Colossal Game Adventure: February 2026 Lobbying Topic
Welcome to the lobbying topic for CGA!
This is your chance to try to sway people's votes by endorsing certain titles. Let people know why a certain game is awesome, or how a particular entry is of historical value, or why others really need to play this gem of yesteryear.
Lobbying is not limited in any way, so you can endorse/support as many entries as you like.
Negative lobbying is also allowed, but please try to do it as fairly as possible. The point isn't to rag on someone else's choices, but it might be acceptable in cases such as "The camera controls unfortunately can be very frustrating" or "It's quite hard to get up and running." Basically: try to keep it to valuable information that people would want to know before playing, but not for the purposes of hating on a game in particular.
Anyone can participate. CGA does not require membership and is always open to all.
Importantly, this is NOT the final voting topic. This topic will remain up for 48 hours, after which we will hold the voting in a separate topic.
A reminder on the voting mechanics
Just so people remember how the voting will go and can plan accordingly:
- Each person will have 20 votes to distribute among games they see fit.
- Each person will be able to allocate a maximum of 5 points per Single Game/Arcade Special.
A reminder on the culling mechanics
And again, so people can plan for what happens to the list once voting is completed:
- The top 6 games will be chosen to be played (or more in the event of a tie).
- The top 50% will advance to the next round. They will start the next round with a base score of 70% of their vote totals.
- The bottom 50% will be removed from the list.
Game List
All nominations and boosts have been added, so this is the final list of games and their vote totals that we will be deciding on.
| Game | Rollover Votes |
|---|---|
| Another World | 19 |
| Back in a Flash Bloons Tower Defense Line Rider Motherload QWOP Stick RPG |
25 |
| Behind the Wheel Lego Island Rally-X Sega Rally Championship |
15 |
| Beneath a Steel Sky | 15 |
| Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow | 23 |
| The Colonel’s Bequest | 15 |
| Crystalis | 15 |
| Descent | 18 |
| Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist | 13 |
| The Genesis of Treasure Gunstar Heroes McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure Dynamite Headdy Alien Soldier Light Crusader |
0 |
| The Grue That Binds Border Zone Twisted! Zork |
15 |
| JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future | 12 |
| The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past | 15 |
| Lode Runner | 12 |
| Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals | 26 |
| Maniac Mansion | 0 |
| Metroid | 14 |
| Metroid Prime | 19 |
| Mother 3 | 0 |
| Red Dead Redemption | 0 |
| Resident Evil (REmake) | 0 |
| Scroll Lock-on Einhander Ikaruga Paradroid Raid on Bungeling Bay Thunder Force IV |
14 |
| Sid Meier’s Pirates | 24 |
| Space Rogue | 0 |
| StarTropics | 15 |
| Tetris | 13 |
| Threads of Fate | 15 |
| Tony Hawk’s Pro-Skater 2 | 13 |
I shall lobby for Space Rogue from 1989.
You see, I was once told that space is big. Vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big. They said that even if I may think that it is a long way down the road to the chemist's, that's actually just peanuts to space. Mind you, this was on the radio, so it must be true.
I have since learnt that space is so big that it can easily contain the eight procedurally generated galaxies of Elite (1984), the many worlds of Wing Commander (1990), as well as the various colonies of Mass Effect (2007). It also houses the economic systems of both X (1999) and Eve Online (2003), and all of the space bug hunting of Helldivers 2 (2024). Additionally, it can fit in the adventures of Star Control II (1992) and the misventures of Space Quest (1986), a decade of community service from No Man's Sky (2016) and the unfulfilled potential of Starfield (2023). It even includes the title thievery of Space Rogue (2016), both of the subtitles of Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams (1991), and almost (but not quite) the entire crowdfunding haul of Star Citizen (21??).
As it happens, space also contains 1989's Space Rogue. A major title at the time of its release, but now a lesser known game that exists somewhere around the gravitational Lagrange point of all of the games that I just mentioned.
How? Well, I'm glad that you asked! (Or is it just me hearing voices again? They did promise that the screaming would stop if I went to space!) You see, Space Rogue combines the exciting 3D space simulation flight (and fight) of Elite with the kind of top-down long-distance point-to-point map navigation later seen in games like Star Control II. It includes faster-than-light jump gates that were left there by a mysterious ancient alien race about a quarter of a century before Mass Effect, while also featuring actual Newtonian flight physics, much like Frontier: Elite II. Or not, it's totally your choice. Space Rogue really has got everything for everyone.
