Boxes and Cubes for Playing and Dreaming - Console Poll, vol. 4 - 6th Generation RESULTS

(mario voice) Here we go! It's the 4(ish) day rollout of (a small segment of) ILX's favourite games of the 6th generation! PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, GBA and Dreamcast all got represented here. Sorry to fans of the Nuon, Panasonic M2, XaviX, V.Smile, Bandai WonderSwan, Nokia N-Gage, Sega VMU, Pokemon Mini, GP32, Leapster, and Tapwave Zodiac, you were shut out this time around.

I plan on doing 20 or so a day, ending Thursday. But I'm also going to a wedding on Tuesday so I reserve the right to skip Wednesday and finish Friday.

A reminder when complaining: "TOO LOW" means the community has underrated it, "TOO HIGH" means they have overrated it.

I welcome your guesses for the top as we get near the end, because some of the snubs will make it very difficult to predict!

Happy hallowe'en season, here's something creepy for you to remember:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJNxcmp5nHg

Will get started in a few mins, just gonna boost this thread in all the other relevant threads

sweet! time to start arguing

77 - Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader - 70 points / 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/mNVANA5.png

yes i may have found the jankiest way possible to hide the variable qualities of the screenshots i found. it used to be easier to find screenshots! the internet is truly getting worse!

77 - Suikoden V - 70 points / 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/vsX0QyQ.png

Never played that but I bet I would have loved it, since I was really into Wing Commander I/II and banged my head against Colony Wars for awhile. Also remember an old SW flying game on PC where the tutorial level, flying an A-wing through a canyon without crashing, felt nearly impossible.

xp

I was playing this again last week, it’s honestly still one of the 2 or 3 best Star Wars games ever, HOW did nobody else vote for it??

(I’d argue for Dark Forces and KOTOR being in that top 3 too but neither of those hold up as well today as Rogue Leader).

i only had a PS2 from this era, plus sort of a dreamcast (borrowed one for like 6 months with a bunch of games once upon a time). never got to play much GC aside from the party games at other people's houses. i was kind of shocked by the number of well-received star wars games on there while doing this poll! i was only vaguely aware of a couple of them? lego and ep 1 racer i guess? really didn't even know this entire trilogy of space shooters!

77 - Tony Hawk’s Underground - 70 points / 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/Rws4DSc.png

(Meanwhile there are other titles much lower than RS2RL on my ballot which I’m amazed anyone else voted for!)

Underground was the Tony Hawk game which stopped me playing Tony Hawk games.

Also remember an old SW flying game on PC where the tutorial level, flying an A-wing through a canyon without crashing, felt nearly impossible.

That sounds like Star Wars Rebel Asaault and yep, it pretty much was impossible. Though if you ever did get past the first stage the game just got worse anyway.

(Meanwhile there are other titles much lower than RS2RL on my ballot which I’m amazed anyone else voted for!)

there were about 40-50 games to receive votes that will not appear in this rollout, just a warning! (haven't compared to your ballot or anything, just saying some of em might get shut out)

76 - The Sims 2 - 70 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/GKjnYV1.png

i can't barely remember now, because we were kind of grinding out dozens of games at the time, but some variation of sims 2 on either ps2 or psp was among the first games i ever worked on as a game tester in 2006! a lifetime ago

loving the crt tv screenshots

75 - SoulCalibur - 72 points / 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/K9yoDu6.png

loving the crt tv screenshots

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Monday, October 30, 2023 1:23 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

hah i am glad you like. i apologize in advance for also doing it for the gba games. i also apologize for playing fast and loose with the crops. pretend this crt has real bad overscan!

as a kid soulcaliber was one of those games i never had access to but loved when i had a chance to play

74 - Illbleed - 74 points / 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/q3LYiYn.png

73 - Global Defence Force - 76 points / 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/Of6BJFg.png

last two i know very little about! played an EDF on 360 a bit but never this ps2 one. hadn't even heard of illbleed until this.

Same, that Illbleed screenshot is VERY 6th gen though.

And oh look, Westminster Bridge. I’ve stood there.

lol yeah there weren't a lot of hq screens for illbleed. that one included tbh. the shitty crt filter doing a lot of work to hide some truly heinous image-scaling there

def would've voted for rogue leader one if i had time to vote

many xps

love this upcoming screenshot tho

72 - The Typing of the Dead - 76 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/E8g5c5s.png

Now we're talkin

or typing, rather

Was Underground the first "career mode"?

I think the first career mode was probably a pro sports game... maybe madden

underground was definitely the first one where you made your own sk8er boi and he had a storyline with a bunch of well-known skating people

i apologized in advance (no pun intended) for the gba images, here ya go. imagine you're playing it on that gamecube gba player thing, except it doesn't work right

71 - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 77 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/lNHOfCg.png

Typing of the Dead is the first one I've played, total classic obv. Bring back typing games (would be hilarious on mobile).

Someone must have made the "A keyboard is a 101-button controller" claim ala "the piano is a 88-string guitar"!

68 - Bangai-O - 78 points / 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/oMq0ANV.png

68 - Mario Superstar Baseball - 78 points / 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/Q0SDqeG.png

68 - WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! - 78 points / 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/OEcIzI1.png

Can’t believe how many points I gave to underground lol. I did spend an ungodly amount of time with that game as a kid when it came out and loved it to bits so it’s probably fair.

Playing Mario Superstar Baseball with a mate is some of the most fun couch co-op I’ve ever had.

Bangai-O/Illbleed = never heard of! Going to check them out.

Thanks for this Will!

66 - Sly 2: Band of Thieves - 81 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/rwfmJTk.png

The Sims 2 split screen on console was great fun too

WarioWare was my jam, incredible game(s), would love to play it again. Seems like it would be ideally suited for the TikTok generation.

“Couch Co-op”? I shouldn’t post after just waking up

couch co-op is totally a phrase!

I think Rogue Leader is the only one so far that I have in the house. And I don't even have a GameCube any more - I got rid of it after a fire 5 years ago, and put a lot of photos up on FaceBook of what I'd be saying goodbye to, and a friend asked for it - but I've not seen him since.

I definitely had, and played a lot of, SoulKaliberCalibur - it's blatantly "Tekken with pointy sticks" but Tekken is the best fighting game, and it certainly didn't tone down the bizarre mythos element.

xp - and Sly, which is the first of my votes to come up - stylish and silly - if George Clooney ever voiced a video game it should, but would not, be this one.

I think there was a new WarioWare game this year, which didn't really set the world alight (in fairness, the world is already alight)

Yeah, but not for Mario Supserstar Baseball! There was a negative amount of cooperations going between my friend and I

oh right that makes sense haha

66 - Super Mario Sunshine - 81 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/JyUYGzc.png

never actually played this one, somehow

65 - Dodonpachi Daioujou - 82 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/S7rHY5T.png

mario sunshine was the first mainline mario game I didn't 100%. some of the stages were unpolished and janky.

I very vividly remember playing Rogue Leader on GameCube launch day. 22 years ago, my God.

speaking of star wars games i have heard of

64 - Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy - 83 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/VDZEW4j.png

ah, so my ballot is getting out of the way early!

74 - Illbleed - 74 points / 1 Vote

i assume some here have watched or at least heard of supergreatfriend's S-tier let's play of deadly premonition, a game often said to be better watched than played.
that's bollocks: if you enjoyed that LP you might as well have played the game.
you miss out on what's actually good and interesting about deadly premonition yet must suffer through all its objectionable gross shit when watching an LP

anyway, turns out SGF also LP'd Illbleed, and while the let's play itself isn't quite up to DP's standard, illbleed is imo an actual example of a "don't need to play it, just watch an LP" game.

it's a nonsense camp comedy game disguised as survival horror and even its fansite is godlike

illbleed >>> deadly premonition

73 - Global Defence Force - 76 points / 1 Vote

it's EDF2, but with all voice acting excised. i actually played this one (unlike illbleed) because it did come out in europe (unlike illbleed)

after playing EDF3 (2017) on the 360 and despite hearing "EDF2 is so much better" i was still somewhat sceptical of sandlot's chops, thinking perhaps EDF3 was a lucky accident, but literally within 10 seconds of playing as the flying character i was sold.
yeah yeah, it has the awful gacha & grind (that sadly gets slightly worse with each new entry) but the gamefeel in the mainline EDF games is off the fucking charts, it ruined every other 1st/3rd person shooter for me

68 - Bangai-O - 78 points / 1 Vote

TOO LOW

the goat

63 - Pikmin - 85 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/OhsFcuG.png

dang you might be convincing me to play the ol ps2 edf here.

