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?
vote to close -primarily opinion based (Score:2, Insightful)
leave the circle-jerks to reddit.
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http://www.trueachievements.co... [trueachievements.com] as this thread illustrates, one person's gem is another's turd. Or the reverse http://www.trueachievements.co... [trueachievements.com]
It's not over-thinking it, it's just basic common sense. A decade or so ago when I worked at a video store I had a massive following (turned out to be 50% of the business) because I recognized the simple fact that when someone asks for a recommendation, they don't want what you thought was good, they wanted what they think is good. Customer who comes in and lov
Classics (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Classics (Score:5, Informative)
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What? Hell no. Classics are: checkers, chess, a deck of cards, a pair of dice, dominoes and backgammon. Everybody has heard of them, everybody has seen them, (almost) everybody have played them in their lives...
Anything invented in the past few decades simply has not been around long enough to become a classic.
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Re:Classics (Score:4, Funny)
Get-togethers? With DnD geeks? And enough PCs? (Score:5, Interesting)
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NWN 1 to me (and this is IMHO, so take it for what it is worth; little to none) is a must have. However, I would also take in all the hundreds of very good player written modules as well. The OC for the game was more of a primer on how to write modules right than a decent game in itself. SoU and HotU had decent scripts, but I would say that the top tier player written content (with the CEP and CTP) was some of the best I've played. A number of persistent worlds were outstanding as well.
NWN2 to a lesser
various card games (Score:5, Insightful)
For get-togethers the easiest thing to use is just plain old cards. The number of games that can be had from just a couple decks is great.
Common games for us -
Blackjack, Hearts, Pinochle, Poker, etc
for more entertainment you could always Check out Cards again Humanity for those with a twisted sense of humor.
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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:various card games (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:various card games (Score:4, Insightful)
maybe you should check out boardgamegeek. catan was a great game in its days, but it has been surpassed
It's been surpassed largely by its own expansion modules. My sister's family just got Explorers & Pirates last Christmas and they've been playing almost non-stop ever since.
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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.
depends on who's there (Score:5, Informative)
If people aren't too uptight, cards against humanity is great.
Mario kart (any version)
trivial pursuit
subjective lists are awesome! If you don't know your friends well enough to know what they like, you have other questions you should be delving into first :)
depends on who's there (Score:3)
Nethack (Score:5, Interesting)
Years of time can be wasted
Nethack (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't understand how you kids can play Nethack on a phone.
This old nerd needs all the keys.
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Old-school is best (Score:4, Interesting)
MOO2
Civ2 - Call to power
Descent
NeverWinterNights 2
Tribes (I & II)
Seawolf
MechWarrior
Dark Reign
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That's the first time I've seen anyone reference Dark Reign in a 'best games' list. Or ever, for that matter. Still haven't made up my mind on whether it's a true classic of an underdog, or yet another great concept that was woefully underexecuted (see Malkari).
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Also, I'd add Star Control 2, which is now available as FOSS under the title The Ur-Quan Masters. This is my favorite video game of all time.
Warcraft 2 should be mentioned also. Maybe even Syndicate.
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That's s good list.. I'd like to add to it, and make it a little more eclectic..
Descent
Mechwarior
Portal / Portal 2
DIablo
Wizball (c64)
Impossible MIssion 2 (c64)
Raid over Moscow (c64)
The old Ultima series (like Ultima IV)
Quake
Quake 3 arena
Doom (it's classic, but it is hard to play these days after having gotten used to being able to look and move up and down)
Empire (c64 BBS - You probably can't just keep this one around to play, but it was fun when it was out there)
Legend of Zelda
Arcade:
Hard Drivin (I think t
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Per someone else's comment.. I meant Mechwarrior 2.. They're right..
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Doh.. and Halo should probably have been on the list..
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Monopoly is a good staple to have around
NO. it's boring. it's very dependent on luck.
