Your favorite genre & sub-genres

[byonddrivn]

I did a search for this topic but I didn't see anything specific so I thought I'd start one, sorry if it's been covered before. I wasn't sure if Classic Gaming was the appropriate board but I usually check here more often then the others so that's where I'm starting.

 

So the question is "what genres do you like most" and feel free to break it down or list examples. For instance, this would be my #2 or 3 but I like racing games, more specifically combat racing games. Slot Racers, Bump N Jump, the Burnout series, Split/Second, Mario Kart, etc. Just duking it out with the AI or a friend and causing mayhem is a riot. While I'll play most racing games I prefer cars as opposed to trucks, boats, ATV's, karts, etc. I like the arcade racers more than sim, just the feel of boosting out of a drift in the oncoming traffic lane is a whole lot of fun for me.

 

#1 would be RPG's but mostly turn based. I know they're getting harder & harder to find but things like FF 2 & 3, the old Dragon Warriors, Lunar, Lufia. I like the turn based because it's a little more relaxing to play, you know, it's been a long day and you just want to sit back type thing. If I want action or excitement I'll turn to racing.

 

Next would be strategy games. I'll play anything strategy or related, turn based or real time, medieval or futuristic, grid or no grid, home console or portable, doesn't matter. I don't PC game really but I love the Starcraft/Warcraft games. Shining Force which incorporates RPG & strategy is awesome, Artillery Duel, Goblin Commander, Fire Emblem, Ogre Battle. I'll even go Sim and play SimCity, Populous, & Civilization.

 

Puzzles games are in there a little but only certain kinds, again it's a relax a little but use your brain thing for me. Not Tetris so much but action puzzlers like Bomberman, Lemmings, the Lolo series.

 

I guess to round out a top 5 I'd say Shmups. Defender, River Raid, Ikaruga, Scramble, Star Wars The Arcade Game, & the Gradius series. I'm not that good at them but they always draw me in.

 

A couple of genres I don't get into would be - sports, I do seem to make it a point to own a golf game for every system I have tho, and FPS (I will play some on-rails shooters sometimes), I just get lost all the time and usually wind up swinging my weapon around wildly. Nothing pisses me off more than walking off a cliff cuz I can't see it or dying while I'm shooting at the sky or my foot.

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

Driving/racing games were always my favorite next to platformers but nowadays, I think I tend to play old shooters/space shooters more than anything else.

I can't stand sports games much, with the exception of a few (Bases Loaded 3 and 4 on NES are childhood favorites). I also enjoy RPG's but that's mainly Zelda games, from NES on up to 3DS.

The genre of game just depends on what mood I'm in at the moment, so I when I have the urge, I usually pop in a cart spontaneously and have at it for a while.

[cimerians]

RPG's (Ultima\Elder Scrolls) and Action Adventure (Uncharted\Batman\Ninja Gaiden) games are my favorites but I like something in every genre.

 

I really like Stealth games like Thief and Horror games too. Sports is my least favorite but as I said I like stuff there too. Rocket League, Tecmo Bowl, NHL Hockey, NFL 2K5, Mario Kart, Wipeout etc

 

Games I always play on every system are arcade type games, the classics like Asteroids (Cosmic Avenger!) or newer indie games like Towerfall Ascension.

 

Fighting games I still enjoy to some degree but I've felt a bit of a burnout with those the last few years. Getting kind of tired of them.

[sega_SHARK]

I guess I'm all over the place.

 

I like the original Phantasy Star for turn based RPGs.

 

Some sports games are fun. Football for the 2600 is always a good time because it's super simple and two player only. Blades of Steel for NES holds up pretty well. NFL 2K convinced me I had to buy a Dreamcast on 9/9/99.

 

Space shooters are definitely what I've been playing the most of lately. MSX and SG1000 stuff like Gulkave, Exerion, and Galaga.

 

I haven't gotten too much into strategy games, but I like Nobunaga's Ambition. Anything Koei for NES is usually pretty solid.

 

 

 

I guess to round out a top 5 I'd say Shmups. Defender, River Raid, Ikaruga, Scramble, Star Wars The Arcade Game, & the Gradius series. I'm not that good at them but they always draw me in.

 

 

Good taste in shmups. Ikaruga was going for $30 on the Gamecube a couple of years ago, so it seemed like a good deal to get that and a used Gamecube rather than pay the import price for a Dreamcast copy.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

I mostly like platformer games. The usual like Super Mario Bros, Castlevania, Mega Man, Donkey Kong Country, etc

 

Racing games are some of my favorites as well. Old school like Hang-On, Out Run, Hard Drivin'/Race Drivin' to the modern ones like the Gran Turismo series.

 

Racing/combat games are fun. The one that started it all with Slot Racers. The Road Rash series, Roadblasters, and Burnout.

 

And action games like the Grand Theft Auto series. Vice City is beyond my absolute favorite and the 80's vibe is just amazing!

 

Never really cared for RPG's and puzzle games. The only RPG style games I enjoy is the Legend of Zelda series and Simon's Quest.

 

Sports games are more fun with another player. The computer never brings much of a challenge to me.

[BydoEmpire]

I don't know, probably my favorite is RPGs with strategic, turn-based combat. I haven't had much time for them the last decade (although I am playing through Pool of Radiance again via GOG.com now).

 

You can't really count "80s arcade games" as a single genre, but "Combat Maze Games" like Frenzy, Berzerk, Venture, Wizard of Wor... those are go-to games for me, definitely. "Gobbler" maze games like Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Mouse Trap, etc are right up there. as well. I also really enjoy bottom shooters - Demon Attack, Galaxian, Megamania, Spider Fighter, etc. Light gun games would also be at the top of my genre list.

