Favorite Games Ever (Besides Ninja Gaiden, Obviously)

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm loving the Double Dash love.

As an aside I played some over at my friend's place today, and it's still the most awesome game. Especially when trying 2 player co-op in the same kart. (I just wish I could have tried that 16 player mode at least once) And almost every course is top notch.

Though if you guys never played duel mode in Mario Party 3, you missed out. IMO, that's what makes it the best Mario Party.

[Avaitor]

Though if you guys never played duel mode in Mario Party 3, you missed out. IMO, that's what makes it the best Mario Party.

Seconded.

I also echo the love for Double Dash!! I don't feel comfortable making rankings of all of these, tbh. I still feel way behind on a lot of these games. Like, I never even played Thousand-Year Door.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oh, I'll give it a go.

Platformers:

1. Super Mario Bros. 3
2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
3. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
5. Super Mario World
6. Super Mario Bros. 2
7. Super Mario Bros.
8. Super Mario Galaxy
9. Super Mario Land
10. Super Mario 64
11. Super Paper Mario
12. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
13. Super Mario Sunshine
14. New Super Mario Bros.
15. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins


RPGs:
1. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
2. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
3. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
4. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
5. Paper Mario
7. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

(Super Paper Mario is not an RPG, IMO)

Mario Party:
1. Mario Party 3
2. Mario Party 2
3. Mario Party 1
4. Mario Party 8
5. Mario Party 4
6. the rest (never played the others, 4 kinda blew to me)

Kart:
1. Mario Kart: Double-Dash!!
2. Mario Kart DS
3. Mario Kart Wii
4. Super Mario Kart
5. Mario Kart: Super Circuit
6. Mario Kart 64
7. Mario Kart Arcade GP (they're both pretty lame)

[Kiddington]

(Super Paper Mario is not an RPG, IMO)

[Spark Of Spirit]

All I remember in SPM is the funny story and jumping on things. Gameplay was not that game's strongest aspect.

[Kiddington]

Nah, I agree. 'Twas just doing that for TM's benefit, since he loves it.

I'll give SPM credit; it was definitely the funniest, and most well-written title in the Paper Mario franchise. I was laughing pretty much the whole way through, and there aren't too many video games that have ever made me laugh. Take away the mediocre gameplay, leave the jokes, and it's not half-bad.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I mean, it's a fun and unique game but it's not really very RPG-ish outside of the story. It's still more fun than Super Mario Land 2, Sunshine, and NSMB DS, though.

[Eddy]

Really? I found Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door to be much funnier than Super Paper Mario. SPM was still funny but I don't remember getting nearly as many laughs from it. Aside from the Francis chapter with the dating sim, which was probably the best part of the game. That whole chapter was pretty great.

But overall I felt Super Paper Mario was a let-down all around.

[talonmalon333]

SPM has an amazing story with a great cast. I think that more then makes up for the gameplay being a little weaker then the others.

Only thing I really disagree with most of you guys with is the SMRPG love and the PiT hate.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I dunno, I can still go back to SMRPG and get a kick out of it, but PiT... Well, you already know how I feel about that one. SMRPG is always going to be great to me, but I find BIS was the first Mario RPG to finally top it.

Also, to elaborate on Mario Kart- Double Dash has the best racing and tracks, and DS has the best battle mode and arenas. The Wii version is probably the most "solid" version on a balance as it doesn't really do anything wrong (except too much item spam), but I'm hoping the 3DS version can someone how match the first two as well as having the balance of the Wii version (without the spam, of course) to be the best version.

[talonmalon333]

I dunno, I can still go back to SMRPG and get a kick out of it, but PiT... Well, you already know how I feel about that one. SMRPG is always going to be great to me, but I find BIS was the first Mario RPG to finally top it.

I can respect that. Personally, I liked SMRPG a lot when I was young; it was the first Mario RPG I played after all. But after playing it again, I personally think it's dated. For example, I hate the perspective. I'd be trying to hop onto blocks in the air, but would keep missing. Also, I just think the PMs crushed it in story, and the M&Ls crushed it in gameplay. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a good game. But I don't see myself going back for a 3rd playthrough.

As for PiT, I preferred it to BIS because I REALLY enjoyed the battle system with the brothers and babies. In BIS, I thought the fights got too long. You'd start a battle, the enemy would surround himself with small enemies, you'd take a turn to inhale it, then a whole new battle would start. They'd attack Mario and Luigi, and then they'd have to beat them. Afterward Bowser's battle would continue. It just became too much when this became so frequent late in the game. Plus, I hated BIS's mini-games.

