Your top 5 retro games (earlier than the ps2/xbox/gc generation)

What are your top 5 favorite retro games and why? Remember, the games must be before the ps2/xbox/gc generation, so no Halo or GTA3 or Wind Waker lol

1. Zelda: A Link to the Past (snes); Not only the best Zelda game ever, but in my opinion the best game ever, period. The game had the most ingeniously inventive dungeon puzzles ever seen in a game, secrets around every corner to reward the curious, and the most epic original soundtrack ever heard in a game.

2. Super Mario Brothers 3 (nes): This is a game that I played over and over again for years and years before I got tired of it. The game tons of power suits, each with their own interesting properties, all kinds of warps and secrets, etc. IMO the best side scroller ever.

3. Perfect Dark (N64): Another game with an epic, memorable soundtrack. Also, a great sci-fi story, an impressive arsenal of gadgets, and a selection of unique high-tech guns which has never been matched to this very day. It's coming out soon for download on xbl, don't miss it!

4. Final Fantasy 7 (ps1); Anyone who says this game is overrated is too young to appreciate the game within the context of when it was released. This was the first game to feature high-quality cgi cinematics in a video game to go along with the epic story, memorable cast of characters, and traditional JRPG gameplay.

5. Super Mario 64 (n64): Pretty much every 3rd-person action game owes a great deal of gratitude to Super Mario 64, as this is early 3d game was the first one to break away from the tank-like controls of other 3d games in favor of free-flowing movement both from the character on screen and the camera, and not only that, but to do so extremely well with tight and functional controls. Pretty amazing.

1. Final Fantasy VI

2. Final Fantasy VII

3. Final Fantasy VIII

4. Final Fantasy IX

5. Final Fantasy Tactics

Seriously. You need to ask me for my top 10 for any variance :P

mario 3

mario world

mario 64

dkc2

conkers bad fur day.

1. Sonic 2.
2. donkey Kong Country 2. These 2 games are the very pinnacle of 2d platforming.
3. Mortal Kombat II. Amazing fighter
4. Tomba. A great RPG/platforming combination. It's too bad the series just died.
5. Twisted Metal 2. Save the best for last. My favourite game ever

1. Megaman X - Super Nintendo

2. The Legend of Zelda Orcarina of Time - N64

3. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - Sega Master System

4. Castlevania Symphony of The Night - PS1

5. Chrono Trigger - Super Nintendo

:shock: I've been waiting for this moment my whole life :shock:

1.) Tenchu: Shadow Assassins

2.) Metal Gear Solid

3.) Spider-Man

4.) Super Mario 64

5.) A Boy and His Blob: Trouble in Blobonia

1: Chrono Trigger

2: Final Fantasy 6

3: Super Mario RPG

4: Zelda A Link to the Past

5: Super Metroid/ Megaman X

I could make like a top 50 list of just SNES games.

1. Paper Mario (N64)

2. Chrono Trigger (SNES)

3. Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World (SNES)

4. Donkey Kong 64 (N64)

5. Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast)

1. Super Mario Bros.
2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
3. Final Fantasy IX
4. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles
5. Shining Force

Oh man, only 5 ... I probably put in the most time playing these:

1.) Super C (NES) -From the Contra series, this has to be one of the best co-ops EVER. For what it's worth, the Xbox Arcade emulation was just no where near as good. You can't mess with perfection! And there's something about that square controller that just freakin' pwns. (For you Brits, it's Probotector)

2.) Castlevania (NES) - The original! The whip ... the weird music ... everything. I wish I still had an NES to play this game.

3.) The Legend of Zelda (NES) - I had the gold cartridge. The sequel, Zelda II:The Adventure of Link had some weird side scroll action. I never got into it, but Legend of Zelda was crazy. I remember the secret name - if you named your character "Zelda" the game was completely changed or something. I miss games with easter eggs, codes, and genies. LOL.