But there is more! More than everything! When you dock at a space station, you can get out of your spacecraft and stroll around in a 2D top-down perspective very similar to the Ultima series. You can interact with people and objects and there is plenty of text-based storytelling and dialogue options, eventually sucking you into the game's main narrative, which is a combination of an RPG like Ultima and an adventure game like Space Quest, just with fewer absurd jokes and deaths.
Or you can get drunk, play a game or two of Hive! (an in-game arcade shooter where you shoot space bugs and destroy their hives, much like in Helldivers 2), ignore the main plot entirely and spend all of your time flying around in the Far Arm of the galaxy as a trader, bounty hunter or space pirate, meddling in galactic politics and getting tangled with side-quests, while repairing and upgrading your ship as needed, just like you would in Starfield or many of the economics based space games. It's totally up to you.
Space Rogue is a scifi RPG that was released in 1989 by Origin Systems (of Ultima fame) for Commodore 64 and Apple II and quickly ported to just about every other home computer system of its time. You play as the sole survivor of a deep space encounter with an elusive alien species who goes on to trade, fight and explore his way through a sandbox universe (well, eight solar systems) to unravel a galaxy-spanning mystery. The playtime could be estimated as somewhere around 15 hours.
The game was created by Paul Neurath, who later went on to found his own company that developed a number of influential titles such as Ultima Underworld I & II, Thief I & II and System Shock 1 & 2. Meanwhile, a young Origin Systems designer by the name of Chris Roberts was quite influenced by Neurath's work and took its combination of 3D space flight and cinematic storytelling to create the wildly successful Wing Commander series. The only thing that Wing Commander really lacked was the ability to freely walk around in space stations. These days, I hear Chris is quietly working to accomplish this feat and finally match the feature set of Space Rogue with a cute little indie game called Star Citizen.
As such, Space Rogue sits at an interesting juncture in gaming. It is very much an amalgamation of some of the best that 80s game design had to offer, blending Elite with Ultima, and it does so with a high level of competence. But it also served as an inspiration for a lot of what was to come in the 90s and beyond, and what would later be done in much more streamlined, modern ways.
It could therefore be said that Space Rogue was surpassed by those that came after it, which would also mean that it is not the greatest game ever made. And this is actually demonstrably true. Lemon64, the single source of truth for Commodore 64 gaming, and therefore all gaming that really matters, ranks Space Rogue as only the third best game ever released during the C64's lifetime. It's apparently a little bit worse than Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders and Maniac Mansion, but also a little bit better than Sid Meier's Pirates!, Sentinel Worlds I, Turrican II and Ultima IV.
And this is not just people on the internet telling you lies. No, serious publications at the time of release praised it too. Both Zzap!64 and Commodore Force gave it 97%. Computer & Video Games gave it 96%. Now, just let me remind you that the best ranked game ever on OpenCritic.com has a score of 97%, so this clearly means that Space Rogue is also the greatest game ever, just like Super Mario Galaxy. Numbers don't lie.
Still, seriously, I must warn you that Space Rogue is not a perfect game. It can be a little dry, it can be a little repetitive, and it can be a little clunky. It has very little sound, and the sounds that it does feature can make you wish it had fewer of them. You will need to read a manual, learn key bindings, make notes, and use a printed star map as a reference. In other words, it is a game from the late 80s, developed for players who have an attention span longer than a TikTok video and made for a system that has an attention span shorter than a TikTok video, being limited to eight active sprites and 64 KB of memory. Sure, you can play it on PC these days (both GOG and Steam sell it for the price of a coffee cup and include the maps and manuals), but it is still the same game from the late 80s.
Other than it being a curious childhood memory for me and a game that I have wanted to play for a long time, the reason I am advocating for Space Rogue is because it is a great example of a game that was released for the best-selling computer of all time, was generally very well received at the time (although there certainly were dissenting voices as well, especially from those that expected better graphics and sound), remains one of the system's highest ranked titles, combines a wide range of influences and has influential connections to many later games, was generally considered "the Elite killer", and yet is almost entirely forgotten today. It can offer an interesting starting point for discussion, whether that discussion is space simulation games, western RPGs, scifi games, the importance of manuals in old games, forgotten masterpieces, creativity in game design, or just the games of Origin Systems or Paul Neurath.
