but does massive damage with his minigun, Engineer can set up a defensive nest with sentries and can even set up teleporters to make travelling to the other side of the map ten times easier, Spy can cloak, disguise and backstab people, and my favorite of the 9, Sniper, is as the name implies, a Sniper. (seriously sniper is my favorite) The characters all have a charm, and are all insane in their own way, the most sane out of all of them is probably the Engineer, as he is the only one that doesn't really do alot of insane shit.

 

Overall, the game is just addictive, and I highly recommend it if you have a PC that can run Team Fortress 2. It has alot of variety, and even Mann vs. Machine is just fantastic. I am literally addicted to this game, and it's hats. The hats run in my bloodstream now, it will soon effect you, but yeah, this is my favorite game.

[Red]

Day 2: Favourite Game:

 

Oh man my favourite game would have to be this:

 

 

This game really means a lot to me. From the stunning visuals, to the fantastic music, right down to the story. Everything about it is just great. You play as a robed figure who needs to get to the mountain in the far distance. Throughout your Journey you will learn about the world around you, and discover truly beautiful places. It's even better if you play with a friend for the whole way through because it makes it that much more special. I was practically crying by the end. It's that spectacular.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Oh hell... how could I have forgotten Journey?

[Enesephus]

Oh, this is a tough one. For many years I've considered Jak 3 to be my favorite non-Sonic game due to a combination of great gameplay, great story, great challenge and, of course, great nostalgia value. However, last year I played a game that, though it pains me somewhat to say this, considering how much I love Jak, is even better, and has no nostalgia value, obviously. So for my favorite non-Sonic game, I'm gonna have to go with:

Rayman Origins for the Nintendo Wii. There aren't enough words to show how much I love this game. Everything about the gameplay is insanely fun, from the platforming to the moskito shooting stages, the bosses to the tricky treasures. While the game does get quite challenging down the line, to the point of being occasionally slightly frustrating, you never feel as though the game's screwing you over; if you die, it's entirely your fault. The lack of a traditional lives system keeps things from getting too Nintendo Hard. The controls are nice and simplistic and the co-op is incredibly fun.

 

The game is made all the more wonderfully fun by the phenomenal visuals thanks to UbiArt. Just check out these screenshots:

This is easily one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. I really need not say anything more, since I think these images can speak for themselves perfectly .

 

And of course, let's not forget the amazing soundtrack, for what is a great game without great music (merely a good game, if you're anything like me)?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OTYhwDjIheA

Nearly all of the tracks are very memorable and easy to hum to, and even the ones that aren't are by no means bad. My favorites would have to be all of the Mexican music tracks, particularly the music for the fight with Heartburn, and the music for Fire When Wetty. 

 

I could go on forever about how much I love this game, but instead I just want to say, if you have any love for 2D platformers, or even just platform games in general, you need to give this game a go of you haven't already. It truly is a work of art.

[Kiaz]

Favorite Game? Oh man another toughie. It's a toss up between

 

Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis
GOD I LOVE THIS GAME. It's like chess but more fun. Strategy RPG where you play the main character Alphonse Loeher (you can change his first name, which also names the save file in question. Up to 3 save files) and his trek to stop Shaher the Fallen Angel from destroying the world and then God.

 

 

and

Spyro: Hero's Tail (Despite how DAMNED ANNOYINGLY HARD most of the bosses are)

Squee, Vivendi Universal got a Spyro game right! Mostly. Coulda gone easier with the bosses (or added a replay boss feature) but eh, pretty good job.

 

[Mystwalker]

Welp, missed the thread completely on Day 1! Though honestly I don't mind starting on Day 2 at all, seeing as this looks pretty fun (it's my first time doing these 30 Day things too).

 

Anyway...

 

Day 2: Favourite Game

 

 

So... this is Xenoblade Chronicles, or just Xenoblade as I usually refer to. It's a game for the Wii released in 2010 (2011 for Europe and a year later for the US). It's a action-adventure JRPG with huge open worlds and a real-time combat system. For starters it's been notorious due to being one of the three Wii RPG games covered by "Operation Rainfall", where people expressed a big interest and pushed a campaign to demand this game, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower to be localized to the west.

 

 

My story with this game started out of the blue, really: one day I was casually walking around the games section in an El Corte Ingles store in Lisbon. It's not my usual go-to spot for games, and I was merely checking out, not being particularly interested in any game at all. There I spotted Xenoblade in the shelf, and remembered vaguely about people speaking of 3 JRPGs that were really hot topics at the time. So, since I had some extra money to spare, I decided to take this game with me back home to try it out, completely without knowing anything about it beforehand.

