T-Pac

@ZeldaFreak true. I think "quintessential" was a bad word-choice on my part. Should've been "indicative" or "representative", probably. (And beware of starting a "Is Smash Bros. a fighting game?" topic. I've seen them before, and nothing good can come of it haha.) [T-Pac]

We've gone too far... [T-Pac]

I'm only familiar with a handful of genres enough to make an educated decision, but here you go... Maze Game: Ms. Pac-Man (I would've gone with Pac-Man, but I think RH is right here. Ms. Pac-Man has variation in its layouts, which is much more standard in maze games.) Platformer: Felix the Cat (My instinct was Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario World., but I think the attack mechanics and life-system in Felix the Cat are more indicative of most platformers.) Action Platformer: Ninja Gaiden (Mega Man 2 was also a strong contender for this one, but I was wary about its more unique aspects, like the weapon system.) Run 'N Gun: Metal Slug (I've hardly played any Metal Slug or run 'n gun games in general, so take this with a grain of salt.) Beat-Em-Up: Streets of Rage (Same thing as with run 'n guns.) Fixed Shoot-Em-Up: Galaga Scrolling Shoot-Em-Up: Solar Striker (Truxton might be an equally good pick for this one - I'm torn.) Puzzler: Columns (Match-3, falling-block puzzle games don't get much more distilled than this.) Action Puzzler: Adventures of Lolo (Action Puzzlers come in a lot of varieties - Solomon's Key and Kickle Cubicle are so different, but still the same genre. So I could be swayed in several directions on this one.) [T-Pac]

Now there’s a topic that deserves its own thread, too - "What games perfected their genre?" Also - that explains your choices a lot better. I can’t imagine showing someone Smash Bros and going - “this is what fighting games are like”. They’d be so confused and lost the moment they tried to play literally any other 1-on-1 fighter haha. [T-Pac]

Fair point. It's ironic - I’m the guy who rants about how there’s no such thing as purely objective analysis, but I hadn’t even considered personal preference as a factor here haha. I don’t think it’s difficult to acknowledge when a game you’re less fond of reflects the fundamentals of its genre best, but I think you’re right that when multiple games are equally representative it only makes sense that you’d give the nod to your favorite. And of course you can only really pick from games you’re familiar with, which is largely games you like. [T-Pac]

You mean "The Cincinnati Sage"? (This better not be misinterpreted as an atheist thing haha). [T-Pac]

Exactly - when I try to think of my answers, I tend to lean towards critically acclaimed titles - but I find that those usually aren't distilled enough to be a pure representation of their genre. Like for shoot-em-ups, I'm tempted to say Gradius or Xevious. But the powerup system in Gradius and the dual-attacks / atypical boss encounters in Xevious aren't indicative of traditional shooters. So I'd actually go for a game like Solar Striker because it nails all of the regular shooter tropes without any frills or deviations. [T-Pac]

@Link and @ZeldaFreak - you guys are way too kind. I'm definitely no Bill Watterson haha, but I'm glad my contributions around here are appreciated : ) [T-Pac]

I didn't realize I've only got two "Z"s as well. That and Zaxxon [Atari 2600]. [T-Pac]

You don't have Zanac? Gotta get yourself a copy of Zanac, dude. [T-Pac]

What single game would you consider the perfect representation of each genre? Like - if someone has no clue what a "beat-em-up" is, and you could only present the genre to them through one game, what game would it be? (I'm still trying to think of my own answers, but I might have some interesting takes - for example, I think Columns is probably a better representation of the puzzle genre than Tetris). [T-Pac]

I've been sorting and organizing my cartridge collection for the past few months, and I was shocked to find that, out of hundreds of games, I just barely cover every letter of the alphabet with their titles. The biggest and most surprising drought for me is the letter "U". I only have one physical game that starts with "U" ... Ultraman [Super Famicom]. The other two most underrepresented letters in my collection are more understandable, "Q" (3 games) and "X" (3 games) ... Q*Bert [Atari 2600] Q*Bert [NES] Quarth [Famicom] Xenon 2 [Game Boy] Xevious [NES] Xexyz [NES] What about you all? Do you have at least one physical game for each letter of the alphabet? [T-Pac]

