zelda games, chrono trigger/cross, hook on the snes is my version of your felix the cat. hell, a stack of snes games I run through for the feels. i probably have hundreds of hours of time in spiderman on ps4 just swinging around the city.
For me, some of my evergreen games would be: Streets of Rage 2, Advance Wars, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Resident Evil Remake, and the new Hitman trilogy. Appreciate the videos. Keep up the great work.
I did WoW for two and a half years starting in 2005 and used to raid a lot. But when they started with the BS of excluding entry to instances without the complete set consisting of very rare drops, one night I got fed up and quite cold turkey. Really enjoyed that game, though. Loved the soundtrack too, bought me a copy. Cute blouse, by the way.
I have a handful of modern "live-service" games that I constantly rotate through, but to the spirit of the video, I always find myself returning to Mega Man 2 and Symphony of the Night every year or so.
Such a great video. I recently got a steam deck and I'm embarrassed to admit the game I played the most on it is pixel junk monsters and slay the spire
Mine are Broken Sword, Oblivion and Bioshock. However, thanks to one of your videos, Paradise Killer. Beat that the other day and will be going back to it again. Really hoping for a sequel.
Fantastic video. It's always interesting to me to hear about what other people gravitate toward and what it is about those games that resonate with them. For me, it's definitely Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Randomizer. I wouldn't be at all surprised if I was over the thousand hour mark at this point with that one. Beyond that, Chrono Trigger and Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse both get annual replays, and I've put quite a bit of time into each of the souls-borne games.
I love this topic. Comfort games are my go-to resource when I'm having mental health super happy fun times (note: said times are neither super happy nor fun). My biggest one is probably the flawed but addicting RTS game "Star Wars Rebellion" from the late '90s. Or "Journey" if I'm grieving someone and need a quick game to help me have an emotional catharsis.
I think I have too many to list. There are some shorter form games that I do multiple times a year... older Marios, Zelda II, Rygar, Black Tiger, Time Soldiers... too many to list. Some longer games, like Earthbound, Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy III, etc. get annual plays. Others, like Fortune Street or Culdcept Saga, I never really stopped playing. What interests me now, though, are newer games that feel like they'll be joining those ranks. Eastward, Spiritfarer, Hollow Knight, Astro Bot Rescue, Death's Gambit, Blasphemous, Yoku's Island Express, Dex, and several more modern games have caught me for multiple playthroughs already, long after I thought games were passing me by during the Wii/360/PS3 days. It's fun having so many new games starting to grip me the same way the classics have.
i've got a rotation of Evergreen games I always come back to: Earthbound Super Mario RPG Parasite Eve 1 & 2 Silent Hill 1-4 Castlevania SOTN Super Metroid Snatcher Deathgate I totally agree with what you said about wanting to have that enjoyable experience again!
Mega Man X2, NES Batman, Earthworm Jim, and Super Mario 64 jump to mind for me. They're a perfect blend of nostalgia, satisfying mechanics, and shortness.
Panzer General II and games like it. I haven't played PZII in a couple decades, but I picked up Order of Battle just a year or two ago and got right into it. What touched me most about this video was Civ 5. It is my second most played game on Steam (785 hours and I am not even good). I know. I have a problem. Age of Wonders: Planetfall consumed my free time for the past several weeks. But somehow, knowing that you also really got into this kind of strategy games but was able to put them down and make these earnest and high quality videos, that feels like it jolted me awake, if just for a while. Games are awesome, but they are not the best thing in life. I just want to thank you for helping me realize that. I am not a complete loser. I do have a tenured albeit low paying legal job with the government. I suffer from a chronic lack of sleep though.
There is always a lot of variety on your channel, and one of the few who give adventure games some love. On that note I wondered if you've ever tried Cosmology of Kyoto, one of those games I somehow end up playing every few years.
@@Cannotbetamed1 It's mechanically fussy and more educational than game, but available as abandonware and a totally singular experience I'd recommend to anyone. Looking forward to your next video.