 

In retrospective, I am really, really grateful I made that choice. I mean, Xenoblade became a rare gem, especially in the US, where the late and limited release made places like GAME sell used copies at ridiculous prices (around $80 or so)! Given that I haven't seen many Xenoblade copies on store here in Portugal as well... well yeah, I was lucky! D:

 

 

About the game, I'd like to start off by saying that Xenoblade manages to fulfill some key childhood fantasies of mine that, for some reason, I've been expecting to see in videogames for the longest time, but actually couldn't quite reach there.

 

The fantasy that is: taking part of the role of the hero of a story, and being able to venture my way through the world from point A to point B, while meeting the experience of going through everything in-between those points (A1, A2, A2.2, A4.5...). Like, as an example, starting from my hometown and deciding I want to go to that faraway mountain to hunt a legendary artifact, but through the way I discover towns I never imagined before, and people, and new experiences... But regardless of my pace in the main quest, I can choose to go in virtually any direction from any middle point and find something new. No bounds.

 

 

Well, Xenoblade kind of does that. It's the closest experience I had to those dream stories, to have a fantastic adventure in a fantastic world without major interruptions or limitations.

 

The environments in Xenoblade are HUGE. The world in this game takes place on top of two sleeping titans, the Bionis and the Mechonis. Even with the option to quick travel (basically warp to any previously encountered Landmarks on the map) you can easily hit a few to several hours just exploring a single area. And there's nearly 20 of these. I'm on a second playthrough and even with previous game knowledge and shaking up my routes, I still finished the storyline part of the game with the clock ticking 78 hours, so yeah, it's a really big environment!

 

 

Gameplay-wise it's nothing overly complicated IMO. You can run around, do a small jump, use the shoulder buttons to target different enemies around you, and select moves with your D-pad and the A button.

 

Combats feel a bit like an MMORPG, more in a sense because there's no mana in Xenoblade: your skills follow a cooldown system, you simply have to wait for them to be available again. In the meantime your character will automatically perform basic attacks when close to the targetted enemy. It's fundamentally simple, but there's also a bit of depth to it. As in, some attacks do more damage from certain angles, and combining skills amongst your team allows you to inflict status effects that will eventually allow you to topple down an enemy or even stun him cold!

 

 

The only thing I have quirks with is the level system. Leveling up in Xenoblade can be rather easy, and enemies who at first are threatening can quickly become super easy to overcome by going as far as being 5-6 levels above them. Without going into much technical details, being a few levels behind or ahead does affect accuracy and evasion modifiers, so you can pretty much never get hit! Of course, same does apply for the enemy if you're underlevelled... It's really weird in a way!

 

 

Story-wise, from what I've seen and heard people have mixed opinions over it. I for one enjoyed it a lot, and on my second playthrough I managed to make better sense of some things, but it's hard to talk about it without spoiling too much. One can say it's your typical JRPG flare, others can say it has some interesting twists and turns... I suggest playing the game yourself or watch some videos of an LP on YouTube to get the gist of it.

 

 

... I guess I'm going on for too long now!

 

Overall, I'd recommend anyone to look into Xenoblade for one of those giant-overworld adventure epics. It's just a bit of a shame the game, being a Wii game, doesn't support 720p HD (unless you're playing on an emulator like Dolphin), but even so the world of Xenoblade is visually enchanting and beautiful.

 

And, it reminds me that sometimes you don't need the world's most advanced gaming platform to create the most remarkable title. You can merely pick up a console (well I suppose Monolith Soft didn't had much of a choice since it's second party to Nintendo from what I've heard ) and push it to the limit to make a great game regardless!

 

 

 

EDIT: Oh darn, the music! How could I forget the music?!

 

Well, it's 3:25AM and I'm getting reaaally sleepy now. D: So, I'm just going to leave two tracks in a spoiler tag and let them do it's justice. No, seriously, this game's music has lasted forever on my cellphone! ACE+ has done an awesome job, and there's some compositions from Yoko Shimomura and Manami Kiyoto too.

 

Colony 9 (Day) - Yoko Shimomura

 

"You Will Know Our Names" / "Those Who Bear Their Name" (Unique Monster theme) - ACE+

 

 

That's all for today!

