Need your help, what are your 10 games for the 16-32-64 bit consoles?

Hello Emuparadise Universe!

I grew up with Atari 2600, NES, Sega Master System, and Gameboy. I didn't have a Genesis, SNES, or Turbo Graphics, and for a few years, all I did was play Metallica tabs on guitar and headband. PC gaming happened in high school, and for 1-2 blissful summers, my friends and I were hooked on Ultima 7, Dune II, and anything Lucas Arts or Sierra Games.

In the blur of 20 years, my inner-gamer took a backseat as punk rock, college, marriage, and children happened. But a few years ago, when I was driving home from work, I found myself wandering the aisles in a lonely Blockbuster and was overwhelmed by the impulse to buy a PS3. I bought it home and almost overnight, we were dumping cable. Today, it is the center of our entertainment center. I play daily with my boys who are 6 & 8... probably too much.

Thanks Emuparadise, we have been (re)discovering all of the 8-bit classics on my laptop, including a few surprises. (I remember playing Pitfall II on Atari, and it was awesome to discover Boy and His Blob on NES and get to enjoy it with my boys. Jelly beans taught them how to read!)

Today I realized that I missed much of the 16-32-64 bit era of games. I played some Genesis and PlayStation, but am lost when it comes to SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Cube, Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, Gameboy Advance. The ROM collections are great, but can be like a maze. I'd like to ask for guidance on where to begin.

I know it can be hard to pick favorites, but the top-100 lists are too much. If you were only allowed to play 10 games from 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit eras, what would they be?

This next question should probably be another post, but if you grew up with an Amiga, Commodore 64, or Atari ST, what 10-games would you recommend?

Thank you for any comments in advance!

Daniel.Human

My first system was the Intellivision actually and can name some games for that if you want?

As for the others am I correct in assuming you would like some games named that you can play with your boys??? Somethings relatively age friendly???

SNES:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in time. In fact one of the speech samples - Prehistoric Turtlesaurus! has been a tagline of mine in the Hangout here for quite some time. Great game.

Donkey Kong Country. In fact there are also two sequels but the first remains my fave. Again you can play 2 player but must remain on screen together which can be a bit difficult. I recommend one player and just pass on the controller every level or death. Either way promotes teamwork. Great visuals for the time with the added bonus of fantastic gameplay to go along with it.

Mariokart. The original is still good and 2 player to boot!! But the N64 version I like better which I will mention later on.

N64:

The cool thing about the N64 was the ability to have up to 4 players right from the console itself so you can all play at once. I'll try to list 4 player games.

For multiplayer nothing of course beats Goldeney 007. May be a little too violent though but given that in this day and age the graphics are hardly realistic anymore. Your choice on that one. Switching out in the single player campaign can be fun too!

Mariokart 64: I love this game and still play a couple tracks now and then. Smooth play with clean graphics.

Mario Party: There are a few of these for the N64. What can I say but fun for the whole family!!! Bring the wife in on this one to for 4 player action!!!

Gamecube:

Pretty much more of the same as the N64 but updated graphics etc. It has it's own versions of Mariokart and Marioparty for example.


The legend of Zelda Windwaker. Not quite an rpg which I don't recommend for playing with others especially kids in the first place but this is more of a charming action adventure with a cel-shaded cartoon style the kids would be able to get into. And it's not terribly hard.
Single player only though.

Super Smash Brothers. A fighting game in a way but with Nintendo characters and extra modes of play. Not exactly handled like your typical Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. It's more kid friendly I guess you could say. There was an N64 version but this is the one to start with IMO.

Ummm will have to come back to Cube games. There are alot of fun FPS and fighting games though like Timesplitters 2 and Soul Calibur 2

Can't really think of anything for the Dreamcast that can be played multi and with kids. I have my personal faves like Marvel vs Capcom 2, RE: Code Veronica and Sonic Adventure though. Maybe Vigilante 2nd offense??!??

Never had a Saturn so can't speak to that. And gameboy advance is almost redundant when factoring the other Nintendo systems. Unless you're a Pokemon fanatic stick with the consoles and not the handleheld garbage.


Phew!

You're leaving out specifics, like genre. I could list dozens of games for the SNES alone, but without knowing what you want, most of them could be tossed out because you don't, for example, like RPGs. More over, what about games that have fan translations? My sitting here and suggesting, say, Fire Emblem 3 would be for naught if you don't want to apply patches or find a translated ROM.

Ten games limit is nothing. Miniscule amount. You will be undoubtedly missing out on many, many great games by approaching this subject like that. How about rounding up your criteria first? For example: choose a platform, genre, then sort out all low rated games, surf through those that are left and pick anything that catches your interest.
If I would be asked about my top 10 picks for any console, I would have hopelessly stumbled (because I simply can't pick only 10... or any amount at all, because I can (and will) leave something out) and then ended up with 90% of those picks being RPGs.

Thanks Zaladane, thanks for all of the great recommendations, you totally nailed it. I'm primarily playing with my boys, who are Kindergarten and 2nd grade. Mario Party and Mario Cart and Turtles in Time will be hits. Also, I heard the gamepad controllers work great on Intellivision games. Maybe I should check some of them out. What games did you play?

Also, thanks for everyone's comments. Regarding genre, I tend to come back to the 2-player or multiplayer games. Games definitely need to be something that wife won't hit me over the head if kids start playing all the time. Platformers and exploring are always fun. Bashing button shooting games ike Contra are great, and puzzlers like Dr. Mario go over well too. Although, Tetris bombed. My eldest is a 2nd grader and still learning to read, RPGs may not hold his attention span. He loves Zelda, but not sure if that counts. Can't do 1st person shooters like Doom II and GTA. I'm sure that they would enjoy, but I would be sleeping with the dog!

Ya it may not not be the best idea to expose the youngins to GTA/Saintsrow and CoD :lol

That would be great to get them hooked on the classics and such.

Care to throw us a few Genres and all that and the rest of us may be able to throw you some game recommendations too?

Need to narrow the game pool. :P