The single best video game ever made according to you ? (OP)

[Zaarock]

I have a question for you guys: is your favorite game ever also your most played game ever?

True for me. I have nostalgia for various things but if I don't feel like replaying them often it's hard to think of them as a favorite. I bet I'll think differently when I have far less free time for this stuff though.

[LEGENOARYNINLIA]

Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master Challenge

This one.

[Stevens]

Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master Challenge

This one.

That's two and a half votes for Super Turbo:D

Leandro mentioned 3rd Strike - That is my favorite SF game to watch high level play. Shit is ridiculous.

[Xyga]

Wait, what ? What's your vote ?

[hanasu]

Super Street Fighter II X: GMC/Super Turbo. The game is absolute perfection. Responsive, frenetic, easy to learn, impossible to master. Reasonably balanced for a game with so much cheapness. No other Street Fighter has the same balance of pure enjoyment and approachability.

I also see Robotron on the list, which behind ST is my favorite arcade game. It's just as fast and punishing as SF2 while being incredibly colorful, loud, and impressive for a game of its vintage. The controls are perfect and the dip settings are tunable so that even Robo masters will find a challenge that is insurmountable. Infinite replay value for me.

[lilmanjs]

My profile pic pretty much says it. Knytt Underground is a game that for some reason seems to make me feel at ease and calm whenever I play it. That soundtrack fits the world perfectly and even if it doesn't have a real ending to it, it pretty much sums up life. Reviewers didn't understand the ending in most reviews I read. The atmosphere just fits and the platforming can get hectic at times, but works well.

Hmm I quit Knytt Underground pretty fast, but can't remember why. I have to give it another go.
The guy who made it is a genius at making relaxing games though. Nightsky and Saira are fantastic.

Knytt Underground turned a lot of people off by having swearing. Ohh noes! One of your fairies swears! But yea, the music and mood of the world just sets it apart from the rest of his games. Still an awesome dude that let me stay on as a beta tester even if my music wasn't used. Also, if you were playing on a Sony console, get it on PC or WII U. Those are broken ports, the Vita and PS3 ports. Getting stuck in walls is not really good.

[neorichieb1971]

Mr Driller.

Only because I can't stop playing it after about 10 years.

[bulbousbeard]

I can't really say it's necessarily the best, but the game I've played the most is Samurai Shodown II. It just never gets old. It really is a beautiful game. I think it has more dignity than pretty much any other game I've played.

Even though the series is popular, I still feel the game is somewhat underrated, all things considered. Whenever shitty web sites make best of lists, SF2 always makes it in there, but Samurai Shodown II is often nowhere to be found.

[bulbousbeard]

It's Tetris for me.

Tetris will be played 100 years from now. You could argue there are better games in the genre (Puyo Puyo for example is deeper) but none match it for accesibility. It's as good a game in single player as in multi-player, and it can be as casual or as hardcore as you like (see TGM).

I think 2 player Puzzle Bobble is better than Tetris, personally. I can see Puzzle Bobble being playable in 100 years, too.

With the luxury of hindsight, I can't say I'm that happy with SSF2T, either. I can't get over how wimpy and neutered the sound effects in the QSound SF2 games are. The CPS1 games sounded so strong and punchy. I also never liked the "turbo speed" trend that fighting games took. SF2: CE is my favorite SF2. None of the games are balanced anyway, so I can't accept that as a good argument for SSF2T. SF2: HF is too fast for my tastes, and I can't stand the art drift in the CPS2 SF2 games (eg. Cammy's sprite doesn't belong in the same game as Chun Li's sprite; Ken's body completely changes from frame to frame when he does new moves added in the CPS2 games). Aesthetic consistency matters to me _a lot_. That pretty much leaves Champion Edition as the only SF2 game that doesn't have an annoyingly glaring flaw.

I'd take Night Warriors over SSF2T any day of the week, too. That game is an artistic masterpiece, and it's really fun to play.

[Captain]

Phantasy star 4 and Hellsinker come to mind.

[Xyga]

Phantasy star 4 and Hellsinker come to mind.

So *sigh* which ?

God, is it so hard people ? ONE game, ONE.

All those who haven't made CLEAR which is their 'one' game (even if only temporarily) won't have any of the titles they've entioned added/featured in that list.
I don't really care, but that's at least 4 posts in the last 2 pages who 'just dont don't give any'.

[Ex_Mosquito]

You seem more bothered about an arbitrary list of games rather than people's reasons why they picked it, which is far more interesting imo.

[Xyga]

No I'm very interested in what games and what people have to say about those, it's the point of this thread, I just did not want to impose witing an essay.
The list is very interesting too for reference and quick view at a glance, it's like a photograph of the games that are important to the people sharing this community, and also because people don't necessarily want to read entire threads, most not even the previous page.
Quite naturally I've ask people to make it understandable and readable for me because I'm the one maintaining that list, but as usual there are people who won't care and just give the finger, turning this onto criticizing the OP and his idea.
You don't like it ? Fine. Only a few wasted bytes.

To the members who play the game: thank you guys and keep it up !
Remember you can change your mind if that matters to you I can update the list.

[Captain]

Hellsinker wins.

[Xyga]

Thank you Captain.

[Stevens]

Wait, what ? What's your vote ?

Robotron: 2084

Timeless!

I am awful at it, but I think this is my answer as well.

2084 is twitch gaming distilled down to its purest form.

As others have said though, ask me tomorrow and my answer might be different. Super Turbo is up there too in my opinion.

My answer is above:D

[Mischief Maker]

Freespace 2

Freespace 1 took all the best parts of the X-Wing and Wing Commander flight models and melded them into a superior combination. Freespace 2 took that solid base and added major gameplay innovations, the most obvious being capital ship flak and beam weapons, then married that all to the best mission design in the genre's history. There is not a single forgettable mission in the entire Freespace 2 campaign. When Freespace 2 turned out to be a commercial flop, pretty much every designer saw the writing on the wall and abandoned the genre.

