Post by nocturnal YL on Sept 20, 2020 14:59:48 GMT -5
EDIT — Cleared typing errors, and moved images to links since they take up too much space. Also, I tried using a new image host, but direct links don't work as good as I hoped for.
This is something I may have talked about before, but here's how I got interested in various game series.
That said, there aren't actually that many game series that I like. There are many series that I'm aware of, and many that I've tried individual games, but instances where I tried multiple games in a series and liked them are uncommon. Take Contra, for example. I liked The Alien Wars, but wasn't interested to try the others.
Here, I only talk about series where I think I have played enough games to generally appreciate it. This means that, for example, The Legend of Zelda is not eligible because I completed fewer games (Minish Cap, A Link Between Worlds, Four Swords Adventure) than I have abandoned them midway (Ocarina of Time <not used to 3D>, Breath of the Wild <progress too slow>, Zelda II <too difficult>, Four Swords Anniversary Edition <too boring>, and A Link to the Past <I was a dummy and forgot to manually save, losing two dungeons' worth of progress and lost motivation to go back again>). This is not an exhaustive list.
Bomberman / Parodius
I discovered these two more or less the same way.
I live in Hong Kong, which is probably the world's most convenient place to get access to physical games both genuine and pirated back in the mid-1990s. At that time, there was a relative of mine who would sometimes bring my family various gadgets, including game consoles and a lot of pirated games, playable via Game Doctor SF.
I didn't care about piracy and whatnot back then, and there were few games that could actually load (no issues like ROM size or corrupt floppy disks), and a bunch of them were games I didn't understand. The ones that I could were Super Bomberman 2 and Parodius Da!
More games in those series would come out later on Super Famicom, Saturn and (in Bomberman's case) Nintendo 64. After that, though, Bomberman changed its direction and Parodius was discontinued save for a PSP compilation.
Favourite games: Saturn Bomberman (Super Bomberman 5 was close), Gokujou Parodius
Metal Slug
My first encounter with the series was the arcade version of Metal Slug 2, back in 2001. I would watch other people play and sometimes play myself, but I never got to see what lies beyond Mission 4.
After that, I had a relative who had a Neo Geo Pocket Color (with 1st and 2nd Mission), and he also had PS2 re-releases and the Wii version of Anthology later on. Much of my experience with the series happened there.
Favourite game: I don't think I have a specific favourite… Metal Slug 5, maybe?
F-Zero
My first encounter was on the N64. I loaded it, again via a piracy device called the Doctor V64, as one of the many games on a disc. Because of this, I was unaware of the significance of the game I played.
The second time I played an F-Zero game was the original SNES version, this time on a plane back when they had SNES games on their entertainment systems.
I would then go on and try out the rest, except for GX which I deemed too difficult. I don't know about that game, but otherwise Climax was my favourite thanks to its excellent music and course editor, and as an anime-based game, it started off with the very broken Dragon Bird, which really helped ease the difficulty of the overall series.
Favourite game: F-Zero Climax
Puzzle League
From the aforementioned period when I was getting a large number of Super Famicom ROMs, I stumbled across this game called Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S - Kondo wa Puzzle de Oshiokiyo! (subtitle translates to "This time I'll punish you with puzzle!"), which is basically Same Game as a VS puzzle game. It also has an unforgivably difficult 1P mode. That was my first introduction to competitive puzzle games.
Fast forward a few years, Super Smash Bros. Melee came out, which inspired me to take a look into other Nintendo properties, one of which was Tetris Attack. I gave the game a try, and its music and a difficulty that is just right got me hooked (Puyo Puyo would have been too complicated for me at the time). I also tried the original Panel de Pon, but Tetris Attack was better in terms of scoring and visuals (the panels were darker in the original).
I later bought Nintendo Puzzle Collection, which I consider the best game in the series (save for the tiny D-pad on the GameCube controller), but the games after that didn't interest me for various reasons.
Favourite game: Nintendo Puzzle Collection
Puyo Puyo
My first encounter with Puyo Puyo was… quite late, actually. It wasn't until Puyo Puyo Fever 2 that I was even aware of the series at all. Although the short stories in this series are quite interesting, they never dive deep and many things went unexplained.