4.) Secret of Mana (SNES) - Awesome RPG for SNES. It gets my vote as the best one made for SNES. I liked it better than Zelda: Link to the Past. I rarely see SoM mentioned.

5.) Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES) - I wasn't going to include this one, because it's basically Super C with humor and zombies, but I had to because it was just that good. Another ridiculously fun co-op. And a good co-op is sometimes hard to find. Zombies is a GREAT co-op!

THREE ALT HONORABLE MENTIONS (because I had to give a shout out to...)

Alt 1.) Friday the 13th (NES) - Another one withweird side scroll action, but it worked. It was always kinda creepy. Maybe I was just a kid or something. But when Jason jumped out, it was straight scary.

Alt 2.) Street Fight II Turbo (SNES) - For some reason, turbo just took it to the next level. It was already awesome, but then they made it FASTER. Everyone played both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, but some people were MK fans and some people were SF fans; I was a Street Fighter fan, and I flipped when they released the same game with the word "turbo" ...

Alt 3.) BurgerTime (NES) - Why not? It was like Mappy, but better. If you played it, you remember that sinister Hot Dog guy, and you remember playing it for HOURS.

1) The Legend of Zelda

2) Super Mario World

3) Super Mario 64

4) Zelda: Link to the Past

5) Super Mario Bros.

So yeah, Mario and Zelda all the way! :D

1. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2. Super Mario World 3. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 4. Teenage Mutant Turtles: Turtles in Time 5. Crazy Taxi That's off of the top of my head. I have a lot of systems, and I like them all, but Nintendo wins big every time I think of best old school games. billyd5301

1. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS1)

2. Banjo Kazooie (N64)

3. Gran Turismo (PS1)

4. Zelda Ocarina of Time

5. Final Fantasy VII

Ill list my top 3 because I havent have much experience with legacy consoles

In no particular order

-Super Mario All-Stars (SNES)

-Mario Kart 64 (N64)

-Super Punch Out (SNES)

1) Castlevania : Symphony of the Night (PSone)

2) The Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past (SNES)

3) The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time (N64)

4) Final Fantasy (NES)

5) Wonderboy in Monsterland (Sega Mastersystem)

These are the games that come to mind.

Man that is tough cause there are some rally good games.

Playstation

Gran Turismo- It really pushed the PS and what it could do. Awesome selection of cars and all around just great game.

TOCA Championship Racing- This is a game that didn't do to well here in the states because it follows British Touring Car Championship. Codemasters released 2 of these games. Racing against well known names if you follow BTCC. Racing in the rain, car damage, engine would smoke if you took enough damage, pit stops. etc, etc. Just an all around good game.

PS2

God of War- again a game that really pushed the PS2 to it's limits and was just awesome.

Xbox

Forza Motorsport- GT with paint options and a bunch of cars that you didn't get in GT.

GameCube

Eternal Darkness- just an really good scare you game. Playing and then the volume goes down on it's own, or the pic turns black and white. Just freaked me out the first time I played it.

mgs, c. sotn, smb3, tetris, xcom ufo

There are so many, but I'm choosing ones I remember playing the most, not neccessarily because they're the best games.

Dragon Warrior

Super Mario World

Super C

Double Dragon III

Batman (NES)

Final Fantasy 7 (ps1); Anyone who says this game is overrated is too young to appreciate the game within the context of when it was released. This was the first game to feature high-quality cgi cinematics in a video game to go along with the epic story, memorable cast of characters, and traditional JRPG gameplay.UT_Wrestler

I disagree with that statement as I am old enough and played it when it was new. It's extremely overrated.
Opinions aside, Final Fantasy IV beat you to "traditional Japanese-Role-Playing-Game game play." It was the first game to use the Active-Time-Battle System.

On Topic:

I dislike putting things in order, so I'm going to point out some of my favorites from the top of my brain. In my eyes, picking a top 5 doesn't mean exalting 5 above all others, it means excluding all but 5!

