Post-Genesis: Best games?

Here is another thread that I hope continues indefinitely.

In the late 90's I lost interest in videogames when everything switched to more powerful hardware and 3D polygons. (Also because I was getting older, late teens.) Later, retro-collecting has been very enjoyable.

Now I have played the most famous, basic games after Genesis: Doom (and 3D shooters in general, like 007, Halo, etc.), NiGHTS, Mario 64, Sonic Adventure, etc.

I'm wondering what games people would recommend as the must-play games after the 16-bit era?

I'm asking mainly because almost everything seems like a 3D shooter, or a Mario game, or a crappy Sonic game lol. And I never feel like I'm missing out, all these years lol.

What are the must-play games after the 16-bit era?

There are thousands of games I could recommend. Are we talking all the way up till now?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

There are thousands of games I could recommend. Are we talking all the way up till now?

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Ha sure. I'm mainly asking because I don't feel that I've missed out on anything since the late 90's.

I've played first-person shooters, and 3D platformers. I played half of that greenish Zelda game on N64.

What am I missing out on?

Your question is too broad. You'd be better off Googling based on your interests. You might start here for the highest reviewed games: http://www.metacritic.com/game

The 90s 16-bit era (and previous 8-bit era) had indeed many, many awesome games. But beyond the 16-bit era, from the very 90s until today, the number of amazing titles just kept growing exponentially.

I'd say, go for it and broaden your horizon. I won't say much about the 32-bit era (or the N64) because you've mentioned you also delved into some games already. But, like I said, I could recommend a thousand games and that would be just the tip of the iceberg.

Off the top of my head, from what I've played on each system, here are some great ones you may have missed:

6th Generation:

Dreamcast: (you've already mentioned Sonic Adventure)
1. The House of the Dead 2
2. Shenmue
3. Grandia 2
4. Giga Wing
5. Giga Wing 2
6. Dead or Alive 2
7. Soul Calibur
8. Super Magnetic Neo
9. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
10. Crazy Taxi
11. Crazy Taxi 2
12. Jet Grind Radio
13. Evolution: The World of Sacred Device
14. Evolution 2: Far-Off Promise
15. Tokyo Xtreme Racing
16. Gauntlet Legends
17. Hydro Thunder
18. Silver
19. Skies of Arcadia
20. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing
21. Zombie Revenge
22. Marvel Vs. Capcom
23. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
24. Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness
25. Power Stone
26. Power Stone 2
27. Resident Evil: Code Veronica
28. Time Stalkers
29. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
30. Sega Swirl
31. Phantasy Star Online (Ver 1 and 2)
32. Sonic Adventure 2
33. Sega Bass Fishing
34. Rayman 2
35. Street Fighter Alpha 3
36. Elemental Gimmick Gear
37. Quake III Arena
38. Sword of the Berserk
39. Mars Matrix
40. D2

PlayStation 2:
1. "Shikigami No Shiro": Mobile Lightforce 2
2. Castle Shikigami 2
3. Raiden III
4. Onimusha
5. Onimusha 2
6. Onimusha 3
7. Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams
8. Alter Echo
9. Dynasty Warriors 2
10. Dynasty Warriors 3
11. Dynasty Warriors 4
12. Dynasty Warriors 5...and everything in between
13. Gradius V
14. Devil May Cry
15. Devil May Cry 2
16. Devil May Cry 3
17. God of War
18. God of War 2
19. Art of Fighting Anthology
20. SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1
21. Gungrave
22. Gungrave 2
23. Hitman 2
24. The Hobbit
25. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
26. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
27. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
28. Rogue Galaxy
29. Shinobi
30. Mortal Kombat: Deception
31. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
32. Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
33. Jak and Daxter
34. Jak II
35. Jak 3
36. Ratchet & Clank... series
37. Xenosaga
38. Final Fantasy X
39. Final Fantasy X-2
40. Final Fantasy XII
41. Oni
42. Odin Sphere
43. Grim Grimmoire
44. Way of the Samurai
45. Silpheed: The Lost Planet
46. R-Type Final
47. Shining Force EXA
48. Shining Force Neo
49. Shining Tears
50. Virtua Fighter 4
51. Kingdom Hearts
52. Kingdom Hearts 2
53. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
54. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
55. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
56. Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Vol. 1
57. Herdy Gerdy
58. Ico
59. Shadow of the Colossus
60. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
61. Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
62. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
63. Rygar: The Legendary Adventure
64. Tales... series
65. Disgaea... series
66. Valkyrie Profile 2
67. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy
68. The Lengend of Spyro... series
69. Metal Slug... series
70. Soul Calibur... series
71. Tekken ... series
72. TMNT... games
73. Viewtiful Joe
74. Viewtiful Joe 2
75. Wild Arms... series

