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[Opa-Pa]

Metroid Prime 2. People tend to call the game punishing, which I find humorous given that they want their Metroid to be dark and atmospheric (but easy too apparently).

I appreciate what they tried to do and still liked the game in spite of it, but damn the dark aether was no fun at all. My favorite things from Prime 1 was exploring pretty environments at my own pace and getting excited to backtrack and try my new power ups in previous areas, but the sequel has half of the game look the same all while draining your HP constantly. It sucked, I think it's the only Metroid game I've liked that I don't really want to replay ever again because of that.

Ironically tho, it has my favorite escape sequence in the series, with a cool remix and all. So cool.

 

[HereticJ]

Glad to see XCOM 2 mentioned. I was saddened to see so many mod the timer out.

Fallout 1 and the water chip countdown is one of my favorite examples of timers in games done right. It's not hard to beat the timer but not knowing that on the first playthrough provides good motivation.

Wasteland 2 has quite a few time-sensitive quests as well.

 

[InsaneTiger]

I felt the timer was unnecessary in LR, but then again LR in general felt unnecessary.

 

[User 479360]

I really need to buy The Crew.

 

[Cave Johnson]

I like the OG Driver games. Their timer missions are some of the most intense in a car chase scene.

 

[joms5]

There was a time when Pikmin 2 was seen as the better Pikmin game, I have to admit I used to think that too. But I've changed heart and do think it's the worst Pikmin game. I'm glad others are seeing that too.

Maybe it's just me but I always thought Pikmin 2 was the worst game. It had recycled assets everywhere in the game. Hell most of the levels were just variations on the worlds from the first game.

Lazy design written all over Pikmin 2.

 

[chrominance]

I forgot all about the Atelier series. I beat Totori and loved the time mechanic so much I bought the rest on Vita. Though I hear the newer ones don't have a timer.

They don't, not since Shallie. Sophie's the first one that actually feels okay to play without the time constraint, though.

The earlier PS3-era Atelier games are some of my favourites, partially because of the time pressure. The first playthrough is always about figuring out the things you need to do to finish on time, and then the NG+ playthrough is for thoroughly breaking everything and seeing how much faster you can get everything accomplished.

 

[Anteater]

JET SET RADIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

It's pretty much always bad for me.

Even in Majora's Mask, it ruined dungeons like Stone Tower Temple where you'd likely not be able to finish and have to start over. The time system allowed for absolutely fantastic sidequests though. All the moving parts keeping schedules through the 3 day period allowed for really nice complexity.

Majora's Mask was based around being able to control time and start over from the beginning whenever you wanted though, so even the parts that suffered from time limits like dungeons weren't too bad. Most games aren't like this though.

 

[Opa-Pa]

I can't believe I forgot Half Minute Hero. This game is genius and so damn funny.

 

[Hazaro]

Assault Android Cactus and XCOM 2 both come to mind.
Battery and the intention of the turn timer.

 

[I am Christina Aguilera]

The BS Zelda games with timed events and the weekly time limit handle this pretty nicely. There's a lot of risk-reward "what is the most important use of my time right now" decision-making on the fly.

 

[BadWolf]

Lightning Returns.

Before starting it I was dreading the time aspect and kept wanting an option to turn it off but in the end it really added to the experience.

After a certain point in the game time no longer mattered and I was just waiting for it to pass to end the game and at that point I realized how much the time limit aspect added to my overall experience of the game with constantly trying to shave time, to get through areas faster and my approach to handling the missions. Definitely wouldn't have been the same experience without it.

I can't believe I forgot Half Minute Hero. This game is genius and so damn funny.

Amazing game.

They don't make games like this anymore.

Also awesome.

 

[Muzicfreq]

They don't make games like this anymore.

THANK GOD!
Game made no sense to me

 

[George Washington]

Rush 1, 2 and 2049; pure insanity that I miss. You just dove straight into the chaos and had to fend for yourself.

 

[Gemeanie]

They don't make games like this anymore.