But I really don't want to oversell the game. And fortunately, I don't have to. The box art will do that for me. I mean, just look at that dude! You want to be a cool and handsome cat like he is, with such a dashing leather jacket, exquisite gloves and a rad flight helmet, right? Of course you do! Now, that there is clearly a frood who knows where his towel is. And how wouldn't he -- it's right there, on his left shoulder! Come on, just admit it, you want to be that guy. You want to play Space Rogue. You want to vote for it to be included in CGA's schedule!
Heck, you can't even spell "Space Rogue" without using the letters "CGA"! What more do you need?
I don't know if this will be getting my vote but I love your lobbying post!
The link you posted to the game manual was surprisingly entertaining. Printed supplementals like this are something I really miss about old games. And this one includes cutout spaceship models in the back! Bonus! I noticed page 23 has a "handwritten" note about a feature that doesn't work... it reads like a joke, but is it pointing out an actual bug that shipped?
That box art lands somewhere on the cringe-o-meter between Lucas and the Outrageous Okona. Yikes!
I'm curious if you've played Escape Velocity (or EV Override or EV Nova)? On paper Space Rogue sounds like it shares a lot of DNA with those, but maybe leans heavier into flight sim? The EV games are more arcadey, top-down 2D space action games but have similar emphases on ship upgrading, exploration, trading, piracy, and interesting narrative arcs. Side note, I'm a backer of Cosmic Frontier, a (long-delayed) modern spiritual successor to those. Unfortunately Peter Cartwright, the original scenario writer for EV Override and one of CF's two leads, passed away a few months ago, and the project's future is uncertain. I really hope it sees the light of day eventually.
Thank you for the kind words. I don't really expect the game to be selected, but I had much fun writing the pitch!
A good find, I actually don't know. The concept of the manual is that it is the documentation that your character finds at the very beginning of the game, when they get the ship. The handwritten scribbles are left by the previous owner. If I had to guess, it might be a feature that was planned for the game but dropped due to system limitations.
I too miss these supplemental materials. They often made games extend beyond the screen, and into your own world. The Ultima series in particular made a point of not really referring to itself as a game, but more like a portal to another plane of existence, and gave you plenty of physical materials to support that feeling, including absolutely gorgeous cloth maps.
The other thing is, I would much prefer to read a 50-100 page manual that sets up the game and its world as opposed to spending the first five hours of a game in a tutorial, as we do in so many modern games.
I must confess that I was only vaguely aware of the series title and nothing else, but they look interesting! I didn't own a Mac at the time and didn't know anyone who did, so all of Mac gaming passed me by entirely. Having now read a little about the series, I hope Cosmic Frontier gets released. I can imagine how painful it must have been for fans to hear about the co-lead's passing.
The lobbying topic was worth it for this comment alone! (That isn’t hyperbole — I genuinely mean it.)
I love how much you love retro games, vili. Your enthusiasm is infectious.
You do such a good job of capturing the games as experiences that are products of their time. I always come away from your comments with a richer appreciation and understanding of a game that helps me remember it’s more than just another title in my very large library but a whole, valuable thing unto itself. You anchor the game in its context and give it a richer, fuller backdrop than we would get simply playing it in isolation.
You did a great job of all that here, and I’m happy to let you know that your lobbying was effective! I’ll be voting for Space Rogue (which I admittedly wasn’t planning on doing initially).
You are very kind, kfwyre. I'm not terribly old, yet I'm old enough that most of these games function as a map to my past, whether as titles that I experienced back in the day or as something that my younger self wished he could one day experience. In a way, going back to the games of my childhood is a way for me to reconnect with my past and learn more about myself. It's especially fascinating for me to read about the cultural and historical contexts in which these games were made and released, as my younger self usually wasn't aware of any of that at the time. It often places me into some wider cultural narrative that I hadn't necessarily previously realised I had existed in and been influenced by.
