For me it’s Chrono Trigger. I always want to play it. I want to show it to my children. I hope it will be regarded as a masterpiece for generations to come.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
From the art to the music to the plot to the gameplay, it’s just iconic.
Was looking for this!
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Portal 2 is still beautiful 12 years after its release and puzzle games will be relevent even in 50 years.
Super Mario World
Halo Reach. Every time I replay it, it hits harder.
say no to abuse
Super Mario World! It holds up remarkably well even by modern platformer standards. It feels great, looks great, and is a blast to explore.
I still play through Final Fantasy VI at least once a year.
I have a few answers, but I agree that Chrono Trigger is one of those games you come back to again and again. I think there are many excellent games which wouldn’t qualify because they are too firmly rooted in their time, or perhaps don’t feel timeless due to the limitations of their interface, but here are a few titles that are not just my favorites but I also think compare boldly across systems, genres, and time. I may have got carried away :|
edit: formatting, I’mma Lemmy newb
Sega Master System
- Columns: the best iteration of this tetris-esque game series imo
- Choplifter: what a brutal, unforgiving game, and you feel so horrible when you crush people you’re trying to save
Sega Genesis
- Samurai Showdown (Genesis): A fighter oozing with personality, weapons, and a good balance of combos, strategy, and special moves that reward you just enough to want to learn that next move without feeling like you can just mash buttons
PC Engine / Turbografx 16
- Ninja Spirit (PC Engine): hard as hell, but also cool as hell
- Devil Crush: ultra-stylish, demonic pinball
- Blazing Lasers: OK, this one might be an easier title, but it’s so much fun to cause so much carnage, and the layered parallax backgrounds are lovely
NES
- Ninja Gaiden: I still haven’t beat it, but I can’t not keep trying
- Kirby’s Adventure: what a charming, vibrant world
SNES
- Super Street Fighter 2 series: gold standard fighter
- Earthbound / Mother 3: a unique, unusual, and psychedelic RPG
- Zombies Ate My Neighbors: wacky, stylish top-down mayhem with an excellent responsive control and fun music
- ActRasier: Interesting cross of management and platform game where you play a deity manifesting to take care of its people against monsters and famine alike
PSX
- Castlevania, Symphony of the Night: Beautiful gothic horror metroidvania-action-rpg with great music
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2: killer moves, combos, wipeouts, and soundtrack
PS2
- Guitaroo Man: Wacky superhero/superrockstar rhythm game supreme
- Katamari Damacy: obsessive, rainbow-splashed fun and mayhem
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: my favorite title in this series
Xbox
- Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2: Bioware RPG storytelling and environments at their finest
- Psychonauts: a stylish and funny masterpiece by Doublefine (except that fucking meat circus, ugggggh)
- Jet Set Radio Future: a vibrant, cell-shaded wonder in unmistakable sega style
- The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay: a surprisingly tight, atmospheric, and narratively compelling stealth game
PC
- Doom 1 and 2: well yea
- Minesweeper: man, I sill get sucked into this game
- Grim Fandango: a heartwarming and funny point-and-click noir adventure about death and a life worth living, beautifully styled after Mexican day-of-the-dead visuals and themes
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: you may think you know what a text adventure game is, but this game will expand your mind
- Minecraft: OK, there are a LOT of versions and updates to this game, and it has become so complex, but whether OG vanilla or latest edition, there is nothing like loading up a clean, new world to explore, survive, and shape in new and exciting ways####___
Surprised no one has said Super Metroid yet. The game just excelled at atmosphere.
In no particular order:
Chrono Trigger
Binding of Isaac Rebirth
myhouse.wad (I know it came out this year, but goddamn it’s good)
Yoshi’s Island
Super Mario All-Stars + World (cheating maybe?)
Silent Hill 1, 2, and 3
Terranigma
OMORI (also recent, but also damn good)
LoZ: Majora’s Mask
Pokemon 2nd gen (could totally just be nostalgia talking right here)
Tetris
Super Smash Bros Melee
Mario Kart 64
Also I keep coming back to yashum’s Call of Cthulhu SMW hack.
The Binding of Isaac. I keep buying it on all platforms. No single run is the same. More expensive than it should be these days but it is my crack.
The tank game on Wii Sports (reminiscent of Atari Tanks but coop)
PS1 Final Fantasy Tactics (especially with mods, particularly FFT 1.3)
PC Master of Magic (especially with community mods, Caster of Magic is a favorite)
SNES Super Mario World
SNES Super Bomber Man
I honestly feel a little disappointed that I scrolled this far and nobody mentioned Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999).
This is an RTS game, which is a dying genre. It’s also a 24 year old game, which after its release two more Age of Empires games have been released as well, and the game itself has been remastered recently. Yet people continue to play the original game to this day, the multiplayer scene and competitions are still active.
If that is not timeless I don’t know what is.
Skyrim, actually. It’s quite dated by today’s standards, but just recently I started another playthrough on a whim and ended up playing 20h or so even though I’ve played the game a bunch of times for several hundreds of hours throughout the years already.
This is going to be a weird one considering the graphics, but hear me out, the original Deus Ex. Something about the game just feels so well put together that the graphics take a back seat to the gameplay. There is a reason the community around the game has fought so hard to keep it running on modern hardware.
Fallout 1 and 2. I’ve played them so many times over the decades. FF7 and Baldurs gate 1&2 are others I’ve done a few times.
