Please recommend me some non-Japanese games.

Don't forget Space Station Silicon Valley. Totally one of the top three games on the N64, but doesn't get enough love. Body Harvest is good, too, but I like Space Station Silicon Valley a lot more.

Continuing the theme of multi-vehicle games, Toy Commander on the Dreamcast is really good, too. Also Red Dog. Actually, most games from French developers seem to be good. If the assumption of this topic is that Japanese developers= teh r00l and western developers=SUX, I'd have to say French developers have a better record in my opinion than the Japanese developers taken as a whole.


...word is bondage...

 

Do you mean the original GTA or GTA III? Both excellent, but very different.

 

Panzer Bandit is amazing. It was a nice find a friend of mine got. Played it as much as i could. Too bad it cost a fortune. Do you have Gunners Heaven right? I also love that game. I wish Japan imports were easier to get.

Ratchet & Clank , Jak and Sly Cooper series are also great. 3 great platformers on one console. Like i said, i also like Crash Bandicoot, but only the ones made by Naugthy Dog. Since Universal Interactive hired other people to make the new games (started with the crap Crash Bash), the game lost it's brilliance and got average at best.

Crash Team Racing is one of the best (if not the best) kart games avaiable, being better than Mario Kart 64 itself. Just play and you'll see what i mean.

Have fun. :thumbsup:

 

Oh I mean original GTA, when I am trying to understand a series I always look primaily at the influences of a series and then work through them chronologically. Plus, I tend to prefer 2D games.

I'm just trying to broaden my horizons of gaming, I'm not necessarily out to play the best games. If I play something brilliant along the way - that is just great.

The fact is, I have been playing Japanese (region and design) games ever since I have been aware that I liked games. I doubt that is going to change at all. All I want to do is play something other people think is good. I would have picked up Halo long ago if it appealed to me in any way. I'm just giving it a decent chance this time around, that is my birthday resolution in a way.

Sweater Fish Deluxe - I never intended to denounce western games, or praise Japanese games in this topic. I just want a list of good games, that I can try. The last thing I want is for this to turn into a comparison of the two regions output. We will always have our own preferences.

EDIT - Johnny - I have gunners heaven as well, now that is distilled gaming. Those two games (Gunner/Panzer) are the best examples of perfect rip-offs in the world. Though I have never actually completed Gunners yet, it just beats me around stage 5 - need to put some time into that one.

 

Yep, major ripoffs. But at least they are good ripoffs.

Most ripoff games are terrible compared to the original. Example? GTA series. Stuff like True Crime, 25 To Life, Narc, ... waste of time

 

Is Black (PS2/Xbox) getting a release in japan? Damn that game is fun...

Even if you don't like the original GTA, you should still probably take a look at GTA 3. It's really not the same series. Think of it as the difference between Super Mario Brothers III and Mario 64. Similar, but different too.

I'm hoping someone will back me up on lego starwars...

EDIT:

If burnout III or burnout Revenge got a release over there, you owe it to yourself to at least try them out. 3 had better crashing, Revenge has the best arcade racing i've ever played.

Again, this is a case where Burnout 3 reinvented the series, almost a different animal from 1 or 2.

 

If Guitar Hero gets a Japanese release pick that up. Im racking my brain here and everything im playing and loving short of GH is a Japanese developed.

Oh Ace is right about Burnout 3, that game is just pure fun.

 

If you could find Omikron/Nomad Soul by the same team that did Indigo Prophecy, give it a try, it was relased for the dreamcast.
And you could install scummvm on your laptop and get a grab on all lucasarts point-n-click 2d games like monkey island, samn'max, day of the tentacle, the dig, full throttle...they're still fun today.

 

Want to say that I agree on the Jak comments, the series is great!

The first one is a very traditional platformer, but has a visual squash-and-stretch style thats normaly reserved for cartoons.

The second (the first one I played), is easily one of my fav games this entire generation. Its got a little bit of everything, and can be break-the-controller-in-half difficult (don't know why, but I really like that in games, at least ones I don't have limited continues). I liked it so much that almost instantly after beating it I went out and bought the game for the full price (overdrawing my bank account and being penalized in the process, making it cost about $80).