I also love how most of these games were made not with profit primarily in mind, but for the love of the young art form. These titles are largely the products of small teams or even single lead developers who poured a year or two of their lives into creating something that, often, had never been done before. If they gave it their all, I feel I want to repay some of that by at least trying to understand what they were attempting and the context in which they created their work.
I'm glad if the enthusiasm, sense of discovery and wonder comes through sometimes. That said, I'm sure there are also some here who by now see my handle and think "oh no, another post from that rambling dude". Which would be a reaction that I can totally understand.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
I mentioned over in the last topic that after playing Wind Waker, I've now been feeling the itch to play ALttP again. But I'd love to have company for that, and have a chance to talk about it here with both old hands and newcomers. I can't play it again for the first, so I'm incredibly curious to hear about how newcomers experience it in 2026. So anyway, let me break down a few reasons why I think ALttP is worth looking at and could be fun for us to do together:
We've done a 3D Zelda game, let's try a 2D Zelda for comparison. Now, obviously we could go all the way back to the original LoZ, or LoZ II. But as the 16-bit entry I think that ALttP kind of sits in a Goldilocks spot, where it strikes a nice balance of still being early enough to kind of establish a lot of what was to come later, but it's not nearly as cryptic as the first two, and the game play is much more refined and accessible than in them.
It's a shortish game with natural, bite-sized sessions. I don't know about you but I haven't had as much time to play games lately. As I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate medium length games that don't overstay their welcome. Going in cold (no internet walkthroughs then!) when playing it for the first time as a kid, I noticed that each dungeon except for the last took me right about an hour to be. Include the stuff between dungeons, and you get into kind of a natural rhythm of about 1.5 hours per play session, and maybe 15-20 hours to beat it for the first time.
There are easy options to play it. This game was originally released on the SNES, ported to the GBA, and has been available on the Wii virtual console, as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service, included with the SNES Mini... There are still tons of legal ways to play it. And it's well supported by every emulator if you want to go for the high seas.
There's a randomizer! For those of us who have played it before and know where everything is, there's a popular randomizer we could use to shuffle things and restore the element of surprise. I've never tried this before, since ALttP is one of my perenial "comfort" games - and part of that comfort is seeing how many of the half-remembered bits I'm correct about. But as I understand it, the randomizer can let us share a seed and options so that we could roll a shuffle that the experienced among us could play through together in common. I'd be up for trying that!
It's safe to play without a guide. As old as it is, it's rather remarkably ahead of its time in not really having any missables. So for anyone here playing through it for the first time, you can safely play it blind without a guide or walkthrough and not fear that you might be missing things. You can restrict yourself to just consulting a guide briefly every now and then if you happen to get stuck somewhere. The secrets you might not find on your own unless you're very thorough are largely quality-of-life upgrades, so you can still beat the game without them, just maybe not as comfortably. And of course, you can always check a guide at the end of the game and go back for all of them. (There's only one area in the game that permanently locks after you complete it, and it has nothing of note as far as collectables.)
There's a manual! Remember when games came with printed manuals? ALttP had one. I remember the cartridge that I had even came with a "Top Secrets" hint book for anyone who was truly stuck.
It laid a foundation for much of what was to come. Do you want to see the game that introduced the friggin' Master Sword to the Zelda series? Heart pieces? Truly thematic dungeons (with the lock-and-key design built around finding the tool that lets you reach the end)? The original Hyrule Castle, Kakariko Village and Lake Hylia? Cuccos? C'mon, of course you do! :-)
This was also the game that introduced many of the iconic musical themes in the series: Hyrule Castle, Zelda's Lullaby, Kakariko Village, fairy fountains, and Ganon's.
And with that, I ask for your vote for ALttP. Whether you're a newcomer to the game or a returning player, there are ways we can all have fun with it.
CGA Announcement: The lobbying topic is now up. Please read the topic text to see how it will work.
Updates on changes:
Change #1 (Implemented): The Remove Cartridge topic will be moved to the 28th of each month, and the 25th of February.
Change #2 (Implemented): We're going to try out the lobbying topic right now and see how it goes!
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I'm here to lobby for Another World, aka "Out of this World" but the version I played used the first title so that's the one I use. (And so does Wikipedia. Seems only the North American release uses that title.)