62 - Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King - 87 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/rlsllUi.png

xp

there's an undub ISO with the japanese voice acting restored (no subs though, it's just for atmosphere), i can PM if you're interested and can't find it on your own

BUT! if you're playing an EDF game today, no reason not to go with one of the latest ones if you have the means to play them (PC or PS4). they're both on sale frequently

either 4.1 or 5 are excellent, 5 is better overall imo but it has an atrocious early game (and 6 is even worse...) so i feel 4.1 is the better entry point

edf4 (2025) on the 360 was the one that really cemented my Sandlot fanboyism, it was such a leap from 3 i was half expecting them to drop the ball but boy did they deliver. 4.1 a the PS4 port/expansion pack hybrid of 4, that 0.1 really undersells how much of an improvement it was

there are also vita and switch ports of EDFs 2 and 3, the vita one is localised but the switch one is currently japan exclusive. i'd assume these would be better picks than the OG 2006 PS2 version but i can't personally vouch for either

60 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - 89 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/OheDgEC.png

60 - Resident Evil - 89 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/Ydd1STC.png

last one for today! i'll be back tomorrow with 20ish more

60 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - 89 points / 2 Votes
60 - Resident Evil - 89 points / 2 Votes
62 - Dragon Quest VIII - 87 points / 2 Votes
63 - Pikmin - 85 points / 2 Votes
64 - Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy - 83 points / 2 Votes
65 - Dodonpachi Daioujou - 82 points / 2 Votes
66 - Sly 2: Band of Thieves - 81 points / 2 Votes
66 - Super Mario Sunshine - 81 points / 2 Votes
68 - Bangai-O - 78 points / 1 Vote
68 - Mario Superstar Baseball - 78 points / 1 Vote
68 - WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! - 78 points / 1 Vote
71 - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 77 points / 2 Votes
72 - The Typing of the Dead - 76 points / 2 Votes
73 - Global Defence Force (EDF2) - 76 points / 1 Vote
74 - Illbleed - 74 points / 1 Vote
75 - SoulCalibur - 72 points / 1 Vote
76 - The Sims 2 - 70 points / 2 Votes
77 - Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader - 70 points / 1 Vote
77 - Suikoden V - 70 points / 1 Vote
77 - Tony Hawk’s Underground - 70 points / 1 Vote

crazy how low the generation's flagship mario game is (i didn't vote for it either)

voted for dq8: sturdy craftsmanship.

i gave DEUS EX: THE CONSPIRACY too few points to get it in singlehandedly-- hard to rly regret not putting it higher as it is an undeniably crippled port (of the best game ever) which chops the original's wide-open levels into mazy lil bits, disconnecting its geography from its exploratory wonder-if-i-can-get-on-top-of-that gameplay and rendering it incapable of competing with a game deliberately built of mazy lil bits like MGS2-- nevertheless it is v playable and a fun uncanny/disorienting experience if you for example happen to have memorized every detail of the layout of every level in the PC version.

I think Mario Sunshine is where it deserves to be really. I tried going back to it when 3d All Stars came out on switch and it’s just a very average 3d platformer, when every other 3d Mario game to date has been fantastic. It’s mostly Fludd’s fault, that water jeckpack/hosepipe thing was just a bad idea badly executed, it constantly gets in the way of the running and jumping that Mario games are good at.

Jeckpack? Come on brain, what was that?

hey it's day 2, here's another first party nintendo game!

59 - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - 95 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/7fgaizi.png

58 - EyeToy: Play - 99 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/dlLjkg5.png

Kind of astonished that I was the only person to vote for SoulCalibur. I'm not even really a fighting game guy, but man, that shit was undeniable.

I regret not really playing the Metroid Prime games (I think I tried one and didn't stick with it for some reason), I know people love them

If you have a Switch, pick up the Prime 1 remaster; it totally rips.

57 - Chu Chu Rocket - 101 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/1T7kcv3.png

now that's a game i def played a lot of in my buddy kevin's basement. heckuva game. (can't even remember if i voted for it)
(ok i looked, i did, i gave it about as many points as the other voter did!)

I don't :(

xp

56 - Jak and Daxter - 102 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/6sCvlLE.png

considering the placement of sly 2 I gotta say… OVERRATED

i don't really have a dog in the fight! never really played that whole "animals platforming" segment of the ps2 catalog, which i know is foolish of me, they just never caught me at the right time. i was more into rpgs and shmups and sports games at the time iirc. too bad, the way ppl talk about both series has me thinking i really missed out!

Ugh, I want to replay Circle of the Moon.

I don't play a lot of games anymore but I dream about making time to play through the 2D Castlevanias. I think I've only ever finished the original and COTM.

55 - Animal Crossing - 103 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/d2iYEN5.png

i always forget ot give my lil blurbs while im rolling out, why not write a bunch right now while i'm thinking about it?

60 - Resident Evil
a fond memory i have is one time when my parents went out of town and i had the house to myself, where some kids mightve had a fuckin ~rager~ i instead invited several of my good friends over to do an all-nighter of the new resident evil remake around our giant 36" trinitron with one of them bringing his GC. i don't remember how far we got but it kinda... idk, defined how i prefer to play horror games? with a bunch of people yelling and having a good time. i still don't really fw horror games alone, TOO SCARY, but with pals? great times.

(side note once we also did this thing where we took turns playing amnesia dark descent on a pc hoked up to a nearby tv, and the rest of us shouted warnings from afar but the game player couldn't quite hear. it was the best. we tried recording voice/video as well, like a super-early twitch thing, but it didn't work great, sadly. i think it involved skype and a screen recorder lmao)

62 - Dragon Quest VIII
there has to be an alternate universe where i got into the dq series, but as it is there's only one i ever really got into, and it was one of the ds remakes (i wanna say 4 or 5). anyway that one was really good!

65 - Dodonpachi Daioujou
i still think of this as the high water mark for shmups, i might be wrong but in my head this was IT at the time. doubt i ever got past level 2, don't care, love it

68 - Bangai-O
only played the ds sequel, it was awesome but i never fully wrapped my head around it! if i ever get my hands on a dreamcast (sthg i am sort of planning on tbh) i will def give the tv entry in the series an earnest try

71 - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
i remember being so disappointed by this because i really wanted something in the vein of FFT but in retrospect i think it was pretty fun? idk, i am almost certainly never gonna revisit it. it was cool that there was more fft anyway. ffta2 alienated me even more and i played the stupid wotv gacha game way longer than i should have, i guess the fft brand is cooked at this point...

75 - SoulCalibur
it was one of the later ones that i really fw, i can't remember if it was 2 or 3 or later, quality fun but neither me nor my friends ever really got good enough for it to feel competitive outside of learning a couple of tricks for one guy and mercilessly spamming it

77 - Suikoden V
this was one of my high votes! i have such vague memories of it, all i remember is that i liked it more than 4 (not a challop) and 3 (i think this is a challop), and i know i liked all of the suikoden games so i gave it a high spot on my ballot. love finding all 108 of my friends to fight some bad guys.

I played almost all of the “animals platforming” ps2 games one boring summer while staying at my dad’s place because my little brother owned most of them, otherwise I would’ve ignored them too. Sly 2 was the most charming of the bunch, but they were all pretty solid tbh

I had to use walkthroughs for Resident Evil. I loved it but it was too anxiety-inducing (having to worry if you have enough ink ribbons left, or how many crimson zombies you've left running amok).

54 - Steambot Chronicles - 104 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/INBKHoF.png

apologies for what is prob the worst screenshot of the rollout for that one. i was going fast and wasn't finding aaaany good ones for that game!

53 - Def Jam: Fight For NY - 106 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/R6jdDbj.png

this game rules, one of my fave fighters ever, and a weird detail seared into my memory is the character creation screen test voice over line... getting 6 different voice actors to say "CMON YALL, LETS BOUNCE" over and over to pick the perfect sound for my little dude

52 - Metroid Fusion - 108 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/eDUUdj9.png

steambot chronicles sounds like a v weird, interesting game

its japanese name is BUMPY TROT, which already kinda has me sold

Steambot Chronicles was one of the only games I had during my phase of delayed-onset PS2 ownership. And boy was I glad I had it. Customizing my trotmobile was a blast.

Of course I ended up selling it, and the PS2, cuz I am a god-darned idjit, as Tim Rogers would say

Now I did play all the GBA 2-D Metroids, and I'm glad I did because they're great.

51 - Luigi's Mansion - 112 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/MruB4c5.png

Think I got a free copy of this with Mario Sunshine for some reason.

I never got the appeal of these games.

50 - Mother 3 - 121 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/rDumoos.png

i'm at fault as well for this one being too low, because i didn't vote for it (i've started and stalled several times! i swear one of these days i'll play it thru), but yes, based on how i've heard ppl talk about it this is almost certainly TOO LOW

49 - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance - 123 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/hHL31QR.png

a diablo game, not a baldur's gate game; but v fun co-op

48 - Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald - 124 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/OZo6TAP.png

tbf i gave Mother 3 some points despite not having played thru it because it surely deserves acknowledgement

46 - God Hand - 128 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/rAchytj.png

we're in a real sacred cow stretch here lol

I am a Jak and Daxter voter. That game made me laugh quite a bit. The cutscenes were a reward that kept me invested in collecting the requisite glowing bobs and bits. I hated 2 and never tried 3.

oops i had to leave for a while and then i forgot to keep posting! only uhhh 6 left today. might compress it a lil bit to get outta here

46 - Metropolis Street Racer - 128 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/SsEjBYq.png

i also never played mother 3 despite it being on The List but i intentionally did not vote for it because i assumed it wouldn't need the boost, and my ballot was already half filled with games i never played but that deserve Recognition

same goes for katamari which will probably and justly sweep this poll and that reminds me, is the reroll release on PS4 an acceptable substitute for the 2004 original? because if so that might finally be the push i need to play it

re god hand: TOO LOW

45 - TimeSplitters 2 - 130 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/300C8Ca.png

surprised there weren't more votes for timesplitters 2, fun game

xpost god hand was one i always wanted to play so i took will m's advice and used an emulator, can confirm it rules

same goes for katamari which will probably and justly sweep this poll

Except that the original game wasn’t released in Europe (until Reroll came out in 2018) which means the vote’s going to be split between Katamari Damacy and We <3 Katamari (which did get a Euro release). Will probably mean they both end up placing lower than you’d expect.