Edited May 3, 2014 by MickX

[BakingBluePotatoe]

Day 2: Favorite Non-Sonic Videogame Not that I have a faorite Pokemon one either

 

Uhm. Uhm. Uh. Uh. *eats a snickers bar* Yeah, picking one is really hard, it all depends on my mood really. and I was gonna say Yoshi's Island but that was said by others already...

 

 

How could I ever forget this game!? It was and still is, to this day, VERY fun! It starts off ridiculous, and keeps the silly tone throughout the game. Of course, I mean that in a good way. 

 

Some of my favorite parts where the minigames between the levels, and of course, that whole Dreamland level was just so wild and goofy, like a Cloud Cookooland place! Hahaha, and fighting those drunkards in the bar... and of course, one CANNOT forget the sight of Mr Burns in a giant Robot Suit! 

 

And to tie in with yesterday, this game also has a bit of Nostalgia Factor to it, as I have fond memories of playing this in an arcade with my dad. We aacctually beat the game, I was Lisa and he was Bart! x3

I'll give some Honorable Mentions to some other games too, in no particular order. I JUST CAN'T PICK.

Ah, Kingdom Hearts Re:coded. I've noticed, of the Kingdom Hearts games this one isn't talked about as much as the others. This was pretty much my REAL introduction to the Kingdom Hearts franchise, after having seen my friend play KH2 a bit, I picked this gem up during a Black Friday sale a year or two ago.

I did NOT regret that decision ONE BIT. It was just so much fun, I couldn't put it down for nearly a MONTH, after logging 50 hours on it by the time I beat the main story. I dunno if it's supposed to take that long, or if I'm just one of those REALLY long players, but I really do not care either way. I'm very eager to jump in and play the other games when I get a chance!

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass- Yet another introduction to a popular franchise! It was pretty fun, riding around in your custom pirate ships, going to islands and doing things, hunting down the ship that had the store, and of course, Linebeck! I dunno why I like him, I just do, he's amusing. I think at one point I even had it in mind to attempt to collect AAAAALL the ship parts. I must have been really into it back then. I think another reason I liked this so much was because it had a similar theme to Sonic Rush Adventure. PIRAAAAATES!

I'm also really fond of DOOM 1&2, Soul Calibur, and Crazy Taxi, but I don't think I can say as much about them.

[Dejimon11]

Favorite video game

Wow this is though one. There's just so many to chose from ill just go with the one that I can recall made me happy.

SUPER MARIO GALAXY

This game. My God do I love this game to death. It's ironic that when this game was first announced I really didn't care about it I was more interested in it until I saw IGN's review then I was impressed. Everything about this game was just so good like amazing. Gameplay was top notch, presentation was great and the music oh God the music is one of the best soundtrack ever. This was the first game video that I got that made me have no regrets I love this game and gusty gardens theme is amazing

[NGw00d]

Day 2: Favorite Game

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle

 

Day 2 and I'm already posting about a Sonic game. I was introduced to the Sonic series with the Genesis games because of my brothers, but I never really sunk my teeth into the series until SA2B came along. Its not the most technically sound game and probably not even the best Sonic game, but it is definitely my favorite. A decent part may be because of nostalgia and the countless hours I wasted trying to A rank all the stages and raising a perfect chao, but its still a game that I can go back to and have fun with despite the glaring faults I started to see later on. I don't wanna talk too much about Sonic so I'm also posting a runner up.

 

Batman: Arkham Asylum

 

It was a tough call between Asylum and City, but I had to go with the one that started it all. Playing Arkham Asylum felt like you were actually Batman. It just traps you in this universe and it feels amazing. Beating down the thugs and just gliding throughout Gotham is so satisfying and everything I've ever wanted from a Batman game. Bringing back most of the Animated Series voice actors just sweetened the pot even more as those voices are the ones I grew up with and related with the series the most. I just love everything about this game and how its just bursting with the love of the Batman lore. Its virtually my perfect game.

[Forte-Metallix]

Day 2: My Favorite Game

 

 

 

This game, in my eyes, has nigh-infinite replay value. Whether you're a "Fox only, no items, Final Destination" kind of player or one that actually likes to have fun a casual one, you can spend hours- no, WEEKS- with Brawl and only scratch the surface of what it has to offer! 30+ characters, a story mode, hundreds of stickers and trophies to collect, classic game demos, dozens of stages, missions, online play (not for long), and oh, man... the multiplayer. With so many customization options, no two matches are ever the same! This is the culmination of gaming: all of my favorite video game characters together in a fast-paced, all-out slugfest! How could it get any better?!

