the SB 64 part III: THE THIRD LIGHTING (voting closes october 4th, 2020!)

King of Posters
22

KATAMARI DAMACY
vs.
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO

both great games, but i am also a mostly single player, and super turbo’s single player is ludicrously hard

RESIDENT EVIL 4
vs.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK

played neither

UNDERTALE
vs.
CRAZY TAXI

never played undertale because many people said it was like earthbound

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS
vs.
PUYO PUYO SERIES

never played sotc, but it would have had a tough time against puyo anyway

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD
vs.
STREET FIGHTER III THIRD STRIKE: FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE

well you know what they say, the third strike is what counts

CAVE STORY
vs.
TETRIS: THE ABSOLUTE: THE GRANDMASTER 2 PLUS

cave story is good, but i can’t ever see myself playing it again like i can with tgm

KILLER7
vs.
SUPER METROID

super metroid. couldn’t get into killer 7 at all

CASTLEVANIA: RONDO OF BLOOD
vs.
MYSTERY DUNGEON: SHIREN THE WANDERER (1995)

an unlucky match for the belmonts. rondo of blood is excellent, but shiren the wanderer is perfect

DEMON’S SOULS (2009)
vs.
NIGHTS INTO DREAMS…

haven’t played demon’s souls, but nights wuld probably have won this anyway

RIVEN
vs.
SONIC MANIA

sonic mania, obviously

OUTRUN 2
vs.
GAME BOY CAMERA

outrun 2 wins this one. no dishonour on game boy camera, though

4 Likes
23

Katamari Damacy vs SSF2T

Katamari is one of the few games that I feel like I could share with everyone. The control scheme is so unique that it puts everyone on the same page. Well, almost everyone. My mom cannot use her thumbs with analog sticks; she has to pinch them with three fingers. Her hands are really small! I remember bringing my PS2 and Katamari to a youth group party, a party attended by many non-likers-of-video-games. After watching the opening cinematic, everyone was sold on it and it was great to watch people slowly feel comfortable moving the ball around. We really do :heart: Katamari.

SSF2T carved out this incredible, termitic space where tiny innovations and mutations were made every year. I love when a game expands a space like that. In the end, I enjoy the branches more than the trunk.

Katamari Damacy wins

6 Likes
24

voting super turbo until it comes up against nocturne, hasn’t been a better fighting game in 26 years (i would say competitive game period but quakeworld/q3a exist i guess)

leaning majora’s mask but i have meant to replay re4 for over a decade and never get around to it

again i love third strike aesthetically but became super bored of it back in 2007 when western competitive play was just the same three characters’ hitconfirm into super

rondo is beautiful but i do wish someone would teach me how to play shiren (real talk is there a tutorial or good let’s play i can have a look at?)

maybe try the japanese or asian versions of the rom, much easier

2 Likes
25

I know this is a crap answer but the mystery dungeon games always have an initial tutorial dungeon that tries to teach you the basics. These are the only roguelikes I’m familiar with but I found that through trial and error, you gradually get a sense of the possibility space available to you in a run and become more confident as you grow into the toolset available to you (or make tools out of what’s around you)

2 Likes
26

Rondo vs Shiren is a rough one since both are great but Shiren is my favorite roguelike of all time, none of the sequels have touched it yet.

This game is about as story lite as it comes but look at this first five minutes:

so good, really captures the feeling of being a ~Wanderer~. totally sucks you in to want to see what’s at the top of that mountain.

6 Likes
27

KATAMARI DAMACY
vs.
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO

Easy one for me, I don’t like fighting games and Katamari Damacy is my favorite game of all time.

RESIDENT EVIL 4
vs.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK

The game that I tried to replay recently and found to be relatively awkward to play vs. the game i know is awkward to play but will also be tattooed on my body at some point…another easy decision. Read my impassioned defense here: selectbutton.net's top 64 vidcons 2020 - THE NOMINATION

UNDERTALE
vs.
CRAZY TAXI

Undertale was voted the greatest game of all time on GameFAQs, but I’m voting for it despite that because it is really quite good. Crazy Taxi is an excellent game but doesn’t have the lasting power in my mind.