I grabbed this game's 20th anniversary edition on the 3DS eshop on a whim, and played it in the Backlog Burner in May 2024. By that point I'd forgotten everything about the eshop listing so I went in totally blind, and I was blown away. It's only become more impressive in retrospect.
Why?
This is one of the most cinematic games I have ever played.
There is no dialogue in the game. We have an incredible opening cut scene, and then the rest is a standard platformer. There are threats that will kill us. There are puzzles where we must go back and forth. And yet, this game tells a complete story we can follow of our teleportation to an alien planet and subsequent escape from alien jail. We even make a friend and develop a growing bond with them!
As time has passed, it's become one of my favorite examples of the power of narrative in video games. It's not a revolutionary story, but it's a solid one that you can easily understand. I think it's particularly notable as an early example of a story-driven game that isn't text-based, but based on action. As stated above, it's a platformer game. The story is communicated through our actions and level designs rather than dialogue or cut scenes.
That may be why it seriously feels like playing out a movie. I don't think any other game I've played has captured that feeling so well.
To add to all that: it's not an easy game. You will die many, MANY times, and have to regularly redo puzzles or re-kill enemies because you died. A minor spoiler: you can die as early as the first screen! You'll be forced to move fast at times, and learn from trial and error. The game throws you right into the deep end and rarely lets up. Even moving to another screen doesn't make you safe, as enemies can follow you, and setup can transcend the screen. I had a guide open throughout my playthrough to help reduce the tedium of redoing things.
But even then, the difficulty didn't feel forced or unfair. I don't recall any puzzles that used logic that defied basic reason, or sections that called for inhuman reflexes (minus maybe one jump I mentioned in my backlog burner comment). Just a lot of trial and error, and the typical frustration of having to redo a section because you died. It feels like a good example of the legendary difficulty of games of that era, without being totally unfair.
Also, just looking up walkthroughs is super nostalgic. Plenty of old walkthroughs. AND it's on multiple platforms! Seriously, between the many consoles to get the original release and the many to get the 20th Anniversary Edition, it's really easy to find a version you can play.
To top it off: Another World became a big influence on many other games and developers. Its Wikipedia article specifically mentions the game Ico (precursor to Shadow of the Colossus) and the developers Goichi Suda (Killer7, No More Heroes and Lollipop Chainsaw), Hideo Kojima (sadly no specific details I can find beyond it being on a list of five games he mentioned in a Japanese interview, but I can guess how it influenced him), and Keiichiro Toyama (creator of the Silent Hill series). I imagine it's influenced countless other developers who just haven't had reason or opportunity to mention it.
So please. This game feels like an underrated part of gaming history that deserves more recognition. I don't often replay games, but this is one I'd happily pick up again.
I can co-sign on Another World. The game was genuinely ahead of its time.
Like, WAY ahead.
I’ll always point people to the intro cutscene and then remind everyone that it looked like this in 1991.
For comparison, here is the opening cutscene of another popular 1991 game and is much more in line with what we expected at the time.
Another World’s fluid, cinematic feel was genuinely unmatched and STILL looks good today, proving for videogames what we know for other media: well-made art truly can be timeless.
The developer Delphine Software were true masters of the cinematic opening scene! Their intro cutscene for Another World is definitely one of the greatest ever made, but it's also worth checking out those they created for Future Wars (1989), Operation Stealth (1990), Cruise for a Corpse (1991), Flashback (1992) and Fade to Black (1995).
It's not for nothing that they used the word "cinematique" under their logo.
Worth noting that Another World is actually a solo project by Éric Chahi (with some help on the soundtrack). He did work for Delphine and they published the game, but Delphine had very little involvement in the development. It seems like he may not have been actively employed by them during Another World's development. Really adds to how impressive Another World's legacy is!
...huh, between this and Stardew Valley, the name "Eric" seems to be very lucky for solo devs xD
Oh wow, I hadn’t realised how much of a solo project Another World really was. The game’s Wikipedia article suggests that Delphine wasn’t even the only publisher that Chahi contacted.
Chahi had previously worked as the artist on Delphine’s Future Wars. I wonder if he created that opening cutscene as well.
I'd accidentally skipped the intro cut scene when I first played it, so I think I first got to see it when you linked it during the backlog burner. It really is incredible for the time, and even by modern standards. Really sets the tone for the rest of the game!