Xbox:
1. Halo
2. Halo 2
3. Fable
4. Futurama
5. Shenmue 2
6. X-Men Legends
7. X-Men Legends 2
8. Ninja Gaiden
9. Dead or Alive 3
10. Jet Set Radio Future
11. Jade Empire

Game Boy Advance:
1. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
2. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
3. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
4. Final Fantasy... series
5. Sonic Advance... series
6. Super Mario Bros. Advance... series
7. Drill Dozer
8. Lady Sia

...Anyways, food for thought.
I'll come back later for the 7th and 8th gens.

I'll keep it to PC, single player

Half-Life
Deus Ex
System Shock 2
Half-Life 2 (and episodes)
Portal
Warcraft 2
Starcraft
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Graphics notwithstanding, the 7th Generation, IMO, is where we started seeing a refinement in gameplay mechanics and flow more consistently. Many early 3D games (and even 6th gen games) still felt clunky at times, and they still had that one spot within the progress of the game with such poor design that it would break the natural flow you had until that point. With the 7th gen and on, game devs started creating more fluid experiences. You knew exactly where you needed to go, etc. For me, the 7th gen is where I got back the passion for gaming all over again. It exponentially increased my gaming time. And the fun has never stopped.

With that said, here are some must plays: (Again, this is from my personal catalog. I'll let the others fill-in with their own experiences. My go-to system here is mostly the PS3, but a lot of the games I'll mention are multiplats. So I won't mention them again on the 360 list. I also haven't yet gotten a PSP, but I assure you there are plenty of great ones there, too).

7th Generation:

PS3:
1. Assassin's Creed
2. Assassin's Creed II
3. Assassin's Creed "II" Brotherhood
4. Assassin's Creed "II" Revelations
5. Assassin's Creed III
6. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
7. Assassin's Creed: Rogue
8. The Last of Us
9. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
10. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
11. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
12. Batman: Arkham Asylum
13. Batman: Arkham City
14. Batman: Arkham Origins
15. 3D Dot Game Heroes
16. Bayonetta
17. Fallout 3
18. Fallout: New Vegas
19. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
20. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
21. Crysis 2
22. Crysis 3
23. Darksiders
24. Darksiders II
25. Dante's Inferno
26. God of War 3
27. God of War Ascension
28. Deadpool
29. Diablo III
30. Dragon's Crown
31. Dynasty Warriors... series
32. Drakengard 3
33. Earth Defense Force... series
34. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
35. Far Cry 3
36. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
37. Final Fantasy... series
38. Kingdom Hearts... series
39. Folklore
40. Lair
41. Heavenly Sword
42. Infamous 1/2
43. Prototype 1/2
44. Injustice: Gods Among Us
45. MK9
46. Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe
47. Killzone 2
48. Killzone 3
49. Lollipop Chainsaw
50. Nier
51. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
52. Rayman Origins
53. Remember Me
54. Resistance... series
55. Sacred... series
56. more Sly Cooper games/remasters
57. more Jak & Daxter games/remasters
58. more and more remasters of PS2 games in general. Great compilations for great prices, IMO.
59. Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed
60. Sonic Generations
61. Street Fighter IV
62. Tales... series
63. Tomb Raider (the reboot)
64. Wet
65. Wolfenstein... series
66. Valkyria Chronicles
67. Resonance of Fate
68. Read Dead Redemption
69. Front Mission... Series
70. Eternal Sonata
71. Oblivion
72. Skyrim
73. Souls... series (Demon's and Dark Souls)
74. Dragon's Dogman
75. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
...and many, many more.

