Nostalgia - What?s your Three favourite games and why?

[Yoshimax]

Just 3 ? That's ****ing brick :

1) Mercenary - ZX Spectrum - Immersive worlds ? ****ing beat this.

2) Outrun - Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I got in that big hydraulic monster - ?1 a go in 1986/7 - no problem man 8)

3) Tekken Tag - Never played a fighter as much as this one although I prefer Virtua Fighters mechanics. The sheer size of the game is awesome. 8 man team battles rock. I got this at PS2 Jap launch and last played it two nights ago (hammered at the time !)

Should have MarioKart64 on there (controversial I know) - missed the SNES one and when this arrived in the house (?150 Jap import with a FREE pad) it was on for 14 hours solid whilst me & a mate hammered the GP's 2 player - never mind the years of time attacking it to an inch of its life.

[Team Andromeda]

1). Panzer Dragoon - the music, the stunning art desgin, the gameplay, oh that intro, which as yet to be betterd

2). Exhumed- The best Lve desgin to any game ever

3). Daytona USA (arcade) Please just give us a perfect port. For the love of GOD SEGA

[razu]

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo

I love Street Fighter and this is the one I spent the most time on. The one I had crowds watching me complete. Very cool. Regularly play it now. And the poster watches over me constantly: link


Super Mario World

At the time it was magical, everything was perfect. It still looks wonderful now as it was a good fit to the available technology. Still playing it off and on on GBA, it's that good.


Gran Turismo 3

I could play this and the following versions and demos indefinitely. Like SMW it's a perfect fit for the technology. If you like driving cars around tracks, this is the one. This is in constant play.

[Pacman555]

Metal Gear Solid

Captivated me from beginning to end. The gameplay mechanics were unlike anything I'd played before, and the plot had that 'what happens next?' factor to motivate you.

Ridge Racer Type 4

Simply my favourite racing game ever made. Addictive and fast, but with enough longevity to keep you going for a while. Perfect handling mechanics and beautiful graphics topped it off.

Shenmue

A fantastic storyline and simple yet effective gameplay kept me playing for 12 hours straight when I got this, the beatiful and life-like graphics bring the locations to life.

Runners up: Pokemon Blue/Red versions, REmake.

[Mad Gear]

Quazatron (speccy)

Think Paradroid but with isometric graphics. Simply awesome, great to play (docking other robots to steal their weapons was a game in its self) and it looked nice too (shame about the scrolling).

Super Mario Kart (SFC)

Best 2 player racing game bar none. Puts all other other carting games to shame including the sequels.
Played it yesterday, and for a game thats over 10 years old it still holds its own against even the most modern of games.

Super Mario World (SFC)

Best platformer ever. I prefer this to any other 2D and 3D platformer ever released (yes including Mario 64).
Finding all 96 levels without the use of any walkthroughs/internet was one of my fave gaming moments ever. And the fact that it any hints that the game gave you were in japanese just made it even more satisfying.

[JamesBelsey]

Damn this is difficult. Picking 3 on each system would be much easier... Anyway, top 3...

Ridge Racer (Arcade and Playstation)

I used to be able to win on the expert mode with one credit, that was so much fun. Then the Playstation version just kept me playing more, trying to find the most outlandish ways to get around corners.

Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)

It's close between this and Super Mario World, but Mario 64 just edges it for me by having the genius element of revisiting the same levels to perform different tasks.

ICO (Playstation 2)

Just about my favourite game of all time, absolutely immersive, you really believe that the game world exists and that your only objective is to save the girl. Plus

->Open Spoiler<-

the point where you think you've escaped, only to find that you're only halfway through

is incredible.

Honourable mentions

Super Mario Kart (SNES)
Actraiser (SNES)
Axelay (SNES)
Sonic (Megadrive)
Grand Theft Auto (Playstation)
Tekken (Playstation)
Grand Theft Auto 3 (Playstation 2)
Prince of Persian: The Sands of Time (Xbox)

James.

[MD]

Nostalgia? Isn't it still 1989?

[djjimbob]

1. Mario 64

Just a fantastic game. Showed what could be done given the processing grunt. Everything about it was sublime, especially the control. Come on Ninty - a conversion to GC please

2. Super Mario Kart

Too much fun was had on this - in single or 2 player it was just a total laugh and a total c**t at the same time. How many times did I run over that pesky cake and then get flattened by Bowser I don't know!

3. SF II Turbo

I don't know about being an expert on this game, but I was pretty good - but it was just too much fun to play. And to have it recreated so excellently on the SNES was great. The SNES suited it down to the ground.

Jimbob

[Tobal]

Tobal no.1 - Took a chance at the time, was looking for beat'um'up that didn't ape Tekken/SfA/Toshinden and found and boy did it turn ace, 1st proper 3D movement, 1st 3D Just-Frame attacks, grapple based throw system and easy to undertsand high to low combo system backed with counters, full block animation and block attacks, and it graphics are still timeless. Multiplayer is a complete joy, grapple revserals, super collision detection resulted in close up fighting, where jumping a sweep or side steping a thrusting kick could open up your opponents def to side on grapple, to tugs of war near the edge of the arena in a desprate attempt to throw them outside. And quest mode

Burning Pro wrestling - during the snes emulation haydays of new snesx9 and zsnes every week some-one release translation patch for this game. Its a low buget Fire Pro Wrestling PX on crack, about 3 frames of animation for each move doesn't sound good but, cos the speed of the game every single move looks really painful, and because it gameplay ape'd fire pro's it played well to(also having 6/8 people to fight in a battle royal rocked).

[bravo_johny]

1? Mario 64 (N64) - 1st great ever revolutionary game

2? Xenogears (PSOne)- My ever favourite rpg. Played this summer. Could make a encyclopaedia from it.

3? Sega Rally (SAT) - It still slides and roars like no other through desterts, mountains and lakes.

[thebuddahman]

This is too tough.

1) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo, N64)
I cannot describe what this game means to me. Remembering the days of 24-can packs of Pepsi, then losing myself in Hyrule for hours. IMO nothing has, and probably ever will come close to this. An epic.

2) Goldeneye 007 (Rare, N64)
Suddenly some clever sods created the most addictive multiplayer ever. Singleplayer wasn't bad either

3) Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past (Nintendo, SNES)
This holds so many memories for me. Discovering you could walk through the waterfall, the magic mirror, buying potions from a witch - this was the first time I really discovered a world within this world.

[Chi]

Ultima Online:
Played it for 5yrs... and earning quite a bit of money from playing .

Seiken Densetsu 3/Secret of Mana 2:
It was a great all-round game

Super Mario RPG
You get to play as Mario... and it's a RPG!

[Paul3704]

Legend of Zelda: Link to the past.
Had a break from gaming after the Amiga died, and I'd never quite played a game like this. When I twigged there was a light and dark world, I remember my jaw dropping, and being silent for quite some time. It is such a charming and well put together game. It felt like a real adventure.

Rainbow Islands
Played this to death on Amiga, PC Engine, Arcade, Raine, Saturn and Playstation. Platform gaming perfected. The secrets, the logic, the cheery music, the balance, the constantly rising water. Utterly Beautiful. Took so many evenings up of mine I can't begin to tell.

F/A-18 Interceptor
My first proper flight Sim. Got this with the Amiga Batman pack from Special Reserve (Bring back any memories?). It was ace, the freedom it offered, and the excitement when chasing and intercepting those cruise missiles. Destroying the submarine on the last level is quite possibly the hardest thing in any game ever.

[RobN]

1) Streetfighter 2 (original snes version).
2) Mario 64.
3) Mario IV (snes).

Though just off the top of my head.