Uno, Scrabble, Apples to Apples (Score:2)
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I have both Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity, and I prefer Apples to Apples. The gameplay of both is essentially the same but CAH derives most of its humor from being as scatological, gross, and kinky as possible. I understand why that appeals to people, I just generally prefer the tamer "good clean fun" version that can be played with kids and grandparents.
Or you can mix the two and play Apples Against Humanity.
Star Control 2 (Score:2)
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:Star Control 2 (Score:4, Informative)
Oh, good example. Y'all probably know that already, but Star Control 2 is now available freely under an open source license [sourceforge.net], just under the different name of Ur-Quan Masters due to trademark issues.
The best games are... (Score:5, Insightful)
The best games are the ones I have played between the ages of 10-18.
The ones before that are too primitive, the ones after that are just full of eye candy and attempts to just harness a bunch of money.
Oddly enough a lot of my favorite movies and TV shows were during that time too.
I guess things were just better during the time where you didn't have any responsibilities.
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".
Dark Souls/DS II, Baldur's gate II (Score:4, Interesting)
Baldur's gate II is the best of the infinity engine games, all of which are already great. Dark Souls and Dark Souls II have the best method of story delivery in any RPG I've ever seen, as well as easily the most engaging and immersive combat. To illustrate, when I was fighting one of DSII's new DLC bosses recently I did something I hadn't done since I first picked up a controller: I moved my physical body to dodge an incoming blow, instead of pressing the relevant button. The last time I did that I was 7 years old and jumping on goombas. It's that good.
Planescape: Torment (Score:2)
Personally I think Planescape: Torment is the best infinity engine game by far.
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Good story, terrible gameplay.
*sigh* (Score:2)
I'll "me too" on this a bit.
I own a MAME cabinet, with a (nearly) complete collection of ROMs and CHDs.
I own an RFID enabled poker table, with the kit from VideoPokerTable.net
I have a makeshift craps table, one Bally 70's era EM-series slot machine and an antique 36" roulette wheel.
We're an XBox family, now with a One.
My Cards Against Humanity set is mostly complete, only missing the extra-rare PAX sets and the misprint set, plus nearly all possible expansions, including 3rd party ones.
I've been a Magic ner
Hmmm .... (Score:2)
Old Skool: The Mario Bros and Donkey Kong games are where my heart lies. 2D side scrollers.
Tabletop: I've always loved the German style board/card games -- fun for the whole family, the outcome is pretty much random, and someone doesn't get ganged up on or eliminated early in play. The goofier the premise the better, it's the mechanics which makes them enjoyable to play in groups, and sometimes strategy is pointless or impossible.
New Skool: I'm afraid I'm pretty much eternally hooked on Skyrim. I like
Dominion & Munchkin (Score:3)
Dominion [playdominion.com]! This is an excellent card based game. Not difficult to pick up, a warmup game clears up things quickly, and as a bonus they've got an official electronic version online at http://playdominion.com [playdominion.com] built using html and js, and there is a chrome extension too. You can play without signing up or logging in and against bots or other players not to mention the entire base game is free. You are not hindered with the "base game" and there are several expansions which add additional cards to the game. The game itself uses 10 cards at a time which you can randomly draw to keep things interesting or if you prefer you can build decks. Dominion shines with 3+ players and maxes out at 8. Games last anywhere from 10-45 minutes. I'm actually working on an IRC port of this since everything is better on IRC >.>
Munchkin [worldofmunchkin.com] is another great party game.
Re:Dominion & Munchkin (Score:5, Interesting)
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My problem with Pandemic is that if you don't work as a perfectly aligned team, you lose horribly. No personal scores equals no autonomy, with the end result that one player pretty much dictates everyone's actions. Okay, you probably make your decisions as something like a committee, but it feels like a joke to pretend that each player really has "their own" cards and pieces.
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maybe you should try out ghost stories http://www.boardgamegeek.com/b... [boardgamegeek.com] and yggdrasil http://www.boardgamegeek.com/b... [boardgamegeek.com] . those are "easier". *cough* *cough*. (so I lied, sue me ...)