Xbox 360:
1. Halo 3
2. Halo 3 ODST (my least favorite, but popular)
3. Halo 4
5. Halo Reach
6. Infinite Undiscovery
7. Blue Dragon
8. The Last Remnant
9. Crackdown... series
10. Dead or Alive 4
11. Deathsmiles
12. Lost Odyssey
13. Fable... series
14. Gears of War... series
15. Guilty Gear 2: Overture
16. The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings
17. Ninja Blade

Wii:

1. A Boy and His Blob
2. Muramasa: The Demon Blade
3. Ultimate Shooting Collection
4. Data East: Arcade Classics
5. Calling
6. Fragile Dreams
7. Ghost Squad
8. The Last Story
9. Mad World
10. Mario Kart Wii
11. No More Heroes 1 and 2
12. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
13. Kirby's Epic Yarn
14. Resteel
15. Nights: Journey of Dreams
16. Onechambara: Bikini Zombie Slayers
17. Sonic Colors
18. Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2
19. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
20. Xenoblade Chronicles
21. Wario Land: Shake it!
22. Twilight Princess
23. Skyward Sword
24. Donkey Kong Country Returns
25. Bust a Move Bash!
26. Alien Syndrome
27. Godzilla Unleashed
28. Monster Hunter Tri

Nintendo DS:
1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
2. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
3. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
4. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
5. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
6. Final Fantasy... series
7. Dragon Quest... series
8. From the Abyss
9. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
10. Metal Slug 7
11. Monster Tale
12. The Legend of Kage 2
13. Radiant Historia
14. The World Ends with You
15. ...There are a ton of re-releases from the 16-bit and 32-bit eras here. Just like in the PSP. Lots of great stuff

8th Generation:

PS4:

1. Aragami - Collector’s Edition
2. Assassin’s Creed: Unity
3. Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate
4. Assault Suit Leynos
5. Batman: Arkham Knight
6. Bloodborne
7. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
8. Doom (reboot)
9. Dying Light
10. Fallout 4
11. Far Cry 4
12. Far Cry: Primal
13. Final fantasy... series (especially XV)
14. Grand Theft Auto V
15. Horizon: Zero Dawn
16. Infamous: Second Son
17. Just Cause 3
18. Last Guardian, The
19. Mad Max
20. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
21. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
22. Mortal Kombat X
23. Ratchet & Clank (Reboot)
24. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
25. Shovel Knight
26. Tomb Raider 2 - Rise of the Tomb Raider
27. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
28. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
29. ...There are also plenty or remasters and re-releases here that are going to keep you busy.

Xbox One:

1. Gears of War 4 (Back when Gears of War: Ultimate Edition came out, you could get 1,2,3 and Judgement free as download. Don't know if this is still the case)
2. Halo 5 (I highly recommend The Master Chief collection as well)
3. Killer Instinct (Definitive Edition)
4. Ori and the Blind Forest (Definitive Edition)
5. Sunset Overdrive
6. Forza 6
7. Quantum Break
8. ReCore

Wii U:
1. Super Mario 3D World
2. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
3. Xenoblade Chronicles X
4. The Wonderful 101
5. Bayonetta 2
6. Hyrule Warriors
7. Mario Kart 8
8. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
9. Rodea: The Sky Soldier
10. New Super Mario Bros. U + Luigi U

3DS:
1. Bravely Second + Bravely Default
2. Fire Emblem... series
3. Kirby: Planet Robobot
4. Sega 3D Classics Collection
5. Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
6. Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal
7. Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice
8.... and a ton of more amazing RPGs.

PS Vita:
1. Uncharted: Golden Abyss
2. Resistance: Burning Skies
3. Killzone: Mercenary
4. Child of Light
5.... and even more amazing RPGs...