Metropolis Street Racer was so great and is pretty much forgotten I think, didn’t help that it was a Dreamcast exclusive with a super generic title (which was then dropped for all its sequels, they moved to Xbox and became the Project Gotham games). But it’s the first time I ever got to drive around a recognisable and mostly accurate recreation of London (all the more exciting because at the time I lived about 15 mins away from the areas it covered). And it was also I think the first game which gave you credit for driving in a reckless or stylish or generally fun way, rather than just for winning races? Which obviously ended up being a core part of the Burnout games, and of things like Forza Horizon/NFS etc etc.

Bah, catching up on yesterday's first:
60 - Resident Evil - 89 points / 2 Votes
This was the Gamecube remaster, which was eye-opening both in terms of what graphics you could squeeze out of it and what control and gameplay improvements could be made in only a few years.

63 - Pikmin - 85 points / 2 Votes
Still brutal if you wanted to rush it, also still brutal the first time you get your little dudes destroyed by accident.

64 - Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy - 83 points / 2 Votes
Is this the first sign of "oh yeah another game is definitely in"? I liked that it wasn't afraid to play around with the stories that people actually liked.

66 - Super Mario Sunshine - 81 points / 2 Votes
This was my first Super Mario! I didn't get a (loan of a) N64 until much later than the Gamecube. I think I probably said last generation but my platformers were the drop-perfect PS platformers, Crash and Spyro and the like - I dug the water gimmick of Sunshine in theory (and sometimes in practice) but I couldn't be doing with the slippy-slidey handling.

From yesterday's haul, I voted for Metroid Prime 2 / Jak and Daxter / Luigi's Mansion / Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance - all from the unranked section of my ballot, all of them representing enjoyable times with one or another good feature: Dark Samus / "No loading screens" / Just the general excellent hoover mechanism / Amazing visuals by the standards of the time.

Honestly I'm loving that, other than the Dreamcast, every non-Xbox console has more exclusives than Xbox has titles released.

sorry i ran outta time yesterday everyone! will make up for it today to the best of my ability (in meetings for 6 hours... hope i can post thru it)

44 - Tekken Tag Tournament - 135 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/NPovEkr.png

didnt spot this going on, fair play

timesplitters 2 is as good as people say goldeneye is

the "we are chasing aliens thru time portals" conceit means singleplayer levels are all pastiches of different genres of shooter (cyberpunk stealth, old west shooting gallery, turok-style mayan-ruin archery course, etc.) and that the multiplayer is all custom recombinations of these elements

That sounds dope as hell

Lol sorry everyone my internet went out about 20m after I posted that, still waiting for it to come back, might kinda fuck up today's rollout

damn loading screens

anyway this poll has brought home to me how many whole genres of games i've just not bothered with over the last 20-ish years

i'm sure i tried one of the Timesplitters a couple of times, people who rate it seem to really rate it, but iirc i wasn't feeling it

43 - Spider-Man 2 - 136 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/Wm0m1Ba.png

im back!

ilx going crazy with the login/logout situations too just to make it ~that~ much harder today lol. let's see how many of these damn things we can get thru now

42 - Beyond Good and Evil - 141 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/wmuIn0g.png

I think I played a lot of timesplitters but I don't remember:(

I remember in metropolis street racer, for splitscreen multiplayer games you could get it to flash text up on the screen when you burned past your opponent. Mine read "SHIT ON ME".

i'm sure i tried with BGaE but it never gripped me, despite the critical love

41 - F-Zero GX - 143 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/f9loCD8.png

40 - Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - 144 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/B2tMIsP.png

Imagine my horror when I picked up the pc version of spiderman 2 from the library (lol how did they let you get away with this as a kid with no cd-hacks existing) to find out it was an infinitely worse game than its console equivalent?

played the hell out of spiderman 1 though on ps2. That was my jam.
I remember playing part of Beyond Good and Evil on a demo disk. I think I was driving a water craft around an area? Felt real good as a kid, and love that cell shaded aesthetic. Its sequel is reaching Half Life 3 proportions of "when the hell is this happening?"

Mum wouldn't let me have a gameboy as a kid because I played enough videogames anyways (probably a good choice). But we hosted a Japanese exchange student briefly after pokemon ruby/saphire came out and ya'll know I played the hell out of it under the blanket at night when I was meant to be in bed. + then many more times on an emulator.

So many games I haven't played that I really want to on this list

39 - Halo: Combat Evolved - 146 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/b8a7BKv.png

might just try to get us thru to 30 or so today, do 15/15 thu/fri

Suprisingly low!

agreed that it is surprisingly low, but does not make me want to scream TOO LOW from the rooftops. not like this one does

38 - OutRun 2 (incl. OutRun 2 SP & OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast) - 150 points / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/raY0NVq.png

I'm certain that OutRun 2 kicks ass, but I've never had the opportunity to play it ;_;

I emulated recently. Can confirm, kicks ass

xp

same here but that didn't stop me from ranking it #5 in my ballot

I've only played Outrun at the arcade but it rules

37 - Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution - 152 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/g7QpeyC.png

36 - Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door - 153 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/blYr3e1.png

35 - Singstar series - 154 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/zDrq661.png

ok who voted Singstar 1st place?

sadly i am sworn to the ilx poll code of secrecy on that one

34 - Persona 3 (incl. Persona 3 FES) - 156 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/UdJSOYf.png

xp

it's an interesting choice, i just wondered if whoever it was wanted to sing its praises here

ok TOO LOW

so this was my number 1 - partly because this gen didn't include P4 Golden which would've given me a hard decision to make. the social link Persona games tick a bunch of emotional buttons in me that i barely understand myself

you were in good company! i was the other voter, had it in 3rd behind something that didn't place yet, and something that did (outrun)

really looking forward to replaying it when they make that remake

33 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 - 161 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/stdSM1v.png

38 - OutRun 2 (incl. OutRun 2 SP & OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast) - 150 points / 2 Votes
37 - Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution - 152 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes

the duo of AM2-developed, Katagiri-directed arcade bangers back to back.

i'm the 1st place voter for VF4 evo, another mostly tactical vote because i only played scant few hours due to missing the boat on the PS2 (only got one in 2009), lacking an arcade stick or saturn pad clone for it and thus devoting my play time to god hand, drakengard, etc

#1 because the VF i did play the most, vf5 final showdown, shamefully never got a home port up to the standard it deserves, a stark contrast with vf4 evo which has probably the best offline home port of a FTG ever.

i bought the recent P3 Portable port because i'd only played it on emulator, and until the trailers for Reload started dropping i kept telling myself i really didn't need to buy yet another iteration of the game, but having seen those trailers i'm 100% buying it again

32 - Skies of Arcadia - 176 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/ojF5TVD.png

loved skies of arcadia. remember almost nothing about it but i loved it. maybe i should find a way to replay

polls like this make me wish there were more accessible emulators legally available on current gen consoles or something

31 - Crazy Taxi - 180 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/W1f8l2M.png

the less-good sega-made car game has beaten the more-good sega-made car game and i'll never get over it

DAY 2/3 RECAP

31 - Crazy Taxi - 180 points / 3 Votes
32 - Skies of Arcadia - 176 points / 3 Votes
33 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 - 161 points / 3 Votes
34 - Persona 3 FES - 156 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
35 - Singstar series - 154 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
36 - Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door - 153 points / 3 Votes
37 - Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution - 152 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
38 - OutRun 2 / SP / 2006 C2C - 150 points / 2 Votes
39 - Halo: Combat Evolved - 146 points / 3 Votes
40 - Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - 144 points / 3 Votes
41 - F-Zero GX - 143 points / 3 Votes
42 - Beyond Good and Evil - 141 points / 3 Votes
43 - Spider-Man 2 - 136 points / 3 Votes
44 - Tekken Tag Tournament - 135 points / 3 Votes
45 - TimeSplitters 2 - 130 points / 2 Votes
46 - God Hand - 128 points / 2 Votes
46 - Metropolis Street Racer - 128 points / 2 Votes
48 - Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald - 124 points / 3 Votes
49 - Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance - 123 points / 3 Votes
50 - Mother 3 - 121 points / 2 Votes
51 - Luigi's Mansion - 112 points / 3 Votes
52 - Metroid Fusion - 108 points / 2 Votes
53 - Def Jam Fight For NY - 106 points / 2 Votes
54 - Steambot Chronicles - 104 points / 2 Votes
55 - Animal Crossing - 103 points / 2 Votes
56 - Jak and Daxter - 102 points / 3 Votes
57 - Chu Chu Rocket - 101 points / 2 Votes
58 - EyeToy: Play - 99 points / 2 Votes
59 - Metroid Prime 2 - 95 points / 2 Votes
60 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - 89 points / 2 Votes
60 - Resident Evil - 89 points / 2 Votes
62 - Dragon Quest VIII - 87 points / 2 Votes
63 - Pikmin - 85 points / 2 Votes
64 - Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy - 83 points / 2 Votes
65 - Dodonpachi Daioujou - 82 points / 2 Votes
66 - Sly 2: Band of Thieves - 81 points / 2 Votes
66 - Super Mario Sunshine - 81 points / 2 Votes
68 - Bangai-O - 78 points / 1 Vote
68 - Mario Superstar Baseball - 78 points / 1 Vote
68 - WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! - 78 points / 1 Vote
71 - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 77 points / 2 Votes
72 - The Typing of the Dead - 76 points / 2 Votes
73 - Global Defence Force (EDF2) - 76 points / 1 Vote
74 - Illbleed - 74 points / 1 Vote
75 - SoulCalibur - 72 points / 1 Vote
76 - The Sims 2 - 70 points / 2 Votes
77 - Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader - 70 points / 1 Vote
77 - Suikoden V - 70 points / 1 Vote
77 - Tony Hawk’s Underground - 70 points / 1 Vote

loved skies of arcadia. remember almost nothing about it but i loved it. maybe i should find a way to replay

― Ryan seaQuest (Will M.), Wednesday, November 1, 2023 11:20 PM bookmarkflaglink

i also loved it but would never replay it. the combat system is boring and flawed and the nocturne-style random battles are infuriatingly frequent, even on the supposedly toned down gamecube port i played

that its vibes were enough to carry it is impressive in its own right

Noodle vague, if you have an Xbox series console emulators are very easy and legal to get (need to spend $20 to get a dev account). GameCube and ps2 emulation is basically perfect, can upscale most games to 4K without a hitch (and the ones you can’t, 1440p will typically be fine)

(The emulators are legal, the actual playing of games, whether you own them physically is where the question of legality is brought up….)