Came here for this
One of the best JRPGs on PS2

 

[Brian_FETO]

Out Run and Super Hang-On

You will never see the full tracks unless you get good. Hang-On in particular is brutal

 

[Ranger X]

This was a surprisingly awesome game, and when 50 Cent BOTS followed in its footsteps it made it a better game for it.

This game was awesome and the one that came the closest to giving me a heart attack I think. Man, the rush you get perfecting those laps!

 

[Riposte]

A lot of good examples mentioned in this thread. Time limits don't deserve half the hate they get; they are one of the best ways to add meaning and depth to a game.

 

[Leynos]

I can't believe I forgot Half Minute Hero. This game is genius and so damn funny.

I came in to say that I despise timers as I feel rushed, and can't enjoy the game, but you just proved me wrong.

Half-Minute Hero, however, is the exception that proves the rule.

 

[randomkid]

harvest moon 64 is still far and away the best harvest moon because it has the fastest daily time limit

the design of the series was meant for urgent speed missions and collapses into tedium when the days drag on as they started to from PSX onward

 

[StrategyFan]

time limits are amazing in multiplayer games

symmetrical game? highest score at the end of time wins.

asymmetrical game? play 2 rounds. the winner is whichever team/player got the fastest time.
no balance issues. no whining. no devs nerfing all the fun out of the game.

 

[adelante]

I'd include the Strike series of games as well. Your heli runs on petrol that's constantly depleting so you couldn't take your time with the missions and are required to seek out fuel barrels from time to time (they're not exactly abundant either)

 

[Rodney McKay]

My favorite levels in Mario 3D Land were the ones where you are chased through the level the evil shadow Mario.

They were a lot of fun and added a real sense of urgency to those levels.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Harvest Moon is a good mention I wasn't considering.

By extension, Stardew Valley does it well too. Every day is about 7 minutes (or 15? I can't remember exactly) which ends up being just enough time to do most stuff, but not everything. This leads to a "one more day" situation where players feel compelled to get just a little bit more finished, and makes hours pass by in agricultural bliss.

XCOM 2. The limited turns made me really think about the tools at my disposal instead of just overwatching my way through the game, and it turned out to be a very satisfying experience.

Bingo. XCOM 2 subverts the way players exploit pod activation, turning it into a core game mechanic. So instead of turtling through a map, moving and overwatching every turn and slowly eliminating pod after pod, it becomes a race against time, where sometimes pods are triggered accidentally and everything goes to hell.

Jake Solomon & Co. get it, as always.

 

[Croyles]

Xcom 2 does this really well on an individual mission basis and also on the macro level of the whole campaign essentially being timed (while still being turn based obviously).

 

[chillybright]

This one has A LOT of chasing scenes. I didn't like the game that much so I wasn't too fond of the chasing either.

 

[Crab Milk Mickey]

Yeah now that you mention it, that would be a perfect combination. The Club is basically the closest thing to a mercenaries style standalone game not counting Mercs 3D

"Closest to a Mercenaries style game" without having shit balance too. That's what always bothered me about the Resident Evil ones; excluding RE6's PC exclusive No Mercy mode, spawns were somewhat random which lead to moments where enemies would be spread out too much (= lose combo chain for reasons out of your control) and there are severe power gaps between characters (+ individual loadouts) concerning the ease at which they can obtain 'competitive' leaderboard scores. While The Club's cast had strengths and weaknesses, even the slowest moving character could for example attain a top spot on the leaderboards during a race level and the game's spawns were always set in stone to a degree, which rewarded consistent gameplay if you had the finesse / execution speed to pull an ideal route off.

Very gratifying little gem to master that cut out all the fat that's become ubiquitous with Mercenaries. Shame that embracing the social aspect of leaderboards was unheard of around its release, because the ability to download in-game replays or to display an on-screen tracker consisting out of friends list entries to challenge directly were features that helped Trials HD blow up the way it did at the time.

 

[SporeCrawler]

Princess Maker.. Its not real time but you have to manage your daughters life scheduling her to do the right activities. You only have time until her 18th birthday and that is tough if you want her to be super strong in combat, super smart, super attractive and super well behaved..

