Gaming on a budget. Help!

So I'm going to move to a dorm soon, and I was wondering what are best systems to play with roomies and such? Shooters, Fighting and RPGs are a great plus.

I'd say that a PlayStation 2 would be your best bet. All three genres you mentioned are represented well on the platform. Shooters like TimeSplitters 2, Medal of Honor Frontline, and even early Call of Duty entries are very playable, even today. Fighting games include many of the Street Fighter titles and the pretty good Mortal Kombat games from the previous generation. RPGs are a strength, too, with Final Fantasy X, Dragon Quest VIII, and others still relatively easy to find.

A pre-owned PS2 runs between $50-$60 at this point, and the games are still available at many GameStop locations with a wide range of prices. I built my PS2 collection to over 200 games this year and have a strong library to pick from.

I hope this helps!

I completely disagree with the above poster. If you were more of the solo-gamer, I'd totally suggest the PS2 because of the diverse library and backwards compatibility with PS1 games. However since you're looking for multiplayer with roommates, then this is NOT the system to get. Only 2 controller ports, and the mutliplayer games just aren't as exciting as other system (not counting the staples like fighters, racing, and wrestling). Here's the best choices, IMO:

• Nintendo 64 - 4-controller ports and great multiplayer games like 007: Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Turok seires, Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 64, WWF & WCW Wrestling games, etc.
• Sega Dreamcast - 4-controller ports and great multiplayer games like Quake III: Arena, Unreal Tournament, Power Stone, Marvel vs. Capcom 1 & 2, Dead or Alive 2, Soul Calibur, WWF Atttitude, NFL 2K & NBA 2K games
• XBox 360 - Wireless controller support for multiple-players. Tons of great first-person shooters, fighting games, racing games, and wrestling games for multiplayer. Plus backwards compatibility with a lot original XBox games that have multiplayer.
  
• Nintendo Wii - Wii may not have the most in-depth game library, but multiplayer is where it really shines. Sooooo many party games, trivia games, and multiplayer light-gun shooter games. Plus the Nintendo multiplayer stand-bys like Mario Kart, Mario Party games, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. And WWE wrestling games. Plus you even can access old-school multiplayer games like Gauntlet, Smash TV, and Street Fighter II via the Virtual Console. Plus backwards compatibility with all Gamecube games giving you access to Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mario Kart Double-Dash, the Gamecube Mario Party titles, and others.

I'd say that a PlayStation 2 would be your best bet. All three genres you mentioned are represented well on the platform. Shooters like TimeSplitters 2, Medal of Honor Frontline, and even early Call of Duty entries are very playable, even today. Fighting games include many of the Street Fighter titles and the pretty good Mortal Kombat games from the previous generation. RPGs are a strength, too, with Final Fantasy X, Dragon Quest VIII, and others still relatively easy to find.

A pre-owned PS2 runs between $50-$60 at this point, and the games are still available at many GameStop locations with a wide range of prices. I built my PS2 collection to over 200 games this year and have a strong library to pick from.

I hope this helps!

Peter_Skerritt

Since you are posting on the legacy forum, I will assume you don't want a current gen system so I'd say go w/ a GameCube or N64. Four controller ports make offline multiplayer awesome. Dreamcast is great too but harder to come by. I'd be much more likely to reccommend a PS2 if you had not mentioned multi-player first but, honestly, if you are playing mostly by yourself, I'd go w/ a GBA or other portable since you could play it w/o hogging the TV.

Go for the PS2. There are dozens of quality fighting and rpg games on that console. Plus it can play the quality rpgs/fighting games of the PSone.

The VAST majority of your floormates in the dorm will be rocking either a PS3 or 360, so I'd just go with those. Playing Halo over the college connection took up a lot of my friends time.

I'd definately say the PS2, especially since you can find many cheap games for it so easily right now.

Fighters: There're so many great fighters, my personal favourite being the Alpha Anthology. There're a lot of great fighters for the PS1 too, but practically all of them are inferior to their Saturn counterparts, which might bother you.

First Person Shooters: For FPS's, you can't go wrong with Timesplitters 2 or 3 (and they both support the multi-tap, something a lot of posters in this thread seem to be forgetting). There are some other decent ones like Killzone Red Faction 2, 007 Nightfire, 007 Agent Under Fire, Medal of Honor Rising Sun...but they don't hold a candle to Timesplitters 2 or 3 when it comes to down to the multi-player, in my opinion. FPS's for the PS1? Let's just say that age hasn't been kind to FPS's from that generation. Doom is still pretty playable, but that's about it. And even then you wouldn't be able to take advantage of it's multi-player unless you had two PS1's, two TV's, and a link cable.