Didn't know you were into WoW back in the day, I didn't play as long but I loved it through TBC-WotLK, I understand being burnt out after playing an MMO for si long. Ironically, the only evergreen games I can think of are FF14, as despite being in the same genre, the way it's designed is much less toxic and addicting, most players just want to log in to either appreciate the new story patches, role play with friends or live in a world that is so beautiful and nostalgic, for final fantasy fans at least. The other game is Castlevania SotN for obvious reasons.
Approaching 400 hours played in Ziggurat II (PC)... it's a roguelike dungeon crawler kinda thing that's a first person shooter, but with wands/staves/spells. It's super rad. Pretty cheap too, think I got the first one for 2.99$ and second one for 20$ on GOG
@@Cannotbetamed1 yeah... I tend to lose entire portions of days playing this thing. But you know what that's about, I assume, if you're a Civ fan... lord knows I lost an entire nights' sleep more than a few times in Jr high playing Civ I and II... fell asleep in science class, but at least I developed starship technology first 😂
interesting list. I would pick MegaMan 2 & 3, The Last Of Us (I wish I could play this one for the "first time again.") Uncharted, Horizon Chase Turbo.
Great video Pam! The game I always go back to is Heroes of Might and Magic 3. It has great campaigns, the gameplay is very well balanced and it isn't stressful. I've tried the subsequent games in the franchise, but none of them has reached the perfection of 3.
I fully agree with your concept of replayability (6:27). According to hermeneutic phenomenology any piece of media we engage with will affect us, which in turn will affect the way we view and interpret that media, which again will affect us etc. This happens in a cyclical manner. So, if I replay a game a year later, I will have different preconceptions of the game and different skills than the first time I played it because I have already experienced it. This will in turn lead to a new fresh experience. Not only that, I will also be a slightly different person than I was a year ago, which will also alter the experience. This is basically an endless cycle, allowing us to enjoy the same (personal favourite) media for eternity. :D (that is at least what I tell myself, when I complete Ape Escape 2 for the 20th time) ;)
I guess I missed the boat by a few months, but your hair color change looks fantastic. Red-hair Pam is a classic, but dark-hair Pam is also an instant classic! As for evergreen games, Hollow Knight and Celeste are games I don't even have to play to enjoy, just remembering them gives me fuzzies. Mario RPG is one of those games where I'll hear a song from the OST somewhere and *have* to go play again, it's so silly and for a JRPG it's not a drag. And I haven't played it in a while, but Super Metroid was also an old standby I had to play start to finish once or twice a year. I love that all of these games have amazing soundtracks, I think for the nostalgia factor soundtrack is #1 in importance. Never heard of the Kingdom games, I'll have to give them a look.
I have to say Illusion of Gaia. I have that game down as 90% rote; I love the music, the level design, the bosses, and the weirdness of the story. But I also love that Mu (the water level) is still ridiculous and new after 25ish years.
For the NES, my go to Evergreen game is Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. One of the best games in the series and I've played it so much I can actually beat it without a single Game Over (hoping to pull off a no-death run someday, lol) Other than that: -Resident Evil 4 -Dark Souls 3 -the classic Thief trilogy on PC
Darkest Dungeon is proof that all mortal endeavors are doomed to a cycle of endless ruination...unless they figure out how to use the houndmaster for reliable ranged bleeding damage and try to stack that with as much poison damage as possible.