Kirby's Dream Land 2(Game Boy)-
This game was the second Kirby game to have Kirby's ability to acquire powers. This game managed to be really easy to get through, but incredibly difficult to actually beat. In order to get the true ending, one must collect a Rainbow Drop from each of the seven levels. Some of these were as straight forward as carrying a power into a second room while others were complicated enough that you had to all but kill yourself to get the Drop!
In addition to Dedede being in his decidedly most difficult iteration of any of the Kirby series, the final boss was no push over either!

Super Smash Bros.(Nintendo 64)-
You expect me to describe this as: "The game that started it all," I suppose, but on the contrary: I would have been happy for this to be the only Super Smash Bros. game. This game only contains twelve characters (in comparison to Melee's twenty-six and Brawl's thirty-five), which means the balance was so much better that battles seemed much more varied. In general, battles felt faster, harder, and much more lethal than any of the future games in the series. I still consider this game to be better than its sequels.

StarTropics(Nintendo Entertainment System)-
This game is a rather straight-forward action-adventure game, but it provided the perfect amount of challenge, that I was happy to go through the levels over each time I died. This game makes me particularly sad as not only did it never get released in Japan (the poor Japanese folks). Its sequel (Zoda's Revenge: Star Tropics II) went on to alter the movement system, allowing extremely unwieldy diagonal movement.

Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no jidaigeki dayo zenin shuugo(Famicom)-
This is River City Ransom, but better in every way. Let that soak in for a bit. ... This game has more techniques, more weapons to pick up, better artificial intelligence, and a bigger, non-linear world to explore. It's unfortunate that this game never saw American shores...

Final Fantasy Tactics (PlayStation X)-
You've got to be a good game to have all games of its type compared to it afterwards. The game had a perfect job system I still wish would be properly emulated today! I'd easily mark this as one of my favorite games ever if the jobs were just more balanced...

1. Sonic The Hedgehog 2- After I beat Sonic 1 for the first time this millenium, I decided after about 5 years, it's time for me to replay Sonic 2 so I played my SUGC copy for the first time. I got up to ?Wing Fortress and got a Game Over. lol: I breezed through all the other levels except Sky Chase which I died a lot on.

2. Contra Hard Corps- Greatest shoot em up of all time.

3. Mega Man 2- I also own Mega Man Anniversary Collection. **** YEAH!!!!!!!

4. Super Metroid

5. Castlevania Symphony Of The Night

EDIT: This thread reminded me about Super Metroid and SOTN.

1. Sonic 2.
2. donkey Kong Country 2. These 2 games are the very pinnacle of 2d platforming.
3. Mortal Kombat II. Amazing fighter
4. Tomba. A great RPG/platforming combination. It's too bad the series just died.
5. Twisted Metal 2. Save the best for last. My favourite game ever

Okay, from last to first:

5. Commander Keen (PC)

4. Sonic 2 (Genesis)

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade[4 player!])

2. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

1. Duck Hunt (NES)

Star Wars Episode 1: racer (n64)

donkey kong 64 (n64)

donkey kong country 2 (snes)

super mario bros 2 (nes)

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (sega gen)

No Order but here they be..

Legend of Zelda (Nes Original)

Super Metroid (SNES)

Sonic CD (SEGA CD)

Shinobi 3 (SEGA GENESIS)

Mega Man II (NES)

Black Tiger (arcade) - similar gameplay style to something like Ghosts & Goblins, RPG elements where you build up your "zunny" coins to buy a better weapon / armor / keys, and I feel it's more fun because it's less frustrating than GNG.

Commando (arcade) - simple, fun over-the-top view combat that inspired games like Ikari Warriors. It also saw several semi-sequels/sequels in The Speed Rumbler, Bionic Commando, Mercs, and Wolf of the Battlefield Commando 3.

