A trend that pops up every once and a while is to ask the question "what are your Desert Island *blank*". The question is a what-if scenario, where you're stuck on an island and can only bring X amount of Y type of media. In this case, you get up to 5 video games!
Rules are as follows:
1. No internet connection is available so online components can't be accessed. I will say as a mercy that the latest update for your game of choice is available (so if a game had a bad launch or had a ton of DLC, you can have the final version with all DLC). If you REALLY wanna pick an online-only game like an MMO then go for it, I just knew that if I allowed online games my list would be dominated by MMOs so I decided it was unfair.
2. No compilations. Games that happen to have other games available on the kart (Metroid Zero Mission having the original Metroid as a bonus, for example) are allowed, but explicit compilations like Super Mario All Stars, Sega Genesis Collections etc are not allowed.
3. If you want, you can assume you have at least 2-3 friends stranded with you so if a party game is something you'd choose if you had company, there ya go!
(if anyone else feels these rules are too restrictive or have extra stipulations they'd like to add, feel free to mention it when giving your personal list. I made these rules as a guideline, but you can make your own!)
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For mine, I'd go with the following 5!
Sonic Adventure 2: Incredible gamefeel, (mostly) fantastic level design and a phenomenal story make this an easy pick for Sonic. You have 3 gameplay styles for variety, multiple minigames to unlock, tons of emblems to chase and an addicting chao mode. Hundreds of hours worth of gameplay just to 100% a single file and thanks to the variety and addicting nature of the game, by the time I max out my emblem count I'll want to jump right back in and start from scratch. I've spent countless hours speedrunning the base game, shooting for high scores on specific levels and jumping through hoops to breed specific chao types to get the coolest little buddies possible. Wildest part is I have still barely scratched the surface of what the game can offer after hundreds of hours spent on it over the years.
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age: One of the greatest JRPG stories of all time coupled with one of my favorite battle systems ever made it my go-to RPG. FFX may be my all time favorite game, but FFXII is a game I haven't replayed over and over like I have FFX. While both have tons of endgame content and stellar battle/progression systems full of replay value, I feel XII being both a lesser-known quantity to me and a slightly meatier package make it the better choice overall.
Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled: The greatest single player kart racer of all time, period. This is another game that benefits from my "Game uses the latest update" rule because over the year it was supported it got new characters, tracks, modes and ghost challenges to complete. Between the incredible depth the mechanics provide to the absurd variety in gameplay for single player, I'll never be wanting for another racing game.
Vanquish: I played this game so much on PS3/360 that by the time the game came out on Xbox One/PS4 via a remaster I hit the 600k score club for a Hard Mode full playthrough, and I'm still #1 on the leaderboards 5 years later. I adore this game and while it is definitely the skimpiest on my list in terms of content, it is so endlessly replayable that I don't mind. Between high score chasing and self-imposed challenge runs I could probably plug more hours into this than almost any other game on this list. Quite literally a perfect game from front to back as far as I'm concerned.
Resident Evil Remake: This was the toughest choice. The other 4 games were guaranteed right from the start, but the 5th option haunted me for a while. What's more is even once I settled upon Resident Evil I still couldn't decide which game to go with. Ultimately I chose to go with the Remake of 1, over 3 on the Dreamcast or 4 on current-gen consoles. It really is just a perfect game and while I'll miss the replayability of Mercenaries mode from 3 and 4, the core game of Remake is my absolute favorite Resi to play over and over again. I actually almost decided to go with the Saturn version of Resi 1 for all the extra bonus challenges it had that no other version got, but Remake is just such a better game pound for pound that I wouldn't miss it too much.
Honorable mentions would be Monster Hunter Freedom Unite/Generations Ultimate, Super Monkey Ball and Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Rules are as follows:
1. No internet connection is available so online components can't be accessed. I will say as a mercy that the latest update for your game of choice is available (so if a game had a bad launch or had a ton of DLC, you can have the final version with all DLC). If you REALLY wanna pick an online-only game like an MMO then go for it, I just knew that if I allowed online games my list would be dominated by MMOs so I decided it was unfair.
2. No compilations. Games that happen to have other games available on the kart (Metroid Zero Mission having the original Metroid as a bonus, for example) are allowed, but explicit compilations like Super Mario All Stars, Sega Genesis Collections etc are not allowed.
3. If you want, you can assume you have at least 2-3 friends stranded with you so if a party game is something you'd choose if you had company, there ya go!
(if anyone else feels these rules are too restrictive or have extra stipulations they'd like to add, feel free to mention it when giving your personal list. I made these rules as a guideline, but you can make your own!)
_____________________________________________________________
For mine, I'd go with the following 5!
Sonic Adventure 2: Incredible gamefeel, (mostly) fantastic level design and a phenomenal story make this an easy pick for Sonic. You have 3 gameplay styles for variety, multiple minigames to unlock, tons of emblems to chase and an addicting chao mode. Hundreds of hours worth of gameplay just to 100% a single file and thanks to the variety and addicting nature of the game, by the time I max out my emblem count I'll want to jump right back in and start from scratch. I've spent countless hours speedrunning the base game, shooting for high scores on specific levels and jumping through hoops to breed specific chao types to get the coolest little buddies possible. Wildest part is I have still barely scratched the surface of what the game can offer after hundreds of hours spent on it over the years.
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age: One of the greatest JRPG stories of all time coupled with one of my favorite battle systems ever made it my go-to RPG. FFX may be my all time favorite game, but FFXII is a game I haven't replayed over and over like I have FFX. While both have tons of endgame content and stellar battle/progression systems full of replay value, I feel XII being both a lesser-known quantity to me and a slightly meatier package make it the better choice overall.
Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled: The greatest single player kart racer of all time, period. This is another game that benefits from my "Game uses the latest update" rule because over the year it was supported it got new characters, tracks, modes and ghost challenges to complete. Between the incredible depth the mechanics provide to the absurd variety in gameplay for single player, I'll never be wanting for another racing game.
Vanquish: I played this game so much on PS3/360 that by the time the game came out on Xbox One/PS4 via a remaster I hit the 600k score club for a Hard Mode full playthrough, and I'm still #1 on the leaderboards 5 years later. I adore this game and while it is definitely the skimpiest on my list in terms of content, it is so endlessly replayable that I don't mind. Between high score chasing and self-imposed challenge runs I could probably plug more hours into this than almost any other game on this list. Quite literally a perfect game from front to back as far as I'm concerned.
Resident Evil Remake: This was the toughest choice. The other 4 games were guaranteed right from the start, but the 5th option haunted me for a while. What's more is even once I settled upon Resident Evil I still couldn't decide which game to go with. Ultimately I chose to go with the Remake of 1, over 3 on the Dreamcast or 4 on current-gen consoles. It really is just a perfect game and while I'll miss the replayability of Mercenaries mode from 3 and 4, the core game of Remake is my absolute favorite Resi to play over and over again. I actually almost decided to go with the Saturn version of Resi 1 for all the extra bonus challenges it had that no other version got, but Remake is just such a better game pound for pound that I wouldn't miss it too much.
Honorable mentions would be Monster Hunter Freedom Unite/Generations Ultimate, Super Monkey Ball and Star Ocean: The Last Hope
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