 

1. RPGs (w/ strategic, turn-based combat)

2. "Combat" Maze Games

3. Light Gun Games

4. Bottom Shooters

5. "Gobbler" Maze Games

Edited September 30, 2015 by BydoEmpire

[lushgirl_80]

Anything Japanese Anime based or related is a huge plus for me. I would play a game in an instant if the character designs are anime style.

 

I love maze,racing,beatemups and shooters mostly. I love RPG's but honestly can't ever find the time to focus on a single game like that. Never had the patience for FF7 and the like,although I have beat Zelda many times before,but Zelda are far more simple than FF7 type games. The more complex RPG's I just don't have the time for.

 

I like all genres actually with Sports being my least favorite of them all. Unless it has to do with skateboarding,most sports games are incredibly boring. I mean sheesh,like how many football videogames does the world really need?

[byonddrivn]

Some interesting responses. I have to agree with most that it can depend on mood and time allowed. I know the past 5 years I've had little time for gaming other than maybe an RPG or 3 on a portable that I can play for 10 minutes and save or even playing a few quick hands of UNO on my DS just to get something in. But it seems now that I can play a little more, I'm back to my core interests. I was looking over my catalog on my app and I noticed out of over 800 titles about half of the genres I listed (around 100 RPGs, 100 strategy, 100 driving/racing and 50 or so puzzlers & shooters) command my library. These genres must be the core of what I like then.

 

I do like other games, as other people have mentioned, as well, hell I like Bionic Commando for the NES so much I have 2 copies. While I wouldn't say I'm a fan of the dancing/rhythm genre it seems I have most of the Guitar Hero & Rock Band titles too. Of course one of my favs is Moon Patrol that I'm not sure how to categorize, is it a driving game, a shooter, a platformer?

 

I think the true test of someone's gaming interest isn't limiting themselves to anything in particular but sifting through the available and finding what they are good at or appeals to them no matter what category it falls under. The question I posed wasn't to pigeonhole anyone but to get a sense of other gamers interests and see if there was something I hadn't played and for a reason I should. Plus it makes for interesting thought, there should be one of those personality readings like, if you play RPG's you're the silent type or if you like pinball games you must be bubbly. Ha!

 

 

5. "Gobbler" Maze Games

I think you just invented a new genre name. I love it!

 

I mean sheesh,like how many football videogames does the world really need?

Ha! Pretty funny since that's also part of what made me think of this topic. I was at a used game store on Wednesday that was going out of business and having a 70% off sale. While I was perusing the picked-over, alphabetically organized selection of SNES games I got to the N's and it was game after game of NFL-this, NBA-that, & NHL-other. I said to the woman running the store that I almost felt bad they were going to be stuck with such a large volume of sports titles for all the systems. It made me think of the times when I go to Goodwill and see 40 games on the shelf and 38 of them are sports games. Other than a few classics, sports games seem to be the dirty rag of gaming, they get used for a while and then tossed aside cuz no one wants to play NBA Showdown 95 in 2015. They must be popular since so many of them are around but they don't hold the test of time it seems (except Boxing for the 2600, I love that game).

[Skippy B. Coyote]

I play a pretty wide variety of games across a dozen or more systems made from 1978 up until now, but I think the type of games I enjoy most can all be lumped into one easily defined category: Arcade Style Games.

Most of my favorite games are all the kind of games that you might find in an arcade. They're the sort of games that you can pick up, play for a few minutes, enjoy some fun reflexive challenges, then move on to something else. Games that are easy to learn but difficult to master, and designed to munch quarters by the handful. For this reason my all time favorite home consoles are the Atari 2600 and Sega Genesis, because both feature innumerable quantities of these arcade style games across an enormous range of sub-genres. From maze games like Ms. Pac-Man to vertical or horizontally scrolling shooters like Thunder Force III and River Raid, fixed shooters like Centipede and Millipede, racing games like Pole Position and OutRun, fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II, beat 'em ups like Golden Axe II and Kung-Fu Master, and all kinds of other odd ball arcade style games like Frogger and Super Breakout.

The one sub-genre of arcade style gaming that the Atari 2600 and Sega Genesis are somewhat lacking in though happens to be one of my favorite type of games: Light gun shooters. For those type of games I like the PS1, Wii, and NES, which give you access to all kinds of wonderful light gun shooters like Area 51, Crypt Killer, Time Crisis, House of the Dead 2 & 3, Freedom Force, Hogan's Alley, and many more. I'm pretty partial to the PS1 for these kind of games due to it's compatibility with the Nyko Super Cobra light gun (an utterly amazing light gun that feels like it was straight out of a real arcade cabinet, complete with force feedback vibration and LED lights) but with the aid of a Nyko Perfect Shot pistol grip attachment for the Wii remote there is still a lot of fun to be had on the Wii if you like light gun shooters.

Arcade style games of all kinds are my real love when it comes to gaming.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Jin

[leods]

1: Fighting games

 

2: Scrolling shooters

 

3: Platformers

 

4: Racing

 

5: FPS

 

But I'm sorta lying, because I don't think the order is acurate, and I'm not even including all Genres I really like a lot.

 

Some years ago this would be much easier to answer, It would probably be Action RPG. But Action RPGs are mostly shallow, repetitive Story driven experiences where the conbat is lackluster and the Story sucks. So I'd rather Play something else.

 

And then again, Monster Hunter and Dark Souls are amongst my favorite games of all times, and they could be called Action RPGs...

 

So basically I like Action games and shooters mostly, if they're good... Anything that doesn't put graphics first and gameplay as an afterthought will win Major Points, and the whole Hollywood garbage Batman arkham clone genre "1st/3rd Person Action stealth/shooty QTE I don't even know what this game actually is" genre can kiss my ass.