I've never owned an Xbox but that seems like a good feature

I remember fighting a table in Skies of Arcadia.

noodle vague, i have no idea if watching a 6 hour youtube video is something you would consider reasonable behavior, but this comment:

the social link Persona games tick a bunch of emotional buttons in me that i barely understand myself

makes me think you might be interested in tim rogers' video essay on tokimeki memorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb-DtICmPTY

respect to whoever had virtua fighter 4 in their top spot, i am the other voter for it

virtua fighter is the only non-smash bros fighting game i have truly loved

god i might just sit and watch the tokimeki memorial review again tomorrow

(i've been watching the fukubukuros lately and while interesting, they don't have the density of his reviews)

I'm right on the cusp of finding Tim Rogers' style unwatchably irritating but on the other hand I'm gonna end up sitting thru all of this. In chunks. Maybe

I mean I'm already googling for translated roms tbf to the lad

ok who voted Singstar 1st place?

thought it might have been me, but no! it's probably the most fun I've ever had playing games and probably amongst my most played, with friends, till the small hours. it's the game that got me over my karaoke fear. I had (iirc) singstar, singstar 80s, 90s, party, popworld...

30 - Yakuza - 182 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/dh8xIZO.png

29 - Final Fantasy X - 195 points / 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/9XnJ164.png

I haven't played either of these, but both of them feel like they're way too low. Very curious to see what the top 20 is gonna look like

28 - Silent Hill 2 - 204 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/0WVxM12.png

27 - Final Fantasy XII - 205 points / 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/M03UM0s.png

26 - Grand Theft Auto 3 - 208 points / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/JXwX8QK.png

WHAAA Silent Hill 2 surely too low

(of course I should have voted for it but again I never actually played it...but I know in my bones it's a classic)

25 - Metroid: Zero Mission - 212 points / 1 First-place vote / 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/SRDOLjd.png

i voted for Yakuza having only played it as Kiwami tbh but i regret nothing, way too low

i also placed GTA3 as the least of that generation of GTAs but SO MUCH FUN, it's gonna make me sad remembering the franchise at its peak

24 - Okami - 223 points / 5 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/RzmUyDb.png

lol oops that giant gamespy logo

23 - Super Smash Bros. Melee - 234 points / 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/lSs0qPF.png

TOO LOW

possibly the pinnacle of gaming with friends irl

22 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (incl. Subsistence) - 238 points / 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/2GMaETK.png

nooo what

https://i.imgur.com/TWROvRe.png

melee way too low, you can blame me for not voting

was probably too young to embrace paper mario 64 when it came out, but im definitely planning on playing the 1000 year door remake when it drops on switch next year

*didn't embrace paper mario 64, so i never played 1000 year, should say

i was so disappointed by FFX as a kid that it put me off the series. i played FFXII a few years ago to see if i couldn't get into the double digit FF era. the combat was alright but in every other way the magic wasn't there

i tried to like smash bros but tbh ive always found it an imprecise mess of an experience

I loved FFX, which made me go back and play the PS1 titles I had skipped. FFVII is probably better, but FFX was the last FF game I loved. FFXII's story and characters were so dry that I can barely remember anything about it except that somehow I had the patience to beat it

21 - Persona 4 - 240 points / 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/iMLN8lv.png

and there's the Junes jingle playing in my head

i love the sense of place in P4, but like i hinted out upthread without the central myth that structures P4 Golden i think this is a lesser game than P3 FES.

also Teddy is a dick

20 - Psychonauts - 241 points / 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/vODMbBZ.png

19 - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - 252 points / 1 First-place vote / 6 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/ojkZghA.png

18 - Bully - 254 points / 5 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/lHn0Sul.png

17 - Jet Set Radio - 256 points / 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/vAbnNlF.png

16 - We ♥ Katamari - 276 points / 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/JAkc7sT.png

that'll do it for today! hope i didn't miss any. a real bevy of too lows today!

DAY 4 RECAP

16 - We ♥ Katamari - 276 points / 4 Votes
17 - Jet Set Radio - 256 points / 4 Votes
18 - Bully - 254 points / 5 Votes
19 - Prince of Persia - 252 points / 1 First-place vote / 6 Votes
20 - Psychonauts - 241 points / 4 Votes
21 - Persona 4 - 240 points / 4 Votes
22 - Metal Gear Solid 3 - 238 points / 4 Votes
23 - Super Smash Bros. Melee - 234 points / 4 Votes
24 - Okami - 223 points / 5 Votes
25 - Metroid: Zero Mission - 212 points / 1 First-place vote / 3 Votes
26 - Grand Theft Auto 3 - 208 points / 3 Votes
27 - Final Fantasy XII - 205 points / 4 Votes
28 - Silent Hill 2 - 204 points / 3 Votes
29 - Final Fantasy X - 195 points / 4 Votes
30 - Yakuza - 182 points / 3 Votes

31 - Crazy Taxi - 180 points / 3 Votes
32 - Skies of Arcadia - 176 points / 3 Votes
33 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 - 161 points / 3 Votes
34 - Persona 3 FES - 156 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
35 - Singstar series - 154 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
36 - Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door - 153 points / 3 Votes
37 - Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution - 152 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
38 - OutRun 2 / SP / 2006 C2C - 150 points / 2 Votes
39 - Halo: Combat Evolved - 146 points / 3 Votes
40 - Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - 144 points / 3 Votes
41 - F-Zero GX - 143 points / 3 Votes
42 - Beyond Good and Evil - 141 points / 3 Votes
43 - Spider-Man 2 - 136 points / 3 Votes
44 - Tekken Tag Tournament - 135 points / 3 Votes
45 - TimeSplitters 2 - 130 points / 2 Votes

46 - God Hand - 128 points / 2 Votes
46 - Metropolis Street Racer - 128 points / 2 Votes
48 - Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald - 124 points / 3 Votes
49 - Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance - 123 points / 3 Votes
50 - Mother 3 - 121 points / 2 Votes
51 - Luigi's Mansion - 112 points / 3 Votes
52 - Metroid Fusion - 108 points / 2 Votes
53 - Def Jam Fight For NY - 106 points / 2 Votes
54 - Steambot Chronicles - 104 points / 2 Votes
55 - Animal Crossing - 103 points / 2 Votes
56 - Jak and Daxter - 102 points / 3 Votes
57 - Chu Chu Rocket - 101 points / 2 Votes
58 - EyeToy: Play - 99 points / 2 Votes
59 - Metroid Prime 2 - 95 points / 2 Votes
60 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - 89 points / 2 Votes
60 - Resident Evil - 89 points / 2 Votes

62 - Dragon Quest VIII - 87 points / 2 Votes
63 - Pikmin - 85 points / 2 Votes
64 - Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy - 83 points / 2 Votes
65 - Dodonpachi Daioujou - 82 points / 2 Votes
66 - Sly 2: Band of Thieves - 81 points / 2 Votes
66 - Super Mario Sunshine - 81 points / 2 Votes
68 - Bangai-O - 78 points / 1 Vote
68 - Mario Superstar Baseball - 78 points / 1 Vote
68 - WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! - 78 points / 1 Vote
71 - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 77 points / 2 Votes
72 - The Typing of the Dead - 76 points / 2 Votes
73 - Global Defence Force (EDF2) - 76 points / 1 Vote
74 - Illbleed - 74 points / 1 Vote
75 - SoulCalibur - 72 points / 1 Vote
76 - The Sims 2 - 70 points / 2 Votes
77 - Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader - 70 points / 1 Vote
77 - Suikoden V - 70 points / 1 Vote
77 - Tony Hawk’s Underground - 70 points / 1 Vote

feel free to take your guesses for the top, i can almost guarantee that one of the ones you're thinking of won't be there

pro evo ..... 5

only ever saw the tv commercials for bully and i have absolutely no idea what playing the game is like. are you the bully? are you trying to avoid being bullied?

I predict RE4 in top 5

Shadow of the Colossus in top 10

there are gonna be a few TOO HIGHs in the top 10

you're not really a bully in Bully, but it was the height of Rockstar's moral panic phase. it's not as good as the GTAs, really.

