Colossal Game Adventure: September 2026 nominations topic
We are up for another round of nominations for Colossal Game Adventure, Tildes' very own retro video game club!
These nominations will form the ballot for the next round of voting, in which will we choose the next SIX games to play after we finish Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 this month.
Nominations for CGA do not start fresh each time. We rollover the top 50% of nominations from the previous round, and we decay their vote totals by 70%. So, many of the previously nominated games are still eligible to win in the upcoming voting.
Procedural Details
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Nominations will be open for 96 hours (4 days) from the time of this posting.
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Anyone can nominate. You do not have to have previously taken part in CGA in order to participate.
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Anyone nominating in this topic will be added to the CGA notification list if they're not already on there (unless you request otherwise).
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There is no hard definition for "retro." Choose whatever you feel fits that label.
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Games that have been nominated in the past but were cut are still eligible for nomination again. They do not get "locked out" of CGA.
Nomination Process
Everyone has the ability to take one (and ONLY one) official action for the nominations topic.
EITHER: Boost a rolled-over title.
- This will add 3 points to the title's rollover points from the previous round.
- You will also be able to add points to the game during the voting round.
- The purpose of this is to limit new nominations if there are games already in the list that strongly interest you.
OR: Nominate a new title.
- This will add a new game/arcade special to the ballot.
- An Arcade Special is a group of shorter/smaller games meant to be played together.
- Any new title starts at 0 points.
Nomination Formatting
Please do the following:
Bold your action (boosting/nominating).
If nominating, please link to your title on MobyGames. (You do not need to do this for boosting since the links are already in the list.)
Examples:
Boosting a game:
- Boost: Lode Runner
Nominating a game:
- Nomination: Portal 2
Nominating an Arcade Special:
- Nomination: Windows in the 90s
Minesweeper
Chip's Challenge
JezzBall
It is recommended (but not required) that you share why you are nominating/boosting a particular game as well.
Rollover Titles
| Game | Rollover Votes |
|---|---|
| Arcade Special: The Grue That Binds Border Zone Twisted! Zork |
7 |
| Another World | 6 |
| Arcade Special: Back in a Flash Bloons Tower Defense Line Rider Motherload QWOP Stick RPG |
5 |
| Tetris | 5 |
| Mother 3 | 5 |
| Arcade Special: The Genesis of Treasure Gunstar Heroes McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure Dynamite Headdy Alien Soldier Light Crusader |
5 |
| Descent | 5 |
| Resident Evil (REmake) | 5 |
| Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist | 5 |
| Beneath a Steel Sky | 4 |
| Crystalis | 4 |
| Maniac Mansion | 4 |
CGA Announcement: It's time to nominate titles for our next round of games! Nominations are open for the next 96 hours (4 days).
You may either BOOST a game that's on the list from last time, or you may NOMINATE a new game. Please see topic text for full directions.
Notification List
@1338
@Akir
@ali
@arctanh
@AriMaeda
@atomicshoreline
@avirse
@balooga
@BeardyHat
@Boojum
@Bwerf
@CannibalisticApple
@chocobean
@clayh
@datavoid
@Debook
@DistractionRectangle
@dotsforeyes
@dozens
@Dr_Amazing
@endymiion
@Gourd
@granfdad
@Gummy
@hamstergeddon
@IsildursBane
@J-Chiptunator
@JCPhoenix
@joshbuddy
@kaiomai
@Kawa
@kej
@kfwyre
@kingofsnake
@Kirisame
@Lapbunny
@mayonuki
@Mendanbar
@mysterylevel
@PancakeCats
@Pavouk106
@PetitPrince
@Plattypus
@polle
@preposterous
@psi
@rosco
@rubix
@Rudism
@SloMoMonday
@Sodliddesu
@Soggy
@sotix
@Spore_Prince
@SpruceWillis
@squidwiz
@talklittle
@ThatMartinFellow
@tomorrow-never-knows
@Trobador
@Venko
@vili
@Weldawadyathink
@Wes
@xk3
@zod000
If you would like to be added or removed from the Notification List, please PM u/kfwyre.
CGA Announcement: I forgot to give everyone a 24 hour warning on the Nominations Topic, so here's a 4 hour warning instead. Please get your boosts/nominations in soon!
After the close of nominations, I will post a new Lobbying Topic where you can argue for/against certain games and try to sway other people's votes.
Following the close of that, I will post a new Voting Topic where we will decide on the next six months of games.