RPG's: No other console can touch the PS1 or PS2 when it comes to RPG's (at least in terms of JRPG's). And if multi-player RPG's interest you there's even plenty of them, too.

Other consoles

The Nintendo 64 would be a good choice if you'd count Super Smash Bros. as a fighter, but as you probably know it's very lacking when in the RPG genre, and like I mentioned earlier in this post, age hasn't been kind to FPS's from the fifth generation; Medal of Honor and Goldeneye/Perfect Dark, I find, aren't very playable now. I wouldn't go with the Gamecube - it's very lacking when it comes to fighters and RPG's, and I personally cant' stand using the Gamecube pad's L/R triggers for first person shooters.

I would recommend the Saturn, but you wouldn't be able to purchase many of it's best games on a budget lol....The Dreamcast would be a decent choice if you don't mind using it's, what I feel, crappy controller for fighting games. And you can even play all of it's games at the cost of nothing due to it's lack of 'protection', too. The Xbox would be a good choice; for RPG's you've got Fable and Morrowind, for FPS's you've got Halo and many multi-platform games, but for fighters you've got very little (and the Xbox's controller is terrble for fighters anyway).

So there are some other good choices too, but really, the ultimate choice would be to go with the PS2 for both PS1 and PS2 games.

So I'm going to move to a dorm soon, and I was wondering what are best systems to play with roomies and such? Shooters, Fighting and RPGs are a great plus.

keno570

I'd definately say the PS2, especially since you can find many cheap games for it so easily right now.

Fighters: There're so many great fighters, my personal favourite being the Alpha Anthology. There're a lot of great fighters for the PS1 too, but practically all of them are inferior to their Saturn counterparts, which might bother you.

First Person Shooters: For FPS's, you can't go wrong with Timesplitters 2 or 3 (and they both support the multi-tap, something a lot of posters in this thread seem to be forgetting). There are some other decent ones like Killzone Red Faction 2, 007 Nightfire, 007 Agent Under Fire, Medal of Honor Rising Sun...but they don't hold a candle to Timesplitters 2 or 3 when it comes to down to the multi-player, in my opinion. FPS's for the PS1? Let's just say that age hasn't been kind to FPS's from that generation. Doom is still pretty playable, but that's about it. And even then you wouldn't be able to take advantage of it's multi-player unless you had two PS1's, two TV's, and a link cable.

RPG's: No other console can touch the PS1 or PS2 when it comes to RPG's (at least in terms of JRPG's). And if multi-player RPG's interest you there's even plenty of them, too.

Other consoles

The Nintendo 64 wouldn't be a very good choice - you have Super Smash Bros. as a fighter (although it's nowhere near as good as Melee or Brawl), but as you probably know it's very lacking when in the RPG genre, and like I mentioned earlier in this post, age hasn't been kind to FPS's from the fifth generation; Medal of Honor and Goldeneye/Perfect Dark, I find, aren't very playable now. I wouldn't go with the Gamecube - it's very lacking when it comes to fighters and RPG's, and I personally cant' stand using the Gamecube pad's L/R triggers for first person shooters (or even fighters).

I would recommend the Saturn, but you wouldn't be able to purchase many of it's best games on a budget lol....The Dreamcast would be a decent choice if you don't mind using it's, what I feel, crappy controller for fighting games. And you can even play all of it's games at the cost of nothing due to it's lack of 'protection', too. The Xbox would be a good choice; for RPG's you've got Fable and Morrowind, for FPS's you've got Halo and many multi-platform games, but for fighters you've got very little (and the Xbox's controller is terrble for fighters anyway).

So there are some other good choices too, but really, the ultimate choice would be to go with the PS2 for both PS1 and PS2 games.

I would also have to agree with the above mentioned comments about the PS2.

There are a great many fabulous games that you can find in the used section of many gaming stores (or things like Glyde and ebay). Also it being backwards compatible is in my mind a plus.