WE HEART KATAMARI outside the top 10 is a travesty

of note to the ps2 enjoyers out here (and even moreso, the tim rogers enjoyers) -- they ("they" being some people i don't know) uploaded the english translation of BOKU NO NATSUYASUMI 2 for the playstation 2 to the internet. i am currently putting it onto my actual playstation 2 to play on my actual sony trinitron crt television and omg why am i typing like tim talks ANYWAY if you don't know where to look, i can tell you where to look, you have my email

WHAAA Silent Hill 2 surely too low

(of course I should have voted for it but again I never actually played it...but I know in my bones it's a classic)

once again, same

challops time!

30 - Yakuza - 182 points / 3 Votes

i voted for Yakuza having only played it as Kiwami tbh but i regret nothing, way too low

even it was PS4 kiwami magically transplanted into this gen i don't think it deserves to be this high (and i say this with yakuza 0 being a strong candidate for my favourite game ever) but my understanding of the PS2 version (which may be wrong, i've never played it) is it has much less of the silliness and videogamey charm of modern yakuzas, the encounters are old-style invisible random battles you can't avoid and the kamurocho map is segmented with loading pauses every other street

and no pocket circuit

17 - Jet Set Radio - 256 points / 4 Votes

ok, i get why people love this, and i bought it when it came out but... nah, not for me. not even top 20 of the dreamcast

feel free to take your guesses for the top, i can almost guarantee that one of the ones you're thinking of won't be there

MGS2?

Mgs2 might just win this (as it should)

Other guesses:burnout 3, re4, hl2(?), fifa (?), wind waker, vice city, kotor, morrowind.

Things I voted for that most likely aren’t in the top 15 but really should be: phoenix wright ace attorney and midnight club 3

i hope half-life 2 doesn't make it for the same reason dlh gave for deus ex: it's a PC game, and while at least deus ex had an interesting port, HL2's is only notable for being a technical marvel, it's a miracle a comtemporary console could run that game at all but that's not how one would want to experience it

i also don't like it so there's that! we already got timesplitters 2, FPSs are properly accounted for in this list

Other guesses for the top 15 not already mentioned: GTA San Andreas, Ico, Killer7, Metroid Prime, Rez
I'd be amazed and delighted: Ace Attorney, Kingdom Hearts, Lego Star Wars, Ratchet & Clank, Soul Reaver 2
I'll buy everyone a beer: Shadow of Memories / Shadows of Destiny

Q: Will ILX really go for a cult hit in the top 15?
A: Buddy, there are already three Megami Tensei titles in the rollout.

would've voted for star wars battlefront ii, but again, i did not vote

the orange box version of hl2 was great, but that was the next gen

the entire Capcom 54 are still missing and i doubt PN03 is going to make it but i'm starting to wonder about VJ as well

My only prediction for the top ten is that both Vice City and San Andreas could land outside the top five because people are likely to have chosen which GTA they prefer from this gen and voted for just that one, rather than giving points to 2 or even all 3 of them.

Oh plus Star Wars KOTOR hasn’t had a mention yet, if that hasn’t charted at all then fuck this I’m leaving.

my prediction for the top 10 is that R.A.D. won't make it ):

Fifa is the one game that I am most unsure about. It could either be top 5, or not here at all

Would be a great laugh if guitar hero placed

KOTOR would definitely have been in my list except it was already in H.P's

bloody fifa better not be anywhere near this list, it was utter shite during this gen (and the previous too). PES/winning 11 or bust

Eternal Darkness is probably absent, right?

I thought that game was a bit overpraised when it came out (but also played it three times with all three alignments *cough*)

based on past ilx threads i can see Vice City wrongly finishing above San Andreas

Ico is too high wherever it finishes, so empty, so boring

i wd love love love strong placings for Phoenix Wright and Morrowind

Ico's emptiness is why it's great!

i was the first-place voter for prince of persia, which i think is beautiful down to the bones

i had bully higher than any gta because the lil campus-centered town it's set in feels realer to me than any gta city. i never actually learn where anything is in gta games (despite playing them plenty!) but the bully town i know like my hometown: which backyards are adjacent to which; where the little paths begin that cut down to the seaside; where you can scramble over a crumbling wall to take a shortcut across campus; where the good pebbles (for slingshots) and flowers (for the ladies) are to be found. and more: you know the people too! you end up knowing every student in school by sight. (fans of photo-collecting minigames can take their pictures for the yearbook.) all of this is made possible by the game's deciding for the only time in the entire series (the entire genre!) to grow less ambitious instead of more. also while the story is the usual juvenile pastiche i find the snot-nosed nazi villain's design+performance more effective+memorable than any comparable gta role (one of which iirc was filled by samuel l jackson). "well, this guy's a psychopath," a friend trying the game out said, after his first scene.

fun uncanny thing going on too where you are a lil american punk at a middle american school being brayed at by teachers with american accents YOU'RE QUITE THE NASTIEST LITTLE BOY I'VE EVER MET! GO SEE THE HEADMASTER!

I know where everything is in GTA3 - at least on the first island and a lot of the second - I kind of think that's a common thing with their games that because you're living more by the skin of your teeth at the start, everything's more important.

Man, I want to play GTA3 now.

jet set radio my #2, such a super tactile game, with the feel of grinds & wall slides, and it looked great.

sad case that i am i think my favourite bits of Bully were some of the classroom mini-games

15 - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - 276 points / 5 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/6G9Q1at.png

Ico is too high wherever it finishes, so empty, so boring

no that's shadow of the colossus. ico is the one that's good

i have a map of vvardenfell on my wall (reminds me of my own road-ringed volcanic island) and thus def voted for morrowind but hard to feel an unmoddable version is definitive. nevertheless would play it on xbox right now, would love to move past rocks at a glazed crawl for a dozen hours feeling austerely superior to brats who'd want this changed.

you can be a bully in bully if you want to, btw, but as taking kids' lunch money somehow both 1) feels intimately grimmer, and 2) requires many more button presses, than being a mass murderer in gta, people prob did it a lot less

games i think i voted for:

metal gear solid 3: an utter masterpiece, far too low, although the plot lacks the true madness of 2 and is worse off for it. mgs2 & 3 are really so far ahead of nearly everything else from this generation

okami: a very solid zelda-like, better than the actual zelda games from this generation although the dungeons were never anywhere near as elaborate as the best from zelda

metroid prime 2: not really that much worse than the first which is an all-time classic. there's some annoying backtracking and the endgame sky temple key collection is much worse than the first's artifact collection sequence, but it still holds up well overall. it probably helps though that i played the wii version which had some of the reportedly total bullshit difficulty spikes patched out.

pokemon sapphire & emerald: i spent hundreds of hours playing these as a child, they were my generation of pokemon. i wouldn't really say they were the best pokemon games or anything but they were sure better than anything else i played at that age

super smash bros. melee: i have fond memories of playing this a lot at a friend's house in middle school.

games i do not like and did not vote for:

psychonauts: all (admittedly good) style over substance, the gameplay is generally uninteresting and there are some truly abysmal platforming sequences

persona 4: there is a lot to like about the general atmosphere (the soundtrack is fantastic) and the whole lifesim/rpg concept, but the writing ends up being thematically deeply conservative with its themes. every character's arc is basically just them deciding that actually, the best thing to do is conform with society's expectations instead of rebelling against them and the way it handles queerness is pretty terrible. incredibly frustrating because there is clearly room to do something actually great with the (still relatively unique) structure of the persona games but they always squander it with the writing.

mother 3: fantastic except it has particularly bad combat even by rpg standards, to the point where i got too sick of it and never finished the game

Hell yeah Morrowind. In many ways an "objectively bad" game that has aged poorly. But let me tell you something: I never even played this until the winter of 2021, and in my time with it I was utterly transported. That can't be nostalgia talking. This game has vibes for days, weeks, years.

otm: the island is one of the realest fictional places in video games

Yeah it's a magic trick they have yet to pull off again in a TES game, though Skyrim succeeds in moments

I'm out but ffs Morrowind is the best non-J RPG of all time

Had a phase of not being able to play because the tombs were too acary

14 - Metroid Prime - 284 points / 2 First-place votes / 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/DxoBOSp.png

Had a phase of not being able to play because the tombs were too acary

you shouldn’t be in the tombs, it’s disrespectful

Lara Croft: Tomb Respecter

metroid prime: obviously a masterpiece but i have never ever succeeded in getting into it. i only have the wii version: is that why? you’d think it would be perfect and it is; i put it on like, gosh, the world’s greatest lightgun game; i take it off.

Anyway Metroid Prime is another one I came to late; literally this year when the remaster came out on Switch. It was worth the 21-year wait, IMO. Some of the boss encounters are total bullshit, though.

MP is definitely more about the exploration and mood than anything else. It looks like an FPS, but in reality it is a first-person adventure game. So I can imagine interfacing with it like a light gun game is less than ideal

Yeah, the z-targeting seems so essential to Metroid Prime - it's not really about aiming at all. The fights are much more about movement and using the right weapons.

all sounds right. will play the switch version sometime.

I remember it as one of the most polished-feeling games I've ever played. Just about everything about how it looks, sounds, feels, the integrity of the environments, it's still super impressive.

