Games you keep returning to

There are plenty of games that you play maybe once or twice and you're impressed by them, but then you end up never playing them again. Then, there are some games that, regardless of your initial impressions, you end up playing from start to finish again and again over months and years. What are some games that you end up coming back to over and over again?

Here are some of mine:

Half Life 1&2: Beaten them each only once or twice (can't remember), but I've played them both halfway through about 100 times
Metal Gear Solid 2: Beaten it either 3 or 4 times now
Katamari Damacy: No use beating it again, but I play the moon level over and over.
Earthworm Jim 2: Same as Half Life
Shenmue: Beaten it like 4 times, plus I'd played the first half or so many, many times
Shenmue II: Same as Half Life
Radiant Silvergun: Beaten it many times, played through the first level many more times, trying to get a perfect play.

I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

 

While I don't so much anymore, there was a time where I played through Mega Man 2 atleast once everyday if not more. I'm not sure why I did that, maybe just trying to get through it perfectly or something.

I always like to go back to Street Fighter II and all its clones too. It's a solid and classic game you can play the hell out of. Likewise I can always go back to Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 and do so.

Another is Ninja Gaiden (1,2,3 NES) which I enjoy being able to pickup anytime and blaze through it with all the experience I've had playing them.

There are many classic games I come back to play after awhile, but I can't think of any others offhand that I really play alot. I'm sure I could think of more, but I tried to narrow it down to the big important ones I play more than anything.

 

almost all the fighting games I own I keep going back to.

 

Tetris Attack
Also replaying FF6 for like the +20th time

 

-Hitman: Blood Money, i've beaten this game like 10+ times, i think i'll never get tired of this game

-Megaman X, X2, X3, i just can't stop playing this games, i started when i was 4 and now i'm 18, and i think they are one of the best games ever

-Half Life 1&2(and the episodes too): same as la-li-lu-le-lo

 

-Sonic 1, 2 3 + S&K

-Final Fantasy VII (only one fully complete save but about 10+ others at various positions)

-Rez

-Lego Star Wars I & II

 

Ah there are many, but lets limit it to 6 and going on what I have with me.

Tetris DX - Gameboy Color - Still a perfect single player game.

Raiden Project - Playstation - To me Raiden is one of the best shooters of all times. No matter how many times I play it, I still find it a challenge and a great example of an old school shooter.

Puyo Puyo Tsu - Megadrive / Playstation - Like I need to give a reason for this one. ^_^

Thunderforce IV - Megadrive - Apart from the slow down it's probably the best shooter on the Megadrive and has some of the greatest megadrive music.

Traffic - MSX - Simple but I find stupidly addictive traffic control game.

Gran Turismo 4 - Playstation 2 - Well until 5 comes out at least...

 

Main Pokemon RPGs: Maybe the one game I have nearly thousands of hours spread across the franchise. While I do find the older games hard to replay, the new versions can easily steal 300 or more hours from me. Just the amount of variety and things to do once the game ends is amazing and addictive. I don't like the other parts of the franchise: Anime is horrible, the non-RPGs tend to suck ass, the card game is pretty stupid now. The manga is about the only redeeming non-game part of the Pokemon franchise now, and that is Japan only.

Metal Gear Solid 1-3: Even today, I am still amazed by the graphics and general polish 2 and 3 got. I've had the urge to go back and play Twin Snakes again (I always seem to get up to the tank and lose interest).

Ocarina of Time: This may be the one game that can never age for me, I am still awed by the Ganon battle at the end. I've played it inside out: One playthrough all items and upgrades, one playthrough 3 hearts only and no upgrades, and many normal playthroughs. I've played every revision known to man (Including the GCN and Virtual Console versions), and I still find myself going back every 2 years to play it.

Half Life 2: About the only shooter I can replay and enjoy like I was playing it the first time, Half Life 2 is just varied on everything. Going through the orange box and getting some of the achievements really makes you see the game as a true classic and example of how games should be with replayability.

Oblivion: I hated morrowind with a passion, but love Oblivion. Hell, I still play every now and then and find new things to do. One of the few games where I have gone over 100 hours on.

 

Any of the Sonic games, up to SA2.
Lumines - Probably my favorite game
Final Fantasy X
Soul Calibur
Pokemon Red

 

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs!

 

Goldeneye - this is years of my teenage life some 9-10 years ago. I know it inside and out, all cheats, gameshark hacks, everything...to this day, regardless if its been months or years since my last play, I never lose the touch, it always feels natural, and I will always be a master lol :dance:

Ikaruga - I can always jump back into this (or most any shmup for that matter), but this intrigues my friends as well that don't normally play shmups, so its easy to bust out for a play

 

Aerobiz. About every 5 years or so I track it down and play it for a week.

 

Halo:CE. We like to have old school LANS every once in a while. Thanks to Halo 3's awesome multiplayer. We never have to play Halo 2 again. Thank goodness!

 

Advance Wars: Every once in awhile I just need to get my fix on, and after two or three games I realise I still got it. Awesomely addictive.

DJ Max Portable: the sheer excitement of training and gradually getting better and better, plus the songs just have me coming back because they're haunting me in my head and my fingers are aching to play them again. Awesome game, with so much unlockables that I'm still around 80% with countless (literally countless) hours put into it.

 

castlevania sotn.. play around a couple of hours on my character when i have the ps1 plugged in, just run around the castle and soak up atmosphere basically.

cybernator/valken & super Probotector, usually one or two playthroughs when i have my SNES/SFC out.

Probotector 1&2, a couple of loops on each whenever i have my NES out and actually OWN a functioning NES (was a couple of years ago now :-( )

all about once or twice a year.. all excellent games as im sure everyone knows.