But if you are too harsh she will misbehave or get sick and youll loose even more time

 

[Sad Affleck]

XCOM 2. The limited turns made me really think about the tools at my disposal instead of just overwatching my way through the game, and it turned out to be a very satisfying experience.

Oh man, I really like the Xcom games but I disagree with this. Me, my brother and four friends all played the game for tens of hours and we all agree that having a timer in almost every mission sucks. Overwatch abuse was an issue in the first Xcom but placing a timer feels like a cheap trick to hide the game's design flaws. Some times the random map generation could really screw you over and you ended up with missions that were unwinnable due to there being no realistic way to reach the objective in time.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Pandora's tower works because you really care about the reason there is a timer, the game will always go out of its way to make you care for the reason.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I hate the timer in dead Rising and it was the reason I stopped playing the series after 2. Hearing that it is going to be removed by default now is the first time I'm interested in the game in ages

 

[cireza]

I also prefer the first Jet Set Radio game.

Crazy Taxi is another good Dreamcast example. You are fighting against the timer, trying to gain 1 or 2 seconds after each course.

 

[Greddleok]

Metroid Prime 2. People tend to call the game punishing, which I find humorous given that they want their Metroid to be dark and atmospheric (but easy too apparently).

Prime 2 just expects you to have played Prime already. Would be an easier curve if you had.

 

[Pookmunki]

Guilty Gear's Negative Edge mechanic punishes turtling and improves the flow of battle by doing so, i think that counts as an example.

 

[WarRock]

I can't believe I forgot Half Minute Hero. This game is genius and so damn funny.

Hero 300 is one of the best videogame experiences I've ever had. The time limit ties into both the recurring mechanic of the game as it does into the overall plot you've explored into separate instances between each 30 mode, all while that delicious soundtrack pushes you into saving the world.

Guilty Gear's Negative Edge mechanic punishes turtling and improves the flow of battle by doing so, i think that counts as an example.

Negative penalty. Negative edge is another thing =P

 

[Pookmunki]

Hero 300 is one of the best videogame experiences I've ever had. The time limit ties into both the recurring mechanic of the game as it does into the overall plot you've explored into separate instances between each 30 mode, all while that delicious soundtrack pushes you into saving the world.


Negative penalty. Negative edge is another thing =P

Oops, yeah that!

 

[DSix]

I'm going to assume Majora's Mask is going to get a lot of love in here.

Majora's Mask is the poster boy of not just doing it right, but also enhancing the whole game with it, making its world feel alive.

 

[User 479360]

 

[FC Bayern]

Honestly once you learn the reverse song of time and learn how to micro manage the side quest you pretty much have all the time in the world.

Still a great game though.

Yep. Although I remember many fits of rage trying to do that 3 day quest to get the sun mask? (the one with the lovers). Text guides never prepared you for the final part, which you only get one chance at IIRC.

The 3DS version is in my backlog, but I'm sure it'l seem like a joke compared to when I was 9 or 10. Most things that I've replayed that I struggled with as a kid seem fairly straight forward or trivial now which is weird, considering the time I spent playing games back then compared to now.

 

[capitalCORN]

MOTHERFUCKIN' PAINKILLER. There's a horde of monsters on your ass. There's no place to hide, only the sweet surrender to bunnyhopping like a maniac, while unleashing the most satisfying arsenal known to man.

In the same vein, MOTHERFUCKIN' ABUSE. There's no room to think, no corridor narrow enough, just the most pure form of run and gun taking down the hordes. Every fight a narrow escape from death.

 

[Weltall Zero]

I really like games that give you a time dynamic, but you're still free to choose how you approach it.

Risk of Rain for example, gets harder and harder the longer you take.
So you can either take your time gathering items to increase your chances as things get hectic, or you can rush to the endgame to try and keep it relatively manageable but still risk being underpowered.

Perfect example. Roguelikes and lites in general need to have some sort of limiting mechanic to prevent the player from grinding and making the game trivial. One easy way is to make enemies non-respawning, of course, but that encourages the player to find and kill every last enemy, which is the opposite of hurrying them and makes them a chore.