The first game I got was Puyo Puyo Tetris, specifically the original 2014 Japan-only release on Wii U. After playing mostly Nintendo games on GameCube and Wii, I started to look elsewhere and the timing was just right for Puyo Puyo Tetris. With the exception of Puyo Puyo Champions (which had no story and only Puyo Puyo 2 and Fever rules), I have every Puyo Puyo game since then (Puyo Puyo Chronicle, Puyo Puyo Tetris S, and I'll get Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 as well).
Favourite game: Puyo Puyo Tetris (will probably be replaced with Puyo Puyo Tetris 2)
Top 5 favourites:
And now we're in familiar territory. These are games I may have talked about too often here.
#5: Super Mario (3D)
I mentioned that before, but my first encounter with Mario and gaming in general was the first Super Mario Bros. on Famicom, along with TwinBee and City Connection.
I wasn't all that interested in 2D Mario, because I was a kindergartener and found it too difficult. It may sound weird now, but even the very basic stuff like holding the Y button to dash isn't as intuitive as it may seem. 4-year-old me certainly enjoyed seeing CPU players taking themselves out in Super Bomberman 2 more.
As for 3D Mario, I started with Super Mario 64. Or rather, my father did, for the most part, and I would watch intensely. (It was also the last system he played; he preferred point-and-click mobile games as he got older.) Super Mario 64 was really captivating at the time, since there was nothing like that before. Finding stars was not exactly easy when we were essentially illiterate (Japanese version, and I did not read the language back then), and I think it took us months to get to the 70-star ending.
Despite this, Super Mario 64 ended up in the middle in my list of favourite 3D Mario games. It's no match for Galaxy 2, 3D World and others, although I like it over Sunshine and 64 DS.
Favourite game: Super Mario Galaxy 2
#4: Atelier
Series I like thanks to Fire Emblem, part 1.
As previously discussed, my introduction to the series came from Fire Emblem to Fire Emblem Warriors, then to Atelier Lydie & Suelle as I looked into other games from Koei Tecmo. Speaking of which, I'm still interested in a game from ω-Force proper if the chance arises.
Getting interested in this series locked me in a long marathon that continues to this day. The DX games taught me to stop whining about ports and re-releases.
Oh, and I heard of the series since around the time New Atelier Rorona and Atelier Escha & Logy came out. Didn't know what the series was about until I played it, though.
Favourite game: Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland
#3: SEGA feat. HATSUNE MIKU Project
Series I like thanks to Fire Emblem, part 2.
I was aware of Hatsune Miku since the very beginning. I did watch the various videos back when the very early songs — Ievan Polkka, Electric Angel, Melt and more — came out. But I didn't get attached to it. The tech was impressive, the characters were cute, but that's it. Miku's early popularity actually drove me away from it, just like the other two pillars of Niconico, Touhou Project and THE iDOLM@STER, at the time.
I was also aware of the Magical Mirai concerts and SEGA's involvement in it, but the strangest thing is, I did not know Project DIVA was a game series. I thought the music videos I saw online were SEGA's effort to promote the IP. After that, the first Project Mirai appeared in Nintendo Conference 2011, and I thought that was a character interaction game and the rhythm game was just a side mode (which is actually somewhat correct).
It wasn't until 2015 that I went back to Hatsune Miku. Nintendo's own music game, Daigasso! Band Brothers P, just got a cheap, 200-yen download version, and started accepting Fire Emblem music submission. I got the game for the Fire Emblem music, but I also got a shortened version of Senbonzakura as part of its "popular songs" pack. I played it, really liked the melody, and looked up its background.
Then came the realization that there is an entire rhythm game series (which I mistook for something else), and luckily, there were plenty of chances for me to try things out before buying a PS4 just to play the games. I started with Project DIVA Arcade Future Tone, and the first game I bought was Project Mirai DX, which remains my favourite.
Favourite game: Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX
#2: Kirby
The first time I played Kirby was on a plane, in the same trip as when I tried F-Zero, and the game was Kirby's Dream Course. I did not know anything else about Kirby. I didn't get far, because I didn't know anything about Copy Abilities.
My first "proper" introduction to Kirby was… Smash 64. Duh. The first time I tried a Kirby game was Kirby's Dream Land 3, which I actually liked more than Kirby Super Star in terms of being an introduction to the series. Each game in Super Star had slightly different rules, which made it difficult to finish everything from start to end, all while trying to get used to the mechanics.
