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Greatest Game Mechanics of All Time?

K

Kiro

Member
I was watching a video from Mark Brown on Ori and he mentions that Ori's Bash should be in The Hall of Fame for Great Video Game Mechanics. He then mentions a few others, such as long-jump from Mario 64, High Time in DMC and Glory Kills in DOOM.

What game mechanics do you think would be good additions to this hall of fame, and why?

I would nominate Samus' Speed Booster. It changes each game that it is implemented in, it can be activated fairly easily, but not always. Speed Boost is also very fun to use, very powerful, but has a lot of skill involved to master it.
 
J

James Scott

Banned
BOTW's climbing. It's pretty subtle, but it changes how you see the world quite a bit.

Bayonetta's Witch time is another one.
 
S

StanleyPalmtree

Banned
Bayonetta's witch time
its a mechanic that takes every part of the games already great combat and enhances it in a perfectly challenging/rewarding way. its also fun as hell.

EDIT: you know this thread was empty when i started typing
 
B

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
The slide mechanic from Vanquish.

Really satisfying to execute and it went on to become a staple of the TPS/FPS genres.
 
P

Perineum

Member
The mechanics behind Psycho Mantis in MGS1 is peak for games as a genre.

To this day even Kojima hasn't topped himself with that although he has tried with things like The End in MGS3.
 
U

Unicorn

Member
grip mechanic in Shadow of the Colossus

Air control and hitbox stuff in Rocket League

Gain levels by doing in Elder Scrolls games

Parkour running in Prototype; and hold-button for stronger action (jump, hit, etc.) in Hulk: Ultimate Destruction/Prototype

Cursor-driven lightsaber combat in Jedi Knight series (Outcast and Academy) - parry and deflect attacks by lining up cursor/saber with opponents attacks.

Jet-knees + Slo-Mo in Vanquish

Wave Dash in Marvel (Mag-fuckin-neto) and Melee (also in Rivals of Aether for ease of use)

Kinship Attacks in Monster Hunter Stories.

Database/attribute system in Scribblenauts. Having things have authentic reactions with other things
 
R

randomkid

Member
a full row of flashing press turn icons in SMT3 and the ??-chain pop in Tetris Attack are two of the most satisfying things to experience in all videogames
 
M

MiamiWesker

Member
Over the shoulder aim in RE4/5, it's perfect and allows for incredible precision during the action. It doesn't work without how your characters move and the actions they can perform but it's still the key to these games being some of the best action games ever.
 
R

Rickenslacker

Banned
Blade Mode.

For precision strikes

smtctmb.gif


Or going ham

raiden92notsmallffkl4.gif


It's the one combat finisher I've had the most satisfaction with, it lets you put a real personal touch on things aside from "PRESS BUTTON RECEIVE KILL" that other games opt for.
 
N

Nilua

Member
Those melee finishers in RE4

The whole idea of the combat in Fatal Frame - so underrated, so perfect for a horror game
 
LoganKnight4949

LoganKnight4949

Member
Destiny's shooting mechanics.

Heck, Bungie's shooting mechanics/combat in general. They always make it buttery smooth even at 30FPS. Can't wait to play Destiny 2 on PC at 60+.

That pew pew is what makes us come back and do the same shit over and over and over again.
 
T

The Xtortionist

Member
The roll jump in Retro's DKC games. It cracks the level design wide open, and feels amazing to pull off. DK launches across the screen like a cannonball with just the right weight and momentum.
 
K

Keikaku

Member
In no particular order:
- Portal gun from Portal. This literally changes the way you look at the whole game and no other game can ever really replicate it without looking like a total and utter clone because that's exactly what it would be. Simple, elegant and used for some of the best spatial puzzles of the generation.
- Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator from Half-Life 2. Showed us how physics and material characteristics could be used and manipulated in games, in real-time. In 2004/I].
- Z-targeting from Zelda 64. I'm not 100% sure it was the first but it was definitely the most visible, smoothest example of how you can handle multi-enemy or giant enemy fights. Even going back and playing the games now, it's still just works. Set the standard for countless enemy targeting systems all the way until now and there are plenty of games that don't nail it as well as even Zelda 64 does.
- Player death mechanic from ZombiU. Honestly, this felt like the best meeting point of gameplay and narrative for me. Of course it makes sense that dying in a zombie-infested world would lead to your previous character respawing as a zombie...with your previous inventory!
- Press Turn battle mechanic from SMT series. Encourages forward thinking and combines it with strategic planning in a way that, again, just works. Plan your team right and entire fights will come and go with enemies literally unable to do anything.
- Timepiece from Dishonored 2. Just brilliant. Entire games can be built around a concept that was only used for one level in Dishonored 2. Literally as mind-blowing to me as Portal or Anit-chamber or Half-Life 2.
 
L

Laiza

Member
Blade & Soul's movement mechanics. High-jumping, super-fast sprinting, wall running, vaulting, gliding... it just feels good to move around in (at least so long as you're in an area that's not tainted by invisible walls).

I wish every game that stars a powerful protagonist would let me move like this. It just feels so good.

Exentryk said:
NieR Automata's Evade into Run mechanic has to be most smooth feeling movement ability ever!

giphy.gif
Click to expand...
Yup.

Also made me realize that all those games with no sprint have absolutely zero excuse. Mind you, the number of such games only grows smaller every year, so there's that. MMORPGs, though, are particularly guilty of being lacking in this regard (among others).
 
I

Interficium

Banned
Color changing in Ikaruga.

Fatalities in Mortal Kombat.

Separate board/body controls in Skate.

Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2.

Bullet time in Max Payne.

Aim assist and bullet magnetism in Halo.
 
A

alt27

Member
Im not sure glory kills from Doom should be in there, they were fun initially but got a bit old for me as it slowed the pace down somewhat.

Anyway, bullet time in Max Payne was cool
 
Exentryk

Exentryk

Member
Bravely Second's Spellcraft is the single best ability I have experienced ever in turn-based combat systems.

Basically, Spellcraft is a modification to spells, and there are various types.Some of them can turn a simple Fire spell to do various things, like
  • Modify a spell to make it affect multiple targets.
  • Modify a spell to deal damage as physical rather than magical damage.
  • Inflict effect over multiple turns
  • Modify a spell so that it is always cast at the beginning of a turn.
  • etc.
The amount of cool stuff you can do with this are insane! You can set up a wall modification on enemies such that every time you hit them, you get healed fully, lol. You can set up a Revive spell to trigger at the end of each turn, etc.
 
P

PensivePen

Member
I think juggling would deserve to be included. The necessary combination of reaction time and a deep understanding of move properties in fighting or action games needed to string together successive hits and keep enemies off the ground is deeply rewarding. It's visually impressive, satisfying to pull off and affords all sorts of room for player experimentation and creativity.
 
A

ASaiyan

Banned
The grappling hook in Titanfall 2. Other games have definitely done it, but this one perfects it. Makes movement feel absolutely amazing.
 
N

NewGame

Banned
- Double jump
- Wall jump
- Timing an input to get a better result (Speed reloads, extra damage in Paper Mario etc)
- Power slides
- Hitting with only 1% chance
- Screaming at the TV when you miss with 99%
 
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