In traditional roguelikes this is most often energy/hunger, where each action consumes a part of it and there are very limited ways to recover it. Conversely roguelites tend to devise their own mechanics:

• FTL has the rebel fleet, that sweeps the sector from left to right and converts any node they touch into a very hard fight with zero rewards.
• Spelunky has the ghost. This is a somewhat controversial mechanic because it turns gems it touches into diamonds, so on high-level score runs the optimal way to play is to evade it and have it run over as many gems as possible, which is rather unfun (probably the only generally agreed flaw in an otherwise nearly perfect game).
• Invisible, Inc. has a 72 hour time limit for the larger scope (with each mission taking 5-12 hours depending on distance), and rising alarm levels for each mission.
• Desktop Dungeons mostly lets you recover HP by exploring new tiles (of which there are only a screenful of), which turns them into one of the most important resources in the game. The other ways to recover are either limited items or rely on mana, which also recovers by exploring.
• One Way Heroics has the screen constantly moving right and crushing you if you fall behing (I believe it also has hunger, not sure right now).

Half Minute Hero. This game is genius and so damn funny.[/QUOTE]

OK, that one is the best example ever. Other games might be at least imaginable, if unfun, without time limits, but HMH would be entirely pointless without it.

 

[Maximus P]

Quite recently Overcooked

That shit got intense when i played it co-op with 3 other friends.

'JUST PASS ME THE DAMNED LETTUCE!!!'

Great fun.

 

[gelf]

I also prefer the first Jet Set Radio game.

Crazy Taxi is another good Dreamcast example. You are fighting against the timer, trying to gain 1 or 2 seconds after each course.

Definitely. Also I'd say the more pressured arcade mode in CT where every completed fare adds valuable seconds is a lot more fun then the flat timer modes that let you play more leisurely if you really want to.

 

[cireza]

Definitely. Also I'd say the more pressured arcade mode in CT where every completed fare adds valuable seconds is a lot more fun then the flat timer modes that let you play more leisurely if you really want to.

I agree. I always play in this mode. Depending on your skill, it can last for a pretty long time.

 

[Jawmuncher]

There was a timer in this? I do remember it being a lot of fun though.

 

[semiconscious]

Catherine.

One of the common criticisms this game had from people who weren't good at it was that players didn't have enough time to solve the block puzzles at their own pace because there were elements rushing the player like a nightmare boss chasing you or the stage falling apart. I absolutely loved this element of the game, and made complete sense narratively, conceptually and mechanically.

The nightmare segments in Catherine wouldn't have been nearly as appropriately harrowing had it not been for the need to hurry.

i pretty much hate any/all 'time-ticking'-related gameplay. except for in this one game. which i love tremendously ...

 

[nkarafo]

The time "limit" in Majora's Mask is used to put all NPCs and events on a schedule. This whole system depends on that limit and it's why Majora's Mask is so awesome. You couldn't have NPCs on a schedule scripted like this if you had unlimited time (because it's like asking for a game to have unlimited scripted content) so this was necessary. Emulating a few days of unique events and script the lives of a few NPCs during that (finite) amount of time is possible though.

However, it doesn't really rush the player. Pretty early in the game you learn how to control time. You can just use the slow down time song and you are set. There is no way to not be able to finish any dungeon within the slowed time limit, you get almost 3 hours per time cycle. Who needs more than that to finish a single Zelda dungeon? Even the OOT Water Temple doesn't need that much.

 

[MoonFrog]

So, play the Atelier games that do not have a time limit ? There's Shallie and Sophie for you.



I just replayed MP2 and there was no timer or any mechanic with it.

Unless it's something well hidden that I never realized during my playthrough.

EDIT: Forgot the last boss part. I defeated her and the timer had less than a second when I gave the last shot.
It was on hypermode, so it was the only time I was actually felt pressured.

The time system is the dying to Dark Aether atmosphere.

Think Boost Ball boss.

 

[Piers]

Boxhead, man.
That flash game was intense in terms of keeping the multiplier combo up.