The first game to really make me call myself a Kirby fan was Kirby & the Amazing Mirror. Its interconnected worlds are a bit confusing, but this is helped by the pause screen maps and having to go through the same routes repeatedly actually made me appreciate Kirby's own versatility.
Unfortunately, it was also a time when the Kirby series was running a bit dry. Kirby saw all kinds of spinoffs, but in terms of main series games, Kirby Squeak Squad didn't live up to Amazing Mirror, and Super Star Ultra, while impressive, did not bring that much original contents with all the extra games being variations of the existing ones.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land eventually came in 2011, proving that the 7-year wait was worthy after all, and the Kirby main series has since seen masterpiece after masterpiece.
Favourite game: Kirby: Planet Robobot (Star Allies came close, but I like closed stories with no loose ends and unhampered single-player play, which Robobot did better)
#1: Fire Emblem
My first encounter was seeing someone else play Thracia 776. I had no idea what an RPG was back then. I got to try it out later on, still had no idea what an RPG, let alone an SRPG (or RSLG), was. The classic games prior to Binding Blade had no help and tutorial, and even if they do, they won't list out all calculations. It was a pretty stressful experience, and I gave up in… Chapter 4, I think.
The first time I played Fire Emblem "properly" was The Sacred Stones, during that "try all Nintendo games I could" period after I played Melee. This time, things went much better. I played the localised version, with help, tutorials, and online discussions with other players, which combined with this game's much lower difficulty (tower and ruins notwithstanding), really helped.
The biggest reason that I was drawn to this game was because of the story. Unlike a lot of the other games in the series, The Sacred Stones put much emphasis on the development of the characters rather than the overall big picture of the war. I don't think I'd like this series as much if I started with a different game than The Sacred Stones.
After The Sacred Stones, I went on to play the Jugdral, Elibe and Tellius games, which have cemented my opinion that Fire Emblem would be my favourite game series. None of those games are perfect, and they're often ridden with game balance and story issues, but the overall atmosphere is good enough for me to enjoy most titles. And Fire Emblem also "introduced" me to many other games.
The Sacred Stones remains my favourite main series title, but I also hold games like Radiant Dawn and Binding Blade in high regard. Even though RD has the worst balance in the whole series, except maybe Awakening with its Limit Breaker DLC skill and the Jugdral games with the ridiculous stat bonuses from holy weapons.
Favourite game: Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE overall; Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones if counting only the main series
This is something I may have talked about before, but here's how I got interested in various game series.
That said, there aren't actually that many game series that I like. There are many series that I'm aware of, and many that I've tried individual games, but instances where I tried multiple games in a series and liked them are uncommon. Take Contra, for example. I liked The Alien Wars, but wasn't interested to try the others.
Here, I only talk about series where I think I have played enough games to generally appreciate it. This means that, for example, The Legend of Zelda is not eligible because I completed fewer games (Minish Cap, A Link Between Worlds, Four Swords Adventure) than I have abandoned them midway (Ocarina of Time <not used to 3D>, Breath of the Wild <progress too slow>, Zelda II <too difficult>, Four Swords Anniversary Edition <too boring>, and A Link to the Past <I was a dummy and forgot to manually save, losing two dungeons' worth of progress and lost motivation to go back again>). This is not an exhaustive list.
Bomberman / Parodius
I discovered these two more or less the same way.
I live in Hong Kong, which is probably the world's most convenient place to get access to physical games both genuine and pirated back in the mid-1990s. At that time, there was a relative of mine who would sometimes bring my family various gadgets, including game consoles and a lot of pirated games, playable via Game Doctor SF.
I didn't care about piracy and whatnot back then, and there were few games that could actually load (no issues like ROM size or corrupt floppy disks), and a bunch of them were games I didn't understand. The ones that I could were Super Bomberman 2 and Parodius Da!
More games in those series would come out later on Super Famicom, Saturn and (in Bomberman's case) Nintendo 64. After that, though, Bomberman changed its direction and Parodius was discontinued save for a PSP compilation.
Favourite games: Saturn Bomberman (Super Bomberman 5 was close), Gokujou Parodius
Metal Slug
My first encounter with the series was the arcade version of Metal Slug 2, back in 2001. I would watch other people play and sometimes play myself, but I never got to see what lies beyond Mission 4.
After that, I had a relative who had a Neo Geo Pocket Color (with 1st and 2nd Mission), and he also had PS2 re-releases and the Wii version of Anthology later on. Much of my experience with the series happened there.