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS
vs.
PUYO PUYO SERIES

I dunno, I played like 3 hours of SotC and it was cool and all, but…I dunno. I’ve played hours and hours of Puyo Puyo even though I fucking suck at it. It’s a good time.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD
vs.
STREET FIGHTER III THIRD STRIKE: FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE

I keep saying I don’t like fighting games, sorry.

CAVE STORY
vs.
TETRIS: THE ABSOLUTE: THE GRANDMASTER 2 PLUS

This is hard because I think this kind of represents all Tetris everywhere, which is a game I also love. But Cave Story is emblematic of everything I love about independent game developers, including its rough edges and weird secrets. It’s a little…obvious now, I guess, but it’s carved out a little space in my mind where it will live forever.

KILLER7
vs.
SUPER METROID

I thought Killer7 was obtuse and irritating, and I thought Super Metroid was interesting in terms of game archeology, plus it has amazing atmosphere. Super Metroid.

CASTLEVANIA: RONDO OF BLOOD
vs.
MYSTERY DUNGEON: SHIREN THE WANDERER (1995)

Despite my name I don’t really like Castlevania all that much. But I played the DS version of Shiren the Wander to completion while I was working at DirecTV. I basically beat this game between phone calls, and it was really wonderful. What a game!!! The first Roguelike that I have beaten. Maybe the only??

DEMON’S SOULS (2009)
vs.
NIGHTS INTO DREAMS…

I have not played either of these games but still feel like I should vote because I like Dark Souls and Sonic Adventure, the descendants of these games, so much. I like Sonic Adventure more than Dark Souls, but…Demon’s Souls just feels like the right choice here. I love to hear people talk about it with such awe. I’ll probably never play it though.

RIVEN
vs.
SONIC MANIA

I dunno, I don’t like Myst, and Sonic Mania made me grin ear to ear for 3 hours, but I also don’t really care for it in retrospect. Gonna give it to Sonic Mania just because it’s so joyful even though I suspect that is the objectively wrong decision.

OUTRUN 2
vs.
GAME BOY CAMERA

I don’t really get the love that Outrun gets here. It’s fine? I’m glad y’all like it but it’s never grabbed me.

You know my position on the Game Boy Camera though! It’s such a wonderful little tool. I was poking around in the menus and I forgot you could do things like make Panorama shots out of multiple shots. It’s actually really clever, because you take one picture, then it puts the edge of the photo on the left side so you can line up the next shot! Then you can print it all as if it was one photo. Such a cool idea!

Anyway, it’s good and joyful and I need to make a thread with all the neat things you can do with it.

5 Likes
28

A few years back Origin was giving away Sims 2 ultimate whatever edition, and because I’m a loving partner, I downloaded all 16gb for my girlfriend and she promptly ignored me for two days. I started playing Shiren and when I looked up it was 4am. Games are bad for you. Point Shiren.

Majoras Mask has the worst overworld I have ever seen, and one of the worst HUD’s I’ve ever seen. I stopped playing because there was a choir of frogs that I had to assemble, but I couldn’t make them sing together until I had gained access to next area and then the game made me restart the whole process from the very beginning. That shit should be banned from games forever. Point RE4.

When I found out my partners mum played the odd PC game, my thoughts immediately went to Farmville. But when I found out my partners mum had played Riven, we both just kind of looked at each with a knowing smile. Riven should get all the points, it’s the best game on this list.

3 Likes
29

OutRun 2 is my girlfriend on the passenger seat saying “I want to go far away!” and I’m the driver burying my foot to the pedal, voting for it every time it comes up while blasting Night Flight

3 Likes
30

KATAMARI DAMACY
vs.
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO

I could buy a Street Fighter Collection to play SSFIIT right now, but will probably not, because there are other games I could buy. One of those games is not Katamari Damacy, which I would like to try at least once. Winner: Katamai Damacy

RESIDENT EVIL 4
vs.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK

Majora’s Mask is “what if Zelda were actually Dark Animal Crossing,” which actually works a heck of a lot better than those words would make you expect. I really do love Resident Evil 4, but I simply love Majora’s Mask and its somber, world more. Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