The third one isn't quite as difficult as the second, but overall i'd say it was the better game, one of the kinds that made me strive to get everything in it no matter the difficulty. Even after doing basicly every side mission in the game I found more to do and have fun with using an infinite flight glitch (I don't think it's something you should look into though till after beating the game). Oh, both this game and Jak 2 have EX modes (where you can play through them again with all the stuff you got the first time arround). Always a plus.

Jak X is...well, it cheats a hell of a lot, and it corrupted my save when I was about five missions from beating the game with nothing but gold awards. So I can't say I have a very high opinion about it.

Daxter isn't out yet, but it sure looks good for a PSP game (actualy it uses exact texture and geometry data for some of the levels that were in Jak 2, which is certanly a step up from the traditionaly toned down versions of games psp gets). It takes place more or less before Jak 2, and is supposed to be similar to the original Jak and Daxter (less gener mixing). Its not out quite yet, but based on videos and impressions it should be a top notch game when released.

Just to add in some other games:

God of war (PS2) - Not a classic in my mind, but it is very fun, and the quality control did their job much better then just about any other game i've played this gen (bar Metroid Prime).

MDK2 (DC) - A little dated now, but its got some decent variety in its gameplay (due to the character switching), and can fairly challenging once you get into it (though its nothing challenge wise compared to the first on PS1).

 

you probably can on pc, i was able to play it really well on a p4 1.8ghz/256 ram and a 5200fx "horrible graphics card"just download the demo and give it a try.

 

How could i forgot this?! God of War is great

For everybody who likes Burnout 3 and Revenge, give the first two a try. They aren't as polished or graphical marvels as the latest ones, but are also great. I played the first Burnout a couple of weeks ago and also loved it.

Incredible how i only noticed this game on it's 3rd installment. :redface:

 

Oh I just realised (after looking in my games cabinet) that there's a few more games that really need to be tried. The Broken Sword series (1,2 and 3) are superb point and clicks up there in scope as the lucas arts titles.

And a very big favourite of mine, the Legacy of Kain series and while the series did a fairly large turn around in genre all the games a great fun and I know for sure the orginal (Legacy of Kain) had a Japanese release and it's in essecenes Zelda with Vampires, excellent.

 

GSL TO THE RESCUE!

While I cannot in any condone the skidmarks on the underwear of gaming that the 3D Grand Theft Auto games are, I am beside myself with praise for the original 2D installments in the series. The games were more about fun and not taking themselves seriously, before the series degenerated into the self-masturbatory pimp G funk like whut cesspool that it is today.

Rockstar, in a publicity move I can totally agree with, has released both of the original titles, tweaked for Win XP, absolutely free. There's really no excuse for not getting them, or at least GTA2. GTA is fun, but 2 is where the series really shines. With missions like bombing a pizza delivery joint because they messed up some mob boss' order, you just can't go wrong.

 

Ok, I meant to reply to this earlier...and I don't have much time...but I'll ramble off a few developers and games I like.

Shiny-Earthworm Jim, MDK, Wild 9....and plenty o' other stuff I can't think of. Cool games

Rare-Pretty much anything by them tends to be great. N64 games come to mind though...Blast Corps, PD, Goldeneye, Conker's BFD (HIGHLY RECOMMEND) Banjo Kazooie.

Tony Hawk! Oh man...I hate extreme sports, but Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is amazing. I hear the newer ones are pretty good too.

Body Harvest for N64...absolutely epic.

Blizzard: Get starcraft or warcraft 2 on your PC, now. Requirements so low, it's nuts.

Id: Play Doom 2. Play it a whooooole lot. I still have a blast with it.

Halo! It's the only reason I have an Xbox. It really is an excellent game. I didn't like the sequel as much though.

And Atari's arcade games tend to be great. I don't kow if they come out in any anthologies over there (I guess not) but they would be great to play.

Edit: Apologies for the relative sloppyness of this post.