Introducing "mainstreamers" to gaming classics

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:00 pm

My sister's fiance is visiting me tonight, and we plan to play video games for a few hours. He's into Madden, Call of Duty, and similar mainstream titles, and he wants to show me how to play Ghost Recon and Hitman 2, two games that he gave me for Christmas a year ago which I still haven't gotten into.

So which titles would you use to introduce a more casual gamer to the finer fruits of video gaming? I'm not looking for recommendations, as I know I'll be showing him Gradius Gaiden, Shadow of the Colossus, and Symphony of the Night. But I'm curious to see which games you would choose as an ice-breaker of sorts.

Disclaimer: this isn't meant to sound insulting to mainstream games or mainstream gamers.

The n00b · Post by **The n00b** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:04 pm

Shadow of the Colossus...

That title sticks out like a sore thumb among the titles you mentioned. It would be like me mentioning Street Fighter 2, Halo 2, and Gunstar Heroes in the same sentence. Sure Halo 2 is a good game but it is not yet old enough or played to death enough to stand as classic.

Post by **Icarus** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:05 pm

I introduced my friend to the joys of shmupping via a 6hr long session on Sexy Parodius, 2-player simultaneous. He is now irretrievably hooked. So anything 2P-simul, fun, and good.

Games that are simple to play are always good to bring new players into the old-school fold - simple shmups, older puzzlers, some 2D and 3D platformers, Mario Kart....

Post by **Shatterhand** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 5:01 pm

Gradius Gaiden worked nicely with a friend of mine. He really begin to get into shmups after that.. not that he's a hardcore shmupper now, but he doesn't goes automatically in "OH NO, A 2D SPACESHIP GAME !" mode. We played Gradius Gaiden a lot when he was introduced to it (He even ASKED ME to play that, instead of me suggesting it), and when I said that was part of a series, he got interested in playing other Gradius games.

Yesterday he came here, and I was playing Sengoku Blade, and he got really hooked on it too.

And I have another friend who still dismiss any shmups when he sees one, but I made him got hooked at Raystorm, heh

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 5:21 pm

The n00b wrote:Shadow of the Colossus...

That title sticks out like a sore thumb among the titles you mentioned. It would be like me mentioning Street Fighter 2, Halo 2, and Gunstar Heroes in the same sentence. Sure Halo 2 is a good game but it is not yet old enough or played to death enough to stand as classic.

You're right about SotC not yet being a classic. My purpose in using it isn't to show him the foundations of modern gaming or anything. But I think it's unique enough and engaging enough to open the eyes of somebody who doesn't play any games that aren't based in the real world (GTA, Tony Hawk, Splinter Cell, etc.).

TWITCHDOCTOR · Post by **TWITCHDOCTOR** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 5:33 pm

^ What are you talking about man...R-Type is real!!!
SpaceShips and "space" do exsist. There are even other planets out there...
Now as far as the Bydo is conscerned, we've yet to see.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 5:38 pm

Don't scare your friend off with all that "1 credit only!" crap either. Let him credit feed if he wants to. Just find something relaxing and easy to play.

What's really good are beat 'em ups. Most of them have great 2 player mode and are pretty fun to credit feed your way through.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:25 pm

i think a parodius is a good recomendation - great graphics, harder than a rock's balls, and yet still very addictive

also, a game like cyvern seems proper for shmup indoctrination. relatively simple mechanics, difficult, pretty, and you're playing as an effing dragon. period.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:45 pm

I guess it sorta depends on what kinda people you're inviting over...some time back, in particular, I had an unsuspecting friend over for some shmupping, and showed him pretty much anything I had at the time with a 2-player mode, whether it was "hardcore" or not...Cotton Boomerang, Souky, Radiant Silvergun...I just gave him a quick explanation of the basics, and off we went, credit-feeding and generally shmupping badly. Although we pretty much just scratched the surface, he told me he was pretty impressed, and wants to come back for another go, and bring his new wife with him, to boot; not only that, but he mentions the visit to others we both know, and they say they want a whack at it too. Of course, since then I've acquired a good deal of new stuff (most notably my RGB tate monitor) so I'd have even more stuff to offer...I'm obviously not looking to turn anyone into a "devoted" shmupper, but most everyone I've shown my shmups to has enjoyed them, not to mention my smatterings of puzzlers and 2D fighters. All in all I'm pretty satisfied with the reception I've gotten, and I haven't even been trying that hard; I just let the games do the work, more or less.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 9:06 pm

Grab the Capcom Classics collection and have a go at Final Fight and whatever else is there...

Got a MVS? That would be a great way to go too.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 11:27 pm

Metal Slug. The animation and artwork is sure to wow him, and it's all pure classic "Blast away and go go go!" fun.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:30 am

Tempest X3, Bubble bobble, Bomberman, Point blank, Rez

Metal slug is a good choice actually.

Thats quite a range.

If you want shooters to be a draw, i'd stick with something accessible. Don't show him DDP DOJ or Mushi's manic mode.

If you really want a good challenging game to play him at, Super monkey ball and its sub games are unbeatable.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:37 am

Andi wrote: What's really good are beat 'em ups. Most of them have great 2 player mode and are pretty fun to credit feed your way through.

Yeah, I agree. Beat-em-ups are really good icebreakers since they're cooperative, involve the longtime videogame industry obsession of hand-to-hand fighting, and represent early 90's arcades better than anything else except fighters, which are still part of a living genre.

Since he seems to like gun-shooting, any 2-player run-n-gun sidescroller is also a possible choice IMO. I'm not sure about Metal Slug though but maybe it's just because I find the series incredibly uninspiring myself.

Moogs · Post by **Moogs** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:46 am

Actually, I think Shadow of the Colossus is a classic game by design; nevermind the fact that it was released only a couple of months ago. It reminds me of the original Zelda on the NES in a lot of ways.

Kind of makes me wish the Zelda series would get back to being, well, Zelda again.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:16 am

SoTC is not a good game for this purpose.. your either gonna beat all the collossi straight away or get stuck.

Its a good game to demonstrate, but not to actually play whilst someone is watching.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:16 am

About the 1-credit rule...

I always explain it before playing a shmup with a newcomer, so he just knows how a shmup is supposed to be played, and why it should be played like this.

I usually let the guy credit feed as long as my credit lasts... when I lose my last ship, I DON'T continue, and I let him keep on playing with his remaining ships (Usually the other guy have already continued like 3 or 4 times

). Then when he loses his last ship, I let he choose if he wants to keep on continuing, or just start over and try to do better. If he wants to continue, I'll go with him.

But usually everyone always wants to get back to the start and try to do it better. After all, the 1-credit rule DOES make sense

Bloodreign · Post by **Bloodreign** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 7:37 am

I've tried to get a friend to play Gradius V with me, I have free play unlocked, so I told him have no fear in credit feeding as I'll be doing the same thing, he sees to fear playing hard games, and won't play Ghouls N Ghosts, or any of the other Capcom Classics or Taito Legends because they are too hard. Yet he'll play a fighter title or anything role playing because he doesn't consider those too hard.

I think he has a fear of Gradius and tough old school titles in general, he says he thinks he lost a lot of gaming reflexes he may have had over the years.