purest videogaming experence

[Saurian]

Psyvariar: Revision -

It's so sick, people watching have absolutely no idea WTF they are looking at but to the player it's like magic mushrooms laced with LSD and a sprinkle of crack. I love playing this game - my mind totally blanks.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

Tetris
obviously hypnotic.

Indeed, another argument for a 'pure' gaming experience is one that can be enjoyed by all ages, and Tetris certainly fills that criteria.

I could stick in just about any old Lucasarts title here; Full Throttle, DOTT, Monkey Island 1&2, as they all adhered to a single rule which had been ignored by many before - they didn't punish you for making a mistake. While this may sound like lax discipline, in practise it enabled you to try every single dialogue choice and insult people who were quite dangerous without worrying about the game ending as a result, it was marvellous to have a game Dev who was so in tune with the player.

[JammyD]

I would have to go for a shooter, they just feel pure and Psyvariar is a game apart for me when it comes to shooters.

I was explaining the joys of Psyvariar to a friend last weekend and he asked was it the same sort of game as Space Invaders, which is kinda where it all started. When he sees the game it's probably gonna be something like this:

It's so sick, people watching have absolutely no idea WTF they are looking at but to the player it's like magic mushrooms laced with LSD and a sprinkle of crack. I love playing this game - my mind totally blanks.

[Ady]

Not to criticse anyone's personal choices, but some of the games listed in this thread have been rather odd as 'pure gaming' goes (or my understanding of it at least)...

[Scythe]

When I read the title of the thread my first thought was Super Mario World, so I'll stick with that. To me it symbolises all that is great about videogames, bright, FUN, easy to get into difficult to complete and you were always fully in control.

Street Fighter Series gets an honourable mention.

[The Sheriff of Nottingham]

To me "purest videogame experience" means games which are simple, accessible, and addictive, without loads of different options or layers of complexity (or at least, the options or complexity don't get in the way of the game at the core). I'm thinking back to when I first saw a videogame, probably arcade Space Invaders in, what, 1980? It was immediately obvious what you had to do, and you could happily do it for hours. So my personal, non-definitive list would include:

Space Invaders
Pac-Man
Centipede
Tetris
Super Mario Bros
Street Fighter II
Super Mario 64
Rez
Ico
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution*

*Because although it's very deep indeed it makes a point of guiding you along, so you never feel overwhelmed by complexity.

There must be loads of others I've forgotten too.

[Che Musashi]

Wario Ware
Virtua Fighter 4 Evo
Dynasty Warriors 2 - 4
(Though 3 still is rockin my PS2)

[dataDave]

Windjammers

So f'n true!! You need 2 people though for max. enjoyment I find. Far too many people play this on 1-player and just don't 'get it'.

[Fusion]

i'd say serious sam. it's not groundbreaking, it's not even good looking, but for pure, mindless fun, it's the best.

[mo]

zelda oot

[Papercut]

pure gaming experiences for me:

Robotron
Rez
Outrun
PN03
F Zero GX
Mr Driller
Tempest 2000
Wizball
Boulderdash
Super Monkey Ball

[dataDave]

Power Drift
Super Metroid
Metroid Prime
Zelda: LttP
F-Zero GBA
Real Bout
Raiden II
R-Type

Far too many to mention, I could think of around 100.