Freespace 2 is one of the very few games exciting enough to make me break out in a sweat when playing. You are Space Yossarian!

I just do not understand other gamerz who seem to want nothing but unfocused open world games. Every once in a while I hear angry comments in threads about open world space games screeching about how the asteroid mining is underdeveloped. How much does your life have to suck that you turn to simulated manual labor for escapism? God I miss space games like Freespace 2 where your ordinance is paid for by taxpayers and the only thing you deal with are the exciting parts.

I realize that support isn't a factor in this list, but it's worth noting that the Freespace 2 support provided by the saints at the source code project is nothing short of miraculous!

[Xyga]

My answer is above:D

Oops, dang already took note of it. Got confused by the 'two and a half vote' I guess. ^^"

[Tregard]

Freespace 2

I just do not understand other gamerz who seem to want nothing but unfocused open world games. Every once in a while I hear angry comments in threads about open world space games screeching about how the asteroid mining is underdeveloped. How much does your life have to suck that you turn to simulated manual labor for escapism? God I miss space games like Freespace 2 where your ordinance is paid for by taxpayers and the only thing you deal with are the exciting parts.

Preach it brother! Swooping around those immense capital ships while ion beans blazed neon lines across the star-studded heavens... it was all a space game ever needed to be. Wonderful times playing that, but it's not as good as Grim Fandango.

[Strider77]

Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master Challenge, I think this deserves it and it's proven to be so timeless for so many others also.

BUT... Strider in the arcade was a revelation to me and kinda locked me into a path of discovery with it being my 1st import game from Japan ever. It's not on the list so I'm going to go with it.



Majora's Mask? Gross, no 64 games should be allowed.... puke.

[JBC]

Sin & Punishment 2: Star Successor

[dingsbums]

Rainbow Islands

You can play it based on speed / points / and getting the diamonds in the right order.
If you playing it to get the diamonds in the right order your play style change completly because the screen is divided in seven areas and it depends where a defeated enemy lands what diamond colour you will get. From red (left) to violet (right) you have to get the seven diamonds in the right order (in every world) to get the giant diamond /secret item / door at every world and it's the only way to get a really high score and to see the last three worlds / real ending.

It has an insane difficulty if you play it that way, it has nearly infinite replayability, secrets up the ass, great gameplay, the catchiest music ever (or at least one of the catchiest) and to me it just is a game that puts you in a good mood. No matter how shitty your day was - nothing will put you in a better mood than a few minutes (hours ) of Rainbow Islands.

[kaicooper]

im RETRO big fan
specially 80's but i'll vote for SILENT hill 2

[Xyga]

Ha ha, I know we're not a community representative of the broader 'gaming' population over the world, but that list's clearly giving the finger to the current forefront industry in a beautiful manner.

[NTSC-J]

Another vote for Symphony of the Night here. In terms of art design, graphical quality, music, controls, and enjoyment, it hits the mark.

I have a question for you guys: is your favorite game ever also your most played game ever? It seems to me that it would have to be, but I'll admit I've played other stuff more than SotN. It just bothers me a bit when people go nuts over something like The Last of Us, but then they never touch it again. How great is it really if you never play it?

Your not wrong but can a franchise based off another Nintendo franchise (Super Metroid) be the best if there not original? And are you saying SOTN is better than super Metroid?

If so that's a bold statement

And even if you liked SOTN, your vote should be for Akumajo Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight on the sega Saturn, even without the English subs it's a much better version

SotN is better than Super Metroid.

I know that the stage design is probably better in SM and it's actually somewhat challenging, but SotN is many times cooler.

You can't beat the art design, the music, the staggering number and variety of enemies, the music!!, punching through shit with the Crissaegrim, food items that include: cheesecake, pork buns, omelettes, gyros, coffee, and beer; one of the bosses is a woman with giant wolf heads and fatty tentacles plus her titties are out, Alucard's walking animation, fucking this:



the clouds racing by at nightmarish speed, "What is a man?", Death appearing out of a vortex in the background, god this game fucking rules!

Super Metroid has spores, molds, and fungus.

[Immryr]

super Metroid is a way better game than SotN. ok you may like the aesthetics of SotN more (personally I don't), but from a level design and mechanics perspective super Metroid is way better. it's a much more focused, less flabby game.

[NTSC-J]

The music, though!

[Squire Grooktook]

I kind of said the same as NTSCJ a page or two ago.

Super Metroid is overall a better polished and designed game, by most metrics at least.

However, neither games are intense, heart pounding action games. They're an atmospheric wander through another world, and on that front SOTN's atmosphere overwhelmingly wins out for me.

Also while SM's gameplay is a level above SOTN (arguably in all ways except maybe basic handling, which are great in both, and SOTN's advantage in terms of myriad extraneous content fleshing out the game), neither games are "bad". SOTN might have some issues, including a wonky difficulty curve and level/enemy/boss design that's "okay" at best, but it's still a solid and fun romp in its own right.

[blackoak]

It's probably an impossible design combination, but if you could somehow make SotN more challenging ala traditional Castlevania, it would be my favorite game too. It's just too easy unfortunately, and for me that sucks a lot of the emotion away from the strengths NTSC-J listed.

To answer OP's silly question, my favorite game is probably Final Fantasy IV, for no "good" reason. The music captures everything I want from an RPG and I guess I played it at that magic, formative time.

[copy-paster]

but if you could somehow make SotN more challenging ala traditional Castlevania, it would be my favorite game too. It's just too easy unfortunately.

And Circle of the Moon is the cure for you.