Also, to elaborate on Mario Kart- Double Dash has the best racing and tracks, and DS has the best battle mode and arenas. The Wii version is probably the most "solid" version on a balance as it doesn't really do anything wrong (except too much item spam), but I'm hoping the 3DS version can someone how match the first two as well as having the balance of the Wii version (without the spam, of course) to be the best version.

I haven't played much of the handhelds. But I do think the Wii version is the worst. The item spam just breaks the game for me. I like Double Dash!! most because of the 2 riders per kart idea. Just allowed for so much fun. But I preferred 64's courses.

[Kiddington]

Part of SMRPG's appeal to me is the obvious nostalgia trip. I'll agree that it's dated, especially on the graphics end; 3D gameplay (top down iso-view or not) on the SNES is really nothing to write home about.

I still enjoy it, though. The battle system is a lot of fun, IMO, and the writing still holds up. I played through bits and pieces of it not that long ago, and I still like it quite a bit. I should really get around to doing a full play-through again; it's been a while since I've beaten it, among other things.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I know I'm alone here, but... why is Sonic 2 regularly heralded as the best game in the Sonic franchise?

On a level design basis, it has a lot issues. Emerald Hill, Chemical Plant, Casino Night, and Hill Top (music aside), are awesome, but does anyone really think Aquatic Ruin is all that great? The water sections are boring and empty, the music is lame, and the level is full of badly placed enemies. Mystic Cave is fine, but it doesn't really stick out to me much at all, and the music is pretty standard fare, not really feeling very "Sonic".

Oil Ocean and Metropolis Zone are probably two of the worst zones in any of the classic games, the first has a bad art style that interferes with visibility (snooze-worthy music, too) and enemies that are hard to see and the latter is basically Sonic Team giving you the finger through 3 painfully annoying acts (but the music is awesome! "surf city, here we come!"). Then we get to Sky Chase which, music aside, is filler. Wing Fortress is dull, and by far the worst "final base" area of any of the classic games due to not really doing much of anything in the level. The less said about Death Egg and "hit 'em 4 times before the fight starts" Silver Sonic, and "wait, wait, wait, one hit, wait, wait -oops collision detection failure you're dead start over" Robotnik the better. IMO, after Mystic Cave, I usually lose all desire to continue playing.

The special stages... ugh, I've always hated these. It's still the only classic game where I don't bother with the special stages because they're just so boring and tedious to get to and half the time they're based on memorization because those stupid bombs are so freaking hard to see until its too late.

Well, despite all that, I think Sonic 2 is actually a pretty cool little game. But I really don't think it's as tight as 1 (which only has one bad zone), CD (again, only one annoying zone), or 3&K (Again, one zone if you count Carnival Night Act 2 and Sandopolis Act 2 as one zone)... And the weird part is that I know there are people agree with me, but Sonic 2 still gets most of the praise while 1 and CD are overlooked and 3&K is brushed aside.

I'm wondering if this is a Ninja Gaiden 1 NES, or TMNT II NES situation where people just don't seem to give the better games in the series a chance.

[Kiddington]

S3K is the pinnacle of the Sonic franchise. Nothing else comes close; the sheer volume of things to do in that game is incredible, and the quality is second to none. The levels are immersive, the designs are spectacular, the music is simply excellent... and it's a big enough game to keep you entertained for hours, but not so much to the point that it becomes a chore to beat. It truly is the perfect platformer, IMO.

Honestly, I think the reason Sonic 2 gets as much attention as it does is mainly due to a beta version being released, and people being interested in all of the elements that were taken out of the final version (Hidden Palace Zone, etc.). Otherwise, I dunno; it's really nothing I would consider quote unquote "special", as a whole. It's a good game, don't get me wrong... but I've always enjoyed S3K a heck of a lot more. And since you mentioned it, yeah, the final Robotnik fight in Sonic 2 is a total crock of bullshit. You have to be more lucky than good to win that fight; no amount of skill can compensate for the collision detection failure/glitch/whatever you want to call it that occurs 9 times out of 10.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, and then you gotta do it all over again including that boring Silver Sonic fight. Like I said, it's a good game but I dunno, to me I see it as having by far the most problems of the original games, the least platforming, and it's the least interesting as a whole.

I guess if you weren't good enough to ever make it past Mystic Cave, I could see how you would love it so much (even forgiving the slog through Aquatic Ruins), but the game isn't really very fun after that level.