(Also, because I whiffed the 24-hour warning, I will accept late submissions here for the next 24 hours -- just know that they'll lose some lobbying time.)
Notification List
@1338
@Akir
@ali
@arctanh
@AriMaeda
@atomicshoreline
@avirse
@balooga
@BeardyHat
@Boojum
@Bwerf
@CannibalisticApple
@chocobean
@clayh
@datavoid
@Debook
@DistractionRectangle
@dotsforeyes
@dozens
@Dr_Amazing
@endymiion
@Gourd
@granfdad
@Gummy
@hamstergeddon
@IsildursBane
@J-Chiptunator
@JCPhoenix
@joshbuddy
@kaiomai
@Kawa
@kej
@kfwyre
@kingofsnake
@Kirisame
@Lapbunny
@mayonuki
@Mendanbar
@mysterylevel
@PancakeCats
@Pavouk106
@PetitPrince
@Plattypus
@polle
@preposterous
@psi
@rosco
@rubix
@Rudism
@SloMoMonday
@Sodliddesu
@Soggy
@sotix
@Spore_Prince
@SpruceWillis
@squidwiz
@talklittle
@ThatMartinFellow
@tomorrow-never-knows
@Trobador
@Venko
@vili
@Weldawadyathink
@Wes
@xk3
@zod000
If you would like to be added or removed from the Notification List, please PM u/kfwyre.
Boost Mother 3. I've bounced off it before since I lost a flash cart, would like to give it an honest try.
Nomination: Donkey Kong 64
I've never played it but always wanted to. It's also no secret that I love a good recompilation, and one was just released for this that makes it more accessible with modern quality of life features all while staying true to the original game.
Nomination: Arcade Special: Spooky Mansion Adventures
Maniac Mansion
5 Days a Stranger
Alone in the Dark
Question before I choose what game to boost: does anyone have suggestions for additional spooky mansion games to go with Maniac Mansion (or maybe just similar "spooky" games)? Seems like a Spooky Mansion Arcade Special could be a fun theme!
The first that come to mind for me are 5 Days a Stranger, and Alone in the Dark. That could be a fun theme for October!
Both of those seem perfect! And funilly enough, you'd suggested 5 Days a Stranger way back when I first nominated Maniac Mansion, which is what spawned my idea of a Spooky Mansion Arcade Special.
Oh that’s funny, good memory!
The 13th Guest is very old and clunky, but fits the vibe.
Do you mean The 7th Guest? That could work!
Oh, yes. Sorry about that. I was conflating it with its sequel, the 13th hour. Thank you for the correction.
Ditto for Realms of the Haunting.
Definitely fits, though of the games suggested so far, it has the longest time on How Long to Beat, clocking in at over 11 hours. And, as both you and @vili have noted in the past, that estimate can be off for older games and they can take much longer to beat. So I'm a bit wary of adding it to an Arcade Special.
Friday the 13th, Castle of Terror, Project Firestart and The Rocky Horror Show are all, like Maniac Mansion, spooky or horror themed Commodore 64 games set (at least to some extent) in a large building.
Or, if you wanted to go with horror themed adventure games, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Phantasmagoria and the already mentioned The 7th Guest and 5 Days a Stranger come to my mind first. But I feel each of these (including Maniac Mansion) would be long enough to carry a month on their own.
I think I'll stick to the Spooky Mansion theme. Interesting games though! Project Firestart particularly reminded me of Another World with that opening. (Honestly, we could have a Spooky Commodore 64 Arcade Special in the future.) I can also get behind nominating I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream as a standalone for a future CGA. I saw a video of AM's monologue at the start, and it is CHILLING.
Phantasmagoria seems like it'd fit the Spooky Mansion theme though! I'm looking at the How Long to Beat site, particularly the completion page since they have some notes and stats based on user submissions, to get an idea on how complex they all actually are. At the very least, Phantasmagoria clocks in at less time 7th Guest, and the playtimes seem a bit more consistent. They still clock in at about 7 hours minimum each, which I agree seems long for an Arcade Special.
Given that, I think I've figured out the titles for an Arcade Special. So thanks!
So I just nominated an Arcade Special based on the suggestions, and consulting the completion notes on How Long To Beat for an idea of the playtime.
The three for the proposed special are Maniac Mansion, 5 Days a Stranger, and Alone in the Dark. They all have fairly consistent times bases on the HLTB data, generally maxing out at around 6 hours.
On that note, a question: how do rollover votes work when a previously nominated game gets added to an Arcade Special?