UNDERTALE
vs.
CRAZY TAXI

I’ve never played Undertale, and nothing about the time when it was absolutely everywhere in my Tumblr dashboard made me want to play it. Winner: Crazy Taxi

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS
vs.
PUYO PUYO SERIES

Shadow of the Colossus, on the other hand, I might actually play–if only I still had a PS2, or a PS4, or a TV. Puyo Puyo, on the other hand, was available on the Gamecube in its Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine iteration, which is a nearly ideal combination. Winner: Puyo Puyo

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD
vs.
STREET FIGHTER III THIRD STRIKE: FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE

A Link between Worlds was an excellent game, and this one, from everything I’ve heard, is better. Street Fighter has the crushing disadvantage of not being The King of Fighters. Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

CAVE STORY
vs.
TETRIS: THE ABSOLUTE: THE GRANDMASTER 2 PLUS

I’ve been led to understand that the 3DS version of Cave Story is not great. I found it fine, regardless, although not exactly enthralling. Tetris is Tetris, though, no matter what version. Winner: Tetris:TA:TG2P

KILLER7
vs.
SUPER METROID

OOF. I really do love both games–especially after I started really working on sequence breaking the latter. There’s still bits of Zebes I have not explored. On the other hand, everything about Killer 7 is memorable, and nothing is like anything else out there, possibly because most games pretend to care about coherence. Winner: Killer 7

CASTLEVANIA: RONDO OF BLOOD
vs.
MYSTERY DUNGEON: SHIREN THE WANDERER (1995)

I have no reason to disbelieve that Rondo of Blood is as good as they say, but Konami has denied me a Switch version. Even if I did play it, I doubt it’d have the capacity to enchant and test me in equal measure, no matter how many times I play it. Winner: Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (DS Version)

DEMON’S SOULS (2009)
vs.
NIGHTS INTO DREAMS…

Demon’s Souls is tied to Dark Souls, which was the game that made me realize I don’t care for modern games. NIGHTS is not a modern game. Winner: NIGHTS into Dreams

RIVEN
vs.
SONIC MANIA

A smart Sonic game? In this economy? Winner: Sonic Mania

OUTRUN 2
vs.
GAME BOY CAMERA

I do not have a driver’s license, but I do enjoy videogame driving. Winner: Outrun 2

6 Likes
31

There’s a port on Switch and PC that is as good (if not better than) the original, and still in the budget pricing range the original release was.

2 Likes
32

This is really the sort of thing I should get snail mail about. It never even occurred to me to check, for some reason thinking that it was Playstation only.

2 Likes
33

One thing to note is the port doesn’t come with the English dub (which I think has its own deadpan charm that contributes to the 60s pop art feel and rigid animation of the cutscenes) but that’s probably rectified by PC mods

34

you’re the third person i’ve had to tell that it exists, so clearly the marketing was very bad

1 Like
35

KATAMARI DAMACY
vs.
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO

Super Turbo, although I must admit I’ve never played the original KD. I will do though.

RESIDENT EVIL 4
vs.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK

Majora. Mercenaries was good but it can’t stand the heat here.

UNDERTALE
vs.
CRAZY TAXI

Undertale. Toby Fox should be locked up.

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS
vs.
PUYO PUYO SERIES

I have yet to Puyo, so Colossus.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD
vs.
STREET FIGHTER III THIRD STRIKE: FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE

Third Strike. Zelda sells you a console, SF3 gives you the world. I don’t know what that means but I believe it.

CAVE STORY
vs.
TETRIS: THE ABSOLUTE: THE GRANDMASTER 2 PLUS

I played Cave Story for twenty minutes.

KILLER7
vs.
SUPER METROID

Wow, this is a bloodbath. Super Metroid. Killer 7 is just a big nothing.

CASTLEVANIA: RONDO OF BLOOD
vs.
MYSTERY DUNGEON: SHIREN THE WANDERER (1995)

Rondo. Someday I will Shiren.

DEMON’S SOULS (2009)
vs.
NIGHTS INTO DREAMS…

Nights. Still such an original, emotional and fun game. An all timer for me. I’m a bit Souls’d out nowadays.

RIVEN
vs.
SONIC MANIA

Riven. Mania is lovely but it’s not a proper game with those stage re-runs. And Riven is a hell of a thing.

