EVERYBODY VOTES 2 PART I: THE SELECTBUTTON.NET TOP 64 VIDCONS 2020 (voting closes september 15, 2020, midnight cst!!)

I thought the ultimate winner was supposed to be Hungry Pumpkin. Did that one get inadvertently omitted?

(My brother told me the other day that Hungry Pumpkin is the only video game he lets his kids play all they want with no time restriction. I introduced them to it when they stayed with me a few years ago.)

4 Likes

I feel bad for Yakuza 0, I’ll be voting for it as the only Yakuza rep since I have no strong feelings for Super Metroid.

Street Fighter 3 is one of the best fighting games ever made and I haven’t played Hard Corps. Parry mechanic (in any game ever) is at its apex in SF3

Deus Ex is amazing but Gameboy Camera is very unique. I feel like Deus Ex is a hard sell because of ancient graphics that have not been saved by good art direction and voice-acting but Gameboy Camera still has a lot of charm.

Everybody Votes over the Puyo Puyo series erryday

I have no strong feelings on the others. I hear Final Fantasy XIV is one of the best so I can be easily swayed even though I’ve played Ikaruga and not XIV.

I am open to arguments for any of the others.

MINECRAFT
vs.
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO

When asked about possible conversation topics, a student told me he could tell the other person everything they need to know about bees in Minecraft (emphasis his). But what I want to know is how to beat E. Honda as Cammy.
Decision: SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO

CRAZY TAXI
vs.
METAL SLUG 6 (Metal Slug 3 romhack)

@daphaknee didn’t mention that every weapon power-up also makes your character fat, but doesn’t slow them down. I have now seen my character pop like a balloon so, so many times.
Decision: METAL SLUG 6 (Metal Slug 3 romhack)

EVERYBODY VOTES
vs.
PUYO PUYO series
Look, voting is good and all but burying Dr. Robotnik under a rubble of hardened puyos is praxis.
Decision: PUYO PUYO series

Taking a break, but I’ll be back.

3 Likes

I’m kind of in this boat as well. I hear good things about FF14 from people I have no reason to doubt, but I personally avoid MMORPGs these days. I’ve played Ikaruga quite a bit over the years, though, and I like it a lot even though I have never once made the slightest attempt to chain attacks and I’ve never quite been able to reach the end of the game.

3 Likes

the more i got into shmups, the less i like ikaruga. ffxiv is an all timer, and has been particularly important to me in the last 6 months.

i wouldn’t be surprised if i got deus ex and game boy camera on the same day as a kid.

4 Likes

MINECRAFT
vs.
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO

sf is an afterthought to me, given the opponent and katamari. minecraft has been (and will continue to be) one of the most interesting games of this century. it’s just a monumental thing that never ends. i love it a lot. hope to play online w friends again, someday

CRAZY TAXI
vs.
METAL SLUG 6 (Metal Slug 3 romhack)

i like metal slug and i like the idea of a romhack making it on the list

EVERYBODY VOTES
vs.
PUYO PUYO series

have no idea what “everybody votes” is so it’s a no-brainer. puyo is great fun even though i’m terrible at it. i voted for puyo pop initially because of the campaign, which is really, really funny. i finished that game many times, both in english and japanese and it’s always pleasant. placing the series as a whole is more than fair in my opinion

STREET FIGHTER III THIRD STRIKE: FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE
vs.
CONTRA: HARD CORPS

third strike is just fantastic. straightforward yet complex, played it for many afternoons and nights on fightcade

YAKUZA 0
vs.
SUPER METROID

yakuza 0 is the perfect open world game and i never cared for metroid

NIGHTS INTO DREAMS
vs.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2

sonic the hedgehog has been found dead in an alley, possibly victim of a drive-by shooting

(that’s a vote for nights)

GAME BOY CAMERA
vs.
DEUS EX

although the idea of a console application making it is very cool, deus ex still wins! it’s just that good, i’m afraid. my favorite of those types of late-90s / early-aughts pc rpg

IKARUGA
vs.
FINAL FANTASY XIV

of these, i only played ikaruga, but i’m ok in giving it to ffxiv. it seems like a really well-made hangout space of spaces and value that more than any shoot em up

2 Likes

This shit right here is why SF3 feels like an actual fight. The dance of the parry(!) and it’s not even some ridiculously hard skill barrier or tech-focused nonsense to learn. You can feel pretty cool at a relatively low level of skill. Capcom had to get rid of it after this game because they didn’t understand the perfection they had created.