I think a particularly interesting multi-genre game is Tekkaman Blade [Super Famicom]. I can't think of any other shoot-em-up / 1-on-1 fighter hybrids. [T-Pac]

This hobby would be too overwhelming for me if I didn't set boundaries to my interests, and luckily I'm only interested in classic games (99% of the time, at least). That being said - I prefer to play my classic games through modern means. Clone consoles and emulation with save-states and custom controllers. [T-Pac]

Hey I'm just here to make silly doodles and yell about Atari games. (But thanks haha : ) [T-Pac]

Well ... Santa Sage has heard how good you've been this year, giving your turtle to ZeldaFreak and agreeing to follow T-Pac's sprite rules ... ... so he found a little tapeworm boss from Abadox for you. [T-Pac]

Sounds good @RH! And don't worry @ZeldaFreak - at least you're getting the Cosmic Turtle this year! [T-Pac]

@RH - are you claiming the scrapped version of Mystery Man as well, or are you fighting @ZeldaFreak to the death? You get first dibs, but your post just wasn't clear haha. [T-Pac] Is the Wizard an Ink-tober from a previous year? I didn't hold on to any of those, so either somebody here has it or the recycling bin has it - sorry, dude. [T-Pac] Flutist is claimed, but your Jumpman suggestion is still up for grabs if you want it. [T-Pac] My pleasure! Did you want your suggestion, too? [T-Pac]

Cocoron [Nintendo Famicom - 1991] I've been saving this one for a rainy day, and this week I finally decided to tackle one of my most anticipated Japanese imports. I think I heard this game was developed by the same team that made Little Samson, which wouldn't be surprising if it's true. [T-Pac]

True - I'll give you that. I still think that external factors are of some influence, however negligible, when trying to analyze in a theoretical vacuum - but I think we're basically on the same page here. [T-Pac] Yes? ... but I'm not really following where you're going with this haha. [T-Pac]

"Unpaid"? Did I forget to mention that there was a $200 fee per suggestion this year? My collection agency will be contacting you all shortly - and by that I mean, I will come to your front door and threaten you with a sock full of spaghetti... [T-Pac]

Distinguishing between "major / minor" or "positive / negative" external factors isn't my concern. I'm just trying to get the point across that ANY external factor plays a role in the experience, even if it's just on a subconscious level. Obviously you're not going to notice something like a dog barking across the street or a hole in the heel of your sock when you're "in the zone" playing a game, but there's a part of your brain that does - and factors it all into the conglomerate experience. The term "in a vacuum" keeps getting repeated, but my argument is that it's cognitively impossible for us to analyze something like software "in a vacuum" since there's no way to experience it "in a vacuum". [T-Pac]

Haha well I, for one, wish I had a more distinguishable accent. I've only ever had one person pick up on the fact that I grew up around Chicago based on how I spoke, and I thought that was really neat. But back to business - is there a way to dump the NES ROMs from those plug-n-plays? I grew up with a Namco one, and it would be a dream-come-true if I could rip the Bosconian ROM from it and archive/emulate that on my multicade. [T-Pac]

Just listened to the scariest Halloween Podcast yesterday - @DefaultGen and @ThePhleo discussing NES variants haha. What about the plug-n-plays!!!??? First time actually hearing Phleo and now I'll have to read all of your posts with that subtle New Jersey accent. [T-Pac]

Okay - the original drawings are up for grabs. If you want any, just post here in the thread first so everyone knows what you claimed and we can work out any duplicate claims. Then I'll reach out to you in a Direct-Message for your mailing address later. (Please don't DM me before I reach out to you!) First dibs go to whoever made the suggestion initially ... @Sumez @spacepup @DarkTone @AverageOliver98 @nesmaster14 @RH @Bearcat-Doug @FireHazard51 @drxandy @Aguy @ikk @captmorgandrinker @a3quit4s @Link @G-type @Jeevan @Kguillemette @ThePhleo @Splain @PII @BlackVega @fcgamer @Code Monkey @Red @ZeldaFreak @twiztor ... and I'll just try my best to allocate everything else fairly. Thanks again for a great Ink-Tober, everybody! [T-Pac]