 

 

Oh. Yeah, that'll do.

[Gregzilla]

Day : Favorite Game

 

This is pretty close to impossible for me.  I like different games for different reasons, no game is perfect, blah blah blah.  For years Super Metroid would have taken this spot, but recently I came to the conclusion that it isn't QUITE as engaging as it originally appeared.  When it comes to sucking me in, one game has absolutely grabbed me, thrown me to the ground, kicked me in the stomach, and kept me coming back for more.  That game is:

 

 

Dark Souls

 

I can think of very few modern games -scratch that, games from any era- that have captivated me this much.  The atmosphere is fantastic, the world is mysterious and frightening, the monsters are awe-inspiring, and the gameplay is satisfying as hell.  The difficulty (while sometimes bordering on the ridiculous side) makes every single solitary step forward feel like a grand accomplishment.  Seriously, even defeating the most insignificant enemy in this game makes you feel like the friggin' man.

 

I'm not even sure how to do this game justice with words.  It's got some technical problems and the rare sense of bullshit unfairness (a feeling that I thought was amplified in the sequel), but for the most part it just refuses to let me stop playing.  The combat and weapons feel so good, every swing feels like a test of your might.  And I'm noticing I'm using the word "feel" quite a bit, but that's what this game does - it makes you feel.  It makes you FEEL powerless, scared, smart, strong, puny, powerful, all over the course of the experience.

 

The lore is very interesting too.  Most of the monsters and characters appear without explanation, but do some digging and you can discover their place in the world and their history, and it really makes the land of Lordran feel alive - despite all the death and whatnot.

 

In short, this is one of the most engrossing, addicting, beautiful, and flat-out best games I've ever played.  But then again, y'all seem to be praising Demon's Souls as better.  So I just ordered it off Amazon.  And we shall see.

 

RUNNERS UP

-Super Metroid - I'd say this was my favorite for about upwards of 6 years.  For a while I considered it pretty much perfection, though nowadays I've come to see some of its flaws - mainly that a lot of the items aren't hidden very intuitively and the controls aren't always the best.  But it's still a great game with fantastic atmosphere and a wonderful sense of exploration, and I'm sure I'll play through it countless more times.

-DOOM - Still pretty much my favorite FPS, just because of how classic it is.  The levels are designed like actual levels rather than setpieces, the enemies and weapons are cool, and the community is extremely creative.  Now please for the love of giblets give me Doom 4.

-Silent Hill 2 - This isn't a game I go back to play much, but I mean that in a positive way - in that the experience is so potent that it left me satisfied without having to revisit it.  That, and the scares aren't quite as effective in subsequent playthroughs.  But this game still has amazingly creepy atmosphere and a very interesting story that is unnerving to its core.

-Super Mario World - My fave Mario game, what I consider the perfection of the 2D Mario formula, a game that the new titles have yet to match in quality.  It really feels like an adventure, with tons of secrets and amazing challenges.  A true masterpiece.

[T-Min]

Day 2 - Favorite Video Game

Day 2: Favourite Game

 

That's easy for me. It has to be the only long adventure game I've played twice out of my own volition just for the sake of experiencing it again (and without the influence of a file corruption):

 

 

This game is really special to me. It's the first time I ever seriously considered jumping into the Zelda franchise and subsequently it was in a genre I had little experience in at all. People were hyped for it, my Wii needed dusting off, so I put it and the Wii Motion Plus remote as an expensive chance Christmas gift.

 

And the funny part of it all was, when I got to Faron Woods' temple I was kinda bored. I didn't think it was a bad game but the temple design just put me off, and I wasn't sure if this franchise was for me and was thinking perhaps I had wasted people's money. I put the game down for a long while, to nearly mid-2013. Eventually, I decided one day to just power past it, and the temple's first boss snapped me out of the stupor. Nintendo pit me against this strange man who revealed himself as the Demon Lord (Nope # 1) who could catch most of your strikes like a Saiyan (Nope # 2) and this occurs when you're nowhere close to being a skilled swordsman (Nope # 3; that's it I'm done).