OUTRUN 2
vs.
GAME BOY CAMERA

Outrun 2 I guess, I’ve always liked the look of the GBC but never used it.

1 Like
36

KATAMARI DAMACY :heavy_check_mark:
vs.
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO
i feel the need to apologize to the game i don’t pick. this bracket is getting really rough. katamari wins this as handily as can be done these days but that is not saying much against super turbo which is also amazing

RESIDENT EVIL 4 :heavy_check_mark:
vs.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK
damn this is hard. i like MM a lot but re4 is kind of revelation to me. it’s a great contrast between interesting game and fun game here. i’m going with fun this time.

UNDERTALE
vs.
CRAZY TAXI :heavy_check_mark:
crazy about taxis. i have not played undertale but i also have no interest in playing it.

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS :heavy_check_mark:
vs.
PUYO PUYO SERIES
sorry puyo i love puyo but sotc is strong

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD
vs.
STREET FIGHTER III THIRD STRIKE: FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE :heavy_check_mark:
dang this is really really hard. i am sorry botw, we played 3rd strike at sbcon1 therefore it is god tier status

CAVE STORY
vs.
TETRIS: THE ABSOLUTE: THE GRANDMASTER 2 PLUS :heavy_check_mark:
these are so hard. tetris is basically cheating

KILLER7
vs.
SUPER METROID
wow. hm. damn. i might have to abstain? sheesh. i don’t know. let’s look at how the voting goes. i suspect SM will walk away with this one so i may want to counterbalance. i am not the biggest fan of SM but K7 is not quite on the same tier and didn’t grab me specifically either, though i am generally in favor of it.

CASTLEVANIA: RONDO OF BLOOD
vs.
MYSTERY DUNGEON: SHIREN THE WANDERER (1995) :heavy_check_mark:
fuck. rondo… not high enough in my personal affection and i may even prefer bloodlines, that’s the only reason why you get bodied here

DEMON’S SOULS (2009) :heavy_check_mark:
vs.
NIGHTS INTO DREAMS…
wish this was kf2j instead

RIVEN :heavy_check_mark:
vs.
SONIC MANIA
this is interesting because it’s like, pinnacle of this type of adventure game vs pinnacle of 2d sonic and like… sonic is just alright. it’s great! we’re back to interesting vs. fun again, hm.

OUTRUN 2 :heavy_check_mark:
vs.
GAME BOY CAMERA
who do you think i am? PLAYOFFS?!

3 Likes
37

i get sacred cows and all but everyone voting for the offspring over undertale is breaking my heart

6 Likes
38

tbh I’m also surprised and I hate undertale

39

idk, i tried looking at all the pre-votes written about and tbh i’m not even sure crazy taxi is winning that matchup

40

i expect undertale to win (though i won’t be voting for it lmao)

2 Likes
41

  • Katamari Damacy, of course. Although I had been looking forward to its release, I hadn’t kept up with the release date. My sister called me and told me it was out and that it was the best video game ever made. I used to watch a friend play Street Fighter 1 in the arcade, but I never became interested in that type of fighting game myself. (The fighting games in the SB meetup tournament were good, though.)

  • Resident Evil 4 is the only game in this series that I’ve played all the way through. I liked that game, but I must go with Majora’s Mask here. There are things about it that deserve criticism, but it’s so atmospheric and interesting.

  • Undertale, no question.

  • I try to play Puyo Puyo every so often but it has never grabbed me the way some other puzzle games have. Did Panel de Pon even make the cut? I don’t think it did. Anyway, while I think ICO deserves the honor more I’ll go with Shadow of the Colossus here.

  • Breath of the Wild. SF3 may be a good fighting game but I am totally ignorant of fighting games.

  • I assume that this represents Tetris in general. I like Tetris a lot and still play it (Tetris Effect is great, by the way; ignore the VR part). But can I possibly vote against Cave Story? I might have to sit this one out.

  • Killer7 seemed pretty stylish from the little I played of it, but Super Metroid is an all-time favorite.

  • Demon’s Souls. I liked parts of NiGHTS, but I loved pretty much every minute of Demon’s Souls.

1 Like