Webhead123

I think I should be available on the evening of the 14th. If so, I'm happy to participate.

DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball? ... You're not totally alone. I'm with it, Brocko.

Mega Man X (because of the terrific music) Beyond Good and Evil Super Metroid (a sad, yet triumphant finale) Super Mario RPG Thief and Thief II The ending to Contra also felt pretty good as a kid.

I have a real soft spot for a lot of Atari game box art. So much so that I have several posters of it on the walls of my game room. Stuff like Berzerk, Yar's Revenge, Slot Racers, Asteroids, etc. Another game box I've always had a soft spot for though is: Super Mario Kart

This would be mine as well. Super Mario World is without a single doubt my favorite game in the main franchise and Mario RPG is my favorite spin-off, so those two would have to go neck-and-neck for the title. I think SMW wins out simply because of how strongly it defined the transition from the NES to the post-NES era of gaming for me. It was the game that fostered a lot of hallmarks for me. I'm sometimes tempted to call SMW the "greatest video game of all time"...from a purely subjective position, of course.

I started playing Okami years ago (on the Wii) and really enjoyed it but, as sometimes happens, I got distracted/lost steam and never got beyond the first 6-8 hours or so. I picked up the HD version on PS3 several years ago and intend to try to make a complete playthrough...but I haven't committed myself to it. It rather reminded me of a 3D Zelda game (Wind Waker, perhaps?) and the art style was very appealing.

I agree that the "nostalgia factor" can definitely be a big one for most folks. For me these days, when it comes to multiple ports of a game (Earthworm Jim is a perfect example), I tend to research all the differences and choose the option that I find most appealing. While the version of EW Jim that I grew up with was definitely the SNES port, detailed comparison in more recent years ended up converting me to the GEN version and now that's the one I almost exclusively jump to when I decide to play it. The GBA ports of Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island are another good example. Honestly, I find Mario's added voice lines in GBA Mario World to almost entirely ruin the game for me. Call it nostalgia if you want but something just feels "wrong" about hearing Mario chime in every single time he grabs a power-up. It actually grates on my ears. I love you, Mario, but just shut up, huh? The same applies to GBA Link to the Past. I don't need/want to hear Link's "hyyaaaah" every time I swing his sword. So, I just don't play those ports. So, for me, while I have an underlying tendency to prefer an original to a port in 90% of cases, these days, I evaluate them on a game-by-game basis.

I've always been a fan of shooters ever since first playing Doom back in early '94. That game left a deep impression on me and is probably still my #1 favorite shooter today. I'll blast through Knee Deep in the Dead at least once every couple of months. It manages to be such a solid, satisfying game, even today. Other than Doom and Doom II, my other favorites are the Build Engine games (Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior and Blood). Blood, in particular, rivals Doom for me as possibly the best shooter ever made. It is just pure FPS bliss. I think Quake and Half-Life were pretty good but I never got quite as attached to them as the aforementioned titles. I must have played through Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight about a dozen times. Great game. And every shooter player needs to play Serious Sam at least once. Maybe not really "shooters" in the dedicated sense but one of my favorite game series of all time is Thief. I've not played the remake but Thief, Thief II and Thief 3 are all masterful experiences. The Bioshock series was okay but really only got by because of its unique atmosphere and story. The shooting itself was pretty mediocre. Bioshock 2 actually had much better game play than the first. If you like those old-school shooters, definitely play Doom (2016), Doom Eternal, Dusk and Amid Evil. All are wonderful.

Hi. Former NA user here. Been away for a while...long enough to discover that NA was nuked and all the cool kids are now hanging out over here. To all you mysterious folks...hello and thanks for having me. To any of the old guard...hope you're doing well. Cheers!