 

I felt angrily betrayed and subsequently determined to kick this foppish dude's ass, because clearly the boss was surmountable. That moment felt like the point when the game really started, and I began asking questions. If I'm beating self-proclaimed demon lords, what were the rest of the bosses like? Will I actually fight that worm thing? What other untamed lands do those stone tablet thingies unlock? Can I get that Master Sword thing everyone goes on about? Oh yeah, and where is Zelda anyway? And the marvelous bit is that everything was answerable by just going forth and playing.

 

Scaling volcanoes, riding in sand sail boats (sand sailboats exist, this is awesome!), climbing huge trees, swimming in cramped underwater tunnels, flying in super storms, meeting giant flying whales, killing other giant evil things, going to alternate dimensions, going back in time, going down to Hell- this game was a smorgasbord of ideas that weren't just one or two quirky stages but fully-fleshed out areas to conquer with my sword, my wits, and my trusty crystal spirit AI girl thing. It was exciting stuff for me, an actual adventure, culminating in the perfect revelation of villainy that unnerved the shit out of me (I did all that struggling against the sword? For fuck's sake...) 

 

And when it was all said and done I was actually sad to the point that I teared. My trusty crystal spirit AI girl thing had to go. Regardless of what she may have done to annoy me at times, she had been genuinely helpful at times and was a constant companion throughout. Nearly everything I'd seen she'd been there for, which in its own way took some of the edge off at times. When she retreated, the Wii Remote itself just kinda became lifeless and useless. It had been rarer and rarer over the years for a game to evoke this much emotion in me throughout the entire thing: anger, confusion, aggravation, epiphany, joy, satisfaction. And I don't shun the negative ones either. I feel they were directed in the right places- more towards circumstances than mechanics- so ultimately I came out of it happy.

 

Skyward Sword singlehandedly launched both my interest in Zelda and interest in adventure games and dungeon crawlers. It ran me through a wonderful gamut of challenges, locations, and characters that I hadn't even thought about experiencing before much less thought existed. It was perfect in all of its own little ways, and time willing, I will probably play through the whole thing a third time.

 

And then you top all of that off with a beautiful scored soundtrack like this? Get the fuck out:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSZBcPRQpO8

Yeah, gonna have to piggyback off of this. 

 

Sorry, Discoid.

 

I think I was one of the few people who was charmed by Skyward Sword from the get-go. The moment I set foot outside of the Knight Academy for the first time, hearing the Skyloft music, meeting Zelda for the first time with the music and the camera angles and everything...I knew from the start I was in for a ride. Skyward Sword is just so beautifully presented. It's not that the story is some ultra-deep Final Fantasy-level tale of the ages, but quite frankly, I don't think every story needs to be like that. Sometimes the most powerful stories can be the most simple, and Skyward Sword hits that mark so well. Never mind the absolutely gorgeous artistry present throughout the game - the cutscenes have a haunting, almost Ghibli-esque presentation to them. All of the characters have so much charm, and I don't think I've liked Zelda herself so much in any game before or since. Skyward Sword is one of the few games to make me cry man tears. I think that means something. Also, the climax is probably one of my favorite moments in all of gaming.

 

But on top of all the heart and soul and merriment, I just feel so much...enthusiasm dripping from pretty much every corner of the game's design. You can tell that after the horribly by-the-numbers Twilight Princess, they really wanted to make this game count. They really wanted to give it their all to make this one of the most innovative, bold, and fun Zelda games yet. Everything in this game just feels like it was designed specifically to be fun. All the motion mechanics, aside from some little niggles here and there, are so wonderfully done and add to the experience beyond just the mere novelty of it, the dungeons show some of the wackiest and most original ideas Nintendo's ever put out, and even all the overworld areas have some real puzzles and gameplay elements of their own. Getting everywhere feels like you're actually doing fun, gamey things instead of running around a bland expanse of nothing, and all of the overworld areas are not only visually delightful, but tons of fun to run through and explore. And yes, the sky is pretty sparse, and that is a missed opportunity, but that's only a small part of the game. Even the stamina meter feels like it adds something real to the experience. Just to be able to run around and do all these little moves and things I could never do before sort of changed the way the game played - and for the better. It's not even about how it fares compared to other Zelda games - on its own, to me, this feels like a very tight, cohesive, and constantly inventive experience, period. Everything just feels so inspired. There's tons of filler, yes, but I think they did a good job of making it slip in seamlessly with the rest of the game. All the dowsing sections are in areas you haven't really explored yet, and the Trials of the Goddesses have an actual challenge to them. The "fetch quests" all feel (to me) like they were put together with thought as to how they can be fun in and of themselves, without simply dragging the game down in the name of making it longer.