 

Warhawk - PS1: I have been playing this since 1995, and simply can't stop. One of the best PS1 games and it is a launch title! Plus the live action FMV is so bad it's hilarious.

Wipeout 1, XL and 3 - PS1: Simply awesome

Rescue Mission - Master System: Addictive light gun fun!

Gran Turismo (series) - PS2: Just love it

Doom 3 - PC: Amazing game. Download Classic Doom mod for extra fun!

Advance Wars - GBA: Imagine this game online! It's already great on the GBA, online gaming would be multiplayer heaven!

Raiden Project - PS1 and Raiden III - PS2: My favourite shooters!

There are many others, but those are what i remember right now.

 

Oh, I just remembered that I'm always playing these days. Starcraft. No, I'm not Korean (although I do have a Korean gf... :dance but Starcraft it taking over our dorms this year. We play about 2 or 3 games a night. Long, epic, awesome games. Unless we get rushed in the first 5 mins and one of us gets wiped out. Then we start over. :thumbsup:

 

What? Warhawk 1 a good game? Come on, that game was ass even by the day's standards. It was dull, slow and didn't feel like you were flying a combat plane :/

On to my usual games then.

Although this isn't a definitive list, since I play way too many games just to get a nostalgia-buzz.

The following stand out of the crowd:

Super Mario Bros (NES) - I play this game on everything. My phone, my DS, my GBA, my Wii, my GC, my PS1, my PC - and I ve got a bad habit of just starting to play and finish the game in a single life/one go before I let the pad down. Freaky!

Tetris (mostly DS nowadays)- no comments

F-zero X [+ Xpansion Pak] (N64/64DD) - My favourite racing game. The art direction, the music and the levels just make my mind visualize. To a lesser degree I also enjoy kicking in the ole' F-zero on the SNES.

Mariokart 64 - Last time I played with a friend was this weekend. I ve been playing this game for 10 years straight and it's still addictive as crack.

Sonic 1 (megadrive) - probably my favourite Sonic after Sonic CD. The reason I don't play CD that often is because I don't have it on my cellphone to run (and there's no SEGA cd emu for symbian )

Othello - it's really a board game but I play it whenever I get the chance on my phone

Donkey Kong Country 1 (SNES) - the music, the graphics, the art direction and mostly the nostalgia. A proper time-machine this one.

Mortal Kombat 4 (PC/N64) - I ve played this game so much it's bad for me. Most people dislike it, but it's quick, brutal and has personality in my view.

Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC) - enough said

Warioland: Super Mario Land 3 (GB) - well you should all know what I m talking about.

Prehistoric Man (GB) - A mediocre platformer to most, but a hardcore offering with "clever" bugs (well I got used to them and consider them part of the challenge)

Donkey Kong Classic 1994 (GB) - action +puzzle+100 levels. Not the type of game every gamer would enjoy, but it's clever.VERY Clever.

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GC) - well it's either that or going to the gym for a sprint. An amazing game.

Animal Crossing (GC) - I m still looking for the final boss...

Test Drive 5 (PC) - I just like it

Quake 3: Arena (PC) - naturally

Wii Sports - Golf feels nice =)

 

Lets see...


Blast Wind (Saturn) - 1CC... 1LC... stupid high scores... whatever. I've played through this game a bajillion times. Its typically the first thing in my Saturn when I power it up.

Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru (Saturn) - Same as above. Well, except for the high score bit since the "score" taps out at 999.

NiGHTS (Saturn) - If only because of how calm and relaxing it is. And of course Christmas NiGHTS gets played every Christmas Eve without fail.

Panzer Dragoon + Panzer Dragoon Zwei (Saturn) - Used to be like, once every week. :lol: These days its down to maybe a few times a year pending on how much I get into 'em.

Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn) - I do an annual play through. In the first year of its existence I'd play through it monthly (sometimes multiple times in a month). But its since dropped down to an annual ordeal. And no, it never does get old. :icon_bigg

Hyper Duel (Saturn) - I'm a sucker for Tecno Soft, what can I say? Sadly, while I have 1CC'd the Arcade Mode, the 1CC for Saturn mode remains ever so elusive. :-(

Guardian Heroes (Saturn) - So good. So very very good. I just play through it every so often for the hell of it.

Radiant Silvergun (Saturn) - This one may be leaving the list eventually. Don't get me wrong, I view RS as the single greatest game ever made. And for YEARS ('98-'04 roughly) I would play it at least once every 3 months or so. But in '04 I finally 1CC'd it (almost 1-lifed it if not for my alarm clock going off during the final boss... grrr...) and since then its gotten less and less play. I imagine because the only thing left is me playing for score, but given how much time the game demanded for the 1CC, I don't even want to think about the amount of time the game would devour if I went for spectacular score. Would put the most hardcore MMO player to shame I'm sure.

Batsugun (Saturn) - Primarily "Special Version". After I 1CC'd the original version I've pretty much just kept to the much better designed Special Version. 'Tis always a blast though.

Twinkle Star Sprites (DC) - If someone will play it with me... then I will always throw down.

Sonic the Hedgehog 1 + 2 (Too much to list) - Anytime I can play through Sonic real quick I always tend to do it.

Space Invaders (ditto) - Be it DS, Saturn, or online in flash, I'm always up for a good go of Space Invaders.

Scramble (whatever its on) - Whenever I come across it I have to play it for a few rounds. I hate Gradius but I love Scramble, go fig.

Perfect Dark Zero (XB360) - Multiplayer is so damn good. I only list this because I'm STILL playing it these days whenever someone wants to have a go in it.

And I THINK thats all...

 

Sonic 1, 2, 3 (Megadrive)
Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
Unreal Tournament (PC)
Gran Turismo 2 (PSX)