I played the most of my action/adventure games on Xbox 360 and I’m skilled at this and sometimes racing games and I also unlocked achievements that helped me to time them the right way so I wouldn’t forget and I have a lot of Xbox 360 games that I collected in my game shelf and my collection of Xbox 360 games I brought them from a game store 🏬 days ago and I’d give it a great 😊 rating.🇺🇸👍💯
Pam, I have a collection of games but I played most of my action games including Call of Duty and ones base on movies 🍿 and I also have fighting games that I collected and racing games I also picked out that I liked and western ones and my grandmother 👵 would like 👍 my game collection but she passed away years ago and she would’ve been proud 🥹 today and thank you 🙏 for selecting my comment that I sent you and that’s what friends are for.🇺🇸👍💯
Oh, I can definitely call some games my Evergreens. Most notable is Galaga. I’ve played just about every port out there, aside from the arcade version on MAME, and more recently MiSTer. Heck, I even got the Quarter Arcades version on a shelf in my Game Room. It’s somewhat of a connection to my late Dad, as it was (with Ms. Pac-Man) his favorite game back then. If only everyone could see his face when I installed MAME on his PC about 15 years ago. Like you, I’ve really been playing more retro and “pick’em up” kind of games - and can’t seem to get into anything grindy. Shmups are a natural, and a lot of the shmups released on PS4/Switch have been my go-to’s. Other than that, I really like to play Circus Atari on the 2600, MUSHA on the Genesis (nobody get excited, it’s a repro ROM on an original repurposed Sega board, lol), and Super Smash TV on SNES.
I play Super Mario Sunshine every other summer! ☀️ 🏝 🕶 Love your picks by the way! Always great to see what makes a person, that person, though experiences and what gets them excited about life ✌️
I agree with you on all you say about Felix the Cat I got it for Easter one year. My friends would see who could beat it with the most extra lives left over and you really can make any game challenging with extra rules like that. Gun Nac is one of the best of its kind but not sure if its my favorite for that fix. I think the over 120 hours I put into Darkest Dungeon gave me enough but maybe one day I will come back. I want to actually finish Final Fantasy 6 someday. I keep starting and restarting that one.
Thanks for the video. Have you heard of Phoenix Point? Made by the original creator of the Old X-com game, and a bit similar in style to the newer X-coms, though with some differences. Sorry if you're already aware, just thought I'd mention it as you said you were looking forward to a new version
Hey Pam, I'm only a few mins in and you already have my interest peaked. I would love to hear a video all about your experiences with WoW as someone who has played it for so long (especially your experiences as a woman playing the game. Did the game get better or worse in that respect as the years went on?). Also I know nothing about WoW except a lot of people say Mists of Pandaria is when the game got bad so its funny you said you played up till that point.
Are there other turn-based tactics games you like, in addition to XCOM 1 and 2? There's a lot out there, including a few set in WH40k, some that are fantasy/dark fantasy, historical fiction, etc. I would like to get more into the genre, but few have demos and it's a genre I can easily go past the 2 hour Steam return limit without knowing for sure if I want it. Thanks for the vid, Pam! 'Darkest Dungeon-likes' is another genre I've recently gotten into.
whats your opinion (if any) on civilization revolution? being a big sid meier fan, I loved all the entries, including alpha centauri, so maybe I'm a little biased. if you haven't played, I highly recommend, as its a very "fun with friends" title!
@@Cannotbetamed1 I figured you had, its not really a "hidden gem" as they'd say. lol But the reduction in complexity just made it so approachable for those not wanting to commit 40 hours to a single game. lol
I probably put 5,000 hours into the first Destiny, but that's nothing compared to the truly horrific 12,000 hours logged on Smash Brothers on GameCube.
I know this is off topic Pam, but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE review Battletoads on the NES. I have such a love/hate relationship for that game and I’m dying to know what you’re thoughts are on it.
@@Cannotbetamed1 😂 I wholeheartedly agree. Thank you for your response. I was so close to beating that freakin’ Turbo Tunnel level today and somehow I managed to warp ahead two levels and was thus deprived of the satisfaction of finally beating it. So you HAVE played it. Haha. I always enjoy your videos. Thanks for all your hard work.🙂👍
My comfort game is definitely Heroes of Might and Magic 2. No campaign, I just pick a large map on low difficulty, and play it through while listening to the relaxing music. For years it was my christmas chill out routine.