For me and my friends we still fire up the genesis and play Techno Super Bowl and NHL 96...but we grew up on those. I wouldn't think they would be that much fun to clooege kids now but you never know

For me and my friends we still fire up the genesis and play Techno Super Bowl and NHL 96...but we grew up on those. I wouldn't think they would be that much fun to clooege kids now but you never know

Huffanddoback

My roomate and I had an NES in our room. People had all manner of newer consoles but I had people knocking on the door all the time to play a couple rounds of Punch Out or whatever. It is funny how excited people will get about old games. I think an N64 would have similar nostalgic appeal to college kids now which is one of the reasons I suggested it.

Xbox 360 or PS3 or Game Gear

keno570

Ummmm....game gear

My best multiplayer memories are from the N64. With its 4 controller ports and library of now-cheap games, it would be a good candidate. Goldeneye and No Mercy are a couple of good multiplayer games.

You can go with any current gen console...all have easy access multiplayer capabilities with decent libraries.

PS2 would be best for fighting games.

Xbox would be best for Shooters

Gamecube would be best for everything else.

PS2 does offer the best single player experience though. Not sure if this helps or not.

So I'm going to move to a dorm soon, and I was wondering what are best systems to play with roomies and such? Shooters, Fighting and RPGs are a great plus.

keno570

Best shooters with splitscreen, offline AI bots are killzone 1, and battlefront 2. Both games have to option to change the controller button configuration too.

Fighting I'd say soul calibur 3, DBZ tenkaichi 3, and DBZ budokai 3. You dont even need to be a fan of DBZ to like those fighting games.

RPG's I'd go with Tales of the Abyss because it has the multiplayer option. You and your friends can battle enemies together as you go through the story. When you arent fighting, its only 1rst player controlling the character, but during fights everyone can join in. Buy a 3 way controller plug in so up to 4 players can play at once....... Rogue Galaxy is awesome, Wild Arms 3 is pretty cool, Persona 4 I hear is the best RPG ever, Star Ocean Till the End of Time is pretty good, Onimusha series are good. There are just a ton of RPG's for the ps2.

Get a GameCube and a copy of "Metal Arms: Glitch in the System". You will have a line waiting to play. Greatest four-player MP the gen ever produced. My mates and I had a riot playing that game, endlessly. we're talking 24-hr marathons. Trust me, you can't find a better series outside of "Time Splitters 3" for split-screen MP.

:D

Example of MP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwmoczDMDhA

You unlock various aspects and weapons by playing through the awesome story mode (you and your dorm mates will have a blast just doing that), and by the time you have all the vehicles, maps, weapons, remote robots, and every other bit of minutia for the game, THEN you have hours and hours of MP... The game has legs for years.

When I was in college (Chico State baby!)I had a N64 and a PS1. Barely touched the PS1 except to play FFVII by myself. However, countless hours went into 4 player deathmatches in Goldeneye 007. The game was never shut off. Keep in mind we were playing 4 player split-screen on a 19 inch TV. Crazy, but we loved it at the time.

I'm not completely oblivious to nostalgia, but I'd say that the Gamecube is a pretty darn good value all things considered. Extremely low price (20$ at GameStop and clearenced gameslast time I checked) and its quotient of Best Games of All Time exclusives is unmatched. Not to mention, you get Super Smash Bros Melee, one of the greatest competitive games ever made. How long was that game still pulled out regularly? Eight years. That was when its sequel came out, but many still consider Melee to be better.

When I was in college (Chico State baby!)I had a N64 and a PS1. Barely touched the PS1 except to play FFVII by myself. However, countless hours went into 4 player deathmatches in Goldeneye 007. The game was never shut off. Keep in mind we were playing 4 player split-screen on a 19 inch TV. Crazy, but we loved it at the time.

LJChronx

Only an hour from me. I'm in Redding.

I'd say Xbox. Apart from the superior multiplat games, there are also many awesome fun games that support 4-player, like ATV 2, d&d Heroes etc.

And let's not forget Halo 1 and 2 multiplayer :) Also, xbox games are very cheap now.

TC if you are gaming on a budget you NEED to become acquainted with this site; www.cheapassgamer.com It has gaming deals ALL the time and even a price tracker so you can list your price for a game, and it will alert you when it drops to that price.

TC if you are gaming on a budget you NEED to become acquainted with this site; www.cheapassgamer.com It has gaming deals ALL the time and even a price tracker so you can list your price for a game, and it will alert you when it drops to that price.

Jurassic85

Oh that's COOL!

:D

I kind of like haunting the resales and shopping for the deal, but that really apeals to the cheap AND lazy side of me!

:lol: