This is the final 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 'Handheld' consoles last time, and which just leaves the consoles I own that have launched in the last twenty years or so; those falling into my loose 'Modern' bracket.
Much like the 3DS, for such a popular machine with a vast library of games, the PS2 doesn't have that many truly exceptional titles. Ironically, when I look at my collection I end with the impossible task of choosing between R-Type final, Killer7, and SSX Tricky. You couldn't ask for a more diverse selection, or a harder decision. One of the great Horizontal shooters, one of the great, subversive, narrative games, or an action sports title with no rival? So it's Killer7. Has to be. An incredible achievement. A hugely intelligent, complex, and intriguing narrative combined with gameplay delivered with peerless style and individuality. There really is nothing else like it. If Suda51 hadn't go on to... well... we'll get to that in a bit... suffice to that for a few years Killer7 was my favourite game ever made.
With a cursory shout out to the brilliant Doshin The Giant, and due respect given to the utterly masterful Metroid: Prime, when I glance at my meagre collection of thirteen Gamecube titles, it's P.N.03 that jumps out as the one I'm most likely to throw in the machine and play. It's failure both critically and commercially is testament to what happens when you make a game that looks like it should play a certain way, but doesn't.
Although it eventually made its way, in various versions, to various other hardware, the Xbox will always be the true home of OutRun 2. The original OutRun is the seminal arcade game. To me it is a peerless example of the videogame artform and an unbeatable behemoth of driving games. Many pseudo-sequels followed in it's wake; Turbo, Europa, and Battle were all pale imitations that never seemed to really get what OutRun was about. It took 30 years and the oversight of Yu Suzuki to bring the magic back to the OutRun brand, and with it came the best driving game of the 6th generation and the last 'new' game I ever played in an arcade.
For me, the seventh generation was when consoles stopped having a discernible personality - the technological conjunction with the PC market seemed to bring about an era far removed from the home and arcade born titles that I fell in love with in the 80's and 90's. It's not to say that there weren't good games - I own far more from this era than any other - but true greatness was rare on the 360 (and even more so on the PS3). But greatness is exactly what we were given with Bayonetta - for my money the greatest beat-em-up ever made. To say that Hideki Kamiya has never made a bad game is an understatement. This is man who directed Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, and Okami... all before Bayonetta was even a twinkle in his eye. And he even followed this up with The Wonderful 101, a game very nearly as good. Each of these games is brilliant, but where Devil May Cry defined a genre in gen 6, Bayonetta re-defined it in gen 7.
My collection of Wii software, which, you may remember doesn't feature any Mario, Zelda, or Donkey Kong games, numbers 129 titles. Almost exactly half of those are physical releases and - most importantly - all of which are at least good, and, at best, they're No More Heroes Such was my love for the earlier games in Goichi Suda's catalogue that I essentially paid £245.67 to play No More Heroes. This was the price, including shipping, that I picked up a secondhand Wii and a copy of the game for a couple of months after it's release. In the 15 years between the release of NHM and Travis Strikes Again on the Switch, Goichi Suda didn't direct a videogame. If you've played (and deciphered) No More Heroes this entirely makes sense. It's themes of the battle between what a creator wants to achieve and what the audience wants to play are incredibly bittersweet, and to have them so expertly conveyed into a game that was original, funny, clever, and a blast to play must have been exhausting. It was a sad sight to see 'Suda51' promoting games he didn't make by playing up to the 'wacky' character that the industries unimaginative press had bestowed upon him. If he'd never directed again though, it would have been ok. For me, No More Heroes is an incredible achievement, a complex, meta, arthouse masterpiece that challenges both your gaming skills and the way you think about games. Not just the best game on the Wii, but the best game ever made.
For all the flaws of PS360 era, it still managed to bring the world Mirror's Edge. This was a game that confounded a lot of players and as a result was a huge failure on release, with copies selling for single digits just a few weeks after launch. It's story was rote, it's style minimalist, the control's were complex, and it's first-person gameplay rarely featured firearms. It was a masterpiece. Expectation is the mother of disappointment, and marketing is the evil step-mother of expectation, and from that you'll gather my thoughts as to why the game was overlooked by so many in 2006. A fine reputation (and a far less than fine sequel) have followed over time, but Mirror's Edge will always be something of a curates egg, and all the better for it.
Firstly, Mario Kart 8. It's such an obvious choice from the boxed games. But's it's so incredible, and so incredibly popular, that there's little else I can really say about it. Secondly, it has been spruced up and re-released as the 30 million selling 'Deluxe' - so it doesn't really feel like a Wii-U game any more. But it's still a phenomenal return to form for the series after the abject Wii offering.
On digital, one of the last remaining Wii-U exclusives; Affordable Space Adventures.
The only game to make perfect use of the system's format - to that extent that is rendered un-portable. Affordable Space Adventures has you exploring an inhospitable world in a craft that has barely enough power and structural integrity to make it from one side of the screen to the other.
The ingenious gameplay has you cycling systems by manipulating sliders and other controls on the touchscreen, while piloting the craft on the TV.
It's an original, brilliant, joyous experience but, unfortunately, one the likes of which we are unlikely to ever see again.
Not really a system per se, but I've separated this out from the PC entry (back in the 'Retro' list) for three reasons. Firstly, I made that extra rule for the PC where I said I had to have a physical copy - and I don't think there are any VR games that come in that format. Secondly, I genuinely believe that VR can be the next true evolution of the video game medium, a medium that has stagnated now for 20 years or more. And, thirdly, I couldn't get through a list of best games without mentioning Rez.
Rez is in my five favourite games of all time. While it's natural home is doubtless the Dreamcast, I played it most on the PS2 and the Xbox Live Arcade. However, the Infinite version, which allows you to play the original in VR and adds a new, stunning, VR specific level, is the game at it's audio/visual very best.
And, in case you didn't know, Audio/visuals is at the core of this rhythm action rail shooter - an eclectic mix of industrial techno sounds, neon graphics, tight shooter gameplay, and zoomorphic design that are all woven together into a masterful whole.
The final level music is the best in any game, and the level 4 boss has to be seen, played, and beaten to understand what a work of genius it is.
Ostensibly another of the company's beat-em-ups, Astral Chain adds exploration and some light puzzling to the mix, but the real hook is it's brilliant use of 'Legions', giant creatures, tethered, and bonded, to your character by the titular chain.
These enormous extensions of your player character (male or female can be chosen, with the other being integral to the story) add immeasurably to the complexity and the spectacle of combat.
There really is far too much going on in this game for me to summarise adequately, and to convey just how sensational this game is. It's far easier, on my brain and keyboard, to simply say that, after Bayonetta, this is Platinum's best game, just edging out Wonderful 101 for second place in their catalogue.
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