My universal keeper, as long as it can run it or has a port (Official or Unofficial) and allows me to play it with a keyboard and mouse or buttons and sticks:
Quake 3, on just about any of my family's PCs to benchmark them to see if they can run the game well (and it did help me with fixing the video drivers of my mother's laptop [I did it ever since fixing my main laptop's Vulkan driver. Thank you again,
qw90700!])
I also kept
Quake 3 on my PS Vita (which was my first ever encounter with Quake 3 and I fell in love with it ever since), it's still crashes randomly as it still is a developing port, but it still is my portable way of
Quake 3 and with it most recent update from late last year due to improvements to vitaGL that powers it, it's my reminder that the Vita Homebrew Community could probably bring in a lot of early 2000s games to the system (probably even mid 2000s). (I still yearn for Jedi Academy on the Vita, but I can wait for it)
(I also got into the Dreamcast version, but I won't drag this on, though, I did completed custom extension of that version's rocking soundtrack if interested:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUEFj8t-QTjhpNO4MaH_CZi75xyJEpHEK)
The keepers for my personal laptops and PCs:
Monster (A kind of incomplete Doujin Fighting game from 2005 ...or 2006 as my game files of the game say so.), because it's my first PC fighting game. I first played it with a controller since coming from the
Soul Calibur series and
Tobal 2, but I find that playing the with the keyboard (on my smaller, secondary laptop) was much more fun and easier to execute moves with. (Also, I did custom extensions of this game too, he he:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUEFj8t-QTjgRZK3W8OgwjGHsW2ikcB7fP)
SW JK: Jedi Academy, no surprises here, especially if you read my post in hwdoble's
2003 thread or my thread about my Vulkan driver but it was one of my first games I've ever played, it was a blast to play with my brother in Multiplayer on the OG Xbox! (I wish he could play with me again, OG Xbox or PC, but he's too stubborn to play with me even if he was bored!)
But now, ever since getting on the PC version and revisiting the OG Xbox version, I think that the PC version is very much superior since the combat I feel was made with keyboard movement in mind, you can have mods in it, punch in the realistic saber code to COMPETELY chop up limbs (not a mod) pre-Disney style, and get to higher fps counts but I think that a stable framerate is most desirable since in my experience, unlocked performance below the fps target can cause your character's movement to jitter which is also a problem on the OG Xbox version (on original hardware or base Xbox One and One S, I haven't seen One X performance but I know that the Series consoles are at 60 fps) but I still missed the look of the menu on the OG Xbox's version and it was the only console version split screen play and has full Left Analog motions (tilt to walk, push to run) which just helps with the single saber on a controller!
(This probably is toooo long. If you just want to see a quick "why" I love this game, check this out:
)
Those are basically my PC picks but I got console picks too but I'll be quick about them:
OG Xbox:
PocketBike Racer, SW JK: JA is my No.1 but this clutches at my No.2 in my childhood!
Wii:
House of The Dead 2 & 3 Return, "Just a Wii Remote!?" convenience
.
PS2:
Burnout Revenge, we're on wreckin' spree!
PS3:
Soul Calibur 5, yes, it's the black sheep game of the series but it was my first personal fighting game, and I loved the Character Creation mode.
PSP:
Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity (I got a lot to say, skip if you want.)
, you do know my pixelized avatar is from this game, right? (She's one of my OCs.)
Well anyways, there's something about this game that make my characters feel more alive rather than being separate save slots and its real fun to make them like they are actual characters. Also, this is the biggest focus in action gameplay for Phantasy Star series up to that point (2011) since
Phantasy Star Online and it strike a nice balance with the simplicity of
PS Online, PS Universe, and PS Zero with the hecticness of the future
Phantasy Star games (like
Online 2 and
Nova).
PS Vita:
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE, it's basic in story but I loved the combat and the controls on the Vita version!
Honorable mention:
NFS Most Wanted 2012 Vita, its the kind of game I wanted to see when it comes to games on the Vita coming from some games on PS3: near or stable performance, home-console quality content, and good enough visuals. The 2D Lego games spoil my view of the Vita.
N3DS:
Pokemon Shuffle, 3DS is a good system for puzzle games to me.
PS1:
Gran Turismo 2, it's been a long time since I got into a PS1 game and to be honest, I'm not very comfortable playing games on consoles from the 90's and 80's but coming from
Gran Turismo PSP (and being very bored from it and disappointed that there wasn't a Simulation Mode, it was my first Gran Turismo...before
The First Gran Turismo), GT2 just surprises me.
(Not to say that that were console games from the 90's that weren't as so but little me was scared from the 3D graphics of PS1 and its 2D capabilities)