Castlevania: SotN is my #1 go-to for nostalgia. I play it a couple times every year. And somehow, it never gets old. The experience is basically the same every time, but super satisfying. Oddly enough, every time I finish a new Metroidvania, I usually chase it with a quick run-through of this one. Makes a good pallette cleanser!
@@FWDSUXARSE SOTN is my fave Castlevania "Metroidvaina", but my favorite traditional platformer was the PC Engine classic Dracula X Rondo of Blood and NOT the SNES version!
Definitely Fallout New Vegas for PC. Love Darkest Dungeons but it's unforgiving, but I keep going back. SMB3 for NES. I'd recommend you try Final Fantasy 3 (6) for SNES if you're looking for epic adventure w/amazing pixel art.
I don't blame you for revisiting Felix the Cat. It's definitely one of the coziest NES games and I'd love to see it get re-released one of these days, especially since a lot of his shorts are now in the public domain (I don't know if the character himself is though)
Hi. Some of my most played games are: - FTL, at somewhere around 300 hours - Into the Breach (by the same developer) for somewhere around 150 hours. Both of those are rogue-lites, where a run can end early if you die, which happens in FTL the vast majority of the time. I actually win Into the Breach roughly 100% of the time now, but still love playing through it with different teams. - Xenoblade Chronicles. Somewhere around 200 hours on definitive edition on the Switch, and another long playthrough of the original Wii version on emulation. - I also really like Shmups. I spent several years playing Mushihimesama Futari. Then I went through an R-Type Leo phase. Right now I've been playing Donpachi at least daily - Time Pilot. I've been playing this almost daily for a few decades. It was my favorite Coleco Vision game,. and then when it became possible to emulate it I started playing the arcade version. It's also on my Switch. IMO it's one of the best arcade games ever made as far as difficulty curve. Even the first level isn't easy for beginners, and even after decades I rarely make it past the UFO level to loop back around. I'm sure there are others I can't think of at the moment, but those are the games that I've played the longest for the most number of hours. EDIT: I forgot to mention SSX 3 and Tony Hawk 2. I've been playing both of those for 20 years or so. They basically have infinite replayability, and great music also.
For me, I'd say; Ridge racer type 4 Outrun 2 Resident Evil 1 remake Godhand Haunting Ground Kingdom under fire Dodonpachi Black label Street fighter alpha 3 Tekken 5 Virtua fighter 4 Nier Gestalt Skies of Arcadia Lost Odyssey Heretic/Hexen Darksiders 2 There's probably plenty more, these are the first that come to mind.
The original X-Com is probably my first evergreen game. I used to play it at least once a year since I got it for Christmas back in 1994. I liked the reboot and its sequel, but nothing has quite surpassed the original for me. Xenonauts came close as well, but I'm sure nostalgia is keeping X-Com: UFO Defense on a pedestal for me.
I don't think it's *just* nostalgia... I liked modded Xenonauts much more than the modern XCOM games and the only keeping me away from the originals is the interface, really. With OpenXCom they're still pretty good games.
For older games, I can always pop in Super Street Fighter 2 and have a good time. For recent stuff, Rocket League is my go to “turn off my brain and have fun whenever I boot it up” title
Easily my number one is Link's Awakening (OG GameBoy, Switch now). I've played and beat that game more than any other game. Still play it. Ys Origins, Trials of Mana, and ACNH are currently the ones I keep going back to.
Besides MMO's some of mine would be The Witcher 3, Chrono Trigger, Mass Effect Trilogy, Final Fantasy 7, Dragon Age: Origins, and most recently Total War: Warhammer (1,2,3)
Civ V, yessss. Play with all DLC and Vox Populi mod, and it is perfection. Agreed on Civ VI - not a terrible game but it's missing the same spark as Civ V. Also - petty quibble, I realize, but I didn't like the cartoony veneer to Civ VI. The world leaders looked like Pixar characters. Took away some of the gravitas for me. Anyway, great video!
