Console-defining games

[Punchy]

Here's the situation; we're going to make a time capsule of sorts. In the time capsule we're going to put every different gaming console from the 2600 to the 360. Hand-helds too.

With each console we're going to put three games that define the console, its capabilities, popularity, etc. These games will let future generations know what the console was "all about."

So what three games do you think should go with the consoles and why?

(I don't expect everyone to have an answer for every single console or hand-held of course. Just answer for whatever consoles you care to answer. I'll post mine soon.)

[Trystenn]

An absolute nod must be given to Halo for literally making the Xbox, without Halo i seriously doubt wed be seeing a 360.

[cactusmaac]

Genesis\Megadrive
Sonic The Hedgehog
Gunstar Heroes
Ecco the Dolphin

SNES
Final Fantasy 6
Streetfighter 2
Super Mariokart

Playstation
Tomb Raider
Final Fantasy 7
Metal Gear Solid

N64
Mario 64
Goldeneye
Super Smash Bros

Dreamcast
Shenmue 2
Skies Of Arcadia
Jet Set Grind Radio

Gamecube
Star Wars: Rogue Leader
Pikmin
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

PS2
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
God Of War
Final Fantasy X

X-Box
Halo (duh)
Jade Empire
Splinter Cell

[thehod]

Why just stop at consoles?

Plenty of other great computer platforms throughout history.

ZX Spectrum
Jet Set Willy
Atic Atac
Head over Heels

C64 (Never had one, but I'll guess at...)
Last Ninja
Wizball
Way of the Exploding Fist

Amiga
UFO: Enemy Unknown
Cannon Fodder
Speedball II

Atari ST
Carrier Command
Defender of the Crown
Dungeon Master

PC
Half-Life
Command & Conquer
I'd also go with one of the Championship Manager games

Arcade
Space Invaders
Street Fighter II
Gauntlet


PS2
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
God Of War
Final Fantasy X

Totally disagree (sorry)

I'd go with

GTA: Vice City (much better, and probably more critically aclaimed that San Andreas)
Gran Turismo 3
Probably one of the Pro Evolution Soccer games, based on sheer world-wide popularity

I'd also put Resident Evil 4 in for the Gamecube over Pikmin.

That's just my choices though.

[cactusmaac]

The PES games started coming out on the SNES before they did on the PS.

I don't play GTA so just picked what I thought was the most popular one.

You're right about RE4.

My list for PC
Doom
Command and Conquer
EverQuest

[thehod]

The PES games started coming out on the SNES before they did on the PS.

True, but I would suggest that the popularity and critical acclaim that the series got stemmed from that PS2 incarnations of the series.

The same with Final Fantasy. The series started out on different platforms, but its the PS FFVII that regularly makes the "greatest ever" lists.

[Prohibition]

Halo on the Xbox and GoldenEye on the N64 are the 2 biggest I can think of.

[Gaz]

The PES games started coming out on the SNES before they did on the PS.

I don't play GTA so just picked what I thought was the most popular one.

Actually, I'd go with GTA3 for this. I prefer San Andreas gameplay wise, and Vice City is funnier/cooler plot wise, but 3 was the first for the PS2 and defined what the series and genre could do.

[Chevan]

For Xbox (sorry, only one I'm really familiar with)

Halo
KotOR
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

[AllisterH]

How about for the handhelds?

Gameboy (Original green only) Games
Tetris
- Considered the only game that will still be played 20 years from now even in its original form. As well, considered the first game of the modern videogame age to have broad appeal not only among typical young male gaming geeks but women and older non-videogaming people.

[Donald M.]

Atari 2600

Adventure
Combat
Pitfall!

[Prohibition]

I'm not sure if it is always the case but with games like Halo, GoldenEye, Mario 64 and GTA III. They were all released near the start of the consoles life and they 'set the trend' for the following games.

I think that is one problem wit hthe Xbox 360: they don't have a killer app yet.