Also for your consideration:

5 Likes

these are difficult matchups but my votes are set.

This is a really good justification and looking honestly within myself I didn’t like Ikaruga all that much either so might change my mind in the actual vote. Also appreciate that the latest expansion/season whatever brought back elements of FF12 sort of. No other shmups made it in anyway so it will also be my vote of spite/disdain.

1 Like
  • Street Fighter 2: Turbo
  • Fake Metal Slug 6
  • Everybody Votes
  • Contra: Hard Corps
  • Super Metroid
  • NiGHTs into Dreams
  • Game Boy Camera
  • Ikaruga

WARNING: BAD OPINIONS

I’ve only played Minecraft for about an hour or so and it’s cool to see that it inspires such a broad swathe of people. Still, I’m justifying my SF2:Turbo pick due to what I’ve randomly glimpsed of the Minecraft streamers/creator/convention and I know that’s unfair and I’m being mean but I’m hungry and didn’t sleep much last night so there. Also it’d be nice if Street Fighter in some form got a little love as long as it can. But shouldn’t that privilege go to SF3? Probably! If I was being scholarly and logical, but personally I’d rather bring round a buddy to bang our skulls against the wall of sadistic virtuosity that is Hard Corps. But then, another flashy side-scrolling co-op shooter with Fake Metal Slug 6? That’s gross and I love Crazy Taxi but I’d just barely prefer tag-teaming that gorgeous saturday morning pixel parade in the span of one pizza with a friend. Yakuza 0 has been sitting in my Steam queue untouched for months. I’m pretty sure I’ll love it, maybe more than Super Metroid, but I really dig the mood of that one and also I perversely want to punish a game that improved on Shenmue for Shenmue not making the cut. ̶N̶i̶G̶H̶T̶S̶̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶̶S̶o̶n̶i̶c̶ ̶2̶̶ ̶(̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶v̶o̶t̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶(̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶e̶n̶j̶o̶y̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶p̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶̶M̶a̶n̶i̶a̶̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶)̶)̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶p̶i̶r̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶G̶e̶n̶e̶s̶i̶s̶,̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶,̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶g̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶y̶/̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶c̶l̶o̶c̶k̶w̶o̶r̶k̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶3̶r̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶̶C̶D̶̶ ̶(̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶m̶a̶y̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶r̶e̶t̶ ̶f̶a̶v̶)̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶n̶u̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶g̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶f̶u̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶̶3̶̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶̶M̶a̶n̶i̶a̶̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶g̶i̶v̶e̶n̶. Game Boy Camera is just a heck of a thing. I like but don’t love Ikaruga but I’ve also not played a Final Fantasy past 10, have mixed feelings about the series in general and don’t really care about MMORPGs (ᵉˣᶜᵉᵖᵗ ᶠᵒʳ ˢᵗᵃʳ ᵂᵃʳˢ ᴳᵃˡᵃˣᶦᵉˢ). Everybody Votes…I poked at a few times. It’s neat. Never touched Puyo Puyo. I am not proud of any of this.

1 Like

ready for all my choices to lose!

red star is better than ikaruga so of course im voting for ffxiv

2 Likes

Would it be possible to rerun an ultimate losers bracket (games eliminated in the loser bracket round), where you are supposed to vote for whichever game you hate more, to determine the worst game on the list?

