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Games that remind you why you love playing games

The Yakuza series. Reminds me of some of the charming Japanese games I would play when I was younger. The arcade combat to the long dramatic cinematics. I love it.
 
Basically any game that gets me thinking about it when i'm not playing it, right now that would be XCom2 and has been Dota2 for the past 2 years
 
I was in a bit of a Gradius/Parodius fever lately and playing through every single one again made me realize how I just love fast-paced, condensed action and fun.
Fun is more important in a game than anything else.

The Parodius series itself is made out of 100% pure fun, both in what it looks like and what it feels like.
You can't help but grin everytime you realize that you're flying a Penguin/Octopus/Baby/whatever through space shooting at Moai heads, chicks, crabs and especially other Penguins/Octopi/Babies/whatevers.
It's games like these that make me realize again and again that video games are awesome and fun. And fun is why I play video games in the first place.
 
Basically any 4 player co-op game with local multiplayer option:

Rayman Origins and Legends
Castle Crashers
New Super Mario Bros Series
Super Mario 3d World
Kirby: Return to dreamland
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Konami arcade beat em ups
Lef 4 Dead 1 & 2
Borderlands Series
The marvel RPG games(the Xmen Legends and MUA series)
 
There are many, and first post nails it with Nintendo, but atm, playing through Grand Theft Auto V in first person (99%) exclusively is hitting that childhood feeling of joy and wonder that comes with having a big massive landmass to explore. PS3/3rd person didn't do much for me, but with the PC version, I'm complete absorbed in the world and manipulating it for no better reason than just to see what happens.

Also, diving out of planes on an ATV is something I need to experience in VR to test the limits of what I can handle.
 
Well most recently Alien Isolation, Ratchet and clank: tools of destruction (waaay lttp on that game, lol) and Until Dawn has rekindled my fire for videogames.
Not that I have ever been completely down on games at any point since I started playing them. It's just that sometimes with some games I feel like I have to force myself to play them or I just don't feel a strong urge to return to them after putting them down for a while.
Those 3 games I mention above were played back to back and I felt that they were all games that I really enjoyed almost their entire run time and games which I really felt addicted to. It also helps they were all very different from each other and memorable in their own ways.
Tips from a wizened gamer: If you play more than one game at any one time make sure they are all very different from each other and don't play more than two single player games (especially story focused ones) at a time. Also if you are not enjoying a game don't immediately drop them. I have found so may games have a few rough /boring patches and worth perservering with. Just like movies or books. If you feel like you have given them enough time and know that the game will be basically similar to what you have already experienced then by all means drop them and move onto something else. Don't ever force yourself to play a game just to see the ending / get all those achievements / justify your money. You will be losing something even more valuable by doing that - your precious time.
 
I just bought Borderlands 2. I played the first one on XBOX, but didn't enjoy it enough to get past the first couple hours. I've been playing BL 2 for the last three nights straight and can't get it out of my head. It has a lot of the parts that I don't like about games (bad story/characters, bullet sponge enemies, crappy vehicle controls), but overall it's just really good dumb fun shooting stuff and getting new loot.

Having said that, I've really been enjoying everything I've played as of late. Life is Strange, Rocket League, Fallout 4 and Metroid Fusion all remind me of different things that I really love about video games.
 
I've been watching my SO play through Assassin's Creed 2 for the first time this weekend. She gave up about a 1/3rd of the way through AC1, but I can't get her to stop playing AC2 now. Really brought me back to how much I loved that particular entry in the series.
 
Bloodborne

Just had a week off work and spent the first few days having a miserable time with every game I played (primarily fallout 4) then I fired up the old hunters dlc finally and all was right in the world.
 
Soulsborne games and XCOM. Everything right about gaming, complicated systems with a focus on gameplay that don't hold your hand.
 
Twinkle Star Sprites for me. Just pure, no nonsense fun either with my mates or just against the CPU. The end boss fight is just so intense.
 
Xcom 2 doing this for me lately.

It's the first new release in probably 4 years I've been itching to get home so I can play more of it.
 
Metal Gear Rising. It's just pure joy on a disc. Easy to learn, hard to master. Masterfull mechanics. Crazy, original and stylized to a T.

And makes you feel like an absolute badass to boot.
 
For me Tetris always helps restore the faith, but in the vein of more recent years, well...

Off the top of my head, Gone Home, Demon's Souls, Bioshock, Gunpoint, and any good fighting game with local multiplayer functionality. Seriously, those couches become memory lanes of high-octane, flashback-riddled fragments of blood, sweat, and leftover lingerie once you really dive into it.
 
Another vote for MGR and pretty much all Platinum games. Also, Souls/BB, and most everything from Nintendo. I love games that put top notch gameplay at the forefront. It reminds me why I love playing games.
 
I feel like a broken record with these kind of lists, but Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3, are some of the reasons why I love videogames.

Just being in a whole other world like that makes me forget about real life if only for a short time. Not that there's anything wrong with real life most of the time, but it's nice to just pretend that you're a hero that can do impossible things sometimes.
 
Gravity Rush Gravity Gravity Rush!

and Bloodborne and MGSV. Those are my standouts so far this gen for pure fun with a game's core mechanics. Each scratch itches that can't, or at least haven't been replicated by any other game, much less medium.
 
Outrun 2 / 2006, Tearaway and Crazy Taxi, for the gorgeous colours

Yakuza games because Kamurocho is full of fun things to do, and real-life Kabukicho is near where I live.

Mario games and Mario Karts, again for the colours and the gameplay which is always fun.

Syndicate and Black Flag for the settings.

Test Drive Unlimited and Pilotwings 64 for the freedom and the no pressure go anywhere gameplay.

Parodius, Katamari Damashi and Ready 2 Rumble for their silliness and humour.

Theme Park because it's so addictive and relaxing.
 
Recently Splatoon and Super Mario 3D World. So much fun on the screen. There's also Mario Maker that really made me appreciate gamedesign.

Super Mario 64 is probably still the most important one. A complete shift in perspective and I never got bored replaying it.
 
Rockstar open worlds give me that feeling.

I think it's mainly the conscious knowledge that they lovingly craft their worlds before adding missions, as opposed to designing by checklist and using every area as a "have we got X area for Y mechanic" kind of thing.

Knowing a tons of the map is there entirely just for groundedness and your exploration is great, and there's a reason I have hundreds of hours on multiple GTA games on multiple platforms.
 
Dragon Fin Soup has been doing it for me this last week. Playing it on Vita and I feel like I'm 12 years old playing Secret of Mana and Brain Lord again. Not say it's GOAT material, but it's taking me where I want to go and giving me the high I like.
 
Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Tropical Freeze, Metal Gear Solid 1-2-3, Devil May Cry 1-3-4
Games like that always remind me that it's a freaking great hobby.
 
IMO, Any game that has me thinking about it when I don't play it qualifies in this topic for myself. Most recently:

Trails in the Sky SC
Trails of Cold Steel
Undertale
Danganronpa 1 and 2
999 and Virtue's Last Reward
Super Mario Maker
Steins;Gate
Xenoblade Chronicles
Persona 3/4
Shin Megami Tensei 4
Super Mario 3D World
Ys Seven
Ys Celceta
 
Because I love vivid, cartoony games:
Ratchet and Clank
LittleBigPlanet
Tearaway
Puppeteer
Sly Cooper
Rayman


Because I'm a music junkie:
Rock Band
140
Sound Shapes
Fract OSC

Because I like cool, sci-fi weapons and unique, innovative mechanics:
Resistance
Dead Space
Alan Wake
The Order: 1886
Velocity
Resogun
 
Here's just a few I (re)played last year:

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