[Punchy]

Here are some of mine. I haven't had a whole lot of game systems.

Atari 2600
Space Invaders
Combat
Frogger

NES
Super Mario Bros.
The Legend of Zelda
Duck Hunt

Playstation
Tekken 3
Tomb Raider
Madden 2000

GameCube
Legene or Zelda: The Wind Waker
Metroid Prime
Resident Evil 4

Gameboy Advance
Advance Wars
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Metroid Fusion

[Sanagi]

On the Gamecube, Metroid Prime, Smash Bros. Melee, and... hm... Wind Waker would be a good choice... Or Eternal Darkness for more variety.

N64 is the easiest. Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time aren't even slightly debatable. The third in terms of popularity should be Goldeneye, although Perfect Dark is a better choice for quality.

Super NES is hard. Tons and tons of choices there. I'll leave off Street Fighter 2 since it was an arcade thing first and eventually showed up on many consoles, but it's debatable. I'd go with Chrono Trigger, Zelda 3... The third choice is always the hardest! Super Mario Kart, perhaps.

The old NES should have Mega Man 2... And the original Zelda... And probably Super Mario Bros. 3 after that.

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

Super NES is hard. Tons and tons of choices there. I'll leave off Street Fighter 2 since it was an arcade thing first and eventually showed up on many consoles, but it's debatable. I'd go with Chrono Trigger, Zelda 3... The third choice is always the hardest! Super Mario Kart, perhaps.

exactly 80% of the SNES catalog fits here

[Convoy]

Resident Evil pretty much made PlayStation "famous".

[Chiasm]

For the Playstation I, I'd have to give a nod to Resident Evil. It was one of the first ever releases for it and it showed the graphics power the system had. It was the first must have game for the system and opened the door for all the shooter, survival horror, and Tomb Raider type games after it by showcasing what the system could do.

And it had the best voice acting ever seen in a game. ;)

[SAMAS]

Genesis\Megadrive
Sonic The Hedgehog
Gunstar Heroes
Ecco the Dolphin

Agreed with the first two. Might Substitute Ecco for Phantasy Star IV or Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition(As being the only game to ever make an entire system change it's controller).

SNES
Final Fantasy 6
Streetfighter 2
Super Mariokart[/QUOTE]

Maybe substitute Mario Kart for Super Mario World or Super Metroid.

Playstation
Tomb Raider
Final Fantasy 7
Metal Gear Solid

Agreed.

N64
Mario 64
Goldeneye
Super Smash Bros

Can't argue there.

Dreamcast
Shenmue 2
Skies Of Arcadia
Jet Grind Radio

A good choice.

Gamecube
Star Wars: Rogue Leader
Pikmin
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Replace Pikmin with Resident Evil 4 or Eternal Darkness. May want to replace Wind Waker with Twilight Princess, but that can wait until the end of the year.

PS2
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
God Of War
Final Fantasy X

If we're going for induvidual impact, Replace San Andreas with GTA 3. God of War is an excellent game, but hasn't yet earned the title of System-Defining. Possibly one of the Jak or Ratchet games instead. Can't argue with FFX, though.

X-Box
Halo (duh)
Jade Empire
Splinter Cell

Replace JE with KOTOR.

[SAMAS]

And a few missed:

NES
Super Mario Brothers
Double Dragon
Mega Man 2

Why: SMB is basically the representation of the ressurection of the Video Game industry. Double Dragon because it's representative of the many altered arcade ports that were made for the system. Mega Man 2 as an example of the 3rd-party ports.


Game Boy
Tetris
Super Mario Land
Pokemon Red


Sega CD
Lunar: the Silver Star
Sonic CD
Night Trap

Why: Sonic CD is one of the best Sega CD games around. Lunar is representative of the anime-styled games that came out for the system, and is good to boot. Night Trap is for the terrible, terrible FMV games that plagued the system.