9 Likes

FINAL FANTASY IS BETTER THAN IKARUGA THERE IS A ROLE IN THE FREE COMPANY WHERE YOURE ALLOWED TO USE THE GARDEN AND ITS CALLED ‘WOURME’ BC ENOUGH SELECTBUTTON PEOPLE PLAY OUR GUILD CAN BE FULL OF REFERENCES

4 Likes

FINAL FANTASY XIV IS BETTER THAN IKARUGA in the new nier raid theres a ton of bullet hell dodging, a drakengard 3 boss mechanic, and a bozs that starts out as legion but then turns into a GIANT 2B MADE OF BODIES it rules

4 Likes

THERE IS A FINAL FANTASY TACTICS THEMED RAID WHERE YOU GET TO FIGHT MATSUNOS SELF INSERT FURSONA. yoshi ps DREAM in games was to work with matsuno but final fantasy xiv is so good MATSUNO ENDED UP WORKING WITH HIM

2 Likes

do not vote for final fantasy xiv

4 Likes

final fantasy xiv is better than ikaruga i was able to pull off a joke where i made an alt that was @HOBO’s illegitimate child and i surprised him with the child in the middle of a brothel. best game ever

no one ever votes for games im actually excited about in these things so i decided to be ride or die for metal slug 6 and ffxiv

5 Likes

alright, I got a big-ass bowl of spicy samyang ramen and a salted leek pancake in front of me, let’s get crackin’.


MINECRAFT (a game i have played)
vs.
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO (a game i have played)

my harm reductionist politics have me analyzing this along three axes:

  1. minecraft makes many kids very happy and teaches them the power of collaboration. street fighter ii makes kids very upset because it means somebody has to lose and their child-sized egos aren’t capable of taking that blow.

  2. minecraft’s popularity will presumably lead to more engineers in the future. street fighter ii’s popularity has presumably led to cases of carpal tunnel and hypertension.

  3. minecraft players have never personally done me wrong. street fighter ii players have bumped into me while i was playing iidx. well, okay, they were street fighter v players, but i assume they’ve played ii at some point.

it is an unmistakable win for minecraft. it gets my vote.


CRAZY TAXI (a game i have played)
vs.
METAL SLUG 6 (Metal Slug 3 romhack) (a game i have not played)

so at first i was going to vote for crazy taxi, simply because the intrinsic joy of moving around 3d space in a vehicle tends to eclipse the thoughtless plodding of feet. but then i remembered a conversation i had with a friend the other day in which they told me crazy taxi was where they first got introduced to the offspring, and i don’t like the offspring. we listened to the song by the offspring they knew from crazy taxi and i thought it was real lame.

i also think there is a much higher level of craft in metal slug games, although i’ve only beaten the first one, so as someone who is campaigning for more intentionality in all things i can’t leave ol’ slugger out to dry. i’m going to vote metal slug 6.


EVERYBODY VOTES (a game i have not played)
vs.
PUYO PUYO series (a game i have played)

the puyo games make @slime happy, and slime is one of the only other people on this forum who plays rhythm games, so i consider us allies and i am happy to defer to her judgment. in slime i trust.

also, i have never even heard of everybody votes – is this a real game? or a collective dream of the forum? even if it is the real silicon deal, it’s not enough for me to forsake a rhythm game ally. i will be voting for the puyo puyo series.


STREET FIGHTER III THIRD STRIKE: FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE (a game i have played)
vs.
CONTRA: HARD CORPS (a game i have not played)

can you parry in contra? i don’t know if you can. but i know you can parry in street fighter iii, and although i am absurdly bad at that game, pulling off a parry feels real, real darn good. i do not have enough faith in contra that they could create any sort of moment that tasty in their game, so, despite all my reservations against street fighter players espoused in the first matchup, i am going to vote for street fighter iii.


YAKUZA 0 (a game i have not played)
vs.
SUPER METROID (a game i have not played)

well darn, this is a tricky one. i have played yakuza games and i have played metroid games, but never these specific games. based on my experiences i’m lead to believe yakuza 0 would be a more memorable experience for me, if only because i have better 3d spatial memory than 2d memory. also, i can use yakuza for japanese practice, but what life skills does super metroid have to offer me? another factor is that i feel like wherever yakuza 0 takes place will have more hang-out-itude than any location in super metroid, although i’m happy to be proven wrong. so yeah, i’m going with a vote for yakuza 0.