13 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - 328 points / 6 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/epoU7r2.png

you shouldn’t be in the tombs, it’s disrespectful

I know but THEY MADE ME DO IT

was at work when the final fantasies placed but i was an ff12 voter and an ffx abstainer, even tho the thing i like about ff12 (the battle system) also happens to be better in ffx than almost anywhere else in the series, and even tho the story/chars/cinematic sweep of X prob > the intense phantom menace vibes of 12, and even tho the sphere grid is at the very least prettier than the metaphorically out-to-lunch "license board". i just cannot with those little dungeons full of orbs and slots for orbs.

now here's an rpg that's good on a console.

i believe kotor is a v good game, but something deep in the core of my being renders me incapable of caring about anything related to star wars

weird thing about kotor is that the first planet sucks and in addition to an outrageously lame "teeming lower city" (a corridor) features one of the most unjustified sewer levels in the history of rpgs; also quite a bit of it iirc is bioware's most obnoxious character archetype (whiny moralist) wondering if you're invested enough yet in the main quest. after this it suddenly becomes extremely fun for a long time: nice clean d20 mechanics, interface and level design console-specific, variety of planets with different scuzzy dystopian vibes, broad emotional strokes, lightsabers. i put it higher than any other RPG.

(it does nothing with the "old republic" setting at all tho: everything just looks like the prequels. i looked at some of the old dark horse comics of the same name and the spaceship interiors looked like the imperial throne room in the lynch dune-- a lot of baroque spiky gold-- that would have been more like it.)

12 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 338 points / 5 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/UUJBbvg.png

heartbreakingly low for this one

the best gta.

also dang i'm just leaving watermarks allllll over the place huh

dw, it adds to the quaint and cozy feel of our humble poll

SA probably is *the best* GTA but i did not vote for it for reasons that i believe i will have occassion to explain later

11 - Ico - 353 points / 2 First-place votes / 6 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/OA8c9CB.png

San Andreas not just clearly the greatest GTA of all time but clearly a gajillion times more fun than Ico ffs

TOO LOW!

love artcore gameless drama tho

i believe kotor is a v good game, but something deep in the core of my being renders me incapable of caring about anything related to star wars

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Friday, 3 November 2023 16:46 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

totally! the reviews of KOTOR have made me want to join in for years and years and maybe one day i might still do it but not giving a fuck about SW world has been the barrier

idk if ico holds up in a world now filled with indie games aiming for haunting and enigmatic, but as a 14yo playing this over the course of a weekend with my best friend it def cast a spell on us

i did try playing it for a couple of hours, maybe something happens when you get deeper in?

9 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 362 points / 6 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/s8JGxMq.png

i feel some kinda way about this being on this generation's poll because to me this series is a nintendo ds series, but if i bothered to protest in the nominations phase i was overruled so here it is.

also it is tied with the next one

YASSSSSS

idk VNs are not for everybody but Phoenix is an important cultural marker of the last couple decades

i will admit i voted for it but did not play it until it came out on the switch

Argh Mia my heart

9 - Rez - 362 points / 6 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/ZcSm99Y.png

played this one on my sony trinitron crt television recently from back when they basically just strapped a boombox on the sides of televisions and let me tell ya

that's a good game

8 - Burnout 3: Takedown - 378 points / 6 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/t05oY1v.png

7 - Shadow of the Colossus - 390 points / 7 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/pvZHdyg.png

I mean, I'm not going to vote for FIFA anyway, but I'm assuming that a number of people won't vote for it because "FIFA" is not a game? In which case we have the 6 5 locked-in and one wildcard (KIller7?)

Shit, maybe HL2 isn't going to make it

This game coulda been first and I wouldn’t have complained. HOURS sunk into the takedown mode of this game. Killer soundtrack for a 12yo (maybe to blame for my middling indie taste age 12-15). This would easily be a desert island pick for me, I’m. It sure this game could ever get old?

Underrated aspect? How hard it is to unlock everything in this game (at least at age 12). I put this on for my wife the other day too who is proudly a non-gamer and even she thought it bangs. Love this game

Oh wtf, that post was in reference to burnout 3 obviously, didnt

Oh wtf, that post was in reference to burnout 3 obviously, didnt

i didn't know there was a console HL2 tbh

there was! i guess!

6 - Half-Life 2 - 418 points / 6 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/ZrsPqI8.png

I didn't want to spend three spots on GTA so the only one I picked was San Andreas, which rules.

I only got to play Half Life 2 via the Orange Box but it impressed me.

xpost another "really feels like another gen" one for me (orange box, 360) -- idk how many ppl actually played it on the first xbox but here it is at number 6 nonetheless!

good game

late-game urban-combat section of HL2 that screenshot's from always impressed me: where other games would have just ground on (and where HL1 made a famously loathed turn into a hasty 3D platformer) it becomes first a squad game and then (in its last couple levels where you're just flinging hundreds of bodies around with the gravity gun) some kind of sui generis sadistic puzzle game.

wait think that screenshot's from the prison level (not as good as the prison level in the original dark forces). still.

top 5 time

5 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - 496 points / 1 First-place vote / 9 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/e12lzsu.png

all but one of the GTA SA voters voted for VC as well somewhere on their list, so VC didn't suffer from vote splitting really (altho one might argue SA did)

anyway too high imo, it was fun and the pastels and neons were more fun than the cement sprawl of fake-LA and the radio stations were perfect but in every other way imo it is the inferior game

difficult to argue as there is less to do (tho the gang-territory minigame layer usually makes me want to play saint's row 2) and iirc less verticality. the pastels go a long way for me (but then SA has all that wilderness and desert, incredible stuff). if i put on a ps2 gta right now it would be SA but VC is the one i had the actual gta experience with (stoned in college on a $30 ps2 and a roadside crt) so i voted for it.

surprised it has almost twice the voters tho.

half-life 2 is one of the best games ever, but yeah, xbox 360 for me.

4 - Resident Evil 4 - 504 points / 1 First-place vote / 7 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/US5oOEw.png

I'm a very methodical gamer, I'll play lots of stuff with a walkthrough, but hurrying into and through that sequence pictured in RE4 was such a rush that it's still raising my heartbeat a little 20 years on.

i never really got into RE4 but i don't begrudge it because it seems awesome. it was just a little too full throttle adrenaline time for me

3 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - 510 points / 8 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/MlqOYbK.png

third place with no first places! in fact it didn't even place third on a single ballot. but it was on 8/14 ballots and pretty high on a majority of them

This is dangerous because I definitely do have the means to play this, and never need to much of a push - what a great great game (though remembering that there's a section before you get the quick sails is holding me back a little)

(this is fantastic stuff by the way, we all know what one of the last two is but I have no idea about the other!)

i... coveted that wind, i suppose

will post the final two back to back in a few mins -- there will be no fakeout because i forgot lol

Tempted to hook up the GameCube and try to finally beat RE4. I think I got stuck on a boss and abandoned it.

RE4 is another one i have only played on wii but this time obv the whiff of house of the dead suits it beautifully

i have heard that the move, if you're planning to play RE4, is to do the HD texture pack on a PC

2 - Katamari Damacy - 514 points / 1 First-place vote / 9 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/SpzeeY9.png

1 - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (incl. Substance) - 534 points / 2 First-place votes / 8 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/E5PXwT7.png

HOORAY WE DID IT

final list to be posted soon with some FUN ADDITIONAL STATISTICS. but i'll let the top 2 breathe for a bit, including my #1, which is the consensus #1 so i feel very cool and popular wow

mgs2 the funniest game ever

reposting an ancient post of mine from the mgs2 thread cuz i still think about this all the time:

i like all the parts where he brings up the supposed ransom of "30 billion dollars in cash" (could've sworn it was 40 the first time it was mentioned) and the other person says WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

thanks will beautiful job!!

I replayed Katamari Damacy a few weeks ago, with the PC remaster. It holds up!

i'm the first-place voter for VC, i didn't vote for any other GTA. as a high schooler stuck in a backwoods FL swamp, vice city was a portal to my silly, half-heartedly-but-secretly-full-heartedly imagined adulthood. it didn't have anything to do with the storyline or the missions, all i wanted really was that uncanny parallax view of past and future layered on top of each other, the melancholic desire of new wave over a paper thin city of decadence that never existed and would never exist for me, but that promised real feelings i would (and do) have while driving through a city with the perfect song playing. my current gf also played it as a kid and she never even did the missions, she just picked the sexiest car and drove by the apartment she wished was hers, made up stories about the characters and their interpersonal drama, planned her escape to an adulthood where she could be in control and her surroundings could reflect her taste.

it helped that the only good station in my town irl was the 80's station, so i listened to new wave whenever i could get a ride to school instead of enduring the hour long bus ride. i was already primed to associate bittersweet synthetic optimism with the bittersweetness of growing out of your high school years. new wave still represents freedom and longing to me. i listened to beats in space throughout my entire 20s, fell in love with dozens of tracks introduced to me by tim sweeney, and heard him DJ in miami before i learned he used to curate music for the GTA games, not sure if he did wave 103

i know VC is not the best GTA, it's a janky, frustrating game, but it got into the crux of my psyche in a way no other game could have

thanks for the poll will!

that is one of the best posts on this thread and of all the VC voters/SA non-voters, you (and only you) are absolved of any guilt. so says the pollmaster

dlh's VC post was v good too so your poll crime is downgraded from 5 police stars to 2 police stars

