Top 10 Adventure (/Action) Games

[Kageho]

I figured its to put up another Top 10 list. And what better way than the Adventure genre! Otherwise known as the action genre. Since we had so much fun with the other Top 10.

Again, I'm using the one game per franchise rule.

Here's my list:

10. Devil May Cry 4 (PlayStation 3)
- I think this only gets this high, simply because it was a return to NintendoHard and it was enjoyable. That and it totally retconned 2 out of existance.

9. Conkers Bad Fur Day (Nintendo 64)
- Immensely funny, but also had some moments that just made me go wtf.

8. Shadows of Colossus (PlayStation 2)
- If you did not feel the immense pressure of trying to kill something that was like STORIES tall, somethings wrong with you.

7. Super Castlevania IV (Super Nintendo/Famicom)
- Having one of the best soundtracks from a Castlevania, this game was if I can say one, drove me f'n nuts with everything that needed to be done. But I still enjoyed every minute of it.

6. Ninja Gaiden (Nintendo/Famicom)
- Ok, this game was stupid hard, had a rediculous storyline, but my God. It still made for a wonderfully delicious package of hardcore ninja action.

5. Secret of Monkey's Island (PC)
- Ok, let's see what's on the check list: 1 cool ass bad dude, check. 1 geekie looking but great main character, check. 1 great story that's enjoyable, check. I think this qualifies as worthy.

4. Grand Theft Auto IV (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
- Take the best ideas from the Grand Theft series, subtract most of the negatives, add in a rediculously good storyline and you get a great game out of it.

3. Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo/Famicom)
- The first Mario experience that anyone can play, anyone can enjoy, and everyone has fun.

2. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
- Probably the most complete Zelda experience there ever was. A game that still stands the test of time, has a magnificant sound track and the gameplay is still enjoyable.

1. Super Metroid (Super Nintendo/Super Famicom)
- Secrets, power ups, boss fights, great soundtrack, and the end of the Metroid saga. What more could you ask for?

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Expect to see lots of Nintendo games on this list. One game per franchise limits me somewhat, and I don't think is truly representative of the top 10 adventure games ever, but I will play by the rules.

1. Super Mario Bros 3 - The best NES game ever and the best of the franchise. This game held up long after the world moved on from the 8-bit era.

2. Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time - Like Mario 3, it was the best game of its era regardless of genre.

3. Super Metroid - Another legendary franchise represented by the best of the best. Many publications refer to this as the best game ever made.

4. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - A turning point of the franchise, this is the game that succeeded in adding the RPG elements that didn't quite work in Simon's Quest. You can see its influence in pretty much every 2D Castlevania game released since.

5. Mega Man 2 - This is Mega Man at the peak of his popularity with his most memorable weapons and opponents. Everybody had this game when I was a kid.

6. Sonic & Knuckles - The first four Sonic games provided the first true competitor to Mario and this one was the best of the bunch even if it occurred in the dying days of the system. The franchise fell off a cliff after this.

7. Donkey Kong Country 2 - Kind of forgotten about these days, but the DKC franchise was big back in the day. I thought that the third one was disappointing, but I loved the first two, especially this one that made some significant improvements on the original.

8. Revenge of Shinobi - The first of the two famous ninjas to make this list. This was the best game from the early days of the Genesis, and although I prefer the other franchise as a whole, this is the best game among them.

9. Ninja Gaiden 2 - Here is another game in which the second game is the best in the franchise. It often works that way for movies too. Hard as hell, but also fun.

10. Earthworm Jim - My humourous action/adventure game of choice.

 

[Mattdotcom]

Heeey, big ups for the DKC2 props. I really need to buy it off the VC because my save battery died.

 

[Kageho]

One game per franchise limits me somewhat, and I don't think is truly representative of the top 10 adventure games ever, but I will play by the rules.

You guys do realize that I'M doing that. You guys don't need to do that... I just didn't want to spam like a lot of Zeldas, Metroids and Marios.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

One game per franchise limits me somewhat, and I don't think is truly representative of the top 10 adventure games ever, but I will play by the rules.

You guys do realize that I'M doing that. You guys don't need to do that... I just didn't want to spam like a lot of Zeldas, Metroids and Marios.

I didn't realize that. But not a problem. I came up with a good list anyways. I probably would have ended up with four or five Mario games otherwise.

 

[Black Lushus]

I don't really have an order, but here are some:

Super Metroid
Zelda: Link to the Past
Super Mario World
Strider (Genesis version)...actually I'm torn between this and Strider 2 on the PSX.
Bionic Commando (NES version)
Mercenaries (my favorite Sandbox game, even over the GTAs)
Double Dragon Advance (the GBA version that takes everything good from everyother version and mashes it all together)
Sonic 2
TMNT IV
Castlevania: StoN
Ninja Gaiden 2 (NES)

don't mean to copycat anyone, it just goes to show how awesome these games are!

 

[Black Lushus]

Also, shouldn't adventure games be different than action games? Adventure games, to me, would be games where you go on collection quests, unlock new abilities and find new areas to explore (Zelda games, for example) whereas action games would be your straight up platformers and beat em ups (the NES Ninja Gaiden games, Final Fight type games).

 

[fazzle]

Adventure games are point and click inventory/puzzle based games damnit. *nerdrage*

 

[Black Lushus]

Adventure games are point and click inventory/puzzle based games damnit. *nerdrage*

in that case:
Zack & Wiki
The Adventures of Willy Beamish
Rise of the Dragon
Snatcher
Maniac Mansion
Kings Quest V (i think that was the one)
Leisure Suit Larry 6
Shadowgate

 

[Just Burny]

Anything Lucas Arts in the 90s kicks ass straight away.