I think it makes the most sense to keep the votes intact. People wanted to play Maniac Mansion last time, and they still get the opportunity to do so, only now it comes with two bonus games too!
So, the 4 points for Maniac Mansion will simply become 4 points for Spooky Mansion Adventures.
I was looking through old horror titles to see if I could find anything else, and I learned that the late great Tim Curry starred in a 90s FMV adventure game: Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster.
I'm not necessarily suggesting we play it, as its availability is quite low. It was released only on PC, Mac, and Sega Saturn, and has fallen fully into abandonware status. Nevertheless, I thought I'd mention it here simply because I'm surprised I'd never heard of this before (especially as someone with a decent pulse on 90s adventure games).
Nomination: Ratchet & Clank
A great third person shooter on the PS2 that still holds up well today. Due to the art style the graphics do not look overly dated, and the gameplay is pretty solid. Only takes about 10hrs to beat, so a good size for a month play through. Plus, a wide variety of different weapon types, allowing for a variety of playstyles.
Nomination: StarCraft
Nomination: Wizball
One of Commodore 64’s most inventive games, a surrealist blend of bouncy movement, a scrolling shooter, exploration, resource collection and upgrades management. The once vibrant Wizworld has turned dull and monochrome after the evil forces of Zark sucked out all of its colour. In this game, which I can only describe as the most prog rock game made for the C64, it is up to you (a wizard who has turned into a green ball) to bring colour back to the world. Both utterly baffling and joyfully brilliant in equal measure.
Nomination: Ys Origin
A fun action-adventure RPG from 2006, now with modern ports on PC/Switch/PS4/PSV/XBO ($5 on Steam currently). Especially once the series went 3D, Ys makes for an interesting counterpoint to the Zelda series in that it's all about speed! It feels kind of like an arcade game meets Zelda in that it rewards you for aggressively chaining from one pack of enemies to the next and mowing them down as quickly as possible, while rocking out to up-tempo music and arcade-like sound effects.
Origin is a nice entry point for the series in that it's a distant prequel, and it's relatively short and linear (so not too much of a commitment). You start at a base camp at the entrance to an enormous demonic tower and try to make your way through the different sections to the top. And if you finish early in the month, there are multiple playable characters, each with a very different play style and a slightly different story for their route.
Boost: Tetris
Boost: Arcade Special: The Grue That Binds
Boost: Crystalis
Boosting because this game is fairly unknown these days and was ahead of its time. I'd love a reason to play it again
Boost Mother 3Boosting because I've never played itCan only boost a single game apparently, sorry about that.
I love the enthusiasm, but please pick only one to boost.
Boost: Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist
Nomination: Sonic the 3D Hedgehog
Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure 2
Despite playing a lot of these two 3D platformers from the GameCube era, I never reached the true endings for both. The CGA event would be a great chance to give them a proper whirl, and it could spark some interesting discussion about Sega's early, notable take on 3D Sonic gameplay in light of later installments.
Also, you can still buy these two games on Steam, and mod Sonic Adventure DX to smooth out many of its rough edges.
I'd play Sonic 3D again just for the criminally underrated soundtrack. Those SSG flourishes in stage 1-2 are just chef's kiss.
Oh wait, that's not what you meant.... 😿
Sonic 3D Blast is a bit of a misleading title, not gonna lie. Despite the name, it isn't a true 3D platformer; it's a top-down/isometric platformer that uses pre-rendered 3D sprites (similar to Donkey Kong Country) instead of real 3D environments.
That's why I haven't included it in the Arcade Special so far. The two games already in the list each take a fairly substantial amount of time to finish. If both of them ends up in the top 6, I'd encourage players to beat either Sonic Adventure 1 or Sonic Adventure 2 whenever that month arrives, depending on whether you prefer more oddity or more refinement.
That said, both Adventure games have fantastic soundtracks in their own ways. The first one, in particular, has a cool, dreamy, and energetic vibe that really captured my early-2000s feeling of a bold, new, and energetic outlook on the future, something I couldn't ignore for the rest of the decade.
Boost: Mother 3
One of the retro games I enjoyed playing the most
Boost: Resident Evil (REMake)
Been mulling over what I want to do for several days now and thinking I wanted to boost Descent or maybe nominate a classic DOS or Windows game, but I've been busy and haven't had much time to think on it.
So instead, I'm coming in and boosting something I've been wanting to play for awhile now anyway.
Boost: Zork
Boost: Crystalis
Boost : Tetris