 

"BUBUBUT T-MIN, HOW CAN YOU SAY ANY OF THOSE THINGS??? SKYWARD SWORD IS AWFUL AND THE WORST ZELDA GAME NONE/10 SUCKS BALS WHAET"

 

BECAUSE SCREW YOU THAT'S WHY

 

*ahem*

 

Actually, no, I get it. I didn't at first, but...yeah, I...I get it. Skyward Sword is not the Zelda game for everyone, that much is indisputable. It changes a lot of the status quo and not necessarily for the better. It's a very linear game and motion controls are emphasized so much that if you don't like them, you're basically screwed. And while I think the filler works, it...yeah...there's a lot of it. I won't pretend the game is absolutely perfect, either - the Water Dragon quest is really silly, the story pacing could be better, and the sky is sparse. But the fact is, this is the Zelda game for me. It's like Nintendo asked me everything I could ever want out of a Zelda game and then slapped me in the face with a great big load of awesome. So, until something else happens that blows me away, I'll be one of those hipsters arguing that Skyward Sword is the best Zelda ever. Well, or Majora's Mask. They're both pretty phenomenal.

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

 

Majora's Mask

Persona 4

Okami

Sonic CD/3&K

Super Mario Galaxy 2

[Blue Swallow]

Day 2 - Favorite Game

Well besides S3&K, I'll have to go with, TEKKEN 3

http://youtu.be/IsvtUxEFQaU

Just look at that amazing opening.

I am a huge fan of the TEKKEN series and 3 was the first one I ever played. It was also the first fighting game I ever played too. I just fell in love with 3, I was pretty young, like 6 or 7, but I just thought it was so much fun. One of the first things I remember was watching my brother try to unlock Gon, he was tricky to unlock because you had to either win a lot of rounds in survival mode, or play tekken ball mode, get him as your opponent and then win the match. My memory is a bit hazy, but I believe he did the latter, it took him a while but I remember us being very happy when we unlocked him.

When I first started playing my brother and cousin beat me most of the time, but I was determined to beat them so I spent a lot of in practice mode with most of the characters, it didn't really help me play well with a lot of them, but I did get used to there fighting styles, so it made fighting them easier.

Now onto the game itself.

Graphics wise, its superior to 1 and 2. The best improvements however are gameplay improvements. Two that really do it for me are one, being able to get up faster, it takes a long time to get up after being knocked down in the first two games, and being able to do it quicker makes it more fun (and less annoying). And two, jumping is more realistic, in the first two games when you jump, you jump really high and can jump right over your opponent. The computer especially loves to dodge your attacks by constantly jumping over you, which can be very annoying sometimes, but with 3 you can only jump over someone when there down, but it's not easy to do since you can get back up quickly.

One of the best things about 3 (and the series as a whole) is the characters, there all so great, even the ones I don't like are great, well, maybe not dr. B and Gon, they can be very annoying to fight, but every one else is great, it also goes into the story too, whether the fighters have entered the tournament for revenge, fame, fortune, building a huge theme park, proving themselves, or whatever reason they have it's done so well. There aren't any cutscenes, or any text and the only ending that Isn't silent is Julia's, but with the endings (and "all there in the manual") you can easily tell just what each fighter is like. And more on the characters, as long running fighting games sometimes do, 3 got rid of almost all of the previous fighters, only 6 remained. Most of the previous characters fighting styles stayed however being used now by family, or in Baek and the

late King 1's place, apprentices, there were a couple new characters that didn't have any realtions with the previous user. Only a few of the new characters had completely new styles. This isn't/wasn't a problem because all the new characters are/were just as great as the old ones, and it helps/helped keep it fresh.

My favorite character from 3 and one of my mains is Ling Xiaoyu, loved her since I first started playing and always will. http://youtu.be/wvMLrNWquTY

She's cute but tough and has a fun fighting style, small fast characters are my favorite types in fighting games and she's the fastest character in 3.

One last thing, the music, TEKKEN 3 (along with TEKKEN 2) has some of the best music in all of video games, words can't describe how amazing the music is, it's just... AMAZING!

[Jimbo]

I didn't want to jump on a Sonic game this early on, but I'm going to have to do so because this one is one that up until recently I had never cared about.