NIGHTS INTO DREAMS (a game i have not played)
vs.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 (a game i have not played)

i’m going to be honest, i don’t know shit about these games except that people like them and they’re landmarks of sega’s first party development efforts. i have never played them and don’t really plan to unless someone makes me. so as an arbitrary deciding factor, i think i would have a lot more fun hanging out with the entity from nights than i would hanging out with sonic, or anyone from the sonic universe for that matter barring the edge case scenario of knuckles performing the pumpkin hill rap. this will be a vote for nights into dreams.


GAME BOY CAMERA (a game i have not played)
vs.
DEUS EX (a game i have not played)

the game boy camera was the first truly accessible digital camera, and as someone for whom a primary motivation is the accessibility of both experiencing and creating art, it would take a lot to beat that. unfortunately for deus ex, i played it once for ten minutes and remember being very bored, and i’ve heard it’s one of those “immersive sim” games, the only one of which i’ve played was the most recent prey and i also thought that was pretty boring. even against a lesser foe deus ex would be really struggling, but against a heartfelt device meant to spread the joy of photography? not a chance. a vote for game boy camera it is.


IKARUGA (a game i have played)
vs.
FINAL FANTASY XIV (a game i have played)

wow! already at the final matchup of this round, i have a lot more thoughts on this one. i have beaten the main story quest of final fantasy xiv (that is, i’ve seen the credits roll in the base game, never touched the expansions) and i have fiddled around in ikaruga but i don’t think i’ve ever even made it past the second stage.

my initial thoughts when i glanced at the matchups was that i have big beef with final fantasy xiv for being such a power fantasy compared to the beautiful player-agnostic plot and atmosphere of final fantasy xi – the mechanical aspects of the game were fine, but i was really soured by the tone of the storyline. i play an mmo not to be the center of everything, but to be a bit player in the world. i think mmo games should play to the strength of having a real community and have that feeling of fame and importance be something earned from other players rather than something given to everyone by the plot.

ikaruga, on the other hand, steps beyond agnosticism to become player-antagonist, as most shmups are, and as one of only two iidx players on the forum (shout out to my other rhythm game ally, @Sakurina) it should be obvious that i truly live to suffer. there is something incredibly appealing to me about a game that genuinely expects me to give up and gives me no quarter (no pun intended and no credit feeding allowed) in surpassing the challenges it sets out for me.

what’s swaying me more than anything is knowing that some amount of people, perhaps even enough to be referred to as “many” have met and fallen in love in final fantasy xiv. i might still be bitter because of my breakup at the beginning of this year, but i really am a hopeless romantic and any game that can foster connections like that makes my heart swell up in a way that video games rarely do. final fantasy xiv is a game that is capable of reaching beyond itself and beyond the typical limitations of the medium and really affecting tangible, positive events in the world around it, and for that it gets my vote.

16 Likes

SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO -ive played ten minutes of minecraft. i am not a child

METAL SLUG 6 (Metal Slug 3 romhack) - crazy taxi is amazing and im good at it, the taking off driving super fast mechanic rules but I THOUGHT FAKE METAL SLUG 6 WAS REAL FOR SO LONG it’s this haunted cursed thing to me and you all made it real and I love this site for it

EVERYBODY VOTES - never really played puyo puyo

CONTRA: HARD CORPS - i deleted the other choice, tabbed out for a second, and forgot what the other choice was so i guess it sucks edit lol it’s third strike, well that is my least favorite street fighter but i felt compelled to edit cuz i dont think it sucks at all, but im not a big fan of parrying in anything

YAKUZA 0 - super metroid is great but yakuza 0 made everyone notice the series, and it doesnt have doors you need specific weapons to open

NIGHTS INTO DREAMS - why am i picking between two sonic games

GAME BOY CAMERA - ha fucking easy. deus ex has way too many buttons

FINAL FANTASY XIV - this game has reconnected me with so many people and i get to talk with tons of people from here i probably wouldn’t have otherwise. my outfits alone win a prize

6 Likes

I never had to worry about getting a family court summons cuz I played a shoot 'em up so I’m going with Ikaruga.

9 Likes