was thinking about this as I was asked a “favourite genres” question recently, and after frowning a bit, determined that I can mostly get there, albeit with borderline unreasonable specificity. for me it’d be the following three:
turn-based strategy, or games with well-utilized chess-like elements. examples: final fantasy tactics, duelyst, divinity original sin, invisible inc, tash kalar, alpha centauri.
open-ended physics games, especially those that involve ball-rolling. examples: just cause 3, super monkey ball, armadillo run, rock of ages, trials evolution, gang beasts.
linear, auteur-ish PS2-era narrative games, mostly japanese. examples: ico, shadow of the colossus, metal gear solid 2 and 3, katamari damacy, mother 3, half-life 2 (this last one is an exception for not being japanese or strongly associated with a single game designer or director, but I think it definitely fits).
the first two categories seem somewhat related to me since they generally succeed on the basis of having a high degree of internal consistency and “balance”; the best parts of these games is seeing how different game mechanics or objects play off of one another and recombine in satisfying ways. the latter is totally different in that it’s much more strongly tied to other production elements, as well as one specific era of game design. it’s also (probably) closer to the typical sb consensus, due to early insert credit, but it’s also the only one that basically no longer exists, which is possibly interesting in terms of this forum’s identity.
the closest successor that I can think of to this era of game design would probably be 2-3 hour narrative games like portal, her story, papers please, and the swapper, though I’m not entirely comfortable with that analogy.
if I had to go with a fourth, just for kicks, it’d probably be “setpiece-heavy shooters with lots of mechanical variation.” examples: teleglitch, everyday shooter, twinkle star sprites, metal slug x, archon (archon is a special inclusion because it’s the oldest non-arcade game that I find personally noteworthy and because it’s also in the category of turn-based strategy). BONUS SIDEWAYS INCLUSIONS IN THIS CATEGORY: towerfall and rhythm tengoku.
others that don’t quite rise to the level of being broad enough categories as to be interesting discussion topics: games with party AI scripting (final fantasy xii, dragon age origins, horrible config files that you can manually edit for infinity engine games), and top-down racing games.
Point and click adventures with grit yet charm. (Full Throttle, Fate of Atlantis, Grim Fandango, Quest for Glory, Gemini Rue, Primordia)
Exploratory 3D platformers with minimal/well-curated collectathoning. (The good Tomb Raiders, Mario 64, Grow Home, Galleon???)
First person games with mysterious, well-realized, internally consistent worlds. (Unreal, HL1 & 2, pretty much all the Myst games, Gone Home, Portal, STALKER, Zeno Clash, Penumbra, Amnesia)
Games that revolve heavily around resource management. Inventory tetris, strict limits requiring careful consideration on when to blow, etc. Think the original Resident Evil formula. Or most anime fighting games.
Overly ambitious games straining at technical or knowledge limitations. Especially things that don’t quite work, or ALMOST work, or maybe work in spite of themselves. Think most of the Playstation 1’s library.
Shoot 'em ups/STGs/shmups. Be they horizontal, vertical, isometric or 3D, I love both the simplicity and complexity that can be found in the numerous example of the genres. I think it’s a particularly honest type of game in relation to how it communicates with the player. Shining examples would be Gradius, Raiden, R-Type and DoDonPachi.
Action-based platforming games. As examples, Rocket Knight Adventures, Shinobi III and Mischief Makers. I’d also stretch to include Contra/Probotector and Gunstar Heroes. Games that don’t necessarily require a huge amount of meta knowledge to excel at, focusing more on technical ability, spatial awareness and quick thinking. I also enjoy the frequent forays into pantomime and mute side-on drama you can find in these games.
Driving games. Not necessarily RACING games, mind. Just games that put an emphasis on the joy of driving a vehicle rather than obsessively trying to “simulate” reality. OutRun is, of course, the epitome of this, but other examples would be the Ridge Racer series, basically any classic Sega racer, Namco’s MaxiTune series, and some of the more “open” Need for Series entries (Underground 2, Most Wanted, etc.)
Individual-collective-scale simulations with indirect control. Dwarf Fortress and Football Manager being the best examples – games where you give instructions on a spectrum of abstractness that may or may not be followed.
combat flight simulators for WW2-era aircraft (MS CFS, sturmovik, etc) – scratches my historical itch while offering a flight simulation for an era where flying itself wasn’t taken for granted. to be simplistic about it: jets never stall. with the prop planes, your command of the sky is frequently more of a tussle to slip the bonds of mother earth. while also aiming at a guy who’s trying to bomb the living daylights out of london, or whatever.
laid-back puzzle games (kami, cogs) – preferably of the playable-with-mouse variety where i can sit back and click objects into position to solve the puzzle. not thoroughly challenging but good enough to keep my brain working and fingers clicking in good pace
Basically “action sports” games where the delight is more so just gliding around and doing tricks at your leisure. Mainly I just want to mention “Rising Board” for 3DS. You just surf until you crash. Jumping into the air spinning around, diving into the wave for more speed and avoiding the rocks. Once you crash the level reloads with maybe a variable or two changed and you go again. You can ride different types of boards and find power ups, etc. Its very relaxing as well.
I used to spend a lot of time doing something similar to this with 1080 on N64 when it was current. Just gliding down the mountain and enjoying the imprint the snowboard leaves behind.
Games with nice jams and sweet graphics evocative of 90s Japanese games
Games with shopkeeping girls
Games with giant cartoon fruit, meat, foods
Games with blue, blue skies that let you go away
Games that are 90s-00s Sega
Games with cute mascot characters
Games with scrolling, tiling backgrounds that move diagonally and giant text displayed in bright neon or pastel that bounce up and down
Games where every level has a name, every bgm has a separate name, and every enemy has a goofy name
Games with cool environments that you can take a break and just admire the art
Games were the enemies look like they’re doing stuff before you get there and interfere with their blissful lives and/or duties and you can infer a narrative
Games without realistic sound design but instead abstract, iconic, purposeful sound
