Whassup my obsequious purveyors of the establishment of the kingdom of Grig? And welcome to my pre-top 5 desert island games. This is a very serious matter that I will not be taking lightly, so much like Bedgells selection, its very noncommittal at this early point. I will start with a spread of potential games, and narrow them down at a later date. Now without further ado, let’s meet our candidates.
Super SFIV AE2012 (Xbox 360): Unsurprisingly, this would be an absolute guarantee for me. The best fighting game not just of the generation, but potentially all time. It’s the main event of every major fighting game tournament, and the game that rejuvenated the fighting game scene for old gamers and new gamers alike. There’s no other game that I’ve played more over the past 5 years.
Mario Kart (SNES): It had to be. It’s incredible that Nintendo nailed the Kart formula first time up to bat. No other Kart game has even come close to displacing this beast from its podium, not even the follow up Mario Karts themselves! And not simply because of those grigging game wrecking blue shells either! This is an almost guarantee… but could I really put up with an eternity of raging at the CPU Princess?
Snatcher (Mega CD): A random one for many I’d guess. I recently read that there are only a few thousand English language Mega CD versions of this in existence, hence the hefty price tag it tends to now carry, but it certainly has a cult following. Frankly, it was a game that blew me away with a story that was so awesome and so immersive, I felt like I was Gillian Seed himself lost in the wonder of this incredible cyberpunk world! But at only around 6 hours, could I really take this gamble? Well, i guess there is THAT scene with Katrina. Hmm…
GTA: San Andreas (PS2): Probably quite a weird option. For me, while GTA3 was a gaming revelation, San Andreas had a magical quality that lead me to play through it on multiple occasions. The world was truly massive, and it was both a joy to behold and play through. And while the excessive expletives can often grind my grig to hear with such regularity that it becomes rather tiring, its definitely in with a shout.
Streets of Rage 2 (Megadrive): What’s really to say about this game? Quite simply the greatest scrolling beat ’em up ever made, and with one of the greatest soundtracks to boot. Course two player shenanigans could be an issue unless Kiera Knightly shows up after getting marooned again, but its worth having around as a good distraction incase she’s a whinging mare bending my ear to build her a home that desecrates that tip of a tree house that those Swiss family Robison amateurs cobbled together.
Gunstar Heroes (Megadrive): Probably tied in my top 3 Megadrive games of all time, Gunstar Heroes did things that the humble Megadrive simply should not have been able to do. It was a visual spectale and a gameplay marvel with incredible gameplay variety and genius bosses. The soundtrack was also one of the best any game has ever offered. Screw digging for buried treasure, the only Treasure I need is the Gunstar developers!
Street Fighter 2 Turbo (XBLA Download): Basically the most arcade perfect port of the best version of SF2. Such an beast of a game, and the game that taught me my Street Fightin’ trade. How the designers of this game came up with something this amazing at the point in time that they did still baffles me today. But I’d feel a bit miffed not having a physical product. My island shack might look mighty barren with only 4 game boxes on the shelf.
Sonic 2 (Megadrive): Just thinking back to the hype of Sonic 2’sday gives me chills. No other video game launch before had even come close to the magnitude of the release of Sonic 2, but even more incredibly, the actual awesomeness of the game blew the hysteria around it well and truly out the water! Just oozes awesomeness out of every pore… if cartridges had them. Has passed the test of time with flying colours… and truly showing Games Master magazine that they were gibbering like crazy folk by giving it 66% back in the day! Oh shame, how it tarnishes thee!
Nights (Saturn): The pain of leaving this game out would surely be too much to bare, no? The genre defying jewel in Segas crown that they’ve only once been brave enough to drag through the dirt with the underwhelming sequel, Nights is just magical in a way that eludes the multimillion dollar games of today. Yuji Naka at his finest, with probably the best soundtrack of the 32-bit era. That island is gonna be rockin’ to the sweet melodies of Soft Museum!
Final Fantasy VII (PS1): I might be putting myself at the mercy of any passing Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger fanatics, but for me, the RPG that steps forth with a darn fine argument as to why it should be coming to my island would be FFVII – it needs a tan. I joke! It’s the griggin’ game that I’ve played consistently for 18 years, constantly pushing other very appealing and unplayed RPG’s down my well arranged ordered-to-play stack of games. Basically, if there’s a pile of games around me, FFVII is more likely than not to be sitting merrily at its summit.
So much to consider!
Course, having internet could throw a rethink in to gear. Can i tether a console through my phone for so 3G action? What are our rules exactly? Also, could be wise to spread my games across multiple formats, just in case a retro pirate ship chances upon the island stashed to the gills with say, a full back catalogue of Megadrive games. What a fool I’d look if I’d just bumped Gunstar down to number 6 and I was ‘driveless on my island! I just better keep my 360 hard drive away from the Griggish Board of Top Five Adjudicators, coz that sucker could be loaded with XBLA games for all they know, but I ain’t admitting nothing. Just don’t tell them, kay?
The narrowing down begins…
See what’s surprising is how few cross over. I was like “oh I’m so obvious. Surely this is what everyone would choose” but nope… That’s a fine list for coping with the realities of no Internet connection. Very wise. I mean, our only guide to what’s to be found on the island is Lost, and they just had a French lady on a loop. Not much cop when you’re trying to set up a large scale death match. (Though ironically the lost gang came close to exactly that…) the big surprise for me is the megadrive contingent. But I kinda get it -I mean, if they’re still getting played after twenty years, you gotta hope they’d stand up to a few more on the island. Favourite addition is snatcher though. Because let’s be honest, you need some female company on the beach. And there is no better than the babes of Snatcher. And Gillian, if you get a bit adventurous. Hehe.
But! You gotta get that sumbitch list down to five, hombre. Get picking!