A question I was just thinking about:
What video games would you choose if asked to make a list of classics?
I'm not asking for your favorite games--I'm asking, what would you call a classic in the same vein as the classics of literature or film; a game that every well-read (or "well-played"?) person should be expected to have at least passing familiarity with? (assume for the purposes of this that video games are generally considered a worthy form of art (they are, but not everyone agrees))
@Felthry ...every attempt I make to answer this question turns into a giant essay. Like, multiple kilobytes of text. I'm pretty sure I could come up with over a hundred games for a Criterion Collection-style archive and I'm pretty sure I could come up with enough games to fill a college semester for an introductory course with commentary on almost every example.
(The 'almost' reflects the gaps in my own education: I never got into 4X or fighting games.)
Just throwing some items on a list so I can stop and do anything else today:
- M.U.L.E.
- Depression Quest
- Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
- F-Zero (on the SNES, not an emulator)
- Gone Home
- Left 4 Dead (maybe L4D2? idk, either one)
- Portal
- Mega Man 2
- Myst
feel free to ask for commentary on any of these
@packbat I'd love to see detailed commentary on your choices! We've never even heard of some of those. Why not emulating F-zero?
@Felthry Starting with F-Zero: I haven't played in emulator for a while, so things may have changed ... but F-Zero on the original SNES is /utterly smooth/ in gameplay. The seamless gamefeel does a great deal to sell the velocity of the vehicles and create a rare experience, and an emulation that doesn't achieve will fail to communicate an essential part of what makes the game important.
I'm going to be busy for a bit but go ahead and let me know any others you want me to talk about - or I can just go down the whole rest of the list if you want.
@Felthry Makes sense - and I think I was probably playing it on snes9x. If a modern emulator can match the gameplay experience, then that would work just as well or better (being easier to get a hold of).