Sega Saturn
NiGHTS
Guardian Heroes
Dragon Force


Game Boy Advance
WarioWare, Inc: Mega Microgame$
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Advance Wars

[Taltos]

Game Boy:
Tetris
Pokemon Blue


Nes:
Super Mario Bros.
TMNT
Duck Hunt

PC:
Red Alert: CC
WOW
Counter Strike
HM: Solitaire

SNES
Final Fantasy 6
Streetfighter 2
Super Mariokart

N64
Mario 64
Goldeneye
Legene or Zelda: Ocarina of Time

PS1
Resident Evil
Tomb Raider
Final Fantasy 7

Dreamcast
Power Stones
Spiderman

PS2
Tekken 4
God Of War
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City


Gamecube:
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Metroid Prime
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

X-Box
Halo 2
Kotor
Splinter Cell

GBA:
Pokemon Ruby
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Metroid Fusion

DS:
Mario Kart
Advance Wars
Nintendogs

PSP:
GTA

im too lazy to finish

[jessecuster]

I gotta say for almost every console since the Genesis, Madden Football has been the reason Americans(non hardcore gamers) buy consoles.

[Alex]

Playstation
Tekken 3
Tomb Raider
Madden 2000

Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, and maybe the horrific battle arena toshiden would be better choices i think.
Resident Evil because...well, how many survival horror games did it spawn? Final Fantasy 7 because it brought RPG's into the mainstream and moved it away from a niche genre.
Madden i might agree with you on, but im not sure how popular sports games were during the Genesis era.

[Phrozen]

Playstation:
Tomb Raider
Twisted Metal
Final Fantasy 7 (Even though FFT was much better)

Dreamcast:
Power Stone
Soul Caliber
Ready to Rumble

[The Drunkard Kid]

Sega Saturn
NiGHTS
Guardian Heroes
Dragon ForceOT: Am I the only one that thinks that the new Revolution controller would be awesome for a remake or sequal for NiGHTS?

[madevil]

X-Box
Halo (duh)
Jade Empire
Splinter Cell



Jade Empire? Uh, No. Kotor, maybe?

[P-Man]

I gotta say for almost every console since the Genesis, Madden Football has been the reason Americans(non hardcore gamers) buy consoles.

No, I'm pretty sure you're wrong about that. Madden didn't become the juggernaut that it is until the current generation of consoles. In fact, I don't know anyone who played Madden on the PS1. Everyone I know played Gameday.

[spideyrules99]

I would have to say Goldeneye on 64. The game had it all for a first peron shooter. Good story, differant levels and gameplay that for the time and any time really was first rate.
The SNES had FF3. One of the greatest Rpg games ever.


Playstaion had Final Fantasy 7 also hailed as one of the greatest Rpgs ever. And Resident Evil.

Gameboy had pokemon. The game was a huge hit. I think that it was one of the first must haves for the system.

Nes had Zelda. In my book the first true Rpg on te market.

atari Had Et. This game almost brought the end to household gamming. That has to define something in my book.

[Huh?]

I'll do the ones I know:

NES:
Super-Mario Bros.
Legend of Zelda
Duck Hunt

Sega Genesis
Sonic The Hedgehog
Madden Football
????????

N64
Madden
James Bond
????????

X-BOX
Halo - there is no other

[Grazzt]

Am I the only PC user who thinks that Starcraft should be in Command & Conquer's spot?

[Alex]

Am I the only PC user who thinks that Starcraft should be in Command & Conquer's spot?
Command and Conquer popularized the genre, Starcraft Refined it.
Starcraft is a better game, but i think Command and Conquer was a bit more important.

[Phrozen]

PC:
Red Alert: CC
WOW
Counter Strike
HM: Solitaire


More like:

PC:
Command & Conquer
Curse of Monkey Island
Civilization
Sim City
Wolfenstein 3D
Doom
Quake II
Half-Life
Medieval: Total War