And since I nominated Maniac Mansion, I'll say I'd be cool saving that one for maybe next time in October. Possibly with a bunch of other mansion-based spooky games, for a nice "Spooky Mansion" Arcade Special. Honestly I mostly just wanted to get it on people's radars for October, I genuinely know nothing about it other than that it sounds fun and it has a sequel with tentacles involved somehow (and the sequel might be more popular, maybe...??).
The sequel that you're referring to is Day of the Tentacle.
And if you wanted to make it a fun spooky-wacky LucasArts trifecta for October, you could toss in Zombies Ate My Neighbors, which has become something of a cult classic. I mean, you've kinda just gotta admire a game that taunts you with "Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!" as the boss theme.
Yeah, we’ll be picking April - September (unless there’s a tie), but I do like the idea of October leaning in a spooky direction most years. Maniac Mansion or Resident Evil or a spooky Arcade Special would be perfect for that.
Dare I suggest that we require at least one spooky game to be chosen in October?
Just a gentle reminder that not all of us (though I don't know what portion of CGA) live in places where Halloween is a thing. I personally never have, so for me October being associated with horror is similar to hearing about the traditions of Chinese new year, Ramadan, Midsummer's Eve or similar. I am aware of them happening every year, but they happen somewhere else. Where I live, the time around Halloween is traditionally more associated with quiet, warm remembrance of loved ones who have passed, rather than horror or costume parties.
Although I do see shops these days trying to push Halloween candies here as well, and last year I saw some decorated yards, so I guess things are changing, and maybe it won't be long before October equating with horror is true here as well.
And none of this course means that I would refuse to play a horror themed game in October if the majority here so wished, only that for me it would be a bit like playing a Christianity themed game in December. I would have no problem with it, but I would be an outsider taking part in someone else's cultural practices and preferences. And if we had one themed month, I'd of course wonder if we should also have others as well.
That's a great point. Thanks for bringing it up. For what it's worth, I don't really care about Halloween. For me, it's less about the holiday and more the fact that many people around me and online are playing the horror genre during October. The horror games I play seldom mention Halloween or October. Horror is a game genre, whereas Christianity is a theme/topic, so I think there's a subtle difference.
Full transparency, I'm more concerned that most people will write off horror as not for them, and a retro horror game will never win. I've had so many friends who completely write off the genre, eventually play a game at my insistence, and end up absolutely loving it. Nonetheless, I think it's reasonable if people don't vote for horror, then perhaps it shouldn't be included. I'll just have to do some stronger lobbying in the future haha.
Ooh, that indeed may not have been the best comparison to throw out there. And for the record, I certainly didn't want to imply that horror and Christianity are somehow directly linked. Christmas just happened to be the first holiday to pop into my head.
I'm one of those who would definitely need extra convincing to play a horror game. It's just not a genre that I typically find enjoyable in any form.
And yet, one of my most memorable gaming experiences has actually been the first Dead Space game. It was masterful. I never played the sequels and never had any desire to. The first one was more than enough. But it was absolutely brilliant. As for more retro horror that I enjoyed, the first one that comes to mind is I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. I guess it could be classified as horror? In the nominations thread, @balooga mentioned Yahtzee's game series. I forgot to reply there, but I remember those being genuinely good as well, and quite spooky.
No worries, I didn't read the comparison in that way!
Ooh thanks for the game rec and pointing out balooga's suggestion! Haven't heard of any of those besides Dead Space, but they look great! I've actually never played Dead Space myself. That one looks pretty scary. It's on my backlog to get around to once I've caught up on RE and Silent Hill.
I would like to petition a change so that the Tetris entry is converted to to an Arcade Special titled "A Tetris Tetralogy". If that doesn't work, consider this as my lobbying to Tetris in general.
The games in that series would be :
Those title were chosen for historical reason (and because when you say "original Tetris" you can say you played the actual original Tetris #pet_peeve #technically_correct), and because they are representative of the existing competitive scenes, and because of personal taste/nostalgie (my teenage years were spent with Tetris DS, and this was my first foray into competitive Tetris).