FINAL RECAP

STONE-COLD CLASSIC TIER
1 - Metal Gear Solid 2 - 534 points / 2 First-place votes / 8 Votes
2 - Katamari Damacy - 514 points / 1 First-place vote / 9 Votes
3 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - 510 points / 8 Votes
4 - Resident Evil 4 - 504 points / 1 First-place vote / 7 Votes
5 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - 496 points / 1 First-place vote / 9 Votes

BELOVED TIER
6 - Half-Life 2 - 418 points / 6 Votes
7 - Shadow of the Colossus - 390 points / 7 Votes
8 - Burnout 3: Takedown - 378 points / 6 Votes
9 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 362 points / 6 Votes
9 - Rez - 362 points / 6 Votes
11 - Ico - 353 points / 2 First-place votes / 6 Votes
12 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 338 points / 5 Votes
13 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - 328 points / 6 Votes
14 - Metroid Prime - 284 points / 2 First-place votes / 4 Votes
15 - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - 276 points / 5 Votes
16 - We ♥ Katamari - 276 points / 4 Votes
17 - Jet Set Radio - 256 points / 4 Votes
18 - Bully - 254 points / 5 Votes
19 - Prince of Persia - 252 points / 1 First-place vote / 6 Votes
20 - Psychonauts - 241 points / 4 Votes
21 - Persona 4 - 240 points / 4 Votes
22 - Metal Gear Solid 3 - 238 points / 4 Votes
23 - Super Smash Bros. Melee - 234 points / 4 Votes
24 - Okami - 223 points / 5 Votes
25 - Metroid: Zero Mission - 212 points / 1 First-place vote / 3 Votes
26 - Grand Theft Auto 3 - 208 points / 3 Votes
27 - Final Fantasy XII - 205 points / 4 Votes
28 - Silent Hill 2 - 204 points / 3 Votes
29 - Final Fantasy X - 195 points / 4 Votes

SOLID TIER
30 - Yakuza - 182 points / 3 Votes
31 - Crazy Taxi - 180 points / 3 Votes
32 - Skies of Arcadia - 176 points / 3 Votes
33 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 - 161 points / 3 Votes
34 - Persona 3 FES - 156 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
35 - Singstar series - 154 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
36 - Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door - 153 points / 3 Votes
37 - Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution - 152 points / 1 First-place vote / 2 Votes
38 - OutRun 2 / SP / 2006 C2C - 150 points / 2 Votes
39 - Halo: Combat Evolved - 146 points / 3 Votes
40 - Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - 144 points / 3 Votes
41 - F-Zero GX - 143 points / 3 Votes
42 - Beyond Good and Evil - 141 points / 3 Votes
43 - Spider-Man 2 - 136 points / 3 Votes
44 - Tekken Tag Tournament - 135 points / 3 Votes
45 - TimeSplitters 2 - 130 points / 2 Votes
46 - God Hand - 128 points / 2 Votes
46 - Metropolis Street Racer - 128 points / 2 Votes
48 - Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald - 124 points / 3 Votes
49 - Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance - 123 points / 3 Votes
50 - Mother 3 - 121 points / 2 Votes
51 - Luigi's Mansion - 112 points / 3 Votes
52 - Metroid Fusion - 108 points / 2 Votes
53 - Def Jam Fight For NY - 106 points / 2 Votes
54 - Steambot Chronicles - 104 points / 2 Votes
55 - Animal Crossing - 103 points / 2 Votes
56 - Jak and Daxter - 102 points / 3 Votes
57 - Chu Chu Rocket - 101 points / 2 Votes

FOND MEMORIES TIER
58 - EyeToy: Play - 99 points / 2 Votes
59 - Metroid Prime 2 - 95 points / 2 Votes
60 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - 89 points / 2 Votes
60 - Resident Evil - 89 points / 2 Votes
62 - Dragon Quest VIII - 87 points / 2 Votes
63 - Pikmin - 85 points / 2 Votes
64 - Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy - 83 points / 2 Votes
65 - Dodonpachi Daioujou - 82 points / 2 Votes
66 - Sly 2: Band of Thieves - 81 points / 2 Votes
66 - Super Mario Sunshine - 81 points / 2 Votes
68 - Bangai-O - 78 points / 1 Vote
68 - Mario Superstar Baseball - 78 points / 1 Vote
68 - WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! - 78 points / 1 Vote
71 - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 77 points / 2 Votes
72 - The Typing of the Dead - 76 points / 2 Votes
73 - Global Defence Force (EDF2) - 76 points / 1 Vote
74 - Illbleed - 74 points / 1 Vote
75 - SoulCalibur - 72 points / 1 Vote
76 - The Sims 2 - 70 points / 2 Votes
77 - Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader - 70 points / 1 Vote
77 - Suikoden V - 70 points / 1 Vote
77 - Tony Hawk’s Underground - 70 points / 1 Vote
80 - FIFA - 68 points / 1 Vote

ALSO REMEMBERED TIER
81 - Viewtiful Joe - 66 points / 2 Votes
82 - Deus Ex: The Conspiracy - 66 points / 1 Vote
83 - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - 64 points / 1 Vote
83 - Gigantic Drive (R.A.D.) - 64 points / 1 Vote
83 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - 64 points / 1 Vote
86 - Devil May Cry - 62 points / 2 Votes
87 - Marvel vs Capcom 2 - 62 points / 1 Vote
87 - Shenmue - 62 points / 1 Vote
89 - Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition Remix - 60 points / 1 Vote
89 - Red Dead Revolver - 60 points / 1 Vote
89 - SSX - 60 points / 1 Vote
92 - Advance Wars - 59 points / 2 Votes
92 - Suikoden III - 59 points / 2 Votes
94 - Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil - 58 points / 1 Vote
94 - MDK2 - 58 points / 1 Vote
96 - Destroy all Humans - 57 points / 1 Vote
96 - Disaster Report - 57 points / 1 Vote
98 - Drakengard (Drag-on Dragoon) - 56 points / 1 Vote
98 - Gran Turismo 4 - 56 points / 1 Vote
98 - The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap - 56 points / 1 Vote
101 - Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 54 points / 1 Vote
101 - SGGG/SeGaGaGa - 54 points / 1 Vote
101 - Virtua Tennis - 54 points / 1 Vote
104 - Super Monkey Ball - 52 points / 2 Votes
105 - Metal Wolf Chaos - 52 points / 1 Vote
105 - Space Channel 5 - 52 points / 1 Vote
107 - Kingdom Hearts - 51 points / 2 Votes
108 - Raw Danger - 50 points / 1 Vote
108 - Tactics Ogre - 50 points / 1 Vote
110 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - 48 points / 2 Votes
111 - Digital Devil Saga - 48 points / 1 Vote
112 - Killer7 - 47 points / 2 Votes
113 - Silent Scope - 46 points / 1 Vote
114 - Guitar Hero 3 - 45 points / 1 Vote
114 - Wave Race: Blue Storm - 45 points / 1 Vote
116 - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - 44 points / 1 Vote
117 - Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade - 42 points / 1 Vote
118 - God of War II - 38 points / 1 Vote
118 - Golden Sun - 38 points / 1 Vote
120 - Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc - 36 points / 1 Vote
121 - Astro Boy: Omega Factor - 34 points / 1 Vote
122 - Mario Tennis: Power Tour - 32 points / 1 Vote
123 - Baten Kaitos Origins - 31 points / 1 Vote
123 - Ratchet & Clank 3 - 31 points / 1 Vote
123 - Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando - 31 points / 1 Vote
123 - Scooby-Doo: Night of 100 Frights - 31 points / 1 Vote
123 - SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - 31 points / 1 Vote
123 - Wario Land 4 - 31 points / 1 Vote
129 - Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo - 30 points / 1 Vote
130 - Typing of the Dead - 26 points / 1 Vote
131 - Blue Stinger - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Border Down - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Bujingai - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Castle Shikigami 2 - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - D2 - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Dynamite Deka 2 (Dynamite Cop) - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - ESPN NFL 2K5 - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Gunbird 2 - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - GunValkyrie - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Outtrigger - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - P.N.03 - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Rent-a-Hero - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Shinobi - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Super Dimension Fortress Macross - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Tetsujin 28-gou - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Twinkle Star Sprites: La Petite Princesse - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram - 24 points / 1 Vote
131 - Zombie Revenge - 24 points / 1 Vote
150 - Dark Chronicle / Dark Cloud 2 - 23 points / 1 Vote
150 - Fatal Frame / Project Zero - 23 points / 1 Vote
150 - Lego Star Wars: The Video Game - 23 points / 1 Vote
150 - Onimusha 3 - 23 points / 1 Vote
150 - Rachet & Clank - 23 points / 1 Vote
150 - Shadow of Memories / Shadows of Destiny - 23 points / 1 Vote
150 - Soul Reaver 2 - 23 points / 1 Vote
157 - Gradius V - 22 points / 1 Vote
157 - The Adventures of Cookie & Cream - 22 points / 1 Vote
159 - War of the Monsters - 20 points / 1 Vote
160 - Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 - 18 points / 1 Vote
161 - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - 16 points / 1 Vote
162 - Ikaruga - 14 points / 1 Vote
162 - Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland - 14 points / 1 Vote
164 - Power Stone 2 - 12 points / 1 Vote
165 - Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy - 6 points / 1 Vote
166 - Pen Pen TriIcelon - 4 points / 1 Vote

yah lovely post karl, it's the peculiar hangout vibe for me too in VC but i've less of a handle on why

FUN STATS POST

We did do a PS2-only poll about 11 years ago, thought it'd be fun to see how they compare. Of course lots of things make these largely pointless to compare (different voters; different voting process; wildly small sample size this time around), but just because it's pointless doesn't mean i'm not gonna do it!