 

Day 2: Favorite Video Game- Sonic the Hedgehog CD

 

 

If you asked me this same question a few years ago, I would have responded that Sonic 2 was my favorite game of all time. It was the first video game I ever played, and the one that i played the most by far. Whether it was playing through the main game on my own or playing against my siblings in two player games, I always considered Sonic 2 to be my all time favorite game. I did not even know about the existence of Sonic CD until much later, when my interest in Sonic was at its lowest point. I actually did play the game once during this time, but I never really gave it a chance and quickly turned away from it. While I was interested in it, I forced myself to look away from the game because I was falsely given the impression that anything Sonic related would make me a "nerd" or a "geek" (This was many years back, during that stage where everyone is self-conscious about everything and trying to do everything to keep their image)

 

When I finally broke free of the hive mind that told me that Sonic was bad, I slowly worked my way back into the series. I played through each game when it finally hit me. I still had never played Sonic CD. It took some time, but I finally got into Sonic CD around mid-2009 or so. I was amazed at what I saw when I first started playing it. It felt so polished, so complete. I had always held Sonic games up to Sonic 2, always thinking of reasons why Sonic 2 was better than the other one. With Sonic CD, I was not able to do this. In fact, after playing Sonic CD and playing Sonic 2 right after it, all I saw were all of the flaws that were present with Sonic 2. All of the nostalgia that surrounded Sonic 2 was gone; I realized that it was a great game, but it was not as good as I had always made it out to be.

 

This all was before I even knew that there was a second soundtrack to the game. The North American soundtrack had its moments, but with the re-release of Sonic CD in 2011 hearing that sweet Japanese soundtrack during gameplay really pushed it over the top. I knew that this was my new Sonic 2, but this time without the nostalgia fog covering my eyes.

 

Runner ups:

 

Toejam and Earl- I believe I wrote about this a few years ago, but this game is special to me for reasons outside of just the game itself.

 

Sonic 2- I still love this game to death, but when I play it now I can not help but notice a lot of the flaws with it.

 

Sonic 3 and Knuckles- I never had the love for this game that I did with Sonic 2, but still a fantastic game.

 

Spyro: Year of the Dragon- I wrote about it yesterday, but it's easily in my top 3.

[Jango]

Oh God, that one is killing! Favorite game? All right, after a lot of though, I came to this:

 

Day 2: Favourite Game

 

 

 

Why yes. GTA fucking San Andreas. My first GTA, and still my favorite of all (yes, I'm counting GTA V).

 

This game is amazing. No words can describe how fun this game can be. About everything in this game is outstanting, from missions to soundtrack, characters to weapons, cheat codes to vehicles.

I like to describe GTA SA as endless fun, because you never know what's going to happen once you start playing. Each playthrough is unique. Each adventure is unique. I have thousands of stories about this game, being them funny, weird or epic.

 

 

Awesome things you can do:

Use the Hydra cheat code, and start a dogfight with the militaries.

Steal a monster truck and smash Los Santos' traffic.

Give yourself all weapons and start a havoc with the cops to see how long you survive.

Messing around with that weird 2-players mode. I never forget me and my friends and cousin trying to reach Las Venturas (when you still don't have safe acess to it...) We would always steal a fucking Dodo (the only airplane 2-players can fly) and try our luck against the militaries homing missiles while trying to make a safe landing on Las Venturas or San Fierro.

 

Not to mention, the PC mods. My God, this game has mods, Jesus.

The big price goes to the very know mod SA-MP, or San Andreas Multi-Player. If playing with just one more person was already fun as hell, imagine all your friends at the same time. The multi-player opened a world of opportunities. Now we could mess in an even higher escale. Like, fly on top of an airplane (ala Sonic on the Tornado). Start a gang and kick everybody's ass. Do races around the whole map. Or simply explore the game looking for those misteries and easter-eggs.

 

I could stay here and talk hours and hours about my countless experiences with this game, but it would take an eternity! Without a doubt, one of the best games ever made

[Jeffhog]

CHAPTER TWO

~ That Favourite Game Two Years Later ~

 

 

Day 2/30 - Favourite Game

 

Game Selected: Kid Icarus: Uprising

Platform: Nintendo 3DS (2012)

 

"I'll return to Skyworld victorious!"

 ~Pit

 

After a job fair in the area that went nowhere for me, I didn't exactly expect to come home with this game in my hands. I walked by an EBGames outlet, saw this on display, and thought "Eh, why not?". This was a Nintendo title, I had cash to spare, so yolo, I'm going in blind, not knowing what to expect beyond hearing that this game had excellent reviews and that Masahiro Sakurai was the director.

