For me it’s Chrono Trigger. I always want to play it. I want to show it to my children. I hope it will be regarded as a masterpiece for generations to come.
Super Mario World! It holds up remarkably well even by modern platformer standards. It feels great, looks great, and is a blast to explore.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
From the art to the music to the plot to the gameplay, it’s just iconic.
Was looking for this!
The tank game on Wii Sports (reminiscent of Atari Tanks but coop)
PS1 Final Fantasy Tactics (especially with mods, particularly FFT 1.3)
PC Master of Magic (especially with community mods, Caster of Magic is a favorite)
SNES Super Mario World
SNES Super Bomber Man
In no particular order:
Chrono Trigger
Binding of Isaac Rebirth
myhouse.wad (I know it came out this year, but goddamn it’s good)
Yoshi’s Island
Super Mario All-Stars + World (cheating maybe?)
Silent Hill 1, 2, and 3
Terranigma
OMORI (also recent, but also damn good)
LoZ: Majora’s Mask
Pokemon 2nd gen (could totally just be nostalgia talking right here)
Tetris
Super Smash Bros Melee
Mario Kart 64
Also I keep coming back to yashum’s Call of Cthulhu SMW hack.
Super Mario World
Mega man X! The musics are so fucking good
Mega Man X has aged so fucking well. The controls still feel so tight. There are hidden secrets in the levels, and the ultimate secret if you find all of them.
This was the first game.i ever played, so I’m definitely biased, but this is still probably my favorite game of all time.
I even learned many of the songs on guitar.
The Jak and Daxter series. Gameplay still holds up, story and world building still holds up, and it’s been made easily available to later generations of consoles. Heck even the in-game animations hold up shockingly well, Jak’s movement feels so fluid and organic compared to a lot of other older games that tend to feel a bit janky compared to modern games.
Older games in the Ratchet and Clank series also hold up pretty well too, though they’re a bit harder to access unless they’ve been made available on the ps4/ps5 since I last played them, otherwise I have to dig out my ps3 to play the first 3 games.
I replay both game series pretty regularly and they’re always equally as fun to play no matter how many years have passed.
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Totally still works as a modern Zelda game. Especially since Nintendo hasn’t really changed the core mechanics since it’s release!
Half Life 2 still looks and plays fantastic even nearly decades later
Half life 1 also! May be the graphics are a bit dated, but for that is the Black Mesa verdion
I never played the original one because the graphics are such a turn off. I’m considering buying the black mesa fan project though. Graphics are from the Source Engine (HL2 essentially) which are way a lot better, even if slightly outdated today.
I started playing Valve games with HL2, and didn’t play HL1 until the Black Mesa game came out. I highly recommend. It’s a fantastic game and the story made bolder choices than the new games. It really gives a sense of wonder in parts, especially on the back half of the story.
Halo Reach. Every time I replay it, it hits harder.
say no to abuse
This is going to be a weird one considering the graphics, but hear me out, the original Deus Ex. Something about the game just feels so well put together that the graphics take a back seat to the gameplay. There is a reason the community around the game has fought so hard to keep it running on modern hardware.
I would say Borderlands 2. This game is so good in terms or story and gameplay creating its own type of game + the graphics that are sort of cartoon/drawing like definitely makes it timeless for me. I would still restart a gameplay today if it wasn’t for the 4 or 5 times I finished it at the time it got released haha
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Can’t believe Nethack doesn’t top the list.
Fallout 1 and 2. I’ve played them so many times over the decades. FF7 and Baldurs gate 1&2 are others I’ve done a few times.
