Ask Slashdot: What Are the Best Games To Have In Your Collection? 382
A reader writes: I am not a "gamer," per se. I grew up on "old school" arcade/Atari-type games. My question is: What are the very best games to own? Let's assume platform is irrelevant — any console, any computer, any operating system, any mobile device. I'd just like to know what you think are the most indispensable games to have in your collection.
Let's expand this to include board games and other tabletop games as well. What games do you make sure to always have on hand for get-togethers?
Re:Subjective (Score:5, Funny)
That's like asking what's the best food to have in your fridge. What is the best color is along the same lines...
Bacon and green. Next!
Trolling (Score:5, Funny)
I like to play a game called "Troll the Internet"
You pick some category (music, books, movies, etc) and then ask a question along the lines of "Which is better?". You can even do it with entire categories (e.g. "What are the best songs to have in my music collection?" "What are the best books to read?")
It's hilarious watching the infighting and attempts to justify responses to a subjective question.
The game has gotten a bit out of hand though. I've even seen it being played on popular tech forums like "Slashdot".
Re:various card games (Score:5, Funny)
Cribbage... that's where those fat cat card manufacturers get you with their fancy wood board and peg upgrades.
Re:Oh come on (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Subjective (Score:4, Funny)
Blue... no, wait .. Gree- AHhhhhhhhhh
Re:Star Control 2 (Score:5, Funny)
The FOSS remake (The Ur-Quan Masters) lacks one "feature" from the original Star Control 2 released by Accolade: in the original, it was possible to sell your last planet lander, and then to sell one more (?!), which would leave you with (practically) infinitely many more. This gives you limitless RU right from the start of the game (well, at least once you clear the moon, kill the Ilwrath scout, and gain full access to the human starbase), which makes it much easier to trigger the Yehat schizm in time to save the Pkunk.
For those that have never experienced this masterpiece, here's one of my favorite bits of dialogue. The protagonist asks the Zoq-Fot-Pik (an alien race, or really three alien races that originated on one common world) "what was your history like?"
Our past? Quite a broad topic for this short conversation
...Or should we just go back into the forest
...that they decided the Zoq hadn't really died when the wheel flattened him
but we'll share a key piece of our history with you.
After we killed off the last Zebranky
we faced an interesting dilemma.
Should we proceed, and establish a culture
which would advance in art, technology and social sophistication?...
and kick back and enjoy ourselves
knowing that a Zebranky wasn't gonna jump out of a bush and eat us!
Well, we DID go back into the forest.
We stayed there for about five thousand years and had a great time
Then, one stormy day, a Zoq, a Fot, and a Pik were walking up a steep path
looking for something good to eat, when a bolt of lightning struck nearby.
With a huge flash of light, the bolt of energy
carved a strangely-shaped chunk of granite out of a cliff.
It was a disk, with a hole in the middle!
As the rock began to roll down the hill, toward the three terrified beings
some dry grass got caught in its hole, and since the rock was still hot
the grass caught on fire.
When the rock finally got to the Zoq, the Fot, and the Pik
they simultaneously discovered the Wheel, Fire, and Religion
thus catapulting them on to the road of progress.
Which has led us to this day, Captain.
Oh! How did the flaming wheel give religion to our Culture, you ask?
I will explain.
You see, when it got to the threesome, the flaming wheel was going at a pretty good clip
and it ran smack into the Zoq, killing him.
The Fot and the Pik felt so bad
they really liked that Zoq!...
he had just gone to `a better place.'
Presumably one without lethal flaming wheels.
Re:Classics (Score:4, Funny)
Re:various card games (Score:1, Funny)
When you don't have friends, cards are really just a stack of colored paper. That's the problem I've always had with Dungeons and Dragons and multi-player games like that. When I was a kid I used to buy D&D books and modules and be fascinated with the lore and how much fun it all sounded. But when the realization hits you that you don't have anyone to play it with, it all becomes pretty useless.
As I read this comment, I couldn't help but hear slow, sad piano music in the background. I envision NotDrWho's childhood in black and white, while he reads the player's handbook, a single tear running down his cheek.
for the sake of inclusiveness, if NotDrWho is not a "he" then s/he/her/g as needed.
Re:Classics (Score:1, Funny)
Didn't they make Minecraft?
You're missing the point! (Score:4, Funny)
I MUST OWN THEM ALL HRRRGRRBLLL DIGITAL HOARDING
*ahem*
Sorry about that. I tend to get a little foamy when I digitally hoard. Anyways, counter to your point it's fun (for me, YMMV of course) to have as many as you can get. Sometimes I'll fire up MAME and simply pick out old games at random. Some I remember, some I never have seen before. It's like being an archaeologist in your own past. I'll do the same thing with C64 archives and Amiga archives (look for Amiga Tosec). Scores of Atari 2600 games. All the video discs for Daphne (the videodisc game emulator). Dragon's Lair, anyone?
It's a wish come true for younger-me. I used to mow lawns just to save up and get an Atari cartridge. Now I can download Stella and inside of ten minutes have ALL of them. Fun! And yes, someday I will make a MAME cabinet. Oh yes. It will be glorious.
So basically TL;DR it's really fun to poke around with. And really, with the price of storage these days you can store the entire library of an entire genre on a few blu ray discs. A 3 Tb hard drive is about $100 at NewEgg. Why not have them?