 

[Kageho]

Adventure games are point and click inventory/puzzle based games damnit. *nerdrage*

<_< We're so not going to do this. Its bad enough I staved off anyone who wanted to nominate Zelda for RPG, but I'm so not about to start here.

Besides, everyone knows that any game that is point and click is a visual novel. Not an adventure game.

 

[fazzle]

Visual Novels are stuff like Hotel Dusk. Where you have basically NO interaction, and just keep progressing forward.

 

[Psycho Penguin]

1. Castlevania SoTN
2. Super Metroid
3. Mega Man X
4. Soul Blazer
5. Crystalis
6. Conquest of the Crystal Palace (NES)
7. Legend of Zelda: LTTP
8. Rygar (NES)
9. Gauntlet II
10. Bionic Commando (NES)

 

[AndrewTS]

Adventure games are point and click inventory/puzzle based games damnit. *nerdrage*

<_< We're so not going to do this. Its bad enough I staved off anyone who wanted to nominate Zelda for RPG, but I'm so not about to start here.

Besides, everyone knows that any game that is point and click is a visual novel. Not an adventure game.

Not so, weaboo!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_game

The term and its use predate Japan's first dabblings into the genre, and fazzle is correct, a visual novel is a very specific subgenre with relatively little interaction (although Hotel Dusk may not be the best example, but it's close).

Japanese adventure games belonging to the visual novel genre are more of an interactive novel than a conventional game, and as such have a tighter focus on narrative and more limited puzzle features than their Western counterparts. Instead of point-and-click or text parser interfaces, visual novels are characterised by the use of on-screen menus for everything from interaction to navigation, and the story-lines usually have a strong romantic aspect (with "dating sims" often being the main subcategory of the genre).

The name itself is vague, but it pretty clearly defined characteristics/history.

On console, Adventure and Action/Adventure are catch-all terms for puzzle-heavy games with some action, though with less emphasis on the action. Usually these are Zelda clones on console. The early Resident Evil games would fit if Capcom didn't make up its own stupid genre name.

Games these days genre-bend so much that it's not a very good label. For example, sandbox games may have elements of puzzle solving and adventure games, along with action games, platforming, stealth, and sometimes even rhythm/music games for the hell of it.

 

[fazzle]

Adventure games are point and click inventory/puzzle based games damnit. *nerdrage*

<_< We're so not going to do this. Its bad enough I staved off anyone who wanted to nominate Zelda for RPG, but I'm so not about to start here.

Besides, everyone knows that any game that is point and click is a visual novel. Not an adventure game.

Not so, weaboo!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_game

The term and its use predate Japan's first dabblings into the genre, and fazzle is correct, a visual novel is a very specific subgenre with relatively little interaction (although Hotel Dusk may not be the best example, but it's close).

Well I didn't want to jump straight into the hentai games!

Edit: Damn I should have read the rest of the post before I said what was already said.

 

[AndrewTS]

Well I didn't want to jump straight into the hentai games!

There's probably a few fans of Fate/Stay Night or Tsukihime on these boards, though. Those are good examples.

 

[AndrewTS]

My top ten 3rd person action/2D action games:

1. Ninja Gaiden 2
2. Contra NES
3. God Hand
4. Devil May Cry 3
5. God of War 2
6. Streets of Rage 2
7. Ratchet and Clank Going Commando
8. Resident Evil 4
9. Mega Man 2
10. No More Heroes

My top ten action rpgs/zeldalikes

1. LoZ Ocarina of Time
2. Link's Awakening
3. Okami
4. Bully
5. Shadow of the Colossus
6. Majora's Mask
7. Beyond Oasis
8. Kingdom Hearts
9. Legend of Oasis
10. Steambot Chronicles

Games like Mario, Sonic, and classic Castlevania I consider more pure platformers, Metroid-style games are practically their own genre or no genre at all, depending on how you look at it. Shadow of the Colossus just *barely* counts, although it's as much of a platformer as it is anything else.

 

[muzzington]

Favourite Adventure games include all the Lucasarts games on PC like the Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle etc.

The Tex Murphy Interactive Movie series (Under a Killing Moon, The Pandora Directive, Overseer)

The Broken Sword series (Well, the first 2 at least.)

Discworld 2.

Beneath a Steel Sky

... and some others I forget at the moment. This thread has reminded me to check out some Abandonware sites again.

 

[Kageho]

I put a smile with a wink and a tounge out.

How do you people NOT see me joking about that? What part of that isn't the slightest give away "hey, yo, this totally is a joke. Here I'll add some smilies just to make it totally obvious"?

...I'm disappointed in all of you.


P.S.

 

[AndrewTS]

Yeah I know, hence my list(s)...well that and I don't really play adventure games. It isn't the best name for the genre, either, but we're stuck with it for obvious reasons.

However, for those of you giant nerds interested in that stuff ( ), this might be interesting:
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/

Very Old Games On Newer Systems.

For example, Gabriel Knight:
http://gkpatches.vogons.zetafleet.com/

 

[Agent_Bond34]

10. Earthworm Jim - My humourous action/adventure game of choice.

Good call. I fucking love that game.

I enjoy most of the EWJ games.

I wish they'd release a new one.