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I've actually played Pandemic a few times.
And it's in a class of games which are either best played cooperatively, or which completely make the game mechanics drive the play.
Some co-workers used to play games at lunch -- in fact, they probably still do.
And the appeal of these games isn't "ha ha, I beat you". It's more like "Doh, Bob got eaten by a weasel, causing Sally to fall down the stairs, and when the flower pot landed on Steve's head he won." The victory/conclusion conditions change the dynamic of t
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It's a completely different style of play, and it is much more focused on play and having fun, than winning at all costs. And it means one person doesn't always win the game, and everyone else decides they have better things to do.
Indeed! I'm a big fan of German style games [wikipedia.org] specifically to avoid Monopoly like situations.
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My Favorites (Score:2, Insightful)
Computer Games: The original Master of Orion
Card Games: Dominion (also on Mobile), Poker,
Pure Board Games: Chess, Ra, Power Grid.
My club's favorite boardgames: 7 Wonders, Dominion, For Sale, Forbidden Island, High Society, Incan Gold, Kingdom Builder, Kingsburg, Pandemic, Power Grid, Power Grid: The First Sparks, Puerto Rico, Qwirkle, San Juan, Stone Age, Ticket to Ride: Europe, TransAmerica, Tsuro
The Orange Box (Score:4, Interesting)
The Orange Box bundled:
-Portal
-Half Life 2
-Team Fortress 2
Seven years later, all three are still among the best games to have and play.
For how many people? (Score:3)
The "best" games depends on how many people you have to play, not to mention their tastes and time commitment.
Nothing beats Diplomacy, but you need seven people, a whole day, and people who can be bastards when required.
Other games I keep going back to are Civilization (the original board game that has nothing to do with Sid Meier), Kingmaker, Pictionary, Scattergories, and the Combat Mission series of digital war games.
I Hate Bethesda Studios (Score:4, Insightful)
There Is One (Score:2)
With video games though, there is one that can be considered more or less objectively a must-play: Deus Ex. Even if you wind up not liking it for some reason, it's important. It's like not reading any Shakespeare.
For table games, it's much harder. They're definitely worthy of being called art, but they are obviously much less "literary"
For politically incorrect afficianados... (Score:2)
Death Race (Exidy arcade version)
Custer's Revenge (Mystique, for Atari 2600)
Leisure Suit Larry (Sierra)
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Postal and Redneck Rampage are quality games for that Genre...
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From my youth, here is my pick-list. (Score:2)
Pacman
Ms. Pacman
Pole Position
Battle Zone
Jungle hunt
Defender
Dig-Dug
Frogger
and
Robotron
And they all fit on 2 150k (664block) floppies for my commodore 64 or 1 double sided 5.25" floppy. :P
Don't know where to begin (Score:2)
I have over 1000 games at this point, and I have no idea how to answer this question. The problem is that games that I like might not line up with games you like. I would call Panzer Dragoon Saga a must-play, but if you don't like JRPGs, then you won't like it. I consider Radiant Silvergun the pinnacle of the vertical shooting genre, but if you don't like those, then why would you waste $120 and go through the hassle of making sure you can play Japanese Saturn games? At the same time, I'm not big on the har
unreal tournament. (Score:3)
UT2004, certainly if you can invite some friends over.
Party Games (Score:2)
Party games (Score:2)
When you have to entertain large groups of people, and you don't want to worry about any of them having to sit down and learn a new time-consuming game, keep copies of The Resistance and Are You a Werewolf around. (Yes, Werewolf is fine with scraps of paper, but the cards are fun.) You can explain them in minutes, and they make people a heck of a lot more social than most board games. The Resistance is better if you don't want any players to be eliminated, but you should only use it in groups that alread
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Games on hand for get togethers. (Score:2)
All of my friends are assholes, so i only have Mario Kart 8 and Dokapon Kingdom around for game night.
also now I don't host game nights.