Favourite game: I don't think I have a specific favourite… Metal Slug 5, maybe?
F-Zero
My first encounter was on the N64. I loaded it, again via a piracy device called the Doctor V64, as one of the many games on a disc. Because of this, I was unaware of the significance of the game I played.
The second time I played an F-Zero game was the original SNES version, this time on a plane back when they had SNES games on their entertainment systems.
I would then go on and try out the rest, except for GX which I deemed too difficult. I don't know about that game, but otherwise Climax was my favourite thanks to its excellent music and course editor, and as an anime-based game, it started off with the very broken Dragon Bird, which really helped ease the difficulty of the overall series.
Favourite game: F-Zero Climax
Puzzle League
From the aforementioned period when I was getting a large number of Super Famicom ROMs, I stumbled across this game called Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S - Kondo wa Puzzle de Oshiokiyo! (subtitle translates to "This time I'll punish you with puzzle!"), which is basically Same Game as a VS puzzle game. It also has an unforgivably difficult 1P mode. That was my first introduction to competitive puzzle games.
Fast forward a few years, Super Smash Bros. Melee came out, which inspired me to take a look into other Nintendo properties, one of which was Tetris Attack. I gave the game a try, and its music and a difficulty that is just right got me hooked (Puyo Puyo would have been too complicated for me at the time). I also tried the original Panel de Pon, but Tetris Attack was better in terms of scoring and visuals (the panels were darker in the original).
I later bought Nintendo Puzzle Collection, which I consider the best game in the series (save for the tiny D-pad on the GameCube controller), but the games after that didn't interest me for various reasons.
Favourite game: Nintendo Puzzle Collection
Puyo Puyo
My first encounter with Puyo Puyo was… quite late, actually. It wasn't until Puyo Puyo Fever 2 that I was even aware of the series at all. Although the short stories in this series are quite interesting, they never dive deep and many things went unexplained.
The first game I got was Puyo Puyo Tetris, specifically the original 2014 Japan-only release on Wii U. After playing mostly Nintendo games on GameCube and Wii, I started to look elsewhere and the timing was just right for Puyo Puyo Tetris. With the exception of Puyo Puyo Champions (which had no story and only Puyo Puyo 2 and Fever rules), I have every Puyo Puyo game since then (Puyo Puyo Chronicle, Puyo Puyo Tetris S, and I'll get Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 as well).
Favourite game: Puyo Puyo Tetris (will probably be replaced with Puyo Puyo Tetris 2)
Top 5 favourites:
And now we're in familiar territory. These are games I may have talked about too often here.
#5: Super Mario (3D)
I mentioned that before, but my first encounter with Mario and gaming in general was the first Super Mario Bros. on Famicom, along with TwinBee and City Connection.
I wasn't all that interested in 2D Mario, because I was a kindergartener and found it too difficult. It may sound weird now, but even the very basic stuff like holding the Y button to dash isn't as intuitive as it may seem. 4-year-old me certainly enjoyed seeing CPU players taking themselves out in Super Bomberman 2 more.
As for 3D Mario, I started with Super Mario 64. Or rather, my father did, for the most part, and I would watch intensely. (It was also the last system he played; he preferred point-and-click mobile games as he got older.) Super Mario 64 was really captivating at the time, since there was nothing like that before. Finding stars was not exactly easy when we were essentially illiterate (Japanese version, and I did not read the language back then), and I think it took us months to get to the 70-star ending.
Despite this, Super Mario 64 ended up in the middle in my list of favourite 3D Mario games. It's no match for Galaxy 2, 3D World and others, although I like it over Sunshine and 64 DS.
Favourite game: Super Mario Galaxy 2
#4: Atelier
Series I like thanks to Fire Emblem, part 1.
As previously discussed, my introduction to the series came from Fire Emblem to Fire Emblem Warriors, then to Atelier Lydie & Suelle as I looked into other games from Koei Tecmo. Speaking of which, I'm still interested in a game from ω-Force proper if the chance arises.
Getting interested in this series locked me in a long marathon that continues to this day. The DX games taught me to stop whining about ports and re-releases.
Oh, and I heard of the series since around the time New Atelier Rorona and Atelier Escha & Logy came out. Didn't know what the series was about until I played it, though.
Favourite game: Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland
#3: SEGA feat. HATSUNE MIKU Project
Series I like thanks to Fire Emblem, part 2.
