This is the third part of a four part mini-series where I'm answering a question I wasn't actually asked...
For each of my 26 home consoles and computers, and 10 handhelds, which is my favourite game?
I’ve decided to break this down into 4 sections as, even with just a brief paragraph for each, 36 is a lot of games to read about in one hit.
Those sections will be as follows:
Vintage - Consoles and computers launched in the 70’s and 80’s.
Retro - Hardware released in the 90’s.
Handhelds - Any primarily portable console with its own, built in screen. No age restriction.
Modern - Machines that came out in the 21st century.
I’ve been listing in chronological order of system release, indicated by the date in brackets.
I did 'Retro' consoles last time, and since my oldest handheld is of a similar age, I thought now would be a good time to look at that section of my collection.
It's Tetris, right? Is there another game that so perfectly encapsulates what the Game Boy was all about?
But, for the sake of saving me from trying to find something new to say about the best puzzle game ever made, I'll instead select Batman, one of several excellent tie-ins released across multiple platforms for the brilliant 1989 movie.
If it was just a great action platformer, that would be fine. If it was just a great action platformer with the occasional Batwing level, it would be great. But as its easily both of these things, and additionally has not only the best music on this system, but some of the catchiest music ever committed to any game cartridge... Then it becomes an absolute must-play.
The Atari Lynx is one of my favourite game systems. Although it lacked a big name franchise like Sonic or Mario to draw players in, it instead focused on brilliantly bringing hits from the arcade to it's tiny 16 colour LCD screen. Thanks to this, despite a pretty small library, it has one of the best quality-to-quantity ratios in the whole medium,
From the couple of dozen that I own, California Games may seem like the obvious choice for a favourite, but it's a game I own on 8 different systems and the Lynx version, despite missing half the events, is probably the one I've played most.
The C64 version will always be my most nostalgic, and I maintain it's better than all the other home versions, but the modernisation of the four events that made it to the Lynx just raises it a notch above the rest.
I'll keep this brief as there aren't a lot of games worth any sort of time on the Game Gear. If you don't already own one it should absolutely remain towards the bottom of your 'want list'.
With that said, I recently had cause to play every version of Space Harrier I own and, as terrible as the vast majority of the ports were, the Game Gear one was remarkably playable.
So, partly because I love the game so much, and partly because it really shouldn't work but it does - Space Harrier is the best game I own for the Game Gear. Worth noting too that the game looks far better in motion than in screenshots and, as far as I can tell, something about the undoubtedly crap screen actually hides some annoyances I've seen in emulation.
There's something about the resolution of the GBC's screen, I think, that makes it just about perfect for great pixel art. As a result I have a lot of love for Nintendo's stop-gap handheld.
I also have a lot of love for the Tomb Raider franchise, so these two things coming together in a kind of 'Flashback-Lite' experience is the motherlode for me!
Simply titled Tomb Raider, with a sequel subtitled 'Curse of the Sword', this pair of 2D platform adventures render Lara into the most charming of sprites and drop her into levels built of all the usual jumping, climbing, lever pulling, and swinging elements you would expect from the series - or would have done before it was turned into a cookie cutter shooter around 2012 or so.
It's hand drawn animations aren't as smooth as the rotoscoping in their obvious inspiration, but they have a quality all their own that is reflected in the rest of the game.
This was the first deck building game I ever played and I have not played a better one since. It certainly helps that, as a fighting game fan, I recognised the vast majority of characters, but that's only one small element.
The simplicity of the stats, the fantastic art style, and even the cheerful music all add something to the mix that comes together into one of the most addictive games I've ever played.
I'll fess up right away, for most of my GBA's life I've used a flash cart. So most of my favourite games for the system, the Metroids, Advance Wars, Racing Gears Advance, Wade Hixton's Counter-Punch... I don't actually 'own', so I can't really talk about here.
However, the GBA was a bit of a hotbed when it came to movie tie-ins, with several that are much better than they have any right to be and are not super expensive to pick up. The Nick Cage Ghost Rider movie spawned a wonderfully enjoyable action platformer, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's Scorpion King vehicle had an action adventure game bordering on Metroid-vania levels of complexity, and, best of all, the TMNT brawler released in line with the 2002 CGI movie is outstanding, and probably the best console game ever produced under this license. A complex combo and juggling system puts it head and shoulders above many of the classics of the genre, and the large, beautifully drawn sprites show a high level of polish. Whether via emulator or original hardware, every brawler fan needs to play this one.
Another system that's very new to my collection, my library of software currently consists of two ports (Tony Hawk and Tomb Raider) and two original games (Tom Clancy and Pathway to Glory.
Of these the latter is by far the most interesting. It's a turn based strategy set in World War II that was developed by Red Lynx, the studio who went on to create the brilliant Trials series of dirt bike games.
Pathway to Glory has nothing in common with Trials except, maybe, a very classy approach to game design. The sheer detail and depth of Pathway means that it is not only able to hold it's head high alongside the best TBS on handhelds (Advance Wars, obviously) but, like it's portable genre-mate, it also compares favourably to anything similar on any system.
Although originally released in Japan on the PS2, Flower, Sun and Rain was internationally released to a confused world on the DS.
It is an utterly unique blend of storytelling and puzzle solving that is so thick with impenetrable atmosphere that it simply has to be played to be understood.
As a kind of investigator stuck in a time loop, you play out vignettes one day at a time as a larger picture slowly comes into focus.
I wouldn't say this is a game for everybody, but for anyone, like me, who loves to be utterly baffled but entirely intrigued, it's pretty essential stuff. Good enough, even, for me to forgive the missing oxford comma in the title.
Poor PSP, I kind of hate you. A machine given to me for free and a collection of games built up two or three quid at a time from CEX. Most of the games are either barely passable or cut rate versions from more suitable hardware. So little of what this machine has to offer is of any kind of quality that it's hard for me to see how it was so popular or enjoyed such longevity.
These feelings are only exacerbated by it's best game, Dead Head Fred, being something of a hidden gem.
This is a game in which some fairly standard third person action adventuring is elevated through tight, noir inspired dialogue, a dark sense of humour, and a clever head-swapping mechanic that adds a light layer of strategy and puzzle solving.
It's not a perfect game. Loading screens are frequent, combat is mediocre, and the boxy feel to a lot of the levels dates it badly. However it has more personality and style than every other exclusive title for the machine combined, and there is enough innovation in the gameplay to keep you more than interested through to the end.
This is a tough choice, the 3DS has so many ‘very good’ games but rather fewer that breach the ceiling into 'excellent' territory. Pocket Card Jockey looks and sounds like the worst kind of eShop spamware, but turns out to be a gloriously fun mashup of solitaire and stable management, OutRun 3D is a sublime remaster with stunning stereoscopic visuals, and EscapeVektor 3D finished off a brilliant Wiiware title that fuses aspects of arcade classics Qix and Pacman into a wonderful minimalist puzzle challenge. But as much as I'd like to give this to a system exclusive, I have to give it Steamworld Heist, a magnificent combination of real time richoetting shooting and turn based strategy that has exploded far beyond the confines of the 3DS since it's launch.
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