P.S.> The cool thing about expanding your gaming variety to not just retro games, but also the generations that followed, is that you'll have a much harder time getting that "gamer's block"; where, either, your passion for gaming comes to a halt or you simply can't find that next game you may want to try out. Instead, you'll constantly be playing, old and new.

^Cool, thanks guys, I guess I didn't expect so much passion for so many games after the 16-bit era.

Also, I have played a handful of the best games mentioned, I just didn't brainstorm every later title I've ever played, when I made the original post. So the thread is more about the failure of these games to grab my interest, even though I have played some of the better titles.

For example: Playing half of that greenish Zelda game on N64, failed to interest me to finish, let alone play any other 3D Zelda games lol. And I've watched friends play Twilight Princess, which completely didn't interest me.

And I've played completely through MK: Deception, which was cool, and makes me feel I've gotten the 3D MK experience covered lol, like I wouldn't expect a different 3D MK game to possibly be much better or very different. (I also just played that new MK X, which of course has better graphics, but which still plays much the same as Genesis MKI and MKII. So again, I don't feel I'm missing out, except for the graphics.)

I do appreciate the lists though. You reminded me that I still need a copy of Shenmue, which I think I will love.

And I didn't know there was a Boy and his Blob game, I loved the NES cart.

I'll have to go through the lists in more detail, later.

Thanks again. :cool:

I have no idea what the "best" games are (and "best" never maps on to my experience anyway), so I'll just name two that grabbed me on the PlayStation: Tomba and Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee.

Tomba was one of the first PlayStation games I ever played, and led me to believe that the PlayStation library was chock-full of terrific 2.5D platformers. Sadly, that's not the case, but it's a very engaging little game that couldn't have been done as well on a 16-bit system.

Abe's Oddysee is in the lineage of Out of This World, Flashback, Prince of Persia, et al., and somehow manages to conjure much the same feeling of wonder as those games. It's flawed and frustrating at times, but it's lovingly crafted.

There are really a bunch of weird and interesting games on the PlayStation, some of which are more successful than others. The sheer size of its library guarantees variety, I suppose.

I also liked Gauntlet Legends and Pilotwings 64 a lot on the Nintendo 64, and Toy Commander on the Dreamcast. I've struggled to stick with most games I've played on those systems (or on any post-32-bit systems), but those certainly kept me interested.

I don't want to repeat anything that has already been said. Off the top of my head, two must play games on the PS2 that haven't been listed yet are Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter.

Yeah, BOF Dragon Quarter was pretty cool.

I'll recommence an outstanding space strategy game on PC from 2008, Sins of a Solar Empire. I recently played through several campaigns over the last couple of months. It's a really great game.



https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sins_of_a_Solar_Empire

I'll mention some of my personal favorites on PlayStation

Crash Bandicoot trilogy, Crash Team Racing, Driver, Metal Gear Solid, Medal of Honor, Medal of Honor Underground, Syphon Filter Trilogy, Twisted Metal, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, GTA 2, Blasto, Pac-Man World, Gex trilogy, Namco Museum, and so forth.

Sega's arcade games for Saturn are great: Sega Rally, Virtual On, Fighting Vipers, Virtua Cop, etc. Also, Capcom's fighters for the Saturn are awesome, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Night Warriors, Street Fighter Alpha 2, etc. I'd recommend about the same for Dreamcast.

Sega's NFL 2K series is good. Probably the only other football I can recommend is Madden 99 for Playstation. (My recommendations kind of end at Dreamcast.)

A couple of mentions for N64. Besides Goldeneye, I really like Perfect Dark because of the custom multiplayer combat. You can even play alone against bots. Also, Road Rash 64 is really the only game in the series that requires fighting to win; in most Rash games, it's better to race than fight. One-eighty from that, I like Road Rash 3D for Playstation because you can just ride literally forever (or until your Playstation dies, I suppose) with just traffic and the occasional police chase.

I really like squad combat games. I like Hidden & Dangerous for Dreamcast. I also like X-Com: UFO Defense for Playstation. I also really like Space Hulk for Saturn; the graphics aren't the greatest but the audio of your computer squad members really makes up for it.