 

Of course, with Sakurai's stellar portfolio (mainly the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. franchises), you can't go wrong, right?

 

Right!

 

Pit, after a surprise return to the gaming spotlight through Super Smash Bros. Brawl, was finally starring in his own title for the first time in over two decades, with Medusa having been resurrected and seeking revenge on the fledgling angel and Palutena, the Goddess of Light, for defeating her 25 years prior (note: the original Kid Icarus on the NES came out 25 years before Uprising -- expect lots of tongue-in-cheek/leaning against the fourth wall humour in the dialogue).

 

This game. is. amazing, and is an absolute must-have for the Nintendo 3DS. I got hooked on it within the first couple of minutes! If you don't have this game in your library, you're seriously missing out!

 

It's best played if you know little to nothing about Uprising itself, so I'm going to try and keep spoilers at an absolute minimum. I know this game first came out over two years ago, but trust me on this, it's absolute magic if you don't know what to expect in the story.

 

As mentioned, the script in this game is absolutely hilarious, and it thankfully doesn't come at the expense of emotional depth. The characters are pretty quirky and well rounded -- and a handful of them are shit eating grin-inducingly hammy I cannot even begin to describe them -- and I can honestly quote these guys all day. The voice actors did such an amazing job bringing them to life too!

Most of the dialogue and story happens in sequence to the gameplay, so cutscenes aren't extremely lengthy, meaning that you can just hop right back into the gameplay without missing much of a beat.

 

Now, the gameplay here shines thanks to the amount of customization at your disposal! You have nine different classes of weapons to choose from (arms, blades, bows, cannons, claws, clubs, orbitars, palms, staffs), and the best part is that no two same weapons are alike! Each one has its own set of stats that you can work to your advantage (for example, Burning Palm with a Poison+1, Autododge+3, Dash atk.+2, etc...). You can also fuse some weapons together to create a new one!

 

It doesn't end there -- you can set the difficulty to a given stage at however you like, with higher difficulty reaping bigger rewards (stronger weapons, namely)... if you can handle it, of course. What influences the odds and the way you play the chapter, of course, depends on the weapon (and powers) you set up for yourself. The chapters are divided into two Acts -- the air section (Rail shooter) that usually goes on for about 5 minutes, then the ground section (third person shooter), and then the boss. With whatever weapon you set up as well as the difficulty you bet your hearts on, it can either be easy breezy or a hellish challenge that really, really puts you to the test.

 

The multiplayer is split into team battles (Light vs. Dark) and free-for-alls, but trust me, you don't want in on this until you've gotten very far into the game because just about anyone who owns Uprising has likely invested a crapton of time into it -- all of the weapons you've earned in single player can be used in online melees. Once you are ready, however, multiplayer is an absolute blast! It's all sorts of manic, and, given that this game is basically a distant relative to Smash Bros., it's the fun kind of manic.

 

Of course, the music is phenomenal and beautiful and gorgeous and simply orgasmic. With an all star cast of Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzo Koshiro, Masafumi Takada, Noriyuki Iwadare, Takahiro Nishi, Yasunori Mitsuda, Natsumi Kameoka, and Hirokazu Tanaka, there's a whole ton of variety in the soundtrack. I'll avoid mentioning my top favourite theme in the game in case of "Favourite Track/Theme in a Game" or something is a thing for the 30 Days, and, of course, I'm trying to avoid spoilers as much as I can so I'm being as barebones in my gushing as possible, but a definite runner-up would be Magnus' Theme. It suits the bruiser well!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kPwTTQb6D8

 

I want more Magnus. magnus4smash sakurai pls ;A;

 

Like in Smash Bros. -- and, by extension, Kirby Air Ride -- there's also a checklist you'll wind up filling up in order to unlock stuff like new weapons, new powers, new arenas for multiplayer, tracks for the Sound Test, etc... Checking everything off starts off easy, but then it gets much, much more demanding as the game goes on. There's also an Idol collection (trophies) if that's your thing, based off of the game's characters, enemies, items, bosses, and locales.

 

I think I touched on just about everything.

 

Kid Icarus: Uprising -- hands down my most favourite game of all-time, and one that I heartily recommend. This game is your reason to own a Nintendo 3DS. It's wonderful, it's well written, it's well scored, it's well designed!

 

Sakurai, you beautiful man, thank you so much for this gem.