What's your second favorite genre?

[Starfighter]

As the title says, what's your second favorite genre? This "Other Gaming" section gives me some indication, but I thought I'd ask anyway! It's for personal (am)use(ment) where I want to scrap/strengthen a theory I have. In the case where shoot 'em up isn't the favorite genre, then what is?

I myself don't have a single set genre that stands above the rest (save for shmups), but if I were to look on my favorite games overall the dominating genres are survival horror, puzzle and FPS shooter.

[Sumez]

Arcade platformers for sure
Or home console platformers with a decent action oriented challenge and arcade pace

[Lemnear]

1) Not a specific genre, but a common factor (also common to SHMUPS), that is, the screen must never stop, there must be no interruptions or braking, so Ridge Racer (series) because it NEVER slows down, Rail Shooters because they always scroll and Shoot'Em Ups because they scroll continuously.
That sense of "continuity", of perpetual motion, especially if fast.

2) The exception are fighting games and 2D Platformers, other genres that I love.

3) In third place I put 3D Stealth games

PS: Souls-Like is a special case and I'm detoxing, for years I wrote for Fextralife... (DS2, DS3, Demon's)...


I find it almost irritating that games today are all of one genre, Open World Action

[ryu]

for years I wrote for Fextralife... (DS2, DS3, Demon's).

I hope they paid you

[Lemnear]

for years I wrote for Fextralife... (DS2, DS3, Demon's).

I hope they paid you

No, I did it purely for the joy of sharing (and correcting some inaccuracies). For some reason I really cared about it.

[BIL]

Daimakaimura, Saigo no Nindou, Metal Slug, et al. Scrolling action with an emphasis on the Hardcore Killing. I always regarded STGs as the culmination of this mindset, ever since NES Life Force's autoscrolling piledriver sent me and buddy packing for the relative safety of Contra @ 6y/o. No brakes, hope you have a strat for this regenerating wall.

But I enjoy anything with a similar emphasis on pace, technique, and iterative mastery. If it would work in a cab, chances are I'll dig it. A lot of my console favourites could go straight into cabs with minimal tweaking. (Gimmick, Sin & Punishment, Omega Boost...)

Fiery, explosive aesthetic is definitely part of it, but I'd be tempted to choose Tetris The Grandmaster 2 for my one desert island game. For me it's less about genre or aesthetic than the all-killer, no-filler coinop ethos, y'know?

In third place, I have a lot of room in my heart for more atmosphere-driven stuff, typically horror/fantasy-leaning. Particularly games that can bridge longform adventure with stern challenge. Devil May Cry remains a good yardstick. Very fond of FromSoft's output under Miyazaki, too. Distantly tertiary to arcade-bred stuff, but no less valued.

[ryu]

for years I wrote for Fextralife... (DS2, DS3, Demon's).

I hope they paid you

No, I did it purely for the joy of sharing (and correcting some inaccuracies). For some reason I really cared about it.

Don't worry, it's not your fault fextralife abuses their high seo rank to lure users on empty pages

[Air Master Burst]

Roughly in order:

Belt scrollers
Shmups
Run-n-gun
Immersive sim
Character action
Racing
Strategy
Boomer shooters
Sports
Puzzle
Basic platformers
The rest i guess


Has anyone done an esports decathlon style event across multiple genres yet?

[it290]

Lately I tend to favor arcade racers, in general genre is less important to me than the notion that a game can be played in short (~10-15min) bursts.

In practice, I will play basically anything aside from traditional JRPGs.

[Lander]

Character action! The mix of challenge and mechanical depth / breadth by way of cool fighting hits a sweet spot. I find the genre tends well toward the distinctive and unique, too, both of which are top of my game design do's.

Rare breed, though, to the point where I've played the good ones enough that they no longer muscle other genres out of the limelight.

[To Far Away Times]

Metroidvania's probably. Specifically the the ones that are more in the Castlevania style.

[Starfighter]

Thanks for the answers so far, I'm writing them all down! Observation: As of now we don't have a single repeat (if only looking at the second favorites).