My go back to games are: Final Fantasy IV because I love the characters, story and it's the only game that I've ever played that every music track is superb. The Guardian Legend because it's a shmup+action rpg and it's great in every video game aspect. Symphony of The Night because it's the best MetroidVania, the soundtrack is baroque and it has both Alucard and Richter. Actraiser because it's an action game+simulation game and Yuzo Koshiro scored it 😎 Ys The Oath in Felghana because it's an all around terrific action rpg with one of the best soundtracks ever. Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun and Axelay are heavy hitters too. Axelay was way ahead of it's time.
I think my evergreen games are mostly from the SNES or PS1 era. SNES: FF 6 and Super Mario RPG. PS1: FF7, FF Tactics, Breath of Fire 3 and 4, and Star Ocean 2nd story.
Although, now that I think there are other games I have played ad nauseum, that are a bit more sophisticated: Morrowind III, Baldouir´s Gate II, Kotor I and II, Heroes of Might and Magic III and X-Wing, Tie Figher and X-Wing Alliance.
My most played game ever is Guild Wars 1, 13.000h in 15 years and still playing it here and there. I know people with 20.000h+. My most played single player game is probably Slay The Spire, around 300h between PC, Switch and mobile. :)
Your experience in WoW is basically what mine was in MMO's and I won't touch them anymore. I totally agree with your take on CIV 5, there is just something about it.
@@Cannotbetamed1 I actually came back to WoW with the new wotlk pre-patch fresh servers and I've been enjoying it again. I can't imagine actually raiding and doing all that stuff though so I'm mainly just playing it as a solo quester, a few hours a night. That's more or less the only way I seem to enjoy mmos anymore, which I guess kinda defeats the purpose, lol. I love the persistence and the feeling of building a character, but yeah, at the end of the day, is it worth the time you could be spending with an immersive story in a well-crafted single player game? It scratches a certain itch that single player games don't, but the more I play them, the more pointless it feels. I'm starting to think that mmo-lite games are the best compromise. Games like Fallout 76 or Destiny 1/2 that have long, story-driven campaigns that you basically just play in tandem with a relatively smaller player presence (I think it's never more than like 24 players in one instance of FO76, for instance). Even ESO kinda falls in that category since there's so much fully-voiced story content that can mostly all be done solo and at your leisure. It's a nice option to feel like you're not totally alone in the game world while playing a single-player quality story (arguably) with none of the pressures or time commitments of a raiding-centric game like WoW.
Right on! Replayability is abuot the game being good; not just having more content, and a lot of my choices will reflect that. It's harder for me to narrow it down, since I replay most of my games, but the biggest ones are probably the Mega Man Classic and X series, Faxanadu, Guardian Legend, the SNES Ganbare Goemon games, Secret of Mana, Super Metroid, Smartball, and Super Valis 4. I can think of plenty of newer discoveries that will probably land here, but I haven't had the chance to replay all that much just yet.
Definitely mine would be *Doom* 🤓😈 you know how they always make the rhetorical question of: "If you were to be stranded in an island for *X* period of time, what would be the only *Y* item you would bring? 🤔 Be it a appliance, book, album, magazine, etc?" that would be Doom for me 😁 infinite mods! Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely try Darkest Dungeon 👍
As someone who's been subscribed since Felix the Cat, it's always a nice surprise when you bring it up again. For me I always go back to The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Super Mario Bros 3 (though 1 & 2 get replays occasionally), Jazz Jackrabbit and well ... Pac Man.
Earthbound/Mother 2 is by far my most played/re-played, followed by Chrono Trigger as a distant 2nd. I'm actually playing the translated GBA version right now (mainly to hear the different music variations), and I've been grinding some of the 1/128 rare items. So far I managed to get the Sword of Kings for Poo (the second time I've found it, altogether). I can't think of a single other single-player game that I enjoy enough to actually grind like that, so that says it's all. Earthbound is just something special and, in many ways, an unparalleled gaming experience to me. It's so weird and quirky; like the eccentric uncle of jrpgs. There's nothing else out there like it, even including Mother 3 (great game but nowhere near as endearing to me).