Since many people are responding with board games (Score:2)
Board Games (broad-ish appeal, nothing heavy):
Cards Against Humanity
Zombie Dice
Settlers of Catan
Ticket to Ride
Pandemic
Dominion
A couple of Magic the Gathering starter sets
Plain old deck of cards
PC:
Diablo II - This is the only game I think I consistently install from one PC to the next. It usually involves one of my friends saying "Hey, we should start an old-school D2 night once a week!" Because of this, I think every PC I've had since 1997 has had Diablo on it at some point.
RPGs:
Pathfinder, or whatever your
old school ?? (Score:2)
#1 STOP USING 'old school', you aren't, and you sound like a douche bag.
#2 DICE - Zilch, 10,000, liar's dice...etc
#3 A deck of cards, Canasta, Bridge, Poker, Pinochle.
#4 Risk, Stratego, Masterpiece, Chutes and Ladders for the youngsters, and of course Monotony, aka Monopoly.
#5 Dungeons & Dragons, or more preferably Gurps, but any pen and paper RPG is awesome.
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OK, Grandpa, yes, we know it's all been downhill since the hoop and stick you used to play with ... but, really, the Atari 2600 came out in 1977, and really is considered "old school" by pretty much everybody as far as video games are concerned.
While you might be nostalgic for the old steam powered games of your youth, anybody up to the age of 50 considers the Atari 2600 as old school. Because prior to that was Pong, and actual mechani
Pinball (Score:2)
Attack From Mars
Monster Bash.
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you forgot
RMF (Revenge From Mars Pinball)
TSPP (the simpsons pinball party)
LORT (lord of the rings)
Shadow
ACDC LE
Banzai Run
Batman (stern)
Big Bang Bar
Big Guns
Black Night 2000
Roller Games
CV (Cirqus Voltaire) With 2.0 Roms
Cactus Canyon with Continued mod
MM (medieval madness)
JP (Jurassic park)
Last action hero
DM (Demoltion Man) With the shear roms
IJ (Indiana Jones) (not the stern one)
JM (Johnny Mnemonic) Better then the movie
Jolly Park
Metallica LE
NGG (No good gofers)
Radical
Road show
Safe Cracker
Scared Stiff
Star Gat
The Great Dalmuti (Score:2)
The rules are simple and you can play with almost any number of people. Even people who don't like to play games often give a try.
Since no one seems to want to answer... (Score:2)
...seems to me somebody should address the question that was asked. My personal favorites have NOTHING to do with my answer, though many of you will find that unbelievable. From my experience:
Jenga
Darts
Wii Sports (Wii)
Mario Tennis (N64)
Mario Kart 64
On iPhone... (Score:2)
Here's [iphonemultiplayer.com] a listing of some of the most popular multiplayer games on iPhone. I've enjoyed playing all of these in groups.
If you like old-style arcade games, (Score:2)
Modern awesome ones to have (not going to name super obvious classics or reading other comments first):
Beat Hazard [coldbeamgames.com] has everything that was great about old arcade games made for a modern systems and interlaced with music you provide.
I consider World of Goo [worldofgoo.com] to be a must-have.
As for social meat-space games Cards Against Humanity [cardsagainsthumanity.com]is a favorite, but not exactly for all company.
One of my favorite board games as a kid isn't being produced anymore and I can't think of another that screams it needs to be considered
Obviously Tempest (Score:3)
Battlezone
Stargate (defender upgrade)
Joust
Doom
T-Mek
Descent
Mortal Combat
Virtua Fighter
Space Lords
Police 911
Crazy Tax
Nethack
Rtype
BattleTech (mech pods version)
old school a little bit... (Score:3)
Eclectic Mix (Score:2)
My Essential (old-school) Games:
- Camageddon (the first one, or the High Octane re-release, which the Android version is based on)
- Final Fantasy VII
- Kirby
- Nethack
- Crazy Taxi (way more fun than it should be!)