Notable fallers since the PS2 poll:
God of War (from 13 to zero votes!) (this is the one i was referring to when i said there was a notably absent game in the top, considering it was like a top-10 seller in the ps2's lifetime? has nu-God made old-God obsolete?)
Gradius V (from 28 to 157)
God of War II (from 25 to 118)
Guitar Hero games* (from 24 to 114)
Dragon Quest VIII (from 15 to 62)
Suikoden V (from 39 to 77)
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (from 33 to 64)
God Hand (from 20 to 46)
Psychonauts (from 7 to 20)
The Warriors (from 26 to... not even nominated this time? oops! bet it woulda got votes if we had remembered! or maybe we did and it was my fuckup!)
Shadow of the Colossus (from 1!!! to 7)

*Guitar Hero 2 was the consensus last time, GH3 this time, so I counted them as the same game to include it here

Notable risers since the PS2 poll:
Tekken Tag Tournament (from 100 to 44)
Sly 2: Band Of Thieves (from 116 to 66)
Spider-Man 2 (from 85 to 43)
Jak and Daxter (from 86 to 56)
Rez (from 23 to 9)
Burnout 3: Takedown (from 22 to 8)
Metal Gear Solid 2 & Substance (from 12 to 1!)

Other fun notes:
- Katamari Damacy finished second to Shadow of the Colossus last time, and finished second to MGS2 this time. Always the prince, never the king...
- Last time San Andreas was 3rd, Vice City was 4th. VC stayed 4th among PS2 games and landed 5th overall, but SA fell.
- The Personas were 9 and 16, now 21 and 34, same order though. probably not even that notable when you account for the non-ps2 games.
- I said in 2012: "Better (to play those old PS2 games) now than ten years from now when we all have 48fps REAL-D MEGA TVS that are inexplicably not compatible with PS2s anymore :/". 48fps lol i was so naive. tvs were probably already doing 60 or 120 by then!
- bully was 18th both times lol

If this were an ILX Poll Classico, it'd look something like

2 Ico
2 Metal Gear Solid 2
2 Metroid Prime
1 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
1 Katamari Damacy
1 Metroid: Zero Mission
1 Persona 3 FES
1 Prince of Persia - Sands of Time
1 Resident Evil 4
1 Singstar series
1 Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution
0 Everyone else lol

i'll post my ballot in a bit, and if anyone wants to post their ballot go for it (or if you can't find it, ask me and i'll post it for you)

(not that waking up in the morning in SA, going to the gym, getting some pizza, taking a drive, watching the sun set, dying in a snowballing series of wrecks wasn't impeccable hangout vibes itself xp)

I think 2012 being the year before Gamergate might've made some difference to God of War - some of the first few Anita Sarkeesian videos did really go in on it for sexism.

violent sexism at that

(meant to say for Halo) The thing is, I really really hated the Xbox at this point. I probably said last time, but the PlayStation was my first console, and I got it at a time when it was inarguably The Future - every month or so something pointing the way in a new direction would come out - Final Fantasys! Crash Bandicoots! Tomb Raiders! Wipeouts! Tekkens! Gran Turismos! Metal Gear Solid! Resident Evils! Oddworlds! Er, Fear Effect!

And the PlayStation2 came out, with more cool stuff, and all was well. And then the news came that Microsoft was going to get into the console wars, and they did it largely by buying up other studios and ruining them - Rare's Xbox games for this era was Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Conker! And I has been experimenting with a Mac as a gaming machine, and one of the bright spots there was Bungie, whose Marathon games were amazing, great to play, a great and shifting storyline, and their next game was going to be Halo, and everyone said it looked amazing and I couldn't wait to play it - and then Microsoft bought them to make Halo a flagship title for the Xbox, the dicks.

(lol I also see that they did release it for the Mac in 2003, way to hold a decades-long grudge for nothing, Andrew you dick)

But when Halo placed I had a look at the Xbox exclusives (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Xbox-only_games) and thought "None of the rest of these are going to place", and I was right and I'm brave enough to say it.

I wanted to play Blinx because I am a big fan of the "animals platforming" genre, but the reviews for it weren't great (I think it was a crossbreed with Prince of Persia-style time mechanics) - I would genuinely love to play Jet Set Radio Future, but again that's more of "This was good so we bought it". Everything else there though - I mean, starting with America's Army is bot auspicious but it is a prophecy, very little of this is weird in any way.

(Looking back at it now I realise how much of my this-vs-PS2 feeling I've laid along sex/gender lines - this is just such a blokey lineup! Also, I was reading a lot of Grant Morrison at the time)

And at the same time Xbox won the future wars - it went in a lot harder on broadband connectivity and the Xbox Live than the PS2 ever managed (also maybe the PS3? I never had one) - I feel we can all agree this eventually turned out to be a terrible mistake.

Also thank you Will, this was great!

72 - The Typing of the Dead - 76 points / 2 Votes
130 - Typing of the Dead - 26 points / 1 Vote

the ballot counting machines are at it again!

for real though, thanks again for running this, always fun!

But when Halo placed I had a look at the Xbox exclusives (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Xbox-only_games) and thought "None of the rest of these are going to place", and I was right and I'm brave enough to say it.

if we're talking from a purely-this-era-of-consoles perspective, half-life 2 was "an xbox exclusive," lol

...also looking at that list and remembering that xbox got an exclusive shin megami tensei game, that they never even tried to remaster anywhere else, nor has it ever even gotten a fan translation. of the 60+ megaten games, only a handful have no way to play in english! and that's one of them!

also it was called Shin Megami Tensei: NINE despite coming out before SMT 3. (i guess it's named for its 9 alignments, but like... cmon man)

xp OH NO I FUCKED IT. sorry about that!

would've bumped it to 56, tied with jak and daxter.

anyone remember bungie's oni for ps2? that was one weird bad-good game

lol yes i sorta loved oni (on pc).

lol, oni. i remember watching someone play it one of the first times i ever sm0k3d w33d and it blew my mind

it was eerily empty

vast crates in vaster hangars

Haha yeah I remember being extremely hyped about it, and then wow really is this it

my ballot, all ranked no hybrid (bold: didn't make the 77):

Metal Gear Solid 2
OutRun 2 / SP / 2006 C2C
Persona 3 FES
Skies of Arcadia
Persona 4
Suikoden V
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Def Jam Fight For NY
Mother 3
Jet Set Radio

Final Fantasy XII
Metal Gear Solid 3
Chu Chu Rocket
Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald
Burnout 3: Takedown
Tactics Ogre
Digital Devil Saga
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy X
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

Metroid Fusion
Golden Sun
Suikoden III
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
Rez
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Advance Wars
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Dodonpachi Daioujou
Gradius V

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Katamari Damacy
Ico
Ikaruga
Power Stone 2
Okami
Super Monkey Ball
Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy
Pen Pen TriIcelon
Bully

i know that david cage games are the dog worst and i only rank it because i think it's my second-favourite angelo badalamenti soundtrack of all time (!)

also i may have said this before but in 2023, most of these consoles are trivially easy to play anything on any time:
- ps2 has a memory card hack, and preloaded mem cards are out there on the online marketplaces. all you need is that + an old hard drive + there's also a hard drive adapter floating around on online marketplaces.
- dreamcast has had swap discs since forever. there's also an entire laser-for-hard drive swap you can do but it involves opening up the machine, so i don't count that as "easy," but it's probably the best way to do it
- gamecube i think is more invasive, but wii isn't (i think it's just an sd card and a few minutes?), and wii is just two gamecubes glued together, so it plays gamecube natively!
- xbox... i feel like it's rarer to see an og xbox that ISN'T hacked than one that is! no idea how it's done but it MUST be easy!
- gba is just a flash cart, or i think you can just dump gba games on a 3ds and for that you don't even need new hardware, just a micro sd iirc?

also saying again that when this poll began, there was no such thing as "english boku no natsuyasumi 2" on the internet, and by the time this poll ended, there was in fact an english boku no natsuyasumi 2 on the internet. when we poll consoles good things happen

this was fun Will cheers

I'm a bit drunk so I can't moan about Morrowind being robbed yet

Ok I can a bit

Oh yeah and Vice City over San Andreas is just nonsense

I was the first-place voter for Katamari Damacy. It's the best!

i started playing reroll this week and so far it lives up to expectations. shocker i know. i wanted it at #1 but mgs2 is fine as well

i've only played the first Katamari thru Reroll so i voted for We <3

still a landmark in gaming tho, both of them

Mgs2 was my number one and if I HAD to pick one videogame as the best of all time (which is a silly exercise but whatever), it would be mgs2. This ain’t even nostalgia, I played the remaster in 2013. Lord knows what would have happened to my 6yo brain if I played it on release.

Thanks for the poll Will, this was great!

i don't remember if i voted for wind waker but it's certainly too high there. it isn't bad but it was definitely a step down from the n64 zeldas, not really an all-time classic or anything

mgs2 is a worthy number 1, it's the best metal gear even if 3 and 5 advanced the gameplay further. metroid prime was my #1 though

busy week but thanks for the poll, will! are we posting ballots here?

Go for it, I did!

this seems like a good thread to drop this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4osHamxFkQ4