The original Oldboy, nice I find myself revisiting the Panzer Dragoon series on the Saturn; Saga being my favourite. Adventure games are another I tend to revisit often as well. Nothing usually in particular other than “oh, hey, I haven’t played Zork (or such n such game) in a long while…”. Planescape: Torment has such a great and utterly bizarre setting with fun characters that makes it another contender to replay every few years. I still dip my toes into WoW from time to time, having played since the tail end of vanilla. One of my fav sci-fi MMOs, Earth & Beyond, has been running on a private server and so I’ll revisit that universe. Finally, speaking of private servers, Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst is another game a friend and I will get a hankering to play now and again.
Toooooooooooo many days played on Everquest (multiple accounts and toons, raiding, guild leader, raid leader, etc.) I love long games like Mass Effect, Fallout 3/4, and will play them multiple times. And tower defense games.
My evergreen games seemingly are: final fantasy 1, 10, and 12, Skyrim, path of exile, grim dawn, torchlight 2, and oblivion. Sounds like a lot but I don’t play through them entirely every year but I do visit them yearly! It’s like chicken soup on a cold day.
Civ 5, 156hrs = 4-5 played games. 🤣 Time flies with this game. I have a simliar time played this game and i barely remembered it playing. It was years ago. And because of its time sucking addictive nature i never played it again.
My ever green game is Ninja Gaiden. I played it until I was great at it. I still remember the first weekend I rented it. I want my grandparents and remember being at the castle ruins and being called away for lunch and one of the happier moments of my life. Weirdly I don't know how I got the copy I owned but I got to the point I could get to Jaquio in thirty minutes. My other go to game is Mega Man 2, I've played it to the point, I go thru multiple paths. Most would likely be games on the NES, including the Mario games.
Pitfall! on the Atari 2600 (1982). Super Mario Bros. 2 / North American release on the NES (1988). Gain Ground on the Sega Genesis (1991). Bucky O'Hare on the NES (1992). Illusion of Gaia on the SNES (1994). Jet Grind Radio on the Dreamcast (2000).
For me I think my 5 confort games would be: Deus Ex (I don't why but I always do a campaing run every year) Fallout (Same) Doom (I can just open up and play this thing) Age of Empires 2 (Same) Brigador (Just a freelance run before I sleep)
Hi Pam, nice video! My evergreen game is certainly Bloodstained: RotN The randomizer mode will probably keep me in this game forever (plus Miriam is awesome) Cheers!
I'm guessing my most played games over and over PC: Tex Murphy PGA486 Wolfenstein 3d/Spear of Destiny PS1 Silent Hill Resident Evil Dino Crisis Tekken 2 PS2 Silent Hill 234 Resident Evil 4 Hitman Splinter Cell Choas Theory and Pandora Tomorrow GTA 3 Xbox 360 COD 2 3 4 MMW Xbox Series X COD 360 games Brunswick Pool The Quarry Resident Evil 2 Remake Resident Evil 3 Remake PS5 BrunsWick Pool Lis The Quarry
Games I play the most over and over... Mass Effect Trilogy Banner Saga Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West KOTOR 1 &2 Valkyria Chronicles Ikaruga Dragons Crown Outrun 2 Sega Rally 1&2 Rez & Child of Eden Nowhere Prophet Hearthstone Tetris Effect Nier Automata
In no order: Contra (NES), Peggle (X360), Super Bomberman 5 (SNES; battle mode 4-5 players), Medieval Mayhem (Atari 2600; 4 players, fantastic party game, bring CRT to the party), Mario Kart 8 will probably stand as one of these too.
Most hours played: Skyrim. Top 5 Evergreen Games for me: 1. Stellaris (Super Modded) 2. Europa Universalis (Somewhat Modded) 3. Gundam Generations Overworld 4. X-COM Enemy Unknown/Within (The Long War Mod) 5. Guild Wars 2 Posted in case anyone wanted to know if I played anything besides KoTOR