- Die Hard: Arcade
- Time Crisis II
- Mortal Kombat II
- Street Fighter II
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater II (for the soundtrack as much as the gameplay)
- Battletoads
- BattleTech
- Command and Conquer (original)
- Frogger (original)
- Spyro the Dragon (original)
- Breakout
the best game of all: (Score:2)
If wanted to waste hours of my time... (Score:2)
Axis and Allies Board game (Score:2)
let the all nighters begin.
D&D (Score:2)
I'll bite (Score:3)
My list:
Rogue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R... [wikipedia.org]
Seriously been playing this game since the early 80s and have never "Won" there are thousands of variants but there's a particularly nice Android version: https://play.google.com/store/... [google.com]
Ultima 7/7.5: http://www.gog.com/game/ultima... [gog.com]
Revolutionary when it came out. My friends and I in high-school literally sat their with our mouths hanging open the first time we launched the game. The MMO based on it was one of the first I'd call a true mmo: http://www.uo.com/ [uo.com] (let the flame wars begin on that statement, just so you know ahead of time: I don't care)
https://www.everquest.com/ [everquest.com] -- first 3D mmo worth its salt. Huge time sink though.
Robocraft -- Build robots out of legos... then blow them up. Super fun. It's my current game. http://store.steampowered.com/... [steampowered.com]
For (video) games that I actually still own... (Score:2)
In no order as order changes per mood:
Knights of the Old Republic (1 & 2)
Dragon Age: Origins
Everquest
Counterstrike (all versions)
Half-Life (1 & 2)
Portal (1)
Syberia (1 & 2)
X-Com & The Operational Art of War (Score:2)
No doubt about it. X-Com is the greatest game ever created in the entire history of mankind. Even once I figured out how to win in the first turn it was still fun to play.
Next would be TOAW. It's the best war boardgame ever made. If it's been improved upon, please let me know.
I also loved Delta Force Land Warrior--until the cheaters destroyed it.
BattleZone ][ (Score:2)
FPS+RTS was awesome. Buggy launch killed it but still maintained by one of the original programmers.
Portal, South Park Stick of Truth, Monkey Island.. (Score:3)
Portal
Porta2
SouthPark Stick of Truth
Monkey Island 1+2 (+3)
HalfLife (Source), Opposing Force, HalfLife2
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Unreal Tournament '99
Quake, QuakeWorld, Quake2, Quake3Arena
F.E.A.R.
Splinter Cell and/or Thief
Sam & Max
Neverwinter Nights
Gianna Sisters
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!
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Orange is the best color.
It's the maintenance man. He knows I like orange. [wikia.com]
Also, and on-topic, Deus Ex is a must-play game.
Came to instigate a reinstallation. Saw that I was beaten to it. Left satisfied.
Everytime someone mentions Deus Ex, someone reinstalls Deus Ex [imageshack.us]
Re:Subjective (Score:4, Funny)
Blue... no, wait .. Gree- AHhhhhhhhhh
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Re:MAME (Score:5, Informative)
Give up already and switch to sdlmame [lngn.net].
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?
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We do need this on Slashdot. I don't want the list that people from a gamer site would come up with. I'm sure it would be very different.
It is not news.
It *IS* stuff that matters.
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Much less tractable than chess, anyway.
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Final Fantasy 4 doesn't get enough love. I really appreciate your unconventional choice of 9 though.
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https://packages.debian.org/un... [debian.org]
You can easily get it for debian and the code is out there for compiling.
Re:Old skool (Score:4, Insightful)
'2. All of Infocom's text adventures.'
Text adventures are still being produced. The Interactive Fiction Archive has many old and new games. Many are very good.
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Agreed. My collection includes a Guantlett 2, Tempest, Ms PacMan, Xevious, Robotron 2048, and Smash TV (not in original cabinet). The rest of the modern stiff pretty much pales in comparison.
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