I was aware of Hatsune Miku since the very beginning. I did watch the various videos back when the very early songs — Ievan Polkka, Electric Angel, Melt and more — came out. But I didn't get attached to it. The tech was impressive, the characters were cute, but that's it. Miku's early popularity actually drove me away from it, just like the other two pillars of Niconico, Touhou Project and THE iDOLM@STER, at the time.
I was also aware of the Magical Mirai concerts and SEGA's involvement in it, but the strangest thing is, I did not know Project DIVA was a game series. I thought the music videos I saw online were SEGA's effort to promote the IP. After that, the first Project Mirai appeared in Nintendo Conference 2011, and I thought that was a character interaction game and the rhythm game was just a side mode (which is actually somewhat correct).
It wasn't until 2015 that I went back to Hatsune Miku. Nintendo's own music game, Daigasso! Band Brothers P, just got a cheap, 200-yen download version, and started accepting Fire Emblem music submission. I got the game for the Fire Emblem music, but I also got a shortened version of Senbonzakura as part of its "popular songs" pack. I played it, really liked the melody, and looked up its background.
Then came the realization that there is an entire rhythm game series (which I mistook for something else), and luckily, there were plenty of chances for me to try things out before buying a PS4 just to play the games. I started with Project DIVA Arcade Future Tone, and the first game I bought was Project Mirai DX, which remains my favourite.
Favourite game: Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX
#2: Kirby
The first time I played Kirby was on a plane, in the same trip as when I tried F-Zero, and the game was Kirby's Dream Course. I did not know anything else about Kirby. I didn't get far, because I didn't know anything about Copy Abilities.
My first "proper" introduction to Kirby was… Smash 64. Duh. The first time I tried a Kirby game was Kirby's Dream Land 3, which I actually liked more than Kirby Super Star in terms of being an introduction to the series. Each game in Super Star had slightly different rules, which made it difficult to finish everything from start to end, all while trying to get used to the mechanics.
The first game to really make me call myself a Kirby fan was Kirby & the Amazing Mirror. Its interconnected worlds are a bit confusing, but this is helped by the pause screen maps and having to go through the same routes repeatedly actually made me appreciate Kirby's own versatility.
Unfortunately, it was also a time when the Kirby series was running a bit dry. Kirby saw all kinds of spinoffs, but in terms of main series games, Kirby Squeak Squad didn't live up to Amazing Mirror, and Super Star Ultra, while impressive, did not bring that much original contents with all the extra games being variations of the existing ones.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land eventually came in 2011, proving that the 7-year wait was worthy after all, and the Kirby main series has since seen masterpiece after masterpiece.
Favourite game: Kirby: Planet Robobot (Star Allies came close, but I like closed stories with no loose ends and unhampered single-player play, which Robobot did better)
#1: Fire Emblem
My first encounter was seeing someone else play Thracia 776. I had no idea what an RPG was back then. I got to try it out later on, still had no idea what an RPG, let alone an SRPG (or RSLG), was. The classic games prior to Binding Blade had no help and tutorial, and even if they do, they won't list out all calculations. It was a pretty stressful experience, and I gave up in… Chapter 4, I think.
The first time I played Fire Emblem "properly" was The Sacred Stones, during that "try all Nintendo games I could" period after I played Melee. This time, things went much better. I played the localised version, with help, tutorials, and online discussions with other players, which combined with this game's much lower difficulty (tower and ruins notwithstanding), really helped.
The biggest reason that I was drawn to this game was because of the story. Unlike a lot of the other games in the series, The Sacred Stones put much emphasis on the development of the characters rather than the overall big picture of the war. I don't think I'd like this series as much if I started with a different game than The Sacred Stones.
After The Sacred Stones, I went on to play the Jugdral, Elibe and Tellius games, which have cemented my opinion that Fire Emblem would be my favourite game series. None of those games are perfect, and they're often ridden with game balance and story issues, but the overall atmosphere is good enough for me to enjoy most titles. And Fire Emblem also "introduced" me to many other games.
The Sacred Stones remains my favourite main series title, but I also hold games like Radiant Dawn and Binding Blade in high regard. Even though RD has the worst balance in the whole series, except maybe Awakening with its Limit Breaker DLC skill and the Jugdral games with the ridiculous stat bonuses from holy weapons.
Favourite game: Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE overall; Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones if counting only the main series