Twisted Metal 2 (PlayStation) - one of the best sequels in any game series. This game took the solid gameplay and improved upon every other element from the first game. Vehicle selection, stage layout/level design, music, animated sequences, and music that set the mood perfectly - making each level unique. If you've played it, you probably haven't forgotten seeing the Eiffel Tower fall down in Paris. - The closest game in the series that even comes close to the fun would probably be Head-On for PSP (later ported to PS2 with extra content).

Super Mario Bros. (NES) - the game that revolutionized platform gaming, while having a fun factor high enough that almost 22 years later, I can still put it in and have fun playing it. - My other favorite game in the series is Super Mario World (SNES).

Top 5's are very hard to come up with - there are many great games I've played over the years.

I guess the last one would have to be Star Fox (SNES) - this was the first 3d game I ever played. The graphics were, and still are amazing, for the system. At the same time, the gameplay, music, and level designs are still somewhat memorable after all this time.

1. Super Mario Bros(SNES)

2. Tekken 3(PSOne)

3. Tetris(SNES)

4. Driver(PSOne)

5. Tony Hawks Skateboarding(PSOne)

Metroid Prime 2

Fable: TLC

TES:Morrowind:GOTY

Eternal Darkness

RE 1 & 4

• Super Metroid
• Final Fantasy VIII
• Mega Man 2
• Castlevania
• Resident Evil 2

• Final Fantasy IX (PS1)
• Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
• Sonic the Hedeghog (Sega Mega Drive)
• Hogs of War (PS1)
• Streets of Rage (Sega Mega Drive)

Number 5) Rayman 2 for Nintendo 64. First game I think I ever beat beside Donkey Kong 64. There was a sense of fantasy pervading the game, everything looked enchanted, it's difficult to be immersed in something as simple as a platformer for me usually; but Rayman 2 did and still does it to this day. The controls were perfect, great powerups, some of the most memorable boss battles of all time, and some of the most fun and fantastic characters ever created in gaming. I own THREE version of the game (DS, PS2 remake, and the 64 version) and still beat it once a year to remind me of how perfect a platformer could be.

Number 4) Super Castlevania for the Super Nintendo. Now, I have no nostalgic ties to this game, or even the Castlevania series. The only Castlevania game I played growing up was Castlevania 64, which is a great game in its own respect. I played this about a year ago on Virtual Console, and it is by far the most addicting side-scroller of all time. I even played the other Castlevanias, and they are fun; but none come close to the perfect Super Castlevania brought to the table. Some of the coolest 16-bit effects of all time, rotating walls, spinning corridors, fully-rotating whip. Generally unmatchable when it comes to 2-D platformers.

Number 3) Super Mario Bros series for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Yes, these are as cliche as it gets to put on a list. But I can't help it. Nintendo knows how to make a platformer inviting, and the Mario series is just endless fun. All 3 of them brough something new to the table, so all three get mention.

Number 2) Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64. No nostalgic ties, got it for ten dollars at a flea market a few months ago. Best ten dollars I ever spent. The single player is deep and full of variety, it has more options than Halo! This is 64 title that was WAY ahead of its time. And the multiplayer is top of the line too, I got Goldeneye for Christmas, and am having fun with this perfect games prequel too.

Number 1) Paper Mario. My whole childhood. That and Donkey Kong 64 are what come to mind when I think of growing up. Most fun and creative RPG ever made, except maybe to Thousand Year Door. Simply Superb.

HONORABLE MENTIONS; Ocarina of Time, Battletoads, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and 3, Rocket: Robot of Wheels.

Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (N64)

Banjo Kazooie (N64)

Goldeneye 007 (N64)

Alex Kidd In Miracle Land (Sega Mstersystem)

Mariokart 64 (N64)

in no order

final fantasy IV/II, super mario world, super metroid, ocarina of time and chrono cross

I only have two. Dungeons and Dragons and Hockey on the Mattell Intellivision.