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Sandbox (No Man's Sky)
Run N' Gun
Aerial Simulator (Project Wingman, Ace Combat, etc.)
Platformer
Clonetroid / Castletroid / Metroidvania

[BIL]

in general genre is less important to me than the notion that a game can be played in short (~10-15min) bursts.

This, also, the emphasis on standardised conditions. I like that you can try your hand at a new-to-you arcade-styled game, muck about a bit; then hand the controls to a seasoned veteran with many hours' experience at that title, and watch them demolish it back to front. Some of my favourite memories are doing just that, sampling games I'm only conversant in with their diehards.

Harder home-based titles can do something similar - I enjoy Roo's Dark Souls challenge writeups as much as any arcade coverage, and I've seen some heroic DMC1 New Game runs over the years. There's just something especially appealing about combining standardised credits with a single-session runtime. Coin in and knock it out of the park. Like watching pro musicians pick up their instruments and shred out a studio-quality performance at the drop of a hat.

Needless to say, talented designers can fit just about any genre into this envelope.

This is partially why I gravitate to mood pieces, at the other end of the scale. It's nice to laze about the shallow end sometimes. I always catch myself here, not wanting to make THE H4RD G@YM1NG sound like asceticism or something. This is all recreation, ofc. But some pastimes are innately more demanding than others.

[copy-paster]

Aside from current favorite that is arcade-style games (shmups, run and gun, classicvanias, platformers etc.) my second pick is Racing games, specifically arcade and simcades are my real interest. This genre was one of my first foray to gaming in general and I sunk many hours on the likes of Gran Turismo/NFS/Midnight Club/Ridge Racer series etc. Bought Forza Horizon 4 before the delist and had a good time with it so far.

Third favorite would be Hack and slash maybe. I enjoyed my days with classic God of War series and Onimusha 3/Dawn of Dreams.

[XoPachi]

Action platformers for sure. If it's similar to Mega Man, Classicvania, Sonic, or Ninja Gaiden especially.

[Randorama]

I am not sure. I don’t think that I have played a non-shmup game past 2006, but my taste gravitates towards arcade games that try to blend genres, and towards ‘one screen’ titles. I always thought that R2RKMF-style games elegantly connect the conceptual space between shmups and platformers/one-screeners, so I tend to consider them my ‘second team’. I don’t believe much in genres anyway - I focus on ‘mechanics with an arcade feeling’ and whether I enjoy them or not.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I don't know if I have a second favorite genre... I dabble in a lot of games. My biggest secondary genres would be RPGs (dungeon crawlers usually, but I'm highly dedicated to Ultima IV, SaGa, the Mother series, "Tales of" series), arcade racing games, and action games such as beat 'um ups, platfomers, third person shooters (Bayonetta, God Hand, Vanquish, the EDF series). I have a few puzzle games I enjoy such as Mr. Driller G, Aqua Rush, and Hexion I really enjoy, or point and click or text adventure games, but I don't branch out too much into those.

I will say that I play way more RPG games than my Youtube channel probably implies. I don't think I can produce terribly interesting or meaningful footage that's not already out there. I enjoy chatting about them rather than recording gameplay footage, as I tend to play them at a slow pace.

The genres I don't usually touch are more serious simulation type games (hardcore flight/driving sim), sports games (golf, tennis, etc), or visual novels.

[Marc]

Give me a good racer and I'm all set.
Some of my faves games ever, with just as many around now as back in the day.

[sunnshiner]

In no particular order-

Shmups
Arcade racers (Sega baby!)
Fighting games

But as others have said, if it'd feel at home in an arcade cab and gives a quick endorphin rush I'm all in.

[Lander]

As a runner-up, I enjoy mech simulators a great deal. Stick, throttle, pedals, triple-wide, cupholder so you can sip coffee and read the paper en route to the LZ, the whole nine yards. Die, Clanner scum

Unfortunately, proper ones are rather thin on the ground. Spaceflight sims somewhat make up the difference, but we seem to be in an era primarily concerned with space truckin' rather than space fightin'.