Tetris is an fractal-like in its complexity, but to guide you to some interesting part of those game I could introduce some community challenge such as:
Of course if someone reaaally like to talk about other variant of Tetris or games that uses Tetris as a basis for something else (Drop Duchy ? Tetrachroma ? Soft body Tetris ?) I wouldn't mind; but me being biaised toward high level Tetris I think this is a good selection (while still being retro).
Tetris would be a wonderful topic to focus on one month. There is so much to uncover there beyond the game itself. The story how it broke through the iron curtain, and also what other games were available and being played in the areas that were under Soviet control or influence. Or indeed, all those different variants that followed, as well as Pajitnov's own later games (Welltris was fun, and I got quite hooked on Hexic for a while).
I think you can also tell a lot about a person based on what their "definitive" version of Tetris is. For me, it's either the 1987 DOS release (so pretty) or the version that was released for Windows 3.1 (so clean and easy to read).
I love this. It’s like gaming astrology! XD
NES Tetris is my jam, to the point that I’ve got it set up on an emulator on my phone so that if I ever feel like playing it then it’s right there.
I usually bring it out when I’m waiting in a doctor’s office. For some reason I don’t fully understand, it’s the absolute perfect waiting room game.
GNU Emacs Tetris! (I'll see myself out...)
CGA is built around the idea of playing the version of a game that works for you, and if Tetris gets selected, I have no doubt that people will play a bunch of different ones rather than coalescing around one single one.
I myself have Tetrisphere earmarked for if/when it gets picked simply because it always looked cool when I was younger but I didn’t have an N64 and never got to try it. CGA would be the perfect excuse to scratch that decades-long itch!
So, I’ll keep the month as just Tetris, especially because people have already voted for it. It feels a bit dishonest of me to change their votes after the fact, and I already see it more as an umbrella choice than a specific one anyway, which I think is similar to what you’re after.
Your vision of the month being one of exploration of a broader Tetris landscape matches mine entirely. If it does get picked, I strongly encourage you to propose this again in the Insert Cartridge topic. Your Tetris expertise always impresses!
Tetrisphere is my wife's favorite video game of all time. It is also the only video game she has ever completely trounced me on. It wasn't even close lmao.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
I've plugged it a bunch of times, so instead I'm going to spend my time negative-lobbying by negging every other game. Space Rogue certainly likes to show off those two CG screenshots! Link to the Past was definitely a great baseline for improvements down the line! Most cinematic is a cool accomplishment for an interactive medium! I can't wait to play Tetris again! Yeah, that should help my cause. Thanks everyone, I'm here til Thursday. That's today? Shit!
...OK, honestly those are really all solid choices. But back to Aria of Sorrow!
I think Aria captures a goated bite of a genre as it exploded. Everyone involved was firing on all cylinders, with a few games on the GBA platform under their belt to make some interesting mistakes with. They got to a position where their experiments came out of the gate nearly pristine, some numbers balancing aside. It's everything good about the genre, accidentally compressed perfectly by the considerations to make it a mobile game; never too plodding or long, but made to feel like a big, sprawling adventure due to some excellent secret design, peaky boss fights, and a fresh spin on its own aesthetic.
This is, in my opinion, the best corporate Metroidvania got between those two series. I have quibbles with games like Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid as early adapters, for all they did. The DS trilogy oscillated between annoyingly experimental (certified Ecclesia hater, sorry) and too conservative (Dawn didn't really add much, even if it's deep in my heart). Nouveau-Metroid always seems to suffer from Nintendo's inability to balance gimmicks with the prime (ha) feeling of exploration. Right here is I think what influenced more ambitious projects like Hollow Knight to feel right, and new entries in the genre need to contend with games like Aria when they add to the recipe.
I'll say it again - with the recent death of Shutaro Ida and the announcement of a new Castlevania, what better time?
Bring that heat, Lapbunny! Take those other games down!
Speaking of which: Aria of Sorrow? Really? Don't you mean "We have Symphony of the Night at home?" XD
In all seriousness, I played Aria of Sorrow not too long ago, and it's great. I'll co-sign on it too. I liked it better than SotN (I know, I know -- I'm so controversial yet brave). The souls system (later used in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night which I also loved) is great.
I don't know how to put this without sounding like I'm putting down the Game Boy Advance (which I'm not intending to do), but the game feels bigger than its hardware. I played it on the Steam Deck and it was a perfect fit.