Continuing the trend of my ask you guys a boatload of questions, what are favorite games from some of you're favorite series?.
Super Mario Bros. 3. Still the greatest 2D platformer after 20 years, endlessly replayable and full of incredible level design and a sense of adventure. Bonus points to Super Mario Advance 4 with the great bonus levels, now finally available thanks to the e-shop release.
Pokemon Platinum. Gen 4 in general brought huge welcome changes with the physical/special split and online play, but Platinum ironed out the bugs in Diamond/Pearl and created a fantastic experience that embodies everything I love about the series.
Mega Man 2. So easy to pick up and play, with one of the best soundtracks in video game history and some of the most memorable/iconic Robot Masters in the series. Mega Man X comes close to it, but 2's charming simplicity wins out for me.
Donkey Kong Country 2. A cornerstone of my childhood and the second greatest 2D platformer after SMB3, the atmosphere and world of this game are perfectly crafted, where you take on pirate crocodiles on a gothic island full of strange locales. The soundtrack is Wise's masterpiece as well.
Majora's Mask. Such an odd, charming little game so full of life and mystery, offering a game completely off the beaten path. The characters and sidequests are the real draw, rather than the dungeons and storyline. It's difficlt to imagine a mainline Zelda game like this being released today.
Kirby Super Star Ultra. KSS on its own merits would probably win anyway, but Ultra is a rare remake so good it replaces the original entirely. Not only do you have the great core game, there's the new subgames, particularly Revenge Of The King and Meta Knightmare, that add lots of value.
Metal Gear Solid. My personal favorite game of all time, everything from the goofy yet strangely compelling story with a perfect atmosphere and campy dialogue to the arcade-like stealth action, with tons of classic and memorable set pieces... I can always fire this game up and dive right into it.
Sonic 3 And Knuckles. It really doesn't get any better than this for Sonic, in my mind. The way the levels flow together through cutscenes, multiple playable characters, extremely memorable levels and tunes, Sonic Mania came close to it, but doesn't quite match the perfect mix 3&K has.
Wario Land. Although Wario Land 3 is my favorite of the "traditional" Wario platformers, I love the first game as a mix of the classic SMB style with Wario's new tweaks. Undoubtedly one of the best games for the Game Boy and kickstarted a great series... that Smash has totally ignored.
Mother 3. Mother and EarthBound have cute stories, but I wouldn't really say they have a
ton of depth in terms of character and theme... but Mother 3 blows them out of the water in this regard, in my opinion. It's a rich, thoughtful game with a lot to say. The ending is just perfect.
Shout out to
and
as Super Metroid and Uprising are two of my favorite games, but they're the only games in their series